Fabulous flooring

Everything happened very quickly at the end of last year, so I have fallen behind terribly with the blog.  I do hope you will please accept my apologies!  Nevertheless, I am now back on track and will update you over the next little while with all that has been unfolding.
Below you will see the underlay for the flooring going in and then the gorgeous finished product.  Vic had really wanted to have a solid bamboo floor but we simply could not afford it.  Funnily enough, however, when the floor started going in, we noticed that it seemed to be a bit light in colour to be the merbau floating floor that we had chosen.  We thought it was OK, so we just went with the flow. Then, we noticed that the tarp on top of the window box was looking loose and notified the builder, as we didn't want our precious new floor to be damaged.  Unfortunately, our warning was not heeded and most of the floor was severely damaged by the rain that leaked in and had to be replaced.  
It was confirmed weeks later that the floor that was put down (twice!) was in fact the bamboo that Vic wanted!  Luckily, we only had to pay for the floor that we ordered - perhaps a bit of a bonus for all of the hassles and delays?  Very lucky in any case!

THE PLINTH! THE PLINTH! Finally finished!!!

Here it is:  the front verandah - minus its roof - but with the plinth on all the way around the house, including the verandah!  It feels amazing, whole, complete.  And so, so grounded.  We have both noticed more support in our lives.  For example, Vic has had trouble with his recording studio for more than a year.  Finally he has been able to rectify the problems with it, and it is up and running again perfectly.  And while Annabel has been very busy at work, she has found several times now that when she has allocated a particular task to a day, when that day comes along, she finds the task is already done ... the Laws of Nature at work again?  Anyway, let's see how the front verandah roof turns out ...

Fully tanked

Now what is that you may be wondering?  
A few days after the water tanks were installed, it poured with rain for a day or two.  When we went down to check out the house afterwards, we climbed up on a ladder to look inside the tanks, and that is what we saw - more good fortune - full water tanks already!  

THE PLINTH! THE PLINTH!

I hope you are sitting down for the BIG news - yes, it has finally happened after more than 3 months of delays - the rest of the plinth is on!!!  

You might remember from the 17 September 2010 post, that there was initially a bit of a problem with the way the shape of the slab was poured.  This also means that there is now a problem with the very specific plinth measurements.  To complicate this further, the guys putting on the plinth used great globs of glue which altered the plinth measurements themselves, and the verandah was not quite built according to the measurements given.  Through some clever thinking by the Maharishi Vedic Architect, the overall plinth measurement could, however, still be attained by modifying the placement of the front verandah posts.  

So, the plan was to get the plinth put on the entire house except the front verandah, measure the plinth, feed this measurement back to the Architect, have him calculate where the posts of the verandah would need to go and then finish off the rest of the plinth and the verandah.  

We weren't all that keen to have the verandah posts back from their corners, but knowing that the measurement was vital for Maharishi Sthapatya Veda integrity, we decided we could live with the verandah however it was going to be.

When we gave the plinth measurements to the Architect, he could hardly believe it - there was now not only the opportunity to get the plinth measurement right but also one of the other vital house measurements that was compromised when the slab was poured 'incorrectly'.  But to do this, we would have to put the posts ... exactly in the corners of the verandah as it had been built - WOW!!!

All along, every little 'mistake' was building up to give us not only the look of the house that we wanted but also a whole series of perfect measurements.  Now that is the Laws of Nature working at their best! 

Loo door handles to the sky

Yes, I know, you'll never guess - we're STILL waiting waiting waiting for the plinth to go on.  

Fortunately, there has been a little bit of action in other areas to keep you entertained.  

We now have very elegant 'Empress' door handles.  

Also, it seems that the plumber has been back again.  This time, he has installed the toilets.  All we need is a bit of rain to fill the water tanks, and they will flush with water collected from the roof.  

Last time we spoke to the project manager, we decided that we would not put the planned skylight into the hallway but would stick with the one in the laundry.  We noticed, however, that a skylight has appeared in the hallway but not in the laundry.  Oops!  That was a bit of a mix up.  But once again, we think this is a fortunate mix up, as the hallway looks great with the skylight in it.  If it wasn't there, we would have had to leave Vic's bedroom door open to let the light in - not such a good idea with his floordrobe tendencies!  

So, we are sure that the delay in the plinth must also some be unfolding just perfectly...

Verandah landing

The waiting waiting waiting for the plinth continues.  In the meantime, the floor of the front verandah and the side landing have appeared - feels great up there looking out at the world.  But the plinth paranoia is a real mystery!  We are wondering if it is hard to get to because it involves one of the crucial measurements for the house.  If only the builder would even speak to us, and I am sure we could work it all out.

Water works

While waiting waiting waiting and waiting some more for the plinth to go on, we noticed that the water tanks had been delivered.   These are going to run the washing machine, flush the toilets and water our 'extensive' vegie garden and orchard.  10,000 litres - that should do the job!  Unfortunately, the gravel delivery truck got bogged and had to dump the gravel for the tanks outside the double north doors rather than around the back in the southwest corner.  So, a digger machine had to come back again and attempted to level out the land.  This then allowed the gravel to be dumped in the correct corner for the tanks to sit on.  And they were rolled around into place and hooked up (last photo).  

But when will that plinth ever go on?!?