Progress: Water Leak

So our SS was super quick to action the issue with the water leak. Plumbers were onsite today repairing the leak. Ironically it was a mixer tap in the master en suit that was the culprit. The same mixer i reported leaking after the insulation was installed and was reportedly repaired.

Nice before an after shots.

SS has already organised the brickies to come out to do the repair. Super disappointed it had to happen, but alas shit happens. Props to our SS and to PD to at least moving fast on the issue. 

  

Item's for Independent Inspector to review

Tomorrow we are having our independent inspector looking through the house to write up a report for our PCI. Originally we planned on not being present for this. However as potential issues (to us) have risen, we feel its best that we get the most items we can officially documented.

Sure there will be cosmetic issues, but we want to ensure that any Build / Structural items are properly documented.

Item's that we want looked at are as follows:

• Entire Garage Looked over, as there are many build and finish issues that require attention
• Window Fitment
• Missing Bricks
• Broken Bricks
• Rough garage floor (concrete filling in gaps that look pretty bad)
• Bad Finishes that i was told were to be covered
• Scratched Downpipe and poor fitment
• All Installed Windows
• Some windows are set so far back i can see the foil wrap on the house
• Scratches and paint overspray on frames
• Window seals
• All Door Seals and Frames
• Front Door missing side treatments to the point that you can see the building frame and foil wrap
• Rear Sliding Door seal is damaged
• Upstairs window in activity area has bad overspray
• Check Floor levels and Finishes (general)
• Check to make sure the floor in the down stairs powder room has been correctly installed as per an earlier report with the wrong fall on the slab.
• Island Bench Fitment
• One side of the waterfall is perfectly installed, the other side has been cut to wide and has a noticeable lip on each side.
• Manhole cover obstruction
• Had a timber beam covering the hole to one side that made the hole smaller.
• Fixings checked over for poor fitment etc
• General Overview 
• noticed that some skirting issues etc
• All Plaster and Paint 
• some areas don't appear to even have 2 coats let alone 3
• finishes and cut ins (especially over the kitchen over head cupboards need addressing)
• below power points etc where plaster has been damaged
• Alfresco Roof has a noticeable slant
• Alfresco Floor has been damaged by site works and has big chip in it
• Flooring in under stairs storeroom was not complete. they literally finished it with under a meter to go..... 
• HDMI cable in roof hasn't been terminated / pulled through
• Considering the charge for this, i expect more. (at least a hdmi plate thats terminated correctly. 
• Request for Wiring locations of speaker wire.
• Once again, considering the charge, most professional installers will provide measurements where the wires are located.
• Termite Guard installation
• To low in some areas
• Not Covered in others
• Water Leak / Unknown Wet Spots on side of house
• Possible internal leak
• Will want any rectification works to occur internally
• Family Bathroom requires 1 vanity to be replaced / repaired due to cosmetic damaged. 
• Ensure all door stops are on. Already one door has gone through plaster and will require fixing.
• Ensure roof insulation is completed correctly. 
• Rear Terrance Block out balustrade not yet installed
• Cant get Cert of Occupancy without it
• Flooring edges have no trim so looks crap when looking at it from the backyard
• Final boxing of the side balustrade area is also very rough. Someone needs to buy a sander before they paint. 
• Front Portico area needs concreting shaved.
• They had to extend the portico out and the concrete wasn't boxed square. Looks crap
• Portico needs a good clean. Paint all over it etc

Now just a Disclaimer, These are items i wish to have rectified. Some may already be booked in to be fixed etc. Porter Davis so far have been great and i don't doubt they will produce a lovely well built home. But at the end of the day, Building a home is complicated and everyone makes mistakes. It's how a person / company deals with them that makes the difference between a bad builder and a good one.

Ryan

Unknown wet areas on our brickwork!

I noticed these patches a little while ago but a neighbour emailed me today as well with a concern. Is it possible to have a water leak that comes through the brickwork?

See photo and let me know what you think? One wet area located near weep hole and the other more obvious to the left of the future hot water service.

All i can think of is that the guys who put the cabinetry in missed the stud and screwed through a pipe? It makes sense considering the wet areas appeared roughly the same time the water was turned on!

Getting Ready for PCI

I asked for help the other day on Homeone forum on what i should do at PCI. Some helpful members linked me a PCI Checklist that can be purchased for a small cost. I purchased the document and found it very helpful and will definitely be taking it to my inspection.

We have our Independent Inspector also looking at the house by himself the day before. That way they can do their job without distraction and provide me with a report to take to PCI. 

From what i've already seen of the house. There's not to much that needs to be done. Just tidy up here and there. Only items of concern for me at the moment are the gaps / seals around window frames.

But like most things, should be fixable. 

Some random snaps.

Some things that need attention.

  

One month to go

We were meant to have handover on the 5th June but unfortunately that has been pushed back by around 2 weeks - so that means we have around a month to go and then we will be in our lovely new home!

Today we had luck when visiting the house we found a door opened so got to sneak in again for another look and its great to see how close to finishing it is!

The front is getting closer to being finished :)

Splashback & range hood installed!

Checkout the reflection on the splashback!

Main ensuite:

Can't wait to see our staircase stained:

Family bathroom (loving the large mirror!):

 Our house in the background :)

Quick Night Shot of the house

The house is nearly complete.

Garage still has a list of items to be completed on it.

Facade items need painting, etc. (but its getting there!)

Pre-wiring Home Theater System

I've never been to big into the A/V scene. I'm the type of guy when it comes to audio visual equipment that i want it to be simple, fast and reasonable quality.

So when the opportunity came to pre-wire my new home. I decided i would, as it would allow to 'future' proof the theater room and provide a clean look when the speakers are installed.

I opted for a 5.1 pre-wire as i believed that with the technology at the time, 5.1 Channels would be sufficient. Then seemingly out of the blue, Dolby Atmos has come.

Now with these new technology, you can have 5.1.2 and greater systems. essentially the new audio standard allows for a new sound experience adding in elevation to provide extra depth of sound.
Generally i wouldn't be to phase, but for some reason this new sound type really has me intrigued.

It will be very difficult to retrofit ceiling speakers (although not impossible) into our down stairs theater room. As long as i can get between the floor joists, i should be able to pass a cable along the plaster line and somehow feed it down the wall.

Either way, if your planning on pre-wiring your home, ensure to include at least 2 extra forward or rear ceiling cable runs to future proof for the next decade.

Downstairs Timber Floors Laid!

Drove past the house last night to see some minor progress made. The timber floors are down!

Photo is not the greatest as it was take through the front door window.

They still have to paint the stair case and the plaster wall under it hasn't even had its base coat yet! Better not get any paint on my floor.

Some other random photos.

A drain thats way to low to the ground compared to the height of other downpipe heights.

Some random termite guard stuff thats been laid around the house. in some areas its fully exposed, it others buried. 

Haven't reported this yet, but its going to be a shitstorm when i do. My gutter is hitting next doors gutter. Which means my house is partly built over the boundary line. 

Scratched and partly dislodged downpipe.

Just got to keep telling myself it will all get sorted. My Independent Inspector is going to have a field day.

Damaged Brickwork

After My Last visit, i noticed that in order for the forgotten 3 phase wiring to be pulled through from the garage, the sparkies decided to break some bricks in the garage roof in order to pull the cables through.

Whats the chances that if i don't let Porter Davis know they wont proactively repair it. Nice sized holes to allow rodents and birds into the wall to chew everything.

Also noticed the articulation joint hasn't been filled in behind the roof truss before installation......

Quick Update

Just a quick visit last night to see the exterior of the house. Noticed the Sparkies finally installed the 3 Phase Power Point that I've been asking for. Nice little 20amp Junction Box has been installed.

The roof on our garage is 95% complete as well. They had trouble getting the the garage completed on time.

Front Pillars have been pre rendered and undercoated!

From what i can tell, most of the electrical has been completed. Although i wont know if anythings missing internally until next inspection. The downlights at the front of the house need adjusting. They are not centered at all to what they should be according to the plans.

A sneak peak inside!

So today we were lucky to find a door unlocked to our house so we got to have a sneak peak inside. I just want the next few weeks go quick so that we can move in already :)

I'm so happy to see our paint choice up on the walls and I couldn't be happier - where we got to do our colour choice the light was horrible and made it hard to know if the colour i choose was going to be grey enough for what I wanted.

Upstairs area:

Master bedroom:

Tiling has also started with all floors done and only the walls left in our ensuite to go. (I'm loving our colour choice :))

Laundry:

Downstairs bathroom:

Family bathroom:

Upstairs toilet:

Ensuite:

 Ensuite tile - which will cover the whole room floor & walls:

Most of the upstairs electrical fit out had also been done with most of the down lights left to do downstairs. Hopefully things keep moving along nicely so that we do hit the handover date by the end of May :)