Genesis of a Water Tank

The water tank was finished over the weekend (see the pictures below as it takes shape).  We now have 200,000 litres of storage capacity.  As of Sunday night we had 36,000 litres of water delivered.  Watch my prediction come true.  We wont get any rain now we have a tank till next winter.  The plan is to have 2 of these tanks but we may have to save for awhile to afford the second tank.

The weekend also saw the leach drains finally all in the ground and back filled.  The excavation for the shed pad was started and mostly completed.  We are hoping to do the concrete pour for the shed floor at the same time as the house this coming Wednesday.  The shed components are on site and waiting for a concrete pad to start building the shed (hopeful that we can put the shed up next weekend)

The concreter dropped around on Sunday and ran all the string lines to define the edges of the concrete pad for the house.  The plumber uses these string lines to measure the locations of the sewerage pipes for the pre-lay.  The plumbing pre-lay is happening first thing Monday morning and involves Dave the plumber and Brett with the mini excavator digging the trenches.  Lots of activity.  Hopefully Wednesday night we have a house pad.  Keep watching this space......

 Second Layer

 Third Layer

 View from down the Hill

 The final product

Water for the tank delivered

Earthworks completed

The sand pad has been completed and has passed it's compaction test.  We are now ready for the concrete pad (see timelines below).  The weekend been was spent finishing the leach drains and leveling the tank pad ready for the tank installer.  The installer started the job Saturday afternoon and will return Wednesday or Thursday to finish the tank.  We have arranged for several loads of water to be delivered so we will have water for the weekend.

The Shed

The application for planning approval for the shed was finally passed this week  with a few amendments.  Basically the shed will go where the second tank was going to go and the second tank will go North of the house.  The planning department wouldn't budge on letting us build the shed forward of the house in our preferred location so once more we had to compromise.  The plans have now gone back to council for building approval.

Concrete Pad

Work on the concrete pad starts on the 27th of October.  The concrete contractor will set up string lines to define the extents of the concrete pad.  Then Dave the plumber and I will dig the trenches and lay all the sewerage pipes.

The next day the concrete team digs out the footings. Then the termite spray people come and spray the sand under the concrete pad for termites.  Once that is done the concrete team can lay the plastic and the mesh.

Hopefully the following day they pour the concrete and we have the start of a house.

Earthworks Update

Another week of progress.  The earthworks should be finished by the end of this week.  We need about another 100 cubic meters of sand to finish the sand pad.

The leach drains are nearly finished

The trenches are completed and all the segments in the Northern trench have been inserted and back filled.  The segments for the southern trench will go in this weekend.

Another week ends

Another big week in the project.  So this week

Frame and roof truss contract awarded: we have awarded the contract for constructing the wall frames and roof trusses.  These are scheduled to be delivered around the end of October.

Earthwork update

• Cut finished,  some sand delivered

• Dirt and  rock from the cut formed into a bund to contain the sand pad and the spare rock  pitched along the front to form a retaining wall

• Driveway upgraded for truck access.

• Septic tanks and leach drain segments delivered 

• Septic tanks installed in the ground

• Much to the kids dismay the big digger left

• Tank pad sand delivered and spread

• Started moving leach drain segments from the road down the block to where they are to be installed.  We borrowed the neighbors bobcat but subsequently ran out of fuel.  Bleeding the diesel injectors on a bobcat in the rain is not what I would call a fun job.