We bought with that in mind. We wanted to live in this area, found a house in the right location that had sufficient features for us to work with. We were downsizing and when we came to the open home we pretty much said right place, near enough right price, right aspect (north facing) and then we both looked at each other and said big deck and those windows go, ranch slider instead. Once we moved in we tweaked.
Did you find any interesting things in the sand when the builders started digging. I cannot do any ground work with out turning up something interesting. Biggest was a bedstead and old roofing iron but lots of old toys, marbles and heaps of old bottles and broken glass. I suppose in the old days they just buried stuff rather than take it to the tip.
just rocks. Nothing interesting at all. But I do remember the previous owner saying the bit the house sits on is where they used to do their gardening so not likely to have lots of buried stuff in it I guess. Time we caught up for coffee...
Looking good. We were lucky to have a good size north facing deck already installed when we bought our place. What type/brand of windows did you get? Replacing our single glazing with double is in the long term plan. Cheers Clint
We went with a local aluminum joiner. Wellington windows and doors. Seems a good product. My experience is to look around and ensure they understand what you want and are prepared to commit to a timeline for production. Usually 4 to 6 weeks.
I came home from work early today, spent the afternoon in my chair on the inside of the new sliding door. What a difference it makes. Nice to see a plan coming together.
If you have wooden windows, it pretty cost effective to fit 'insert' type aluminium joinery. 'Retro' glazing of wooden sashes is a waste of time IMHO. Still need to paint and draughtseal etc.... If you already have aluminium single glazed, it's not always ok to double glaze it, as the hinges, stays, rollers may not cope with double the weight of glass long-term.
It's a great time of year to bask in the sun behind a bit of north facing glass Cheers, we already have Aluminium, would be going for complete replacement of the window units. Just 1 big sliding door like MrKiwi's & 5 windows. Sealing out the bugs is a major consideration here too. Clint
Our place has wooden windows, hook and peg type old school, and the house is only 20 years old. They do look nice and due to the non sealing, condensation isn't a factor like previous houses with aluminium window's I like them, don't like the varnishing .
The last couple of days has been fabulous weather, which leads to a scenic back gate as the sun sets. Tonight, about 10 minutes after the sun sank below the western hills...
Clint, look at the construction of the joinery, the cheaper units have a thermal path (through the one piece aluminium sections) from inside to outside, the better units are thermally broken so the inside and outside are insulated from each other. Given your temperatures have a look at the thermally broken units, applies to the rest of you lot that live over the other side of the Bombays.... Single glazed timber joinery has an R (thermal resistance) of 0.19, single glazed aluminium a R = 0.15, double glazed aluminium R = 0.26, thermally broken double glazed aluminium R = 0.31, if you get into low E glass the R value gets up to 0.4. You actually get better thermal performance out of a timber frame with double glazing (up to R = 0.5) but cost usually makes people need a lie down. Mr Kiwi, the renovations are looking good, what a transformation, makes Wellington almost seem appealing!
Crikey a lot has happened since I last posted an update. Will take some more pics this afternoon, about to head home. Will load them up. The house is coming along nicely. The north facing deck view is looking good, still have window trims and detail to do and the decking will not be laid until all that is done. The builders starting putting up the cedar on the front of the house and weatherboard around the garage door.
Excuse the trailer in the way, here's a progress shot of before and after from the front of the house view. Painting is the next step. White trims.
One day soon I promise to post more pics of bike riding but in the meantime more house renovation pics... It was the turn of the master bedroom to get some attention. Out with the old window and in with the new. Since along this side of the house we are close to the neighbours we went for a reflective tint to reduce visibility from outside in but not inside to out. This south facing wall is part of the original shack when first built and has no insulation in the wall. So we got the builder to strip the inside wall lining, reinsulate and up goes the new drywall. After two nights in the caravan it was nice to move back into the master bedroom albeit until the plasterer comes. Have to say the room is both a lot warmer and scarily quiet. Love it.
