Mandy Knebel's Journey

 Whoop whoop the house is now clad! It does seem to have taken a while but to be fair the weather has not been kind to the roofers and cladders. We chose to use Corrogate Coloursteel in Ebony colour, we chose this as it matches our existing granny flat onsite and it good on the budget. Thank you Nikky Noble and the team from NYC roofing, a good job well done. Cladding complete (Drone shot supplied by Gary Phoenix) We even have most of the spouting on just a little bit to go on the porch. Our water tanks have been re installed as well, it has been all go! Thanks JVO plumbing! If you have read my previous blogs you may well remember that the heavy rains popped our tank out of the ground.  But finally after a bit of work  and discussions our insurance company came to the party and covered the cost thankfully, so we only had to pay the excess.  So the tanks were re dug up and fully re instated. Not that the insurance company have paid yet but that will be a phone call to...

Picking the right windows was a really important decision for us to create a warm and healthy home. The windows we went with are designed to reduce heat loss and prevent drafts, creating a comfortable living environment for us and our family. We chose Reynaers Masterline 8  which are German windows, although we bought them through Fabian from N H Design and project management Limited. Installed window #1 (exterior view) Having thermally broken airtight windows installed in your new build can have many benefits. Not only will you save money on heating costs, but you will also create a healthier living environment. These windows are designed not only to prevent drafts but also to reduce the amount of pollutants entering your home, making it a cleaner and more comfortable place to live. No more crying windows for us! Interior view of the first 2 windows installed. As you probably can guess the installation of these windows are not like your typical Kiwi window installation. Although...

We opted to use FPS, Frame Protection Systems to wrap the house, we chose this system as its watertight and breathable.  Frame Protection System, FPS® Weathertight®™ system is a comprehensive roof and wall underlay system for timber and steel frame, panel and prefab building elements, providing both interim and permanent weather protection plus moisture control within the wall or roof structure. FPS® Weathertight™ is certified to allow internal work to proceed to completion before the roof and wall cladding are installed. You can purchase the products from ITM and possible other similar companies. We dealt directly with FPS as we want to make the house airtight and they were really keen to give us the training needed so we apply the products correctly. (I believe FPS is Passive House certified.) FPS is  weathertight and UV guaranteed for 3 months. So we have to have the house clad within the 3 month window but at least it is weathertight to work on! This pic below, the roof is...

  We have done a lot since my last post. All the wall panels and all the roof panels are up.  It looks like a real house now! The walls although took a lot of manpower (and also the use of a hyab for some of the panels, ) went up reasonably well. However the roof was not a simple procedure and at one stage I made an urgent phone call to Rod from Sips Direct as we had a problem getting one of the roof panels in place before the foam and glue went off, we had to remove the glue and foam and start over fitting that panel and same thing happened the second time round only it was stuck fast half in place but not fully in tight! So it was not in or out and not going to budge!Thats when the urgent call to Rod came in and thankfully Rod sent  his worker Liam straight over to help us out. Gav and Liam managed to sort it out even though it took most of the morning to sort that panel and put it securely in its place. Liam stayed the rest of that day, having his experience  was ...

Sips Panels Going Up and Moving Full Speed Ahead Thanks to our mighty team of helpers last Saturday, we got all these panels up, I wish I had taken a group photo of of all of us! Aidan, Tane, Matt, Tim, Gary, Morag and Lor.. All legends we could not have done this with out you guys! Massive thanks. Gary came over on the Sunday with his drone and created this wee video masterpiece, he even put music to it, very impressive!   Check it out. more to come very soon

                    Time to put up our SIP panels....... DAY 1 The day finally came and we have started to put our walls up. This drone shot was taken just before all the panels arrived. The framing layed out in the pic below is some of the internal frames that Gav has made up ready so when wall panels are up there is no wasted time in getting the internal frames up and ready to get the mid floor and roof panels on. Thanks Gary for the Drone shot! Rod Yeoman and Liam from SIPS Direct came over for the day to get us going and tweak out any teething problems.... Thank goodness as it was 100% what we needed to get us going on the right track and showing us the tricks of the trade. So now for the good bit, here is a time lapse that Gary took on day one... Thanks Gazza!! So we are on our way finally. Thankyou Gary and Tim for your help on our day one putting up our panels! Please feel free to ask any questions, we will be having an open day ...