Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Well! Nobody told me framing up was going to be this exciting...
More drizzle and utterly freezing this morning as I popped in to see the boys on the way to school, but again, they breed 'em tough up here. Warwick and I have been having discussions about how we should protect the slab while they build on it – turns out we both knew much less than we needed to on this front. From some enquiries I managed to make yesterday (after being utterly without internet for FOUR whole days due to dead laptop – we are now proud owners of a gorgeous new iMac and no, that wasn't an expense we really needed right now...) I managed to ascertain that the slab needs to cure for 28 to, say, 50 days before it can be sealed, or before it should even have anything laid down on it in any long-term way! Warwick had ideas of sealing it asap and then putting old carpets down to protect it from tradies and their sloppy ways, but seems that our slab is a living thing and must breathe... The unevenness and white spots (effloresence – caused by salts coming out of the slab) will go on until it is damn well ready and finished curing, dependent on weather and any number of other variables. Excellent.
So after some more discussion, we decided that all we can do is put carpets down wherever anyone needs to work on it, then roll these up at the end of the day to let the slab inhale and exhale again, in its own little Byron Bay way. Tradies must be SUPER careful, and with a lot of luck it wil be in half-decent condition by the end of construction and won't require grinding before we finally seal it (and the bloody thing can just hold its breath from then on). All wonderful in theory, as Waz and I yesterday sat (carefully) on the slab and decided how to approach our diva – meanwhile directly behind us, our first post-slab tradie, the termite dude, despite being instructed to 'please be careful' on arrival, throws his sharp metal toolie down on the slab with a ding and a scrape...
Onwards. Today is framing day and we shall rejoice. Snuck up once at lunchtime to see what had been happening but only saw a pile of blue timber, so snuck back home again before I could be accused of spying. On my way to pick up Jem from preschool not a whole lot more seemed to have changed – what were these four grown men doing up there, anyway? Warwick had taken Ben the Apprentice out of Tafe this week so he could gain some valuable life lessons in real, proper-like framing – I overheard him saying on the phone to Ben's supervisor that they probably won't do anything like this job for a couple of years, so it would be well worth his while, and the supervisor seemed to agree. (Really??)
But driving back from school not half an hour later and it was a whole different kettle of fish – suddenly we had bedroom walls! Great big, gorgeous walls, with the biggest window frames I'd ever imagined... I walked around and snapped pics (in socks on the slab) with a big goofy grin on my face – I guess the boys have seen that look before on other framing days! Can't wait to see some more tomorrow. Have I mentioned how much fun this bit is?(PS Any advice, anecdotes, third-hand recollections on the slab front gratefully received at this point...)
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| Waz through hallway wall, on the blower to the roofers – multi-task it! |
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