Myles the Magnificent

Myles the Magnificent has helped us out incredibly – helping to organise the materials and delivery, spending hours and hours of his free time, and we can't even pay him off in cartons of beer!!

But yes ladies, this soft-spoken Man Mountain, six foot four of muscle is available! You already know he's good with his hands, this Virgo loves long walks on a beach (preferably in Thailand).

He's a legend, he rocks, we couldn't have done this without him.

James the Apprentice

James the 2nd year apprentice is helping Myles (and us) with the sheeting and the battening. He's also copping a lot of flack by virtue of being the youngest on the ground. The young Kiwi getting used to the Australian sense of humour... doesn't understand it, but is at least getting used to it!

we have WALLS! OMG!!

Oh. My. God. All in the one weekend, the wiring practically finished, the insulation done (and itched), and the first sheets started! We have some walls!!

Now the walls and ceilings being out by 20mm, and the hardwood, and the extra battening required has meant a whole lot of extra work and extra time unfortunately (for Myles). We're just rapt we have some walls!! A lot of work... and a lot of patience by Myles. He's our hero :D

animals inside and out!

remnants of the snakeskin found in the rafters - most likely just a fun-loving python who loves giving hugs

and then we heard our first local Kookaburras on the telephone pole outside... so we're looking forward to moving in and cultivating our own feathered friends' feeding station (like mum and dad's whistle stop)

... then the insulation

Myles the Magnificent attacked the insulation with enthusiasm and virtually completed it single-handedly... or was it that he wanted to save the really itchy stuff for Drew to finish off at the end?? Hmm... not so silly, huh Myles!

finishing the wiring...

of course, though, you need the right tools (not officially sponsored by Makita) and the right people... many thanks to John the Data Guru and James the Gifted for their time and expertise in making sure it all is correct!

2.5km of cable was it?

lighting and power and feeds, oh my!

um... could we have fit more bits through the switch plate?
In the background is the new sliding door to the bathroom.
The electrical wiring is well underway now. Progress! yay!

ah, the power!

Drew's area of expertise finally gets utilised and underway! A good start on laying the cables for lighting and power and all the other tricky bits that go with electrical work. Drew was happy to finally get rid of the last vestiges of home handyman Hilary with his dodgy electrical work!

Drew time!

Moving the bathtub and holding up the laminated beam really took it out of Drew. Ahhhh... time for a Kilkenny or two!

The beam now supports the extra opening we cut out between the kitchen and the dining/living room area. More open and more inviting. Much better!

terrazzo gone... bath gone!

A lot of hard work by Drew to break up the terrazzo and concrete (with chicken wire)... blood and sweat, but no tears!

And then the bath... the heavy cast iron bath... had to be dragged out of there (but not by me!)

Whew!

the demolition continues

So now all the walls and ceilings are ripped out and all the plaster was placed into a 12m3 mini-skip... which took up three-quarters of the skip! After loading the carpet there was a bit of room left over for some timber, but not everything! So a few trips to the dump still ahead.

Now there's more hard work ahead before we can re-sheet - insulation, re-wiring in total, moving a wall, removing a wall, buying the bathroom bits, getting the plasterer to measure up and us to buy all the hardware and materials. Fun times ahead!!