Thread: Southern Tablelands Shipping Container Build

The plumber returned today and installed all the kitchen, bathroom vanity, toilet, shower and laundry tub plumbing. It is all usable now (except the shower which needs the hot water tank electrical work done.) It seems a bit unreal to have a functioning bathroom! I love my unusual shower rose and shower shelf!

The bathroom ceiling needs painting, the shower screen installed, the light and extractor fan installed (when the electrician return on the 18th), and a little bit of detailing and then it is complete!

I plan to move in after the 18th and before the 28th when I have to vacate my rental flat. There is still quite a bit of gyprocking, plastering and painting to do but once I'm living there I should manage to get it done much more quickly. I feel confident that everything will be complete by the end of the year.

Bathroom vanity
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Stainless steel shower shelf
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Rain shower head
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Laundry tub will be enclosed with washing machine in a cupboard
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Kitchen sink installed and functioning
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Kitchen box beam is now painted
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Bathroom ceiling needs sanding and painting
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Learned a handy tip (from Youtube) for painting skirtings without taping: using my 30cm plastering blade I run it along the floor with the paintbrush on top. Very quick and no paint on the floor!
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Last morning of winter and mist on the dam
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"and on the seventh day he rested, for he was - knackered"

Awesome stuff, and the finishing line is getting closer !!

Thanks Bas - unfortunately he works the 7th day too!! But for about the first time I can see the finishing line.

Originally Posted by turnstiles

Learned a handy tip (from Youtube) for painting skirtings without taping.

I'd be careful in doing that. I can imagine paint getting blocked by the edge of the blade as intended, but it might find its way to the underside. The effect of gravity. Then when you go to try again a blob of paint appears on the carpet or floor or whatever. The only way to stop it would be to continually wipe the blade clean. Then if the skirting or floor isn't perfectly straight, as the blade is, then it's an opening for the paint to seep through. Though, it's a nice idea and would be worth keeping in mind.

Love the picture of your lake.

Originally Posted by ErrolFlynn

I'd be careful in doing that. I can imagine paint getting blocked by the edge of the blade as intended, but it might find its way to the underside. The effect of gravity. Then when you go to try again a blob of paint appears on the carpet or floor or whatever. The only way to stop it would be to continually wipe the blade clean. Then if the skirting or floor isn't perfectly straight, as the blade is, then it's an opening for the paint to seep through. Though, it's a nice idea and would be worth keeping in mind.

Love the picture of your lake.

Because I painted the skirting before I siliconed it where it meets the tiles, the tiny gap was big enough for the blade to slide a little underneath. Didn't have any issues with leaking paint! It certainly is a lot quicker than taping - and Ive had paint leak under tape!! The trick is to keep the blade moving with the brush. I could do about 2 metres at a time before I had to stand up (can't crouch for long in my advancing years!) and then I'd give the blade a quick wipe.

Yes the dam can be quite scenic at times. When it's still it's like a mirror.

Also I've just now booked a truck to move, so my first night (ever) sleeping in the new house will be the night of Sept. 21st. Really cannot wait Countdown begins!!

The electricians came on Monday and finished all of the electrical work. All of the lights, switches and power-points are operational and so too is the hot water tank. (Electric heat pump)

The bathroom still needs a cupboard built around the laundry tub and washing machine, plus an architrave (ughh...unavoidable because of the cavity door) but it is pretty much complete and usable.

Such a great feeling to be at this stage
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Lights for over the kitchen island
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Main bed ceiling fan
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2nd bedroom fan
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Hallway halo light
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Kitchen still needs the oven, fridge and kickboards to go in
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Bathroom from kitchen
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Bathroom from 2nd bedroom
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There's a pattern forming!! 😆
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Warm early Spring mornings - out on my morning walk before starting work
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A couple of questions about your experience there, if I may. The house seems relatively remote. Off gird, presumably.

1. what have your experiences been with the toilet? When the property was simply a piece of virgin land with hardly a tyre track, what did you do? Dig a hole in the ground or did you go for something better? Did you try many products along the way? The thing is, I’ve just bought a property that has no services and this aspect of life has me very curious.

2. Are you off grid for electricity? What do you have, if it’s easy to relate? Number of panels, power output, battery capacity, etc. Cost.

Originally Posted by ErrolFlynn

A couple of questions about your experience there, if I may. The house seems relatively remote. Off gird, presumably.

1. what have your experiences been with the toilet? When the property was simply a piece of virgin land with hardly a tyre track, what did you do? Dig a hole in the ground or did you go for something better? Did you try many products along the way? The thing is, I’ve just bought a property that has no services and this aspect of life has me very curious.

2. Are you off grid for electricity? What do you have, if it’s easy to relate? Number of panels, power output, battery capacity, etc. Cost.

Hey EF - yup totally off grid!

1.

When I first bought the land I had no toilet - so a tree windbreak was a temporary substitute! But within a few weeks I found this chemical camping toilet (online):
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and toilet tent (Aldi):
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And as I had containers I had it inside - too windy at times for the tent outside.

It suited me for years, mind you, as I was renting 30 minutes away I didn't have to use it that often. I think I only needed to empty it once a year.


2.


Yes, off grid for power too (how overjoyed was I last week to pay my final electricity bill ever!!)

I have a 3.2KW solar panel set up with a 5KW inverter plus a 5KW Lithium Ion battery.
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I did a huge amount of research and got around 7 or 8 quotes I think it was. It came down to 3 serious ones (2 came out to the property) but some gave a vague "you'd be looking at somewhere between $30-40,000 mate....)

Two of the three quoted both around the $25-27,000 range and came with a lead acid or gel battery.

The third is a Victorian company called Home | Commodore Australia and they quoted $12,900 WITH a lithium Ion battery! Needless to say I went with them!!

The package came with: 8 X 400W panels, inverter, battery, pre-made circuit board, delivery AND included $2,500 for the installer He came from 5 hours away and stayed overnight in a motel! The company only has a few installers in NSW. If I had found my own it may have been cheaper. I had to build the panel stand - but you can find kits etc online.

I spoke with the owner of the company when obtaining the quote and he went through a solar calculator with me to determine how much I would need.

Hope this is helpful.

Turnstiles

Your house is coming up a treat.

3.2Kw sounds a little bit light on (no pun intended). Time will tell when you are living there full time. As you have a 5KW inverter, I expect you can add panels. Possibly the same amount again as you can imagine it is only under optimal conditions that they will deliver their rated capacity.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Turnstiles

Your house is coming up a treat.

3.2Kw sounds a little bit light on (no pun intended). Time will tell when you are living there full time. As you have a 5KW inverter, I expect you can add panels. Possibly the same amount again as you can imagine it is only under optimal conditions that they will deliver their rated capacity.

Regards
Paul

Thanks Paul - at last I can see the finish in sight! Re: solar - as you would know, it isn't a 'one size fits all' and so far I have now been living here for more than a week, with a mixture of cloudy and sunny days and so far haven't come near 50% use of the battery. It's been a regular week and the only thing I haven't used is the oven. But I rarely bake and if I do it will be during the day most of the time.

But as you said, if I find I am running short I can add more panels and/or buy another battery (they are really coming down in price). I don't have air-con or electric heating and there is only me in the house. So I am hopeful (for the time being at least) that I have sufficient solar for my needs.

CHeers,
Terry

Nice to hear you’re getting so close to moving in, but no mention of an Occupation Certificate. Are you required to get one ? If so it may be good to exercise some caution in terms of making move-in plans.

When I finished our OB I was sure that everything was in pass mode, but when the Certifier turned up for the OC he went immediately to the staircase with a ruler, and determined that the lowest stair riser was 10mm too high. This happened because we made a late change to the choice of downstairs flooring material. We had no choice but to demolish the lower flight of stairs and rebuild them. They can be picky, although beyond that he hardly looked at anything else.

I expect you’ve already taken care of it, but if not be cautious.

Originally Posted by Arron

When I finished our OB I was sure that everything was in pass mode, but when the Certifier turned up for the OC he went immediately to the staircase with a ruler, and determined that the lowest stair riser was 10mm too high. This happened because we made a late change to the choice of downstairs flooring material. We had no choice but to demolish the lower flight of stairs and rebuild them. They can be picky, although beyond that he hardly looked at anything else.

I'm sure plenty of other members have had similar experiences with building inspectors.

Your reference to the inspector going straight to your stairs reminds me of one of my ancient joys with a building inspector who went straight to a balustrade around a stairwell, which I'd made from scratch with mildly decorative balusters and involved a fair bit of time and effort. He informed me that it was 900mm high. I agreed. He said it had to be one metre. I showed him the approved plans in the building permit and pointed to the height being 900mm. He informed me that he didn't care what the building approvals part of the same department in the council that employed him had approved, because minimum height was one metre. We had a, from my point of view, increasingly fruitless discussion about what's the $#^&*@! point of getting a +^%#$*& building permit from your @&$%(*& incompetent council if they're going to approve works which you now say aren't to code? He said that's not his problem and he wasn't going to approve the balustrade until it was one metre high, because it's his job to make sure works are to to code, not to the approved plans. Like you, I had to demolish and rebuild.

Although I did give some thought to throwing the inspector over the 900mm balustrade and down the stairwell and asking him to come back when I'd rebuilt it to one metre to see if it stopped me doing it again.

Originally Posted by Arron

Nice to hear you’re getting so close to moving in, but no mention of an Occupation Certificate. Are you required to get one ? If so it may be good to exercise some caution in terms of making move-in plans.

When I finished our OB I was sure that everything was in pass mode, but when the Certifier turned up for the OC he went immediately to the staircase with a ruler, and determined that the lowest stair riser was 10mm too high. This happened because we made a late change to the choice of downstairs flooring material. We had no choice but to demolish the lower flight of stairs and rebuild them. They can be picky, although beyond that he hardly looked at anything else.

I expect you’ve already taken care of it, but if not be cautious.

Hi Arron - changes to the regulations (they are ALWAYS changing!!) means, at least in NSW, that the terms "Interim Occupation Certificate" and "Occupation Certificate" no longer apply and it is all called "Occupation Certificate".

"staged occupation of a building is still permitted. As a new development is constructed, parts may be completed and become suitable for occupancy before the overall development is finished. To accommodate this, the EP&A Act allows for an OC to be issued for part of a partially completed building."

So same thing, different name!! And so I've moved in! I have a fully functional bathroom, laundry and kitchen, and all structural work complete. I still need another Occupation Certificate when everything is complete.

My local council inspections have been, how would you say? Casual! For the hot & cold (internal plumbing before covering,) the inspector arrived had a long chat with me for half an hout about totally unrelated things, stuck her head in the bathroom door (without even going in) and said "All good. I'll issue the framing inspection while I'm here." (Because from the lounge she scanned the interior!

I hope my finasl O.C will be this easy!

Re: farcical regulations - friends of mine on QLD on 5 acres bought a property with a pool. They decided to replace the 30 year old aluminium safety railings with glass and had to jump through numerous hoops because of new regs. The pool backs onto the house so they had to seal a glass sliding door from a bedroom permanently. The glass fence had to extend one metre past a right angled junction at one point (for some reason which escapes me.)

30 metres down the paddock from the house was a completely unfenced 2 megalitre dam!!

So obviously things are different in the bush, as one would expect.

We also had a staged development, but to move into stage 1 it had to be finished in its entirety - a home within a home. Then it had to be sealed off from the unfinished portion - not just with a door but with something ‘that required tools’ to remove. Plus it had to be on separate power circuits with separate subboards so power could be off in the portion under construction while life continued in the lived-in portion.

Obviously your requirements are not enforced so strictly. Lucky you. It would not have been hard for us to manage the risks associated with the two stage build so I would not have hesitated to do it as you are.