Weekly Update - Not much to see, but......

...some stuff to report!

Progress wise, it would seem to be a bit of a slow week. However, much was accomplished despite nothing (physically) happening with the house.

First of all, it's time to take a moment to recognize some of the people who have helped significantly in helping to make our 'dream home' more of a reality. We would like to thank most of our neighbors; Tom & Faye, Ron, John & Lynn and most of all Murray & Jane for being supportive and helpful in signing letters allowing us to move the 'setback' of the house closer to the street. Additional thanks are necessary for Murray & Jane (our next door neighbors for our first 3 years and still the owners of the house next door). Thanks for signing a letter to allow us to put in more attractive and clearer windows on the second storey, so we will have a much better view of the world around us! Of course this subject to the approval form council, but with their letter, we're likely to get it through, so THANKS!

Murray and Jane's generosity is part of this update. To back track a little, due to some relatively recent council restrictions, when you build a two storey house that overlooks your neighbors on either side and into what are classified as 'habitable areas' (i.e. living spaces in the house), the windows you put in MUST BE frosted from the bottom to nearly the top, with only a clear strip at the top to see out of. This was instituted to protect the privacy of the neighbors so that people weren't able to look into private living spaces with ease. The problem with these windows (aside from being more expensive than the 'normal' windows included with your home), is that they cut down on light entering the room, and significantly lower (or in most cases) eliminate the ability to see out of them, ruining the 'view' most people expect to gain when building a two storey house. So, with Murray & Jane's help, we have asked the council for permission to install 'regular' windows on the Western side of the house for the upstairs TV area and one of the bedrooms. We're hoping to have council approval by the middle or end of this coming week.

Also this week, we spoke to our demolition company to find out when the work might get completed and we could notify Henley. They have said that they are waiting on the availability of their Tile & Roof person to come and remove the tiles and the roof trusses from the house. This is due to take place Tuesday or Wednesday (either the 29Th or 30Th of May) and then the Demo company will follow up (hopefully right away) and remove the eaves of the house and any other areas that contain asbestos. After that, all that is left is a 'knockdown & clean up job' where they knockdown the house and shed, remove any and all concrete, tree's, bushes etc. and pretty much leave you with a dirt lot! We are hoping this will be complete by the end of next week so that we'll stay pretty much on or slightly ahead of schedule and can get to the building phase!

We also checked on the installation of the Power Pit which should be taking place soon and were told that the installation work should be done in the next week or two. This should be a busy week of demolition, council (hopefully) approvals, potential power pits and other general updates. We'll keep ya posted!