Day 72 - 23/04/2012 The brickies have completed most of the downstairs and the scaffolding is due to arrive later this week for the final bricks to be laid upstairs. Electrical roughing has started and most of this has been completed. The plasters are due to arrive next week. The bricks have come up nicely with the guys working on the house leaving the bricks relatively clean and free of excess mortar, I suppose this means less cleaning later on. We have started the process of looking for timber flooring which is going to be a nightmare considering all the different types of timber there is on the market. We have already secured our source of Merbau decking at a very good price in fact the best price we could find, from a company called JTR Timber www.jtrtimber.com.au  in Melbourne with all lengths in excess of 4 meters, which is the best for larger areas. The site supervisor advises there will be a site clean before the plasters start. To date Mainvue have been great and the site has been kept fairly tidy, unlike other building sites you see. They have protected the windows with a goo covering which has helped protect the window panes from falling mortar. We have continued to receive regular updates from the office and our site supervisor.

Day 64 - 15th of April 2012, the brickies have been on site and have finished the bottom floor, we have selected an Austral Brick - Chocolate colour with natural rolled mortar. We are a little concerned that the mortar is a little dark, but time will tell once it has a chance to dry.  We are hopeful that the the mortar will dry to a lighter colour, as it has done in places on top of several bricks. We are quite happy with the overall colour of the bricks, going well both the timber windows and Aluminum windows we have down the side of the house. Lots of activity inside the house with the carpenter in straightening walls getting them ready for plastering. We expect the house will soon be at lock up which means no access to our own  house without a chaperon.

Day 52 - 2nd of April 2012. Not much has happened on site this week, apart from a meeting with the hydronic heating plumber where we went through radiator locations throughout the house. We made a few modifications to sizes and locations of the radiators given certain restrictions on window height and so forth. Our site supervisor was very accommodating, offering to make small modifications to ensure the radiators fit.   We can understand why Mainvue have decided not to pursue hydronic heating  given its complexity. The roof guards have been removed and all the upstairs windows have been installed. We have been told the bricklayers will be on site this Wednesday, hopefully to make a start.