Despite a fair bit of rain, a lot has been happening on site and this post, and the next, are overdue!

Preparations begin on Day 53 (19 May) to kill a couple of birds with one stone. Access to the emerging house from the street has occurred from ramps laid mostly on the ground. With the lower level’s timber wall frame almost completed, it’s time to create new, easy access from the street – a bridge – to efficiently construct the upper floor. And the rainwater tank is to be delivered on Friday and since it will sit underneath the house’s upper level, the preparations to the ground it will sit on need doing now, too.

The lower level largely framed out as of Day 53. Time to start the preparations to go up….

Our carpenters-plus make quick work of the new access point. By Day 54 (Tuesday) the bridge is in place.

The new bridge as seen from above, along with the progress registered on the wall framing for the lower level.

Nathan prepares the timber ‘bottom plates’ on which the upper-level floor joists will sit on the block walls at the front of the house.

The team has a division of labour this week that enables the preparations for the rainwater tank installation to occur while the next steps are taken to frame the upper storey of the house. Nathan and Jib begin to work on the upper-level framing while Damien takes responsibility for the rainwater tank area and framing the deck next to it.

The rainwater will be used for the washing machine, toilet flushing and watering the native flora. For budget reasons, the decision was taken before the build started to cut back from 2 rainwater tanks, capturing all the runoff from the different roof planes, to just this tank, which will capture most of the runoff from two roofs but not from the third, the art studio roof.

The rainwater tank is relatively small: 1.8 m in diameter (6 ft) and 1.4 m high (4.6 ft). Made out of painted corrugated steel with a hygienic inner lining, it should last 20 to 30 years easy; empty it weighs only about 80 kg, including its submersible pump. Full though, it will hold about 3800 litres (1000 gallons US) and thus will weigh almost 4 tonnes. So what it sits on is pretty important.

Having a concrete base supporting up to 4 tonnes of rainwater is a really good idea! But no new pour is required because, utilising the advantage of foresight, the excess concrete that wasn’t used in the initial pour was deposited in the area where the tank is to go. Ian the builder is well-practised in the art of calculating how much concrete to order (and pay for)! So there wasn’t much waste that day, in fact just enough to do this tank-support job down the track.

The finishing touches on the structural support for the rainwater tank mean a layer of fine crushed rock has to be placed on top of the concrete before the tank is lowered into position. That happens on the morning of Day 56, the day before the tank arrives. And the new access bridge makes it very easy to bring it down from the footpath and literally dump it over the block wall into place. By the time your photographer arrives, it is levelled off and the team has called it a day, driven off by rain.

Ready to drop the rainwater tank in the next morning, Day 57.

Day 56, noon: grey and wet, but the progress is evident on the partial installation of upper floor joists and the area is ready for the rainwater tank delivery tomorrow.

Day 57: It’s a beautiful day and the tank is delivered by two men. Consultation occurs and the two assist our three carpenters-plus to carry the tank down the path and across the bridge and carefully lower it in position. Arriving at mid-day, your photographer sees only the result not the process!

While all this is going on, Nathan and Jib have been busy too, continuing to install the upper level’s floor joists. By the end of Friday, Day 57, the progress is excellent.

To keep going on the floor joists though, a steel beam needs to be installed by the team of Mark and Justin. Saturday, Day 58, is the day….