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Build Week 35 - I shot the gap while the sun was out to take these pics, but there have been some stuck in the mud moments in the last few weeks, with bad weather slowing down a lot of exterior work and access to crew. It has been a highlight to see glass go in in the lounge corner window and kitchen sliders. The big double glazed panes lay in wait in the lounge as the builders resolve a tricky flashing detail where the sliders will run over the outside of the cladding.

There’s a new white length of flashing running over the top of the concrete wall (which you can see in the staircase pic above.)

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Build Week 34 -  Well a few weeks have passed without update, and little obvious exterior progress, but all under floor / in wall plumbing and wiring is complete. The large glass sliding door frames and large corner window frames have arrived but are still awaiting their glass before final installation (you can see them perching in the lounge pic above.) 

We’ve got a bit of catching up to do in the new few weeks with the hope that we can move in (camping style upstairs) in July... so wish us fine wall lining and luck!

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Build Week 31 - A few more windows and a lot more cladding later. We are much closer to being closed in! 

The soffit is starting to go up, wrapping the underside of the upper level in the same macrocarpa shiplap as you see on the outside face.

The studio door is installed, looking very sophisticated in its charcoal powdercoat.

Hoping for the big glass sliders and lounge window next week! 

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Build Week 30 - Why yes, that is our new macrocarpa shiplap cladding, glowing at golden hour. picture credit goes to our A++ builders who have been keeping us posted on the moments we’ve all been waiting for this week.

Stacks of mac are lined up in the kitchen to complete the upper floor cladding and soffit (external ceiling) above the decks. The mac will also run inside the house, where the intersection of the upper floor is visible from the kitchen... this is another moment that we’ll be writing home about when the time comes.

Windows on the upper level are almost all installed bar a few, including a lovely tall number that stands at the top of the stairs (stairs - still to be built), as a light well to the ground floor.

The big door sliders for the ground floor entry to the house are lying in wait for their glass and installation. With this complete early next week, we will be all closed in!! 

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Build Week 29 - More colour steel goes up, almost completing the roofing, and starting to clad the flanks of the kitchen.

Windows lie in wait upstairs, but our attention still lies with the sunny deck, a warm coloured (for now) Vitex - a sustainably sourced Solomon Islands hard wood, which will silver off over time while staying straight as an arrow. 

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Build Week 28 - While we move concrete rubble, X2DZ is looking pretty fresh with new decking being laid.

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Build Week 27 - Just some wrapping paper this week while we wait for doors and windows to be fabricated. As small a milestone as this work appears it’s the first time we experience the rooms as ‘enclosed’ except where there are window openings. You can see the high windows x 2 on the upper level, one in the bedroom and one in the studio, NE facing for morning sun, without too direct a line of sight inward, from neighbouring houses.

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Build Week 26 - Our crew shot the gap in the weather, and pinned on this lovely looking lid! Just in time for what appears to be winter .... before autumn.

Also featured are our new steel cross braces completing the structural bracing inside the Lounge Window and Verandah, and the triangular pop-up roof over the internal staircase, which acts as a light well to the ground level.

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Build Week 25 - We are ready more than ever for a roof.

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Build Week 24 - ...  Another week of interior wall framing, lots of strapping and a beautifully defined entry and now we are roof ready!

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Build Week 23 - We are roof-ready! The final steel frame arrived last week to complete the studio floor and perch it beautifully on the concrete entry landing.  There’s a new and lovely moment of shade on the verandah at the bottom of the concrete steps, framing what may one day be a nice patch of grass beyond.

We caught these photos in great Sunday sunshine, but our weather is increasingly temperamental... here’s hoping the rain holds out long enough to put a lid on this bad boy this week!

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Build Week 22 - The top floor wall framing is in progress and the lower level roof framing is complete! To complete the top level floor framing we are waiting on a steel section which adjoins the concrete landing.

Amazing to see our vista cropped in new ways through the top level window framing.

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A few bonus pics for Build Week 21, because it deserves it.

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Build Week 21 - Well after a weekend away, we just got back into town in time to catch this teenage house build in some magical light, and experiencing a major growth spurt.

Scaffolding has been erected around the perimeter to allow the build crew to start the 2nd level framing. 

New Steel arrived this week, and it was a momentous moment to see the Galv pipe holding the house over the edge of the slope and fitted to the concrete footings below.

We are starting to get a feel for the intersections of the two wings on the interior, and with a 2nd level subfloor complete we could look out over Island Bay from our future bathtub. 

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Build Week 20 - Has been all about access and completing the last concrete pour of the job! And didn’t it scrub up nicely!

 38 new concrete steps, and a concrete path outside the kitchen on the North side, makes the X2DZ feel pretty firmly grounded. 

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Build Week 19 - Well the cyclone went easy on us here. Even got a little waterblasting of our own done, to expose the aggregate on the entry staircase concrete work!.... other than that, not much to report until Week 20.

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Build Week 18 - With a cyclone on it’s way tomorrow, we’re pretty stoked to have all new concrete poured and set today!  

The crew have boxed up and poured concrete steps and landing at the house entry (although there’s one more flight of steps still to pour) as well as a concrete floor slab in the cubbys of the retaining wall. With some plywood down on the framing we’ve been able to get a teaser of the view from the upstairs bathroom. This means on a good day, that the mountain ranges of the South island are clear and blue on the horizon. 

Fingers crossed that the cyclone spares us any damage... if we had hatches to batten we would, but we’ll have to keep an eye on things as the X2 gets exposed to a whole lot of rain and wind this week. The upside is our crew gets a rest? :/ :) :/