The first floor framing started just before Christmas!

... and as before, it went up rather quickly..


The relatively steep slope means that we can get a view of the roof by just walking up to the next block!  Here is the framing completed, ready for the roof to go on.


Keen eyes may see some of the decks are in... the internal deck has been covered with cement sheeting (waterproofed - since it is above the home theatre room it is fairly important!)  We will have another finish on top of this, details to be confirmed later.


.. and the room under the rear deck - which will contain the water tank, hot water cylinder, and so on - has had a treated pine deck - nothing fancy.  In the picture below it had been raining which makes it look all shiny!


Both the rear deck and the lower (drying) deck have been done in Modwood - a product made of recycled plastic and sawdust!  It doesn't require lots of maintenance like a timber deck, is environmentally friendly and looks great!  The finish we have used is 'Silver Gum'.


Closeup:


Plenty of updates in the next couple of weeks, roof and cladding of course, but also bathrooms, kitchens, electrical, and more!

Time for a series of house building updates ... When I last posted about the house, I think it was still at excavation stage... well, it is well past that, but let's tackle it a step at a time! The slab was poured on 14th October!

(view from southeast and northeast, respectively) It is quite easy to recognise which rooms are where from the slab. The courtyard sticks out in the middle - notice it slopes towards the drain in the centre slightly, and (less obviously) there is an overflow drain which goes from the northwest corner to the under deck area only a couple of metres away. The only area which may not be obvious is the guest room and bathroom, which are on a floating floor extending from the side of the slab (the "empty box" on the west side). However, this photo only five days later gives it away!
It only took a couple of weeks (October 26th) for virtually all of the ground floor walls to be completed:
Nothing too surprising here - although one change was the guest bath window, which was changed from facing the neighbours block, to face the mountain (through the undercroft area).

In the photo above, you may also notice the doorway in the block wall at the back. This provides access to the under-deck area with the water tank. The door was originally going to be in the western wall (from the backyard) but it was easier to do it this way as the level of the slab was closer. We decided to put a treated pine deck in there to give it more of a level floor so it can be used as a shed type area - technically outdoors, yet secure. The hot water cylinder has also been relocated here from the garage. I expect it will become a dog sleeping area as well, especially in the colder months!

From here, things progressed quickly.  By mid-November, all the walls downstairs (including the concrete block wall next to the garage) and most of the floor joists for upstairs had been done:


A week later, they were all done (the front ones were waiting on the steel beam across the top of the garage door):


Notice the joists in the middle which are perpendicular to the rest - this is the internal deck area.  They are aligned the other way so that rain run-off from the deck will fall into the courtyard area.

By early December, the flooring for the upper level was complete:


Note both decks and the stairway sticking out here!

This step was important as we could now determine whether or not we have a water view!  (we are not quite on the top of the hill, so while the southern view of the mountain is amazing, the northern view is.. well, if you stand in the right spot, peek between the neighbours houses and the trees, and squint.. you can just see the Derwent River.  I'm going to count that!)

To be continued!

I've been meaning to do this every night for the past three weeks... well, here it is!

This is the view from the front-right (south east) of the house - the last one was taken on July 21!

... and now, the top soccer stories in Tassie newspapers today:

The Examiner - "Launceston may host Harry Kewell".
The Mercury - "FFT investigates brawl".

Just another example of how biased The Mercury is.

Still not convinced?

Of the thirteen top stories in the Mercury soccer section, six are about the "racial abuse" issue (the rest are local club news and match results).  However, in that time period (19 June - 8 July), The Mercury has also published articles about soccer workshops during World Refugee Day ("Kicking off a new life", 26 June) and an update on the Tassie A-League bid ("Tassie A-team in the pipeline", 30 June).  Why aren't these articles included?  Too positive?  Don't they suit The Mercury's point of view?

This isn't unique to the Tasmanian media - it happens all across the country, sometimes it is subtle, often it is patently obvious.  In any case, nothing is going to change if we stay silent!

So not only do we have Hawthorn and North Melbourne playing matches in Tassie - the latter due to a fair bit of effort from Hobart City Council Alderman Marti Zucco - but it seems now he is trying to get Melbourne Storm to play in Hobart.

This seems strange to me - an NRL team, instead of an A-League team, for a few reasons - first, Tasmania is certainly not known as a rugby league stronghold - it would be the #3 or #4 football code in Tassie.  Second, because Marti Zucco is Italian - and although generalisations about a person due to their heritage are not always correct, he is very proud of his roots.


Dear Mr Zucco,

I'm writing to you since you have been in the media recently, due to your actions in trying to attract national club sporting events to the state - not only the AFL games at Bellerive Oval, but also about the announcement last week of a possible NRL pre-season game at North Hobart Oval.

As you may know there has been an A-League pre-season match (featuring Melbourne Victory) each July for the past five years at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, generally drawing 5000-8000 spectators.

It would be fantastic to see a similar event in Hobart.  For the coming A-League season (October 2011-March 2012), Football Federation Australia has marked five matches to be played at a "regional venue - TBC".  I've contacted both Cricket Tasmania and Launceston City Council about the possibility of hosting one of these but have not received a response.  Going by the enthusiasm you have shown in drawing AFL and NRL matches to Hobart, I hope you would have a similar interest in negotiating an A-League match.

It would be great to get to the stage where there are regular matches in Tasmania by Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Heart or even the Melbourne Rebels super rugby team. Such events could hopefully be the precursor to the development or upgrade of a rectangular stadium - such as North Hobart Oval - in the state.

For reference the available match dates are:

• Wed 7 Dec 2011 - Sydney FC v Perth Glory
• Sun 11 Dec 2011 - Gold Coast United v Sydney FC
• Wed 14 Dec 2011 - Wellington Phoenix v Brisbane Roar
• Wed 18 Jan 2012 - Melbourne Heart v Central Coast Mariners
• Wed 25 Jan 2012 - Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets

Full fixture list: http://www.a-league.com.au/site/_content/document/00002236-source.pdf

CC:
Cricket Tasmania (events@crickettas.com.au)
Aurora Stadium (aurorastadium@launceston.tas.gov.au)
Football Federation Australia (feedback@footballaustralia.com.au)
John Boulous, (CEO Football Federation Tasmania) (CEO@footballfedtas.com.au)
Michelle O'Byrne (Minister for Sport) (michelle.obyrne@parliament.tas.gov.au)
Mark Shelton (Shadow Minister for Sport & Rec) (mark.shelton@parliament.tas.gov.au)