Decking around with a pav ... illion

[Katie]

In March, we will celebrate 10 years in our (flood-less) home, after just over 10 years in our first home. One of the wonderful delights of our first home that didn't manage to counteract its propensity to flood was a HUGE covered back deck. We could easily have 30 people on the back deck. It was such a nice deck.

A few years ago, I was getting frustrated with our small deck/patio at our current house. Cue my litany of woes:

• There's barely 2m from the back door that's under cover.
• It has a shade attached to the side of the house, but there's a gap between the house and the shade, so it's tricky to use the space if it's raining.
• Due to the small space, every time we use the table, we put it back again.
• We still have the outdoor wooden furniture (extending table and chairs) that we bought when we got our first house in 2000. I wanted to get some new furniture, maybe even furniture with cushions (the whole family's bottoms would thank us), but there seemed no point if we'd have to keep moving it every time we finished using it to protect it from being completely outside.
• I haven't been able to use the laundry door to outside ever because our second outdoor table has been up against it since we moved in.
• I'm sure I could find some other things to complain about ...

A few years ago at the school fair, I bid on a silent auction prize to get two hours of an architect's time. We discussed with her the ideas of extending our house so that the upstairs verandah could make the downstairs deck larger and fit 10-12 people easily. Basically, with the slope of our roof at the back, it would be $Squillions to do something like that. She did have many wonderful ideas for multiple zones throughout the parts of our yard for a pergola or nooks for reading ... I'm not sure a family of three needs so many spaces to get away from each other!

 

[Katie]

So, the architect's ideas were nixed.

In 2019, a local building designer posted various tips and information about Queenslander/Workers cottage renovations. The original part of our house was built in the 1920s and was a two bed workers cottage. It was extended in the 60s - you can see the "new" wood halfway through our upstairs TV room! And then it was raised and renovated in the noughties. The footprint of the house wasn't really increased with the noughties reno, and the house is about two, maybe three rooms deep. We're on a 16 perch block - around 400m2.
Back to the designer ...

In some of his posts, he talked about "pavillions" - a fancy word for a pool house that may not accompany a pool. This intrigued me; we have a large amount of grass that we don't use, maybe we add a pavillion to the yard rather than extend the house ...

So, we had some chats with the designer and his team. Plans were discussed, drawn up, and finalised around April last year. We were going to build a pavillion in the back yard, with enough space for a 12 seater table, a small seating area, a storage room, and a kitchen for the BBQ, smoker, and pizza oven.

 

[Katie]

Here's the final design:



The paved area under the verandah in the top right picture is basically our deck now.
The wee shed in the bottom left pic is already in our yard.

And this is the yard on Monday morning before the builders arrived:

The random pot in the middle of the grass is there to mark a big hole Scrub turkeys made last year when they were trying to build a mound under the lilly pillies that line the back fence. For some reason, they dug out the hole and would nestle in it and it seemed they would bathe themselves with the dirt.

We had been preparing the yard - my awesome Mum took out all the agapanthus (the left garden bed behind the retaining wall was full of them) and hippiastrums from most of the yard and is babysitting them for me. I ripped out 173m3 of mondo grass and other plants. Luckily, the papaya tree fell over after New Year; it had grown too tall to easily harvest fruit and generally the possums got to it before we could anyway.
I organised the tree loppers WAY too late, so when they can finally come on 27th Jan, my scope of work has changed quite a bit!!

 

[Buzzard]

The aggies will be fine, you couldn't kill them with a blunt axe.

 

[Katie]

The aggies will be fine, you couldn't kill them with a blunt axe.

I hope that’s the case with the ones that were left in the garden, as they’re now under golden penda and lilly pilly branches that the builders had to cut out of the way!

 

[Katie]

I am really happy to be getting rid of this washing line, even though my face doesn't seem to indicate the appropriate amount of happiness.

 

[Katie]

Monday afternoon progress. We felt very bad for any locals who would normally be in the office, but were working from home due to Brisbane's 72hr lockdown. Nine holes dug in the yard, using a big drilly thing. Then the builders had to get a jackhammer for the sandstone they found, and the tree roots! Apparently they also found the remnants of a tree stump ...


Tuesday afternoon - frame's up, concrete's in ...

 

[Katie]

Wednesday afternoon - gravel under the pavillion.



Thursday afternoon - the floor for the kitchen and storage room is laid, there in right corner. Frame starting to go up. My lovely golden pendas along the side have been really cut back, and this made me sad. I started to worry we were doing the wrong thing, and work up early on Friday morning, unable to sleep.

Mr Katie attempted to cheer me up with "Well, it's too late now".

A few discussions with the site supervisor about the BBQ, smoker, and pizza oven that we want to put in. The building designer left the kitchen area blank, as it was subject to the fittings we want. Which also meant, despite our statements to both the building designer and builder about plumbing in gas, this wasn't in scope. (Yes, we should have also ensure it was in the contract). I guess the builders thought we just wanted a sink and a bench??
At this stage, we were still planning to secure the kitchen area with a roller door (if we had a lazy night after having guests over, and didn't clean up, so we wouldn't attract pests, but also if we put a TV out there so it doesn't get nicked).

 

[Katie]

End of Week 1 - Friday



The builders left the clothesline up for me, so I could use it on the weekend. So kind.
They started laying the timber - Spotted Gum - this afternoon. It's looking nice. Mr Katie and I had a big chat in the yard this afternoon, and I'm feeling a bit better about what we're doing.



Getting ready to lay the floor/decking.


As the tree loppers aren't coming for another week and a half, the builders are cursing me and chucking the branches they've had to cut down all over what little remains of my garden. @Buzzard - there's about four aggies under those branches, so they'll be a good test for their resilience!
This big pile also gave Mr Katie a weekend project, making it possible to get to the Vegepod, Worm farm, and compost bin without walking through branches.

 

[Katie]

Week 2 - Tuesday morning

The timber is all laid. It rained on Monday, and is giving the timber a lovely shine. Almost makes you want to get out there and oil it!!

 

[Katie]

Week 2 - Tuesday afternoon - we have walls!

A small change to the kitchen area, as discussed with Mr Katie during the day. Decking has been extended slightly, and the boring looking wood isn't as wide as it was.

Much concern about gas lines, which have not been found (we have a gas stove top, and had a full gas oven when we moved in in 2011). Site supervisor is strongly suggesting to "just do gas bottles", and I'm edging Mr Katie on to not let in, as that was a bit preference for him. We've experienced running out of gas on Christmas day ... and yes, the servos are open, but why not use the gas line when it's already plumbed to your property? We may regret that in 10-20 years, but maybe by then we won't want a two storey house anyway.





To help resolve the gas dilemma, I went for a walk to visit the former owners, who raised and renovated the house from 2002-2007. Luckily they were home, and able to confirm they didn't put the gas line under the slab. No idea why we can't spot it down the side of the house. I've pored over all of their plans - they left the reno plans, everything, two lots of plans for garden renos they never did, receipts for blinds ... ! So good of them. But none of the plans have details about wiring or gas.
The former owner offered to pop over today (Weds, Week 2) to see if she can jog her memory on the exact location. Really kind of her.

(Aside: Being Brisbane, and me, with my two degrees of separation to half the population of Queensland, her daughter went to the high school that my kid is at now, and she has a good friend who I used to go to scrapbooking retreats with 15 or so years ago! )

We may have to pull out the kickboards in the kitchen to find the gas line. Our current stove is freestanding, but very close to the ground, so it's hard to see where the line goes in the 1cm gap between the bottom of it and the floor.

 

[love_the_life]

It's looking fantastic - you will get so much use from the new pavilion - fabulous!

 

[chelzmalee]

Looking good! I am in the process of building a deck out the back, should have posted it on here. Might do that once it's finished - I did take construction photos.

Keen to watch this beauty come to life!

 

[Katie]

End of week two, Friday

The roof's on, some insulation underneath, more trees/branches are gone, and gosh it's big! But we're wondering if the storage room is big enough, and continuing to have questions with the builder over the lack of design/planning for the "kitchen". They had no idea we wanted to use town gas, build in a BBQ, etc. I'm sure when I queried the lack of design with the designer, he said something about it being figured out later. I guess that's now. We certainly don't want just a plain bench!



The Lilly Pilly next to the old washing line didn't survive putting on the guttering. Hoping it will bush out ... otherwise will have to replace it with something. I guess I don't have to worry about the Penda next to it growing into it now!


Note to self: tell builders that I am trying to keep most of the trees that are currently in the yard ... my Sublime tree is under this pile of branches they've had to cut down. All my own fault (for not organising tree loppers sooner), but still.


The roof's on - Colourbond, matte silver of some kind. Showing how high it is compared to the upstairs deck!
Our block slopes down towards the house; the middle of the yard is maybe 1m higher than the back door.

 

[Katie]

One of the random historical things that our bushy Golden Pendas hid, was the old original clothesline. As in OG clothesline, before Hills thought of a Hoist.


Tree loppers found some of the line wire a few years ago when the Pendas were pruned.
The main post, but not the cross bar, is still on the other side of the yard in a garden bed. No idea why the last owners didn't pull them out of the yard.



This is the clothesline by Thursday afternoon; suffering the same fate as the Lilly Pilly for being in the way to put the scaffolds up for guttering.

Mr Katie is more upset about the clothesline being cut, and will probably ask for it to be restored if possible, than he is about any of the other garden pruning or cutting back.

 

[Katie]

End of Week 3

The progress is less dramatic on a daily basis now, plus the public holiday meant one less work day.

Highlights of the week - the fascia is up at front and back, and the slats have started to go up around the storage room.

Fascia from the back


Corner of the slats - made us wonder if parts of our house ever had been painted. We discovered when the house next door was renovated, the front of our house is white, but the other three sides are yellow!


Friday afternoon - slats are all done on the west side/facing the house. Tree branches are getting very dead around the Vegepod in the background.


The jackhammers were out on Thurs/Fri to dismantle this retaining wall and garden bed.


An unintentional victim of the garden bed work was my lemon tree. It was meant to survive the works.

Chatted to my Uncle, who's a landscape architect, about the garden on Saturday. The existing garden bed will have to go, but I'm wanting to keep the lilly pilly here on the right, and most of the other trees behind it.

In summary last week:
Some disappointments - cutting down my lemon tree. Tree Loppers were due on Weds. They arrived. The neighbours were unable to let them in to cut down the tree overhanging their yard. Fine, hopefully they can do the work that's just in our yard, I said to the lady in the office when she rang me. I get home in the afternoon to find out they didn't do the work in our yard - somehow the crew didn't get the information from the quoter to bring boarding to protect the side of the house as they carried all the branches to the front (we have maybe 1m clearance on the side - as you can see in the last photo above. 10m wide block. This happened last time I got them to do work in our yard, but they were able to get by without the equipment they didn't bring. There will be no next time for me with this business. They are booked back for Thursday this week (I've already paid a 50% deposit, but have negotiated down as the builders have now done most of the work, they just need to remove the waste). Looking at the branches piled up gradually dying is definitely affecting me. It's a small thing, but I don't like seeing it.

Disappointments for the kitchen/BBQ area - the Building Designer didn't do any details for that area. The builders thought they were building in a benchtop and sink, not plumbing in a BBQ and pizza oven, and space for a smoker egg in the bench. Mr Katie can't have the smoker he wants in the bench, or even in the pavillion. This is a really frustrating oversight for what we're spending.
We also realised the plans only allow for removing and replacing half of the pavers in the current deck area, because that area needs to be disturbed for stormwater access.
Who the flip thinks we can have a nice looking paved area with one set of tiles from 15 years ago, mixed in with a new set?? Bonkers.

Oh well, onwards and upwards. Today's the start of week 4 and Mr Katie will be sorting out all of the electrical requirements. We're allowing for three Big cough Fans (TM I believe ), lights, power for a drinks fridge, power for a TV, power for the water tank pump, charging points for recharging phones/devices, ethernet wired in ...

 

[love_the_life]

It's looking great, notwithstanding your disappointments. It's a lot bigger than I imagined when you first posted about the project.

 

[blackcat20]

One of the random historical things that our bushy Golden Pendas hid, was the old original clothesline. As in OG clothesline, before Hills thought of a Hoist.
View attachment 239299

Tree loppers found some of the line wire a few years ago when the Pendas were pruned.
The main post, but not the cross bar, is still on the other side of the yard in a garden bed. No idea why the last owners didn't pull them out of the yard.

View attachment 239300

This is the clothesline by Thursday afternoon; suffering the same fate as the Lilly Pilly for being in the way to put the scaffolds up for guttering.

Mr Katie is more upset about the clothesline being cut, and will probably ask for it to be restored if possible, than he is about any of the other garden pruning or cutting back.

Did they really just chop down your clothesline without asking!?

 

[Katie]

Did they really just chop down your clothesline without asking!?

Yes and no.

The clothesline they cut hasn’t been used in I-don’t-know-how-long. The wires for between the posts, and the cross bar of the other post, were never here since we bought the house. They cut down the classic 1950s clothesline.

At the end of week 2, as the walls were up, I could no longer raise the modern clothesline, as it overlaps with the corner of the pavillion. That was not unexpected. As I try to only wash on one day, I’ve been putting what I can through the dryer (powered by solar panels, as I keep telling myself) and hanging everything else out on air dryers on the paved area.

Post automatically merged: Feb 1, 2021

It's looking great, notwithstanding your disappointments. It's a lot bigger than I imagined when you first posted about the project.

It is rather large!

I wanted a 10-12 seat table, and that set the sizing ...

 

[Katie]

We have to choose the colour for the water tank asap. Ack!! Who knew there were so many colours possible??!!??!!

it will be the view from the laundry ... I am having crazy ideas of getting someone to do some kind of graffiti painting over the top of it anyway. Not that I’ve told Mr Katie that yet.