just another few thousand bricks

The extension feels like a (windowless, roofless) room. It's amazing getting a real sense of how the space feels, although I am sure my perception will continually change. Some days the space seems big, other days I worry it's too small. Its so hard to relate to an empty cube!

The gap in the photograph above will be filled with bi fold glass doors that open onto a decked area, and then ultimately the back garden. The back garden will obviously need some work, given that at the moment it is a big puddle of mud with rubbish all over it.

The photograph below shows the doorway which will open to our courtyard.

balcony

After literally 18 months of begging Theo to pull down the balcony on Saturday afternoon I was greeted with my wish. Theo had two carpenters here and suddenly decided to declare the balcony an OH&S risk (the side panels were literally about to fall off onto our doorstep below) and dwn it came (to a captive audience of people lining up waiting to vote across the street.) I am sure the now exposed lime green walls are being admired by all and sundry.

bricks and beams

I've been a bit slack posting photos and then all of a sudden today we have some bricks and beams and bearers (and almost some temporary floors!)

I love having a better sense of the space we'll be working with in the extension. I'm even thinking of breaking out the sidewalk chalk and marking out where the kitchen will sit, and a proposed couch location. The boys are out there at the moment putting down some chipboard so we can walk around and play house. Exciting!

Concrete

Last week, after hours of George's digging, we were finally ready to pour the concrete that will be the base of the footings for the back extension.

I really like the KEEP OUT sign. Very homely. Martha Stewart would be proud.

In case you've never seen a concrete pump in action, here's a little video for you.

Next will be the bricklayer and I have a feeling that kind of work will be exciting to see. To me bricks mean that something is really happening. Like walls.

In other news I am trying to track down a person or company who restores old staircases. Any Sydney recommendations would be appreciated.

Bounty

I forgot to mention something BIG in the previous post. George dug up a gun an a helluva lot of ammunition. It was buried under the concrete floor of the shed he ripped up, which makes me think it was used for some kind of killing spree. This is the video he took of his discovery. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack which I think was just whatever was on the radio at the time.

Anyway, we put the gun in a box and dragged it with us everywhere we went between Thursday and Sunday night, when we finally made it over to Balmain Police Station and handed it in. It was very dramatic walking into the police station with a big box and announcing "We've got a gun" but once the cop eyeballed it he wasn't too worried. We were kind of hoping they would decide to come and excavate the back yard to look for more evidence of crime, thus saving us the hassle of doing it ourselves*.

Sadly this was not to be, but the cop did say that he would do some kind of criminal record search for previous occupants of our address, and then they're probably melt the gun down into some kind of scrap metal.

*By ourselves I obviously mean George.

Trenches

George has been busy ripping up concrete, digging trenches and painting walls with bitumen paint as you can see in the picture above.

He's kept a little bit of the original back structure as a kind of shelter for the mini fridge, power tools and the radio, but that will eventually by torn down.

This is Rahul admiring George's fine handywork.

Demolition Day #3

Not unlike the ruins at Pompeii!

Seriously, I can't believe the pace this demolition is moving at. It's all due to George, our labourer who is visiting Australia from Greece. Our communication is obviously limited, but I gave him watermelon, so I think he likes me. He also gets along amazingly well with George II (our neighbour) and I imagine he will also like George III (our brickie.)