Transition Projects #3: The House (part 3)
Transition Projects #3: The House (part 3)
Now, where was I up to with this little project the last time I wrote to you? Ah yes, head down and tail up looking at the bottom of a stump hole. Well you’ll be pleased to hear that things have progressed quite well since then despite a few dramatic events.
The biggest drama was the discovery of not one but TWO old Chinese mine shafts at the bottom of a few of our stump holes! During the gold rush this area was full of hopeful souls from all over the world and the Chinese shafts stand the test of time due to being round, rather than square as the European shafts generally were.
We got the drilling rig in to determin the make up of the hole we had uncovered but they ran out of drill before they reached the bottom of the shaft so the engineers had to come up with a solution before we could proceed. This was duly done and work continued.
We are first time builders and have only the weekends to do our creative construction so progress is fairly slow but there are some days when it seems a milestone has been reached and we get quite excited. Laying those first sheets of flooring was one of those days (well weekends really) and the weather was so hot we just about expired! Having days like this really inspires us to keep on going, despite the heat or the frustration, despite the doubts we might have about our ability to do the task at hand.
Nothing prepared us for the next big event in our lives though and that was the bushfires which ravaged our area last Summer.
Still, once the danger passed and we recovered our spirit, we soldiered on and were elated at the next two big moments in our building adventure. We completed the construction of the internal framed walls and our straw was delivered!
Now it felt very, very real and boy were we excited that day! We arranged for a young man who lives not far from us to help us unload the truck (thanks Kai) and around 560 bales later our carport had become a haystack!
Of course, I began building our first load bearing strawbale wall that very afternoon – I was so attached to it, I felt like it was the most precious thing and had a very emotional afternoon. This had been a dream of mine for around 8 years and to be finally handling the straw that was to become my home just touched my heart in a really big way. I had no idea I would respond that way but I can tell you that the love has remained and we just adore what we are creating here weekend after weekend.
Every now and then, when we have a big task to complete – like constructing and installing a big thing like this recycled timber door frame we call on our friends and neighbours to lend a hand (thanks Charlie, Melissa and Matthew 
) This has been a real joy for us and we’ve met some amazing people in our area just because we share something like owner building and strawbale construction as an interest. This was not something we had realised was going to happen and we feel such a bond with those who have helped us create our home. It’s wonderful.
Due to certain local and State regulations there are some things we can’t do ourselves like electrical (thanks Ron), putting up the roof (thanks Shady, Rob and Neil), and stuff we want someone experienced to do like earthmoving (thanks Tim), so we have used local trades people as a matter of principle – this has been an absolute delight and we are now able to make recommendations to others based on our experience. It’s a great feeling to be able to offer a good person to help someone just embarking on a building adventure like we are on.
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