@Andy_Mann,
Hi John,
I'm positively gobsmacked that you have put so much time and effort into thinking things through as to how I might benefit from your suggestions, I think that is very sweet and I'm humbled by it!!
I'm not a hater, never have been, I ALWAYS see the positive in everything so much so, it annoyed my mother no end and she often said I seemed to have an answer for everything, ha-ha
My mum was very negative, I understood why, having lived through the war being Polish and she did not come out the other side unscathed.
One story that comes to mind was when we were travelling through Geelong on our way to a Xmas do in Melb. There was this "hoon" ute with a paragraph of profanities on it, my mother asked what it read, to which I replied that she didn't need to know!!
Well next thing I got growled at and told she was no ones fool and demanded to know what was written on the ute, so I told her, which made her gasp!! I then proceeded to tell her that my son, her grandson, had such a ute and the profanities to boot and he turned out to be a good young man and I further commented that these young boys will no doubt turn out just as good as her grandson did!
Well she was so annoyed with me making positive excuses about these young boys that she told me I needed to go to Russia and live there for a while and see just how horrible life really can be!!
Well I just laughed and laughed, not then but later and said to hubby that I wasn't even allowed to go to Poland where my relatives would be but instead had to go to Russia where I knew no one, nor could I speak the language!! ha-ha
Poor mum, she was so affected by the war that sometimes no one was allowed to be happy!!
So I have strived to be as positive as my mother was negative, hence, hate simply isn't there!!
Anyway, hope you don't mind I digressed somewhat!!
So to try to respond to your thoughts:
Power: Hopefully it will not be too expensive, as I mentioned, we may be able to use a second hand but in perfect order, underground cable that may in fact see us pay next to nothing for it being a very close family friend who has this cable and his son, our sparky that will install it, so certainly cheaper than solar but my issue is having a hubby that hates solar, he thinks it's a big sham about just how much it costs and then just how long the panels will actually last, so it will always be underground first if hubby has his way and possibly never having solar, although I will push for it now and again!!
Cathedral Ceiling:
Is in the pool area only where the roof vents are fitted and I agree that perhaps simply blocking them off could be the easiest option but having contacted the makers of the vents, Edmonds, they have in fact offered one solution for now and that's with a Paltech Round Downjet Diffuser that is fitted into the internal ceiling and together with a cowling attached to the vent. The only downside is that although the diffuser can be closed or open, it is done by a central knob on the diffuser itself and that means trying to reach it above the pool but it's a start. My electrician suggested that fitting a damper with a wall mounted electric control would not be difficult at all but I never discussed it with him any further, so he could in fact have a very easy fix.
Truth is, I really think we will want to have these vents open during summer when the solar for the pool will at times overheat the pool and letting some heat escape through the vents will be handy.
I better explain the solar we're having for the pool too, we will be a roll of poly pipe to a ground built roof and pumped to the pool rather than fitting this pipe on the main house roof, so that we can maintain it without having to climb on the roof of the home and also if it was to leak, we wouldn't want chlorinated or even sanitized water to be able to enter the drinking water.
Heating/cooling:
We have heaps of room in the roof space, with a home 12.5mtrs wide and a 22.5* roof, if not for thecross members in the trusses, we could have a second story ha-ha
We would choose the roof over under floor ducting, as although we do have room under the home too, we are both very **bleep** about any access points for mice having spent allot of time fitting rodent mesh over the air gap between the bricks and the sub floor effectively preventing any rodent access up into the wall cavaties and subsequently into the roof cavity.
All our electrical and plumbing is in the roof with no wiring under the home and only a single access point for the water where it first enters the home.
Kitchen:
I absolutely agree that although the ultimate, you beaut, perfect kitchen will cost us in excess of $25,000, I have no hesitation to live without any of the modcons until such time as we have saved up enough to get it done, but in th meantime, I have a fantastic BBQ and it can sit beside the sink with the toaster on one side and we can be quite set. Cuttlery and crockery can sit in stowaway containers!!
We are very fortunate to have a little relocatable home that is only 30mtrs from the main building which has everything we need, so we are not under any pressure as to a completion date. I think that's why we can remain happy and sane because we're not living in a tent or caravan, although we've done that for a few years too, so we can simply move in when we're happy to do so. We already have almost all our plumbing stuff, shower, basins, tiles etc... for the walls and all the floors, so getting the bsthrooms up and running is doeable to.
Our 1st batch of plaster arrived on Mon and I have been madly hanging it being able to cut and fit all the smaller lower sheets and then preparing all the upper sheets, glue etc... and then I pull hubby away from fitting the door jambs and he helps get the sheet up, puts a few screws in place and then I mark the studs and continue to screw the rest of the sheet to the wall and then off I go for the next measurement. We've managed to put up 6mtr sheets in places over doors and windows without a single fracture or break, so we're very happy with what we've achieved. We also have a plaster lifter for when we start the ceilings and we've used it already to put up eaves on the veranda and it works a treat!!
Been at it all day today and lost count as to how many sheets I actually put up but I thin it's about 14 or so, I'm thrilled!!
Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, lets see what you come up with next!!
Cheers,
Barbara
