2009 Demolition Derby

Monday 23rd Shopping day today. Off to Bathroom warehouse, electrical warehouse & Bunnings for plumbing and electrical bits. Mark needs to leave holes in the brick work for the plumbing to go through the wall so we needed to know what we are using. We both fell in love with a 900 x 1200 glass shower with a rounded corner - it will fit perfectly. Well nearly, Mark just needs to move the window over a brick & a half. Luckily he's only laid 2 courses of bricks above the window sill! Tuesday 24th I went back & fro between the computer and the bricks... Mark pulled out the front window bricks to move the window further over. Then he worked out where all the plumbing was going and welded the copper pipe for the shower fixtures. I knocked off at 3.30pm as I had our first TADA event tonight. Wednesday 25th We didn't do much today...just another course or two before we got rained out. Thursday 26th Mark pulled the external bricks out from around the front door and I stacked...

Monday 16th No work on the house today as Mark went up to Gin Gin to do some work for Robbie Ryan's brother-in-law). I paid bills, ordered the new doors and did ECU work. Tuesday 17th I cleaned bricks for an hour, then took Joyce to the Doctor and did ECU work in the afternoon. Mark laid more external bricks - we are now up to window height. He also pulled more old bricks out of the wall and setup the profiles ready to lay internal bricks. Luisa & I went to see the Grand Ballet du Geneve at His Majesty's Theatre. It was great, we both really enjoyed it. Wednesday 18th I had a big brick cleaning day - 9am til 3pm and by then my wrists gave out. Mark pulled another 100 bricks out of the wall and started laying the maxi bricks for the internal wall between the bathroom and the study. At 3pm I helped him lay bricks - I just cleaned up the excess cement on my side of the wall (hey every little bit helps). Tara, Nick & Bree came over for a BBQ dinner. Thursday 19th I went t...

Sunday 8th So much for a day off - Mark ended up taking the entire roof off and I carted timber from the front yard to the back & stacked it ready to reuse. Monday 9th 5 packs of bricks delivered. 2 packs moved inside the new front rooms. Tuesday 10th I didn't do any work this morning as I took Joyce to the doctor about her leg. Mark started pulling down the outside leaf of bricks from our bedroom wall as we need more old bricks for the external wall. I cleaned bricks when I got home. Wednesday 11th I cleaned bricks and Mark laid a couple of courses of bricks. We knocked off at 10am and got cleaned up as we took Joyce to the Lyons Eye Institute for her eye injection. Amazing the last visit and we finally sorted out the system and got through in only 2hrs. Back to the bricks in the early evening once it had cooled down a little! Thursday 12th I cleaned bricks & Mark laid a couple of courses of bricks before heading off to do some Cobra work. I went and did the grocery sh...

Sunday 1st Day of rest. Monday 2nd Back to slab & garden city for more sand and then to Limestone city to pick up the last 4 limestone blocks needed for the side wall. The limestone is finally finished. Hooray! Tuesday 3rd Mark went off to Bunnings to buy steel and brick ties etc. I spent the morning doing ECU work & sent off the first module to my supervisor! Mark laid the first course of bricks and I mixed mud. That's all we did today as Tara & Nick are coming over for a BBQ. Wednesday 4th We had a day off today as Mark has worn the skin off the tips of all his fingers laying the limestone. We are both buggered and need a rest. Thursday 5th I went to Bunnings to return our ubeaut hammer drill as it gave up the ghost yesterday. Also went to brick up bricks for the internal walls...but Midland brick did not have them in stock in our local store. So we'll work out what we need and order a few packs to be delivered. Mark put up the steel guides for the brick course...

Tuesday 27th Today Mark dug the trench for the footing for the side wall and worked out levels to ensure the brickwork will fit in with the existing house. I cleaned bricks, but this lot are concrete mortar not limestone so I'm breaking more than I'm cleaning (bugger).  We then mixed concrete and poured the footing for the side wall. We need to let it set before laying the first row of limestone.  We needed to buy new blocks for the side wall as their are not enough old blocks the right size but Mark is wondering if he can use the old blocks somewhere so that he doesn't have to throw them away. Wednesday 28th Mark went off to get more sand, limestone blocks and roadbase. I worked on the computer paying bills etc until he returned and then I got back into cleaning (and breaking) more bricks. Mark laid the bottom row of limestone and shaped the remaining blocks for the front wall. We just need to get a few blocks in on the second row of the side wall before we can finish...

Tuesday 20th No house work today. Mark drove Nick up to Kalamunda to check out the job Ken & Rod are working on. I started doing ECU work but too many people dropped in & I hardly got anything done. Wednesday 21st Mark did a couple of trips to Slab & garden city for roadbase and sand. We checked out limestone city for limestone sizes and prices. Bought a couple of blocks to get us started. We mixed concrete and put down the front footing. Mark shaped the first couple of blocks. Every one of the front blocks has to be bevel cut on all 4 sides to try and match in with the existing front wall. Very time consuming. It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together trying to work out which piece will fit where, so lots of thinking and discussion at the end of each day to work out tomorrows tasks. Thursday 22nd I picked up a few more blocks of limestone while Mark carried on cutting the blocks to shape. We now have 4 blocks concreted in...as I said very time consuming! I spent the d...

Saturday 10th Jan We removed all of the floorboards and most of the limestone however we need to get a couple of more acro props to support the roof before we knock the last pillar down. Sunday 11th Jan Day off today! Ken (Mark's brother) is picking up our acro props from Tony McLeod in Mandurah on his way home from holidays today. We are off to the movies tonight to see Australia - Gold Class. We loved Gold Class and enjoyed the movie! Monday 12th - Thursday 15th Jan Received quote for new doors...need to source a glazier & decide on best value. Mark jacked up the roof and removed the last of the brick wall, the timber beams and dug up the limestone footings. We will reuse most of the old limestone in the new footings and the buildup for the front wall. We will buy new blocks for the buildup for the side wall. Friday 16th - Monday 19th Jan No work this weekend. Friday 16th - I flew to the Gold Coast for cousin Vicki's wedding and Mark went to work at R...