the position of the house was always non-negotiable: that’s where the great views are. the same goes for the position of the shed: we needed that structure to be in the spot where sun exposure is optimal. the challenge: both buildings are about hundred meters apart, and the area between them used to be covered…
a house among the gumtrees. with water views (preferably not just temporary ones)! – ocean views even, perhaps? on a hill – the view is better from up high. who wouldn’t love that. we are certainly in favour of that idea, and while we don’t necessarily have to fear floods the other constant aussie threat…
this has been a long time coming: finally we are making the first steps towards building our new home. we’re not complaining: the main reason why it took us so long was the fact that while we accept that we will certainly find we could not avoid every pitfall, we wanted to make sure we…
it’s school holidays in tassie and we spent the first week in hobart. and when i say school holidays i mean natalie has two weeks off, i on the other hand don’t – i was attending (zoom) lectures learning about statistics using the ‘r’ package; pretty cool stuff but full on, especially since i haven’t…
what good is all the power in the world (slight exaggeration there, i will admit that) if you can’t turn it into something useful. like light. or the ability to run a fridge, operate a welder, or use a toilet (yes, composting toilets use no water, but they do use electricity). it took two guys…
we are now virtually plugged into the sun – in more than one way! ok, maybe not entirely at this point in time. it has taken three days and three steps to get to this point: day one was about placing the panels on the roof, and feeding the cable connections into the shed. the…
thirteen. it has taken thirteen posts! but there it is: the beginnings of a power plant. a heroic effort over the weekend (with a little help from me) saw the roof finally go on the shed, which was of course the most important condition to getting the panels up. as scheduled – or actually: re-scheduled…
the roof is on! and just in time, too, the solar people will start on monday and – if everything goes to plan – finish the following day. the somewhat unexpected if very welcome progress today was due to the favourable weather, with no wind, only a few drops of rain and overcast skies making…
we have reached the milestone of ‘peak wall’, meaning 5.5 out of a maximum of 5.5. possible walls have now been constructed. to paraphrase our prime minister (who i believe holds the world record for asking the greatest number of unimaginative and unintelligent rhetorical questions during a single election campaign): how good are walls! well,…
i’m starting to question my choice of title for this series of posts; it really doesn’t feel like progress towards an actual structure, at least not in the sense that something purposeful is achieved in a given time frame through a deliberate and sustained effort. i mean we’re now at post 10 – and at…
shed unleashed! it’s all happening now, you can basically see the progress with the naked eye. if you squint and tilt your head slightly you can just make out the addition of the west wall and the fact that the north wall was completed today. and if you stand there long enough it’s almost as…