We bought 8 steel posts, 46 lengths of thin pine, 2 lengths of thick pine and 2 steel hinges, then we pressure washed the brickwork, we dyna-bolted the steel posts to the brickwork, we painted the posts, we painted the brickwork, we cut the pine to size, we painted the pine and then we screwed the pine to the steel posts. Then we made a timber door frame, then we cut more bits of pine to size, then we painted the pine and then we screwed the pine to the door frame. Ya ya, anyway …

The privacy provided by the screen is enough to shut out the neighbours’ view of us and our view of the neighbours’ when our trees lose their leaves in winter, but there is also enough space between the wooden slats that the screen allows us to see out into our garden. Having that gap between the wooden slats allows the sun to shine through into the garden bed on the other side and also allows for air flow so hopefully when the wind is blowing a gale there is not much chance of it blowing over.

At the start of this project, we had to do a little remedial work because, well, when we pulled down the last remaining greenhouse window (after the first window was knocked over by a huge gust of wind one afternoon), half the brick wall that the window was built into came down with it. Tim was quickly forced into learning a new skill (bricklaying) that afternoon. Look at the concentration …

Then when the new cement had set on the bricks, the steel posts were dyna-bolted into the brick wall. Then one-by-one the timber slats were screwed into the steel posts. As you can see, we had three steel posts behind each section of screen, just to make sure that the timber was adequately supported. The timber slats only had the first coat of paint before they were screwed onto the steel posts. We did a second (final) coat when it was all complete and in place.

If you look carefully in the photo directly below, whose head can you see popping up from behind the brick wall?

Oh yeah, it’s me behind there. Look at me, all trigger happy:

Starting to take shape:

Almost there:

Now we just have to cut off the tops of the posts and put nice little caps on the ends:

See the dirty possum prints?

Pretty much done, just building the door:

And putting the second coat of paint on:

And done, complete with painted timber benches laid across the brickwork (and in less than 12 hours one of those nice shiny painted benches had been pooped on by a very large bird, it didn’t stand a chance, poor bench):

Finally, looking from the garden towards the courtyard area:

Built in only two days, here is what it looked like after they left on the first day:

The outside looks a little bit like a temporary builder’s cabin and desperately needs softening up with a stack of plants, but that will happen over time (there are plans to re-do that horrible covered patio area and put in some beds around the shed, but for now we both need a bit of a rest after this shed project).

It’s been up for 3 weeks and since then Tim has been busy putting up 3 rows of shelving and I’ve been busy hauling box after box after box (probably 300 boxes in all) from storage and moving them into the shed and up onto the shelves.

The packing area is all set up and, although it’s a little rudimentary, it’s a nice area to work in.

The guy from Fair Dinkum came Tuesday the 4th of May to erect the shed.  The moment he got out of his car he was complaining that the pieces of the shed were too far away from the slab (the pieces were only 15 metres away) and that it would take his three guys 4 hours to move it (needless to say, Tim and I moved the shed closer to the slab that same afternoon amd it took us just 1.5 hours); he complained that the slab was not level and was out of square and was short on one end 3cm and told me I needed to spend $1,800 on having the sides of the slab cut and having the pieces of the shed cut to size (I am so friggin’ cheesed off with my concretor. I specifically asked him if his work was square and level and he categorically told me it was. And I’m cheesed off with myself for not friggin measuring the slab before that concretor guy left. That guy stood against his car with his arms crossed and said “I’m not leaving until I’m paid”. So I stupidly gave him a cash cheque to get him to leave and off he went into the sunset [well, he naturally went to the bank first to cash the cheque then he disappeared into the sunset]).  The shed guy told me that he could build the shed using the slab as it is (out of square) but that the end result wouldn’t be pretty to look at and I wouldn’t be able to sell my house because the columns on the inside of the shed would be criss-crossed and the walls on the outside would be in the shape of a tee-pee (yes, he made a tee-pee action with his arms).  So after the doom and gloom of never ever being able to sell my house becase of an irregular shaped shed, they left pretty soon after that and I was left to look at the shed on the floor – once again.

When Tim came home that evening I told him what had happened and explained to him what the shed guys told me. To my surprise, he was confused about why they couldn’t erect the shed even if the slab wasn’t square. He looked at the plans for the shed and drew me out a few quick sketches and showed me that even though the slab was unsquare, the shed itself could still be built square, because the bolts weren’t attached to the side of the slab but were to be placed about 9cm in from the slab. It turns out all the shed guy needed to do was run a piece of string around the outside of the slab, take some key measurements, make a few calculations and then the shed can be built nice and square on the unsquare slab (sure, there might be 1 or 2cm gap between the outside wall of the shed and the end of the slab, but that can easily be filled in and it will cost a damn lot less than the $1,800 the shed guy was asking me to pay!)

After the shed guy left that day, for the next few days we took the time to speak to numerous people and some friends and family and most said that there must be a more simple and less expensive solution to what the guy told us needed to be done. After all, not every single slab in the world would be 100% square and perfect, there has to be some special tricks that are used by those in the trade to get a shed erected nicely – right? Fromwhat other people have said they’re really confused about why this guy didn’t just run the string line around the slab and just erect the shed and get it over and done with. At best, the guy was unwilling to provide a rational solution for us. At worst, he was incapable of thinking of such a solution (or perhaps he was trying to secure some work for his concrete cutting friends hmm?).

Almost 4 weeks after the installer guy came, complained and left, we’re finally at the point where the owner of the shed company has spoken to the installer guy and we’ve made a new time for the installer  guy to come and put up the shed. So the new date for the beginning of the shed is 8 June 2010 (well, we’re aiming for 2010 anyway).

I’m really upset about this delay because the owner of the shed company knows how important it is to me to have the shed up quickly. It pees me off because on their website, they have numerous testimonials from their previous customers who were all apparently so happy about how promptly they had their new shed installed. Yes, good for them. Unfortunately I haven’t had the same experience as those people.

I even went to the trouble of preparing a Visio diagram for these guys which sets out exactly what the installer needs to do and where the bolts need to be positioned.  So far, I’ve done more work on this shed than the friggin’ shed company. We’ve done what the shed guy asked (moving the shed pieces, grinding the rough, raw edge of the concrete slab off) and we’ve waited patiently for the return of phone calls which never come when promised. We’ve always had to follow these people up and press them for answers. Like yesterday afternoon, the installer guy said he was on his way home and would be in touch with us in an hour when he gets home and he can look in his diary for his next available appointment. We had to follow-up an hour and a half later, then he said “Give me half an hour and I’ll call you and let you know when I’m coming to install the shed.” We waited the rest of the night and still no friggin phone call. So 9.00am this morning we called him and the explanation was that he’d gone out to dinner with his wife! Great, how nice for you!

Argh I know this is a really long and uninspiring post but I’m so frustrated and I just had to get this off my chest. This project has now been going on since the beginning of April and going by the testimonials on the shed company’s website I would have bet that by now I’d have a shed to store my stock in and be able to get my packing room moved out of the house and into the shed. If you’re interestd, here is what the shed should look like when it’s finished:

For anyone who is reading my posts because they’re interested in moving to Tasmania, or if you are already in Tasmania and want to have work or improvements done to your house in Tasmania, please get in touch with me and I can certainly tell you those people whom I DO NOT recommend for various building works. One thing is for certain:  we are gathering plenty of experience as we proceed in our little renovation adventures here in Tasmania.

What’s been happening the last 4 weeks? Well, after we knocked the shed down, we had to clean up a bit, we cut up some of the pieces of wood that was left in piles. We made a lovely wood shelter from the old tin sheets that we removed from the roof of the shed. Like our handiwork?

We also had to hire a jackhammer and concrete saw to cut off 30cm from the long edge of the old concrete slab because it was completely hollow underneath due to excess water running along the edge over 30 years. That took some work. We filled two skip bins with concrete boulders.

The dogs were very confused about where the shed had gone:

After knocking off the side of the old cracked slab, we had to hire a mini digger to remove the dirt from underneath where the pavers were pulled up. We were going to do this by hand but quickly realised we would kill ourselves, so in came the Toro Dingo to the rescue:

Then once the area was all flat and the mounds of dirt had been removed, in came the concretor guy to box the area up, place metal mesh (reinforcing) over the old concrete slab and then pour in three truck loads of new concrete. Here’s the finished product:

As you can see, we have had a lovely new fence installed along the back.

I can feel that we’re almost there. After all this, we’re due for a break so we’re shortly heading off to the central coast of New South Wales for 3 days where I’m booked in for a nice back and shoulder massage. Then when we come back it’ll be work work work again moving my boxes of business stock from the storage unit into the new shed. Woohoo!

With a lot of help from our neighbour (he owns a very powerful chainsaw), we spent 3 big days over the Easter long weekend working on demolishing the shed and it’s now in pieces in a big pile waiting to be cut into firewood for burning in our heater this winter. Here’s some of the fun we’ve had over the past few days:

First step was to remove the sheets of zincalume from the roof of the shed.

We disturbed three possums whose house was in the roof of the shed. This last one didn’t want to leave, poor little thing (now he’s living underneath our house   )

Next was to call in the neighbour with the big chainsaw and start cutting some of those timber beams connecting the roof to the vertical posts:

Then we get the angle grinder and cut these heavy-as steel railway lines which connects the patio to the shed (yes, the previous home owner used old railway lines as supports for their patio):

Then eventually it looks like this:

We had to leave that back wallwith the funky wallpaper standing so as to keep the doggies in (that temporary steel fencing you can see on the left has now been moved over to the right, so if that funky wall came down, there’d be a big gap between our property and the paddock next door and Smokey and Cloe would be off).  Speaking of doggies, here’s one now, laying in the sun watching us do all the work  :)  :

Now we wait for the weekend when we go to the hire shop, pay our $80 and get the use of a concrete cutter for 24 hours, during which time we hope to shave 30 cm of concrete off each side of the existing concrete slab (why? because the edges of the concrete are crumbling and it needs a nice new edge on the side of the slab). Then next week we will have a concretor come with a truck full of concrete and he’ll make us a nice new concrete slab over the top of the old cracked one. Then we wait about 7 days for the concrete to dry (if there is no rain) and then we can have the shed company come and drop off the shed bits and pieces and then about a week after that we’ll have a new shed all ready to be used.

Then I can tidy up the back yard after stuff was just dumped everywhere and anywhere and perhaps build a little wood shelter for all this new firewood we’ve got!

So the day before yesterday I put the greenhouse in its place on a north-facing wall next to the house and set up my seedling trays. Yesterday at lunch time I checked to see what was happening in the little greenhouse and guess what? All of my broccoli and cauliflower seeds had suddenly popped out to say hello to me.

I couldn’t believe the amount of humidity that gets stored up in that little greenhouse (actually perhaps its too much humidity as some of the other seedlings had wilted a little). Each day I’ll have to go out there at lunch time and unzip the door to let some air circulate through there.

Check out the swelling and the bruising. Poor thing.

At first I thought he might have been bitten by a snake - he was in a lot of pain and was holding onto his shin. I didn’t know what was wrong because he couldnt’ really talk. Then it became apparent that he’d hurt his foot. He still can’t walk on it properly, 2 days after the event. Poor thing, I feel so sorry for him. Get well soon, Tim!

Here is what the shed looked like after day 2 of work:

Before:

During:

After day 1 of work:

We’ll eventually take those wooden weatherboards off one-by-one using a crow bar.

Tim is back working with Australia Post here in Tasmania. After arriving in Tasmania, he was told that he would have little chance of working with them here because they have no turnover of staff. But last month there was an ad, he applied and got the job. It will be a bit different for him because he is now riding a motorcycle to deliver the mail, rather than riding a bicycle.

We just had Tim’s mum over for a visit and she flew back to Sydney today. Prior to her arrival, I ordered a bunch of bulbs, tubers, warratahs and proteas from a nursery that I discovered at Salamanca a little while ago, Vogelvry Bulbs & Flowers. While Tim’s mum was here, we paid a visit to Salamanca and I arranged to collect my order from them at the market. I ordered a whole stack of different proteas and warratahs and although I’m happy that they were reasonably priced, I’m a bit disappointed that it appears that a few of them appear to be clippings that have been set in pots.  Anyway, it’s good to finally get them in the Australian native garden bed that I built a while ago and that I’m hoping will take off next year. In this bed already are 3 different types of kangaroo paw: yellow gem, big red and an in-between colour, a mix of green, yellow and red. a multi-coloured kangaroo paw. I am thinking there is way too many plants in this bed. They are little plants now but the proteas and the warratahs will grow quite big, as big as a lemon tree, and so I will probably be transplanting them into a new bed in spring. The kangaroo paws clump to become quite large plants about a metre wide, so they may need to be divided in a couple of years.

Grevillea on the right with kangaroo paw to the left and 2 baby protea plants behind:

Yellow Gem kangaroo paw:

I had planted many seeds of broccoli, raddish, cabbage, beetroot and carrot and in the past month or so they have all really come on well and they were getting to the stage where they had to be transplanted. I germinated some lettuce seeds in the seedling trays and planted those a couple of weeks ago. Already they are strong and very healthy looking.

As there is currently a lack of space in the apple crates that we set up as raised veggie gardens, I tilled over a patch of dirt underneath the laundry window and transplanted some of the seedlings there.

The seedlings that have been planted in the apple crate veggie gardens are coming on quite well. They are the tomatoes, corn and zucchini that were planted as purchased seedlings way back in about October last year. The corns should be twice their size and there should at least be some fairly large corns growing in the cob by now. They’ve been there for close to 6 months now and there’s not much happening with those so they may have to be sacrificed to make room for other healthy seedlings that are waiting to be transplanted. In this photo, you can see the tomatoes growing on the vine (there’s one red tomato there that needs to be plucked off) and the two zucchini plants are located in the front left and the front right. Then in front of the zucchini plants in a long row are the carrots that are coming along steadily.

Then there are the radishes that I grew from seed. I pulled these radishes out of the ground last week. We have about 9 radishes that we have to find something to do with (personally, I like to eat them raw dipped in a little bit of salt, but I think we should find something better to do with them). There are 8 more tomatoes that are growing on the vines that we will also have to find something to do with. Although these tomato plants are tiny, they have done well to produce such juicy healthy tomatoes.

I have ordered direct from Laminex a long benchtop (3.6 metres wide) which I plan to use as a new desk in the study.  I’ve chosen the Laminex colour ”Anticipation”:

It will be about twice the length of my current desk (which Tim is currently sharing with me) and I plan to buy some large brackets to be fixed to the wall at the back so that it supports the benchtop underneath, kind of becoming a floating desk. This was a bit of a splurge ($692 ) and they DON’T deliver, so we have to arrange for our own delivery on top of that price, probably another $70-$100.  For anyone considering purchasing direct from Laminex, be warned:  they DON’T DELIVERY! Plus, they charge a $30.00 “logistics fee” (which from what I understand is a fee they charge for manufacturing it and then delivering it to the showroom).

I hope that the new floating desk idea is a success because as I resigned from my ‘day job’ last week, I will now be working full-time in my business and getting lots of use out of the desk. Considering that the price of one good quality large office desk is about $300-$350 at Officeworks, I think the benchtop purchase will be comparatively cost-effective as buying two large desks, plus the “Anticipation” colour I’ve chosen is a little bit different to the desks that you find in Officeworks.

As I now don’t have to give my days over to someone else’s business anymore, I might now actually start getting some things done in my business and maybe even get some  things done to this house, such as, maybe, painting some of the rooms … !

The first major project though, is the new shed. Once the shed is built then we can clear two rooms full of boxes of stuff and pieces of furniture that need to be sanded and polished and then those rooms and be decorated.

For the shed project, first, we need to cut down all the ivy that is growing on the fence on and around the existing shed.  Then there needs to be a new fence erected just behind the existing old shed (we need the fence going in so that the dogs don’t get out of the yard when the existing shed is demolished, it’s currently the only barrier between our property and next door!).  Then the existing shed has to be dismantled and thrown in a skip. Then we have to cut 30cm off of one of the long sides of the old concrete slab (because there are massive cracks running underneath the old concrete slab and need to come out so that the new concrete will be poured on a steady surface). Then the concretor needs to come in and lay new concrete over the top of the old concrete and dig footing holes for the struts of the shed to be concreted down into. Then the shed guys have to come and erect the shed. Hopefully it will all go smoothly.

Quite professional looking, even if I do say so myself.  I have now been able to germinate quite a few seeds now with this net on as it really does keep out the birds. Actually, the radish seeds that I planted are coming on really well.

A few weeks ago I also planted some seeds in trays and they are pretty much almost ready to be transplanted into the beds. In these trays are seedlings of lettuce, cabbage and pak choi.

In this little blueberry punnet there are two tiny little seedlings of globe artichoke.

I really hope these go well because they make quite attractive looking shrubs. This is how they *should* turn out (hopefully)!

While I had a two week break before this latest set of guests, I planted 2 small trees in the garden. I have been really looking after these trees, watering them each night, so that they will be able to get through the winter. I really want them to get nice and big so that they can provide some privacy throughout future winters, when the leaves on the huge deciduous trees in our backyard drop.

Red flowering gum:

Banksia semi-nuda:

Olive: