Ayres Rocks

By volume anyway. The first section is now 7 layers tall, and we will now work our way around the house and bring all sections to this height. The eight layer needs threaded rods added to fix the wall plate for the return verandah and once we get to here we’ll be using a laser level to ensure that all rods are somewhere near level. You’ll notice some ad-hoc block placement in sections further away from the lens. These are the skinny blocks of the veneer section and they are being filled with the excess mix from the full width blocks. Every 3 full width blocks leaves enough mix to fill one of these skinny blocks.

Pic 3 is one of the “Weepas” I mentioned in a previous post. I’ve had to make a special set of void shutters to fit these, and once the area around them is tidied up that red plastic you see is removed and we have bushfire compliant weepholes in place for the veneered section of the house.

As promised, some pictures of the expansion joints and hopefully a clear explanation of what I’ve done. As mentioned in a previous post the “straight through” expansion joint had potential issues we were keen to avoid, so this is what we’ve done to comply with the engineering and avoid those potential problems years down the track.

Pic 1 is of course a toad and not an expansion joint. This little fellow was living in the sand pile, some 300 metres from any source of water. We have since uncovered 2 more as we dig further through the pile. Pic 2 is the joint minus the 50mm foam strip that I’ll glue into place once the walls have been sealed. Pic 3 shows the double thickness of the 100mm foam and the preformed urethane ” sausage” that is glued to the wall and held in place with a couple of galvanised screws until the urethane adhesive has had a chance to cure. You’ll notice in pics 3,4 & 5 that the peak in the joint connectors is covered by the foam, what I forgot to get a shot of is that before we pour there is also a piece of foam fixed into the underside of that peak to exclude the mud and allow the joint to articulate properly. The 10mm gap between wall sections on the wall face is ahceived by using 10x50mm pine wrapped in Glad’s “go-between” which nothing ever seems to stick to. It pulls free easily once the blocks are set and is economical to use.

It seems to have been a while since I updated. Life’s been hectic with a lot of things going on besides the build so time to sit and type has been sadly limited.

We’ve had the crane in use as we get to levels 5 and above, and it has proved an absolute winner. Quick and easy to manouver and capable of lifting 60kg+ without any ballast or outriggers in place it makes working at heights safer and easier.

Pic 1 will give you an overall idea of what it is, essentially a boom lift with a hand winch at one end to trim and a remote electric winch at the other to control height once in place. The ugly setup of jumper cables has since been replaced with anderson plugs, since this was the first real use I needed to assess cable lengths and placement before I committed to making the connections permanent. Pic 2 is a close up of how it’s made mobile. 2 large wheels up front have a 10mm ground clearance and the jockey wheel allows the rear to be lifted for moving or sat on the frame to keep things steady. Pic 3 is the battery cradle and front cross brace.

Pic 4 shows the electric winch with the cable remote fitted, it also has a wireless remote if needed. Pic 5 is the whole thing being used to lift and position the shutter set. I’m using a 400kg rated ratchet strap as the sling since the hooks make fixing and removing it quick and easy.