HOW IS IT BUILT?

Building methods have changed dramatically since William Williams little timber house was built in the 1870’s right next to No 31 using only a few hand tools with local timbers worked and crafted by hand.

Building today is vastly more complex and mechanised with materials sourced from all over the world. This house was built using standardised building practices because uniform building regulations apply across Australia.

Construction today is more a process of assembling products from factories than crafting by hand. But, there are still opportunities for beautiful craftsmanship to be displayed.

Much of the work is done by independent subbies (electricians, plumbers etc) but it’s all coordinated by the builder. The builder provides the required home warranty insurance to the owners. Construction of a complex renovation like this requires a skilled, patient and experienced builder.

THE CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

• Work began with the partial demolition of the house and cleaning out the site.
• Excavation, concreting and concrete floor stumps came next, including a 2 meter deep concrete root barrier to protect the foundations from the Fels park tree roots.
• Next the floor, wall and roof framing went up included structural steelwork, timber floor trusses, sheet flooring and plywood wall bracing to provide rigidity.
• The roof has old style corrugated roofing to the front and modern ribbed tray decking to the rear, all fitted over sarking and insulation.
• Once the roofing is finished the custom-made timber windows are installed, but they are not glazed until later.
• The external wall cladding uses three different materials and finishes: The front has traditional painted timber weatherboards. The new areas have a mixture of painted plywood sheeting and fibre cement sheeting fixed over expanded polystyrene foam.
• All the external walls are packed with insulation.
• The window glazing is fitted after the cladding and the house is now “locked up”. Much of the glazing is double glazed.

• Next, all the internal plumbing waste and water supply pipes are fitted followed by the electrical rough in.
• The walls, floors and ceilings are now packed with insulation.
• After the final internal carpentry work is done all the internal walls and ceilings are lined with plasterboard sheeting.
• With this done the finishing up starts.
• The internal door frames are fitted and doors hung. The joinery and cabinetry are fitted followed by the wall and floor tiling.
• The polished timber stairs are machined up in a factory and then assembled and fitted onsite.
• The plumbing fixtures and taps are installed as well as the electrical appliances and fittings.
• The heating ducts and heater are fitted.
• Internal and external painting is then done and after this the internal floor coverings laid.
• While the internal finishing work is going on the new fences and paving are installed.
• All that is left is final touch ups and cleaning before moving in after an occupancy certificate is issued by the building surveyor.

SOME OF WHAT ITS MADE OF

Windows

Because the design of this renovation is so specific to its site, heritage requirements and the need to frame exact views and avoid others the windows are all custom made. Their size and shape are tailored to each room and the views that they are to capture. Many are double glazed to meet 6 Star energy rating requirements. The windows you see installed are made by expert window joiners who have been fabricating cedar windows for 45 years.

Stairs

The polished timber stairs are the centre of the house and have been very carefully designed. They are custom made with Australian Blackbutt timber by a specialist stair builder.

Framing

The framing is a combination of radiata pine, plywood beams and structural steelwork with sheet flooring. This combination allows for great flexibility and is the most economical way to build a design of this nature. Radiata pine is a kiln dried plantation grown softwood that is very easy to work, and it has completely superseded the green hardwood framing traditionally used to build Australian houses. Plywood beams (known as LVL) have been in use for more than 20 years and are used or floor and roof framing. They are very straight and stable and have replaced the structural use of Douglas Fir and solid Australian hardwood. https://www.chhwoodproducts.com.au/hyspan/

Baltic pine weatherboards

Timber weatherboard cladding has been in use for hundreds of years. Traditionally in Melbourne weatherboards are Baltic pine which has been imported from Scandinavia for more than 150 years. Baltic pine is a stable timber that unlike Australian hardwood does not easily crack.

Sheet flooring

Known as particleboard flooring it was introduced in Australia in the 1960s and is today the main flooring used in timber framed dwellings. Structural particleboard is made by mixing resin and timber flakes under pressure in a process invented in Germany in the 1890s. Using this type of flooring is known as platform construction.

Colorbond roofing

Heritage requirements have dictated the use of Colorbond roofing instead of a galvanised finish. Developed in the 1950s Colorbond is a polymer coated steel that now comes in a wide range of colours and is used on half of the new houses built in Australia. Colorbond cannot be soldered and with its introduction the fine tradition of roof plumbers hand soldering spouting and decorative roof features disappeared.

Plasterboard

Houses built in Yarraville in the 19th century had traditional lath and plaster wall and ceiling linings, with wet liquid plaster applied by hand over thousands of small timber laths that had been nailed into place. When first built No 31 had fibrous (horse hair) sheet plaster linings. This was a new product that did away with a great deal of onsite labour, but it was an extremely heavy material and quite brittle and difficult to repair.
During the 1960s plasterboard sheeting completely replaced fibrous plaster. Plasterboard is liquid plaster extruded between two thin sheets of carboard and it is much lighter and easier to work with than fibrous plaster. During the 1990s the interior of No 31 was completely stripped out, aluminium windows fitted, and the interior relined with plasterboard.

Fibre cement sheet cladding

Fibre cement sheeting is a modern material made from cement reinforced with cellulose and suitable for use in a heritage area and it is used here for part of the first-floor cladding. Fibre cement was developed in the 1980s as a safe replacement for sheeting containing asbestos that had been in use since 1903.