Mrs Maryak's Mansion

[PhillyVa]

Bob.

Galina and I are very pleased with the kitchen so we are glad you find it convenient. A small boast, it's my design and whilst it looked OK on paper, I can't tell you how relieved I was at Galina's reaction when she saw it in the flesh.

Thanks for following along. My hit and miss is more miss as we are getting closer. Last week was a short week and a lot of time was spent interviewing Realtors to determine who we will have sell our unit.

I'm glad the kitchen worked out...men don't always do kitchens right as far as woman are concerned most times. woohoo1

Have you though of renting the other unit for some, passive income?

Regards

Philly

 

[Maryak]

Have you though of renting the other unit for some, passive income?

Philly,

It would be a last resort thing if we are unable to sell it. The income available would not cover the mortgage repayments we would owe on the new house, (assuming it was fully tenanted). Then there is all the hassles of a managing agent, bonds, insurance, repairs and maintenance etc.etc.etc. not to mention the negative effect on our pension because the rent would be assessed as taxable income.

The Australian Government works overtime at trying to find ways of reducing the pension you have paid your taxes for over your working life.

Last year I helped a friend repair his rental house after the last tenants had trashed it to the tune of over $50,000 and had not paid their rent for 6 months prior to them doing a moonlight flit. It left a nasty taste in my mouth and he and his wife were devastated. Galina and I really do not need that and it is more likely at the lower end of the market than your $2000 a week mansion.

As you've probably gathered it's not top of the pops with us.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Stan]

we got our first real look at the front of the house without a rubbish skip and toilet in the way.

I bet you are almost as pleased as the neighbors who have been looking at it ;D

 

[Maryak]

Stan,

Very good point. :bow:

Alas they have only been moved to the vacant block next to us so the long suffering neighbours must suffer some more. :

Best Regards
Bob

 

[tel]

Hi Bob, many years ago I plumbed for a living and I've never seen a tub installed quite like that. Most tubs had skirts which supported the outside edge. I assume they will be building a framework around it but it seems like it would have been better to do that first to get everything level.
gbritnell

Looks pretty standard to me - you'd have a bugger of a time hooking up the outlet pipe with the skirt on first.

 

[Maryak]

Thanks tel,

I have never seen a bath installed from go to woa, I just assumed those who are doing the installation know what they're doing. It is always interesting to see how different parts of the world have a very different approach to overcoming the same problem. It's the result that counts so as long as we end up with the bath all ship shape everything in the garden is rosy. ;D

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Maryak]

Hi,

Not a lot to report - If they go much slower they will be in reverse. :

The water is connected.

Looks like the tiling will be next as both shower recesses have been prepared.

We put our unit on the market on Friday so now is "Nervous Nellie" time whilst we gauge the response and get a true appreciation of the value of our property.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Maryak]

We received a call from the tiler yesterday, he was not sure which tiles we wanted for the skirting in the laundry. Just to make sure all was according to Hoyle, we took a trip down there today and everything is great.

I was nervous about the tiles as I have heard some real horror stories about wrong tiles, right tiles in wrong place etc.etc.

The tilers were doing the grouting when we arrived. Here's a few shots.

Main Bathroom.

Laundry.

Toilet.

Kitchen.

En suite.

We are very happy with the result.

The bath is supported on a brick framework behind the tiles.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[arnoldb]

That's a nice-looking house you're building there Bob. I like the colour scheme a lot; very sensible and easy to keep clean


Regards, Arnold

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Bob, the tiling looks great. Do they install some type of enclosure around the shower area? In response to Tel's reply about the drain pipes, usually there is an access panel on the opposite side of the wall to gain entry to the pipes in case there would be a leak at a joint.
gbritnell

 

[Maryak]

Arnold and George,

Thanks for the kind words. Most importantly Galina was over the moon and even gave the tilers a kiss and her profuse thanks.

There is a glass shower screen which in the main bathroom is a square with a front swing glass door. In the En suite the corners of the glass come off each wall at 90 deg with a swing glass door in the middle at 45 deg to the cubicle corner.

I have attached a drawing of the plan which explains it better. (I hope).

Best Regards
Bob

View attachment Rossdaledims.pdf

 

[cobra428]

Hey Bob,
Very Nice! There's only one thing......I don't see anything on the plans that has that 4 letter word......shop???
Tony

 

[Maryak]

Tony,

You are not the 1st to notice this.

There is a method in my madness.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=4377.msg49585#msg49585

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Maryak]

Hi,

Another week goes by and we are a step closer to the grand move south.

We have solar power, electrical power, water but no gas or phone yet. All our taps and toilets are fitted and we must be getting close to painting.

Gas booster and hot water storage.

Electrical switchboard and meter.

Kitchen cupboards completed.

Taps and toilets.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Got any idea how many people you got to thinking? I know I'm one.
New home...less fixing up...more shop time. Oh yeah. I'm very envious.

 

[Stan]

Bob; Are all the electrics in your house on the seven circuit breakers from the public utility or do you have a separate solar electric panel? A normal house in my area has twenty four or more circuit breakers. At least seven are mandated as single load breakers such as refrigerators, microwave ovens, clothes washing machines, furnaces, air conditioners etc.

 

[Maryak]

Stan,

In a word Yes. From what I can see there are 5x16 amp circuits and 2x32 amp circuits. One of the 16 amp has already been dedicated to the electric oven, from my dim dark and distance past, (wiring houses in UK with my Dad when I was a little tacker and fitted between floors), 2 more will be dedicated to the power circuits and 2 to the lighting circuits. The rest ???. I suspect why there are fewer circuits in Oz is that 1 phase domestic power is 240 V 50 Hz. Our cook top and hot water boost is gas.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Majorstrain]

Hi All,
From the looks of it the 2x 32Amp breakers are RCD's (Residual current devices, A.K.A Earth leakage circuit breakers)

So from left to right
Main breaker(possibly 80 Amp) - 32Amp RCD (feeds next breaker) - two 16Amp circuit beakers - 32Amp RCD (feeds the last two breakers) - two 16 Amp circuit breakers.
With the oven taken care of, it leaves you two 16Amp power circuits and one 16Amp light circuit. At a guess I would say the light circuit would be the one next to the oven, that way if the last RCD trips you would still have light.

The RCD's protect the people and the circuit breakers protect the wiring. That's why the RCD's feed the circuit breakers.
The oven may not be feed from an RCD because motors or heating elements can have a certain amount of safe leakage to earth.

That run down is probably clear as mud :big: and it's 10 year old knowledge. I'm open for correction.

Cheers
Phil

 

[Stan]

That is certainly a different system than used in North America. I have more circuits than that on the sub panel in my garage. (240volt-40 amp for stick welder, 240 volt-20amp for MIG, 240volt-15amp for bench saw, 120volt-15amp door opener, 4x120 volt-15amp for utility plugs, 120volt-15amp for lights). As I understand your system, you would run wire large enough for the entire load around the garage and then fuse the plug for each load. Is that correct?

What you call RCDs, we call Ground Fault Breakers but they feed a load directly and are used primarily where you can contact ground (earth). They are used where you have utility outlets close to plumbing (kitchen and bath) and outdoors.

 

[Majorstrain]

Hi Stan,
I think the English use a fuse in the plug, it's not a common thing over here. If an appliance is fused it's usually found in the appliance itself.

Any single phase (240V) tool or appliance that draws 10Amps or less can be plugged into a general purpose power point (utility plugs). (2.4kW - Equivalent power rating of 110V 20 Amp for you guys in the USA)

There maybe 10 or so of these connected to one run (star or daisy chain) back to the switch board or sub-board and supplied with one 16Amp circuit breaker. (there is a maximum number each circuit breaker can supply but it's changed since I got out of the trade). Although you can plug 10 different appliances in at one time, you can only draw 16 Amps before the circuit breaker trips. Sorry no toaster, kettle and fan heater on at the same time on the same circuit. :wall:

The circuit breaker is there to protect the wiring not the appliance. The wire would handle 20Amps or so sustained and quite a bit more for a short time (2.5mm square copper).

If the appliance draws more than 10Amps then it would have it's own run back to the board, and it's own circuit breaker, the plugs on these appliances have a larger earth pin so they can't be plugged into the normal power points (Put that metal file away :big. The stick welder would fall into this category.

Three phase gear (415 Volt) has it's own run and triple breaker also.

As Bob mentioned, the other possible units (cooking and hot water) aren't electric, so it's just general power points and lighting needed.

Sorry for hijacking you excellent mansion thread Bob, I'll disappear back to my QCTP. :toilet:

Cheers
Phil