Renovation La Shacka
Our old home on the property, 'La Shacka Grande' is getting a facelift.
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Armouring up with corten
The cladding material was delivered in early September, a mighty 2 tonne of corten steel (with some checker plates). This beautiful material turns into an amazing burnt orange rusty patina after being weathered, and is a non-combustible material without looking like a work shed. Given that bushfires are a real threat to this area, we needed to be very careful as to what material we used on the outside. We thought of using cob, but we are keeping that one for a future project ;) As daylight savings started, Matty began to cut, measure and place these 45kg sheets into place, thus giving the shack its outer skin. Some sheets…
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Slat my shack up
The shack has slowly been morphing into its new shape over the past few weeks. Matty has been busy putting up the timber frame and installing windows. We were very conscious of the timber used for the framing as the site is prone to termite infestation, a problem we discovered whilst stripping the shack down. As such, all timber framing has been done with H3 grade timbers which are treated for moisture and insect resistance. The windows and main door arrived about two weeks ago, and Matty has installed them into position already. These beautiful windows match the ones in the Nest, and are simply gorgeous. Being a hardwood timber…
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Filling in the gaps
Since the shack was stripped back, we have been busy filling in the numerous gaps that were a result of poor concreting done by the previous owner/s. This shack has had a few modifications over the years, and the original concrete slab that was part of the work shed is fine, however the additional concrete poured around this slab was not connected via reo bars. This disconnection has meant that the concrete floors for the bathroom and bedrooms have slumped over the years, and are a gateway for creepy crawlies to enter through. The slump has also meant that the floor steps down as you enter these areas. We filled…
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The shack stripped bare
Our first home on the property was loved (and lived in) by many; including mice, rats, huntsman spiders, humans, dogs, and even a micro bat! It was our humble home on the land while we built ‘The Nest’, and beat living in a caravan any day! It was originally a work shed predating three owners before us; the bushfires of Black Saturday in Feb 2009 however changed this. The main house at the time burnt down and this shed was eventually turned into a makeshift home by a latter owner. This ‘man-cave’ boasted a lounge, kitchen and two modest bedrooms when we purchased the property. The bathroom was taken down…
