Council dragging their feet - and us not helping things
Admittedly, it is partly our fault that the council approval is taking so long. We initially submitted the plans just before Christmas. Then of course there is the Christmas break. Then council decided they needed a heritage report - not because the house is of “heritage value”, but because there are 3 buildings in the area that are. Mind you, none of them are particularly close. Anyway, that was another few weeks to get that organised and in to council. Then another month for them to mull over it.
Finally, when council were just about to approve the plans, we decided to change them. After looking at the likely cost of the project, we decided that we needed to scale things down a bit. As such, we scrapped the 2m northern extension that was going to make the back bedroom into our master bed and en suite. We decided to leave that bedroom and the current bathroom where/how they are (though the bathroom will get a makeover). The new master bedroom will be the current lounge, and the current dining room becomes the e/s instead of the main bath (as per the original plans).
Well, all this took another couple of weeks to get drawn up. Council was pretty quick once we had the final plans to them. Now things are finally approved, though we have decided on another change!
This time it is the tile roof that is making us scratch our heads. The roof needs to come off so that the old sarking can be replaced. This process will mean that we lose about 10-20% of the tiles. We will also need additional matching tiles for the extension. We don’t like the look of new tiles so I did a fair bit of research and found a supplier that could (almost) match tiles in (almost) sufficient quantities.
Everything was looking OK until a local tiler warned us about the potential problems with using old tiles. Since they were already 60yrs old, they are likely to be brittle which means that more are likely to break when reroofing. This means that the additional tiles we would need had to expand again. He also pointed out that the tiles I was getting from Sydney could have salt damage which tends to make them porous and not so good in the longer run. All this put into question the longevity of the tiled roof.
Since we didn’t really feel like having to reroof in 10yrs, we decided on the readical option of replacing it with a galvanised roof which has the added benefit of being cheaper in materials, installation and even frame specs. So gal it is.
Anyway, to make the change we had to submit a variation to council - so we’ll see how long it takes this time. At least work can start while the application is going through.
Finally, when council were just about to approve the plans, we decided to change them. After looking at the likely cost of the project, we decided that we needed to scale things down a bit. As such, we scrapped the 2m northern extension that was going to make the back bedroom into our master bed and en suite. We decided to leave that bedroom and the current bathroom where/how they are (though the bathroom will get a makeover). The new master bedroom will be the current lounge, and the current dining room becomes the e/s instead of the main bath (as per the original plans).
Well, all this took another couple of weeks to get drawn up. Council was pretty quick once we had the final plans to them. Now things are finally approved, though we have decided on another change!
This time it is the tile roof that is making us scratch our heads. The roof needs to come off so that the old sarking can be replaced. This process will mean that we lose about 10-20% of the tiles. We will also need additional matching tiles for the extension. We don’t like the look of new tiles so I did a fair bit of research and found a supplier that could (almost) match tiles in (almost) sufficient quantities.
Everything was looking OK until a local tiler warned us about the potential problems with using old tiles. Since they were already 60yrs old, they are likely to be brittle which means that more are likely to break when reroofing. This means that the additional tiles we would need had to expand again. He also pointed out that the tiles I was getting from Sydney could have salt damage which tends to make them porous and not so good in the longer run. All this put into question the longevity of the tiled roof.
Since we didn’t really feel like having to reroof in 10yrs, we decided on the readical option of replacing it with a galvanised roof which has the added benefit of being cheaper in materials, installation and even frame specs. So gal it is.
Anyway, to make the change we had to submit a variation to council - so we’ll see how long it takes this time. At least work can start while the application is going through.