Tales of the travels, trials and triumphs as we explore Australia in a converted bus

Motorhome Travels - April 2012

11/04/2012

Shouse progress!

Sorry that it has been so long since our last update - it has been a very busy month!

The shed side is clad!

By the time our friends John and Glenda left us to head back to NZ, we had the entire shouse frame completed. We did have a bit of a go at putting up some of the wall sheeting but decided it was best to wait until the windows and doors arrived. Just as well we did as the cut sizes were a little different than we expected.

Towards the end of March we had two full weeks of amazing rain. We had a small river flowing past the bus once the dam up the hill became full and started overflowing. This made any work on the shouse impossible.

The windows and doors arrived on the 2nd of April and then we were back into it at full speed. The first window took us quite some time to figure out - but the next few were easy. It took two days to get the shed side of the building cladded and all the windows fitted. We put a few sheets of roofing on - just to make sure we had everything right before moving over to the dwelling side to erect the cladding and the windows.

Each time we start something new there is a learning curve - how should this fit into that - what is the best way to cut this etc. Once we have it figured out, things move quickly and smoothly - (until it is time to figure out the next thing). I reckon we could build our next shouse in half the time!

The house side is clad and roofed!

Once the dwelling wall was complete it was time to put the roof on. We started with the roofing on the lean-to sections - this was really quick as the sheets of steel were all the correct size (unlike the wall cladding). We completed the last of the lean-to roof before lunch today.

Tomorrow we start on the main roof. This is quite a bit steeper (22 deg) - so will require a lot more care to avoid tumbling (almost 6m) to the ground - but I think two days should see the shed completely roofed. That then only leaves the end wall cladding and the shouse is fully enclosed!

We are ready for the main roof.

We are both starting to feel just a bit exhausted - we have worked on the shouse for 11 straight days - doing at least 10 hours each day. I think we will have to have a break once the roof is complete.

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