Eradicating Nut Grass

So at the front of our house, we required a retaining wall installed. Since we needed a significant amount of fill to level the soil, I choose to purchase the cheapest fill possible. For around $45/cum I didn't really want to spend much more than this as I was looking at 20cum in total. Now the person on the other end of the line, did warn me that the fill may contain nut-grass. I didn't heed their warning.

It was close to 2 years and through extreme rain and dry spells, the lawn took a bit of a hammering in terms of watering. So during a record dry spell, the lawn dried up abit. We are lazy, we don't actively go out and water the lawn at all. So the lawn dried up abit and thinned out in several areas. I allowed the weeds from beneath to penetrate layer of lawn we had their. This is my theory anyway (as we never saw a sign of nut grass before the whole incident). So over a period of 6months, we became infested with nut grass. It made the lawn look dirty. Especially when I mowed all that could be seen in patches were the stalks of the nut grass. It was terribly ugly too look at.

I took to google to eradicate the problem. What did I find? Several products targeting nutgrass only. I was told Sempra was good, and was available in the local hardware store. It was not, but a similar product called Sedgehammer was available. I have to admit, it was not cheap. The product is small 25g bottle (but very potent) $70. I bought a decent weed applicator spray also, putting me back $100 all up.

So after getting home and reading the instructions. There was something missing. It told me I needed some non-ionic surfactant. I went back to the store and asked if they had any, no one had any idea. Everyone in the store tried googling the product on their iphones and finally came to the conclusion that, all I need to do was to add some specific kind of detergent. I looked around the house, all I could find was anionic surfactant detergent. Not wanting take the risk, I popped down the shops to buy specifically the one required. What do you know, I could not find it. But I found one that had 10% non-ionic agent and 25% anionic surfactant content. So I thought at least it had some, surely this will work to some extent. Since I was reading that some just used plain ol' anionic.

So it was the afternoon by this time, I was ready to torch these weeds. I filled my tank in the correct proportions and sprayed the hell out of those weeds. Not thinking I had targeted them all I reapplied in the stubborn areas.

 

So I took a photo after the application to compare before and after photos. The instructions told me not to mow for a period of 5 days. So I waited a week before I would mow the lawn. Here are some photos after the mow.



Now after a month, we can see that the lawn is recovering to it's former glory. The NutGrass is dying. YEAH!

Here are some photos after 5 weeks of application. Lucky for us, we also had some decent rain over this time. So the lawn has had time to grow, but definitely not the NUTGRASS at this stage. I have been warned, that it may regrow further down the line. Which I am ready for. So after spending what I thought was an expensive weed-killer, I think it was money worth spent.

The bottle comes with a 2.5g spoon (10Lt portion). I only applied one spoon over the 100sqm of lawn that was affect by the lawn. I would have close to 22.5g left. I will hold onto it until I know for sure that no more nutgrass will come back. If anyone has a problem with this stubborn weed, I highly recommend, this product.

6 MONTH

Well, today we had the maintenance guys turn up 10mins ahead of schedule, which was good, as I had to go to work as soon as we were finished.

We went through our list of warantee issues, then his tradesman guy turned up and started to working on the things he could. Some items had to be fixed by a plumber, capenter, electrician, window supplier, and garage installer. So I think the tradesman attended to about half of the minor problems. So we'll be waiting for the others to be fixed as soon as they can organise those contractors to do so. We have minor issues with appliances, and we were told to ring the appliance manufacturers to fix their waranty issues.

Can't say their were any major things that needed fixing up. The common things are fixing paint work in the cornices as the foundation settles and the house moves.

NEW HOME BUILDERS GRANT

On the 1st of July, the QLD government introduced the new home builders grant. If you have owned a house, and are wanting to build a new home. The state government will give you $10,000. If you are a first home owner and wish to build, you will be entitled to $17,000. I'm not sure if the first home buyer is still eempt from stamp duty either. What a bonus!

I'm so upset, we missed it by 5 and half months.

Rachel & Sandy, I wonder if you're eligible?

We have solar

Well we had the solar panels installed on the 22nd of June. Which was a few days less than the 8 weeks waiting period we had to queue for. We opted for a 1.5kW system, the reason we didn't go any larger was that the rebate isn't scaled up for a larger system. Whether you go 1.5 or 50kW, the rebate is the same, and it was way out of our budget. So we got the bear minimum, just so we could do our bit for the environment, that that it would do anything anyway.

Another reason was that we have checked our usage and it turns out, during the day we are only consuming on average 0.75kW, so we would be putting back half of what is generated. Which is still OK. Since the powering going back is worth more than is going in, we thought we'd see if we'd get any benefits without the huge expense.



 Look at the panels, we could have fitted almost 10times as many panels. Which would make us fairly self sufficient, not having to paying any power bills. Would mean we would have to invest in power storage batteries for the night time and rainy weather.

 This is the bright blue inverter that converts the power from the sun to usable 240V in the home.

They also added a circuit breaker for the unit (top left). That loose white thing-a-me-bob is our Climate Smart energy monitor.

Would you believe we have to wait an additional 6-8 weeks before we are connected to the grid. Be cautious guys, if you think you're going to generate power straight away. No, you must wait for a technician from the power company to come and connect you. I guess they can take their time, why would they want to be giving out solar credits straight away. It's the same as those banks who decide to increase rates as soon as the rate rise has been announced, and take their time to discount them when the official rates decrease. Same as petrol.

6 MONTH MAINTENANCE

So we have reached our 6month maintenance period. Yes it's 6 months as opposed to 3months in some southern states. Although I thought it was 6 months from handover, it's actually 6months from PCI. Oh well, it just means we won't get through the actual 6months of wear and tear. There haven't been any major fix ups, just mainly minor adjustments/repairs or small things missing.

Let's see how long it takes for them to get through the list.

ADSL2+

We have faster internet. After all the enquiries to Optus, TPG, iiNet, internode & dodo about boradband, none could offer me wired broadband except for one provider. Then after signing up with them on ADSL, I asked if I was able to ADSL2 they said they would have to investigate. After a month of investigation they came through they contracted Telstra to connect me up. The reason I didn't go through Telstra is because they were too expensive. The plans and service I got from my ISP was far better than what anyone else offered. I pay $39.90 for broadband internet and including phone rental. With free local calls, you can't go wrong.

Who are they? SpinTel. Why can they offer exceptional service? because they are australians working for australians, not indians in a call centre placing inquiries. They deal with the big providers to offer the infrastructure service.

http://www.spin.net.au/

French Doors

To complete everything off we had the french doors screened. This is so we can open up without the fear of pests coming in. We can also now open the doors when it's not too cold or too hot to sleep.

Curtains which were put in on day 2.

Door open

One door closed, one screen closed

Screnn is on the inside

Both screem and door open

From the outside. Screen closed and door open. That's the master bedroom.

Fence up

This week marks the completion of all the major work on the house. The fence is the last of the major things. We had Global Fencing Panels of Capalaba to do the job. Very professional job for the right price. We decided to go with black Aluminium pool fencing at the front and back. We didn't want a fence that blocked the fascade of the house, which it complimented very well.

Down the side we went with colour bond.

 Front retaining wall with fence panels.

 Gate by the portico

 The turf is really growing, I gave it the first mow on the weekend.

 Down the side.

 Inside the gate

 Transition bit.

Side gate

 From the back

 We had to keep this gate below the window sill as it would have looked terrible. Also wanted the gas bottle un-obstructed.

Side fencte from the rear of house

 End of colour bond fence. There's that nightmare of a retaining wall.

 Start of the rear fence, ontop of wall

 Rear fence

 Up the stairs

 Other side

From the top.

Thanks Bill a job well done.

Blinded by the light

So a few weeks back we got the remaining window coverings installed. To my suprise, they lost some of the order, so they installed what they had, and had to chase up the remaining shutters. Vista Blinds got the go ahead, although all the suppliers we looked at were very similar and close to the mark. The finish of the shutters are better than we thought, although the design did not end being so good on the smaller type windows, as the opening wasn't sufficient to allow much light through, as you will be able to tell.

 This is the dining looking into the living reveal. Closed

 Now open

 From the back

 Here's what I mean about the small opening. Very disappointed, but what can you do now we've spent thousands on it.

 Family to hallway reveal. This is a fixed shutter, can not open like the other.

 From the back

 Bathroom (closed)

 Bathroom (open)

 Toilet

 Ensuite

 Master (shut)

Master Open. Little opening as in the others. The one in the display home had low profile framing, which is what we were after, but the option was never brought up.

Metricon Referral Bonus

Do any of us building realise we are entitled to a referral commission bonus from Metricon? Yeah apparently when you sign up for the Preliminary Contract and pay your $1500 initial deposit there is a question about how you came to know about Metricon. If you tick the referral box and nominate a person who has recently built with Metricon, then that person is entitled to $1000 (I think).

When we had signed with Metricon we became of distant friends that had built with Metricon, and tried to get this referral bonus sent to them. But the sales consultant said it was too late. We had to nominate them at the preliminary stage. We said we were going to go halves in the bonus. We just wanted to get something back.

I mean why not take advantage of free money when it's out there. If anyone is thinking of building, and wants to nominate me. Send me a message, I will take a $100 cut, and give you the rest LOL. Why not?

Dishwasher Dilemma

So we'd been living in our new house for approximately 3 months. We've been compiling a list of defect and maintenance issue for the 6 month maintenance inspection coming soon.

One thing we've failed to use, and thought it would be a good idea to try out so that we could determine if it works or if there are any leaks, was the dishwasher. So we decided that we would use it the same day we had piled up a load of dishes to wash. We read the instructions carefully on how to operate it. Plced our dirty dishes in the machine, and hit start. The clock counted down from 2hrs and 15mins. I was shocked.

My question for those who have just moved or have moved in to their new house is:

"How long does your dishwasher do a cycle of washing?". I swear I could have 10-20 loads of dishes in that time. So we left it overnight, since it would have been close to 1am by the time the machine finished.

The next morning we woke up and decided to take a look. Everything was clean, but the things inside were all still wet. I assumed that sitting on a rack overnight would have been enough time to drip dry, also I thought a dishwasher develops a high enough temperature for the contents to steam dry. Is this the case, or was the fact I had the machine closed all night, made the difference. I am new to the dishwasher caper. Never used one, and am disappointed with my first experience with it.

I thought it was supposed to save me water, but how is a 2hr and 15min wash going save me water. I will have to give it another shot another time, this time monitor the temperature of the wash, as it's supposed to get really hot, isn't it?

Any tips will be appreciated.

Internals

I'm ever so close to having fixed internet on. First the dramas of the trenching of the telephone lead in cable, then I was told I can't get ADSL2+. I asked if I could get ADSL, they told me it maybe possible, but not guaranteed. So a few providers did some investigation, and tell me I have Pair Gain on my line. They will require Telstra to turn it off or something like that.

Anyway I thought I would post some pics of what's been happening inside. We had the holland blind put in various locations arround the house. Shutters will go in the remainer of the windows, have not arrived yet, but looking forward to the privacy from the toilet. Good thing we don't have a neighbour yet.

 

 The entertainment unit. Got a good price on this as it was the last one left.

 Clock. It was annoying the first few weeks, as we had to either look at the oven, microwave or a/c controller for the time.

 Canvas painting in the living. Looking for more to scatter around the house.

Second book shelf as the first one got filled quickly

It's chockers.

So the fence is booked. Neighbours have agreed to colorbond down the side. And the rest we are doing aluminium pool type, and a few gates also.