Journal: The Building History of the Newton House.

Journal Date & Hours	Journal	Journal Photo
Date: 2000	This year was for planning. Colin completed on thesis on designing and building a sustainable home. This was the groundwork for our own home.   Recycled timbers were sourced from demolition yards, auctions and businesses that specialise in trading second hand products.   Recycled railway sleepers were a perfect solution for bearers and joists on the utility deck. These decks will carry 54000 litres of stored water.
Date: Jan '01 Building Hours: 43	Holes for the house poles were dug using elbow grease and a jackhammer. Chris breaking the soil ... then Col took over.
Date: Jan '01 Building Hours: 57	The Newton House structure is based around recycled turpentine marine pylons. These were initially from a jetty on Horn Island, Qld. Chris purchased them at an auction. A crane was used to place the poles into the holes.
Date: Jan - March '01 Building Hours: 122	Chains, hand winch and tirfor were used to plumb each of the poles. The poles were up to 13 meters long with diameters 350 to 600mm.
Date: Jan - March '01 Building Hours: 122	The natural rock and soil was rammed back in, layer at a time, using a crow bar. This job is always more satisfying when shared with a friend... thanks Ross.
Date: April'01 Building Hours: 223	Sub floor posts were off cuts also purchased at auction.
Date: May '01 Building Hours: 299	Pre-drilling for the bolts. Peter traveled up from Tasmania to be part of this project.
Date: May '01 Building Hours: 356	The utilities' deck starts to take shape. This floor will hold the 3 water tanks; dry composting toilet bins and the grey water system. It could also hold a diesel locomotive, but Chris hasn't found one at the auctions yet.
Date: June'01 Building Hours: 444	The hardwood sleepers are seconds; the imperfections in these will be lost under the water tanks that will go on top of the decks. Zincalume steel capping over the bearers will improve their durability, as the decks will be exposed to weather. The capping were previously used on bessar block walls - they were sourced from the local tip.
Date: June'01 Building Hours: 444	Halfway there … 6 poles in and the decking on. We now needed to place another 5 tall poles and extend the deck out to meet them. So here we go.
Date: July '01 Total Building Hours: 496	We dig the holes…the crane places the poles in the holes…
Date: July '01 Total Building Hours: 533	…the poles are plumbed using chains and pulleys… …and we ram them into position.
Date: July '01 Total Building Hours: 533	We now have 11 tall poles in position, and half the deck complete.
Date: July '01 Total Building Hours: 606	Seasoned hardwood poles, bearers and railway sleepers are shaped together.
Date: Sept '01 Total Building Hours:960	The hours spent on the detailing with these old timbers has made timeless features.
Date: Sept '01 Total Building Hours: 960	Utilities Deck Completed.
Date: Aug '01	Meanwhile Chris is continually keeping her eyes open for appropriate opportunities and second hand products that will suit our lifestyle and the design of our home. This old Turkish marble basin will become our vanity sink.... ... and this fallen red gum stump will be our bath tub.
Date: Oct '01 Total Building Hours: 1008	The first bearer for the next floor is profiled and pre-drilled before it is lifted into place using pulley blocks.
Date: Oct '01 Total Building Hours: 1030	Shear blocks are made for each bearer to sit onto. Another use for the old railway sleepers.
Date: Nov '01 Total Building Hours: 1196	Then add the bearers. These were individually profiled before being lifted into place using the pulley blocks...
Date: Nov '01 Total Building Hours: 1196	.... and Ross made sure they wont come out.
Date: Dec '01 Total Building Hours: 1228	So this is what we have achieved at the end of the first year. It has filled all our weekends, but we are very proud of what we have achieved. Though we hoped to have been further along the challanges of working with heavy timber and uneven levels takes time. Our home has evolved meeting all the sustainable objectives we set, and adding alot of personal experiences along the way. We could not have planned a more rewarding year.

2002
Date: Jan '02 Building Hours: 1232	We start this year with the floor bearers complete on the living level. The levels for the joists will be challenging due to the natural undulations of the bearers, but there will be no stopping Mr Newton and his team.
Date: Jan '02 Building Hours: 1372	Joist ... and more notching .... but the floor is perfectly level.   With all of the notching into the bearers, we can get away without blocking.
Date:Feb '02 Building Hours:1593	A suspended slab will be situated inside the north facing glass doors. Concrete is a thermal mass. It will provide a heat sink for the sun that enters onto this area in winter
Date: Apr '02 Building Hours: 1770	By notching the post for the floor boards, the post give the impression that they are floating on this floor.
Date: May '02 Building Hours: 1800	Boards are all counter punched ready for sanding. The sawdust from the sanding will be used to fill the punch holes. The timbers will be burnished.
Date: July '02 Building Hours: 1864	Mortised post signals the start of the roof framing.
Date: July 02 Building Hours: 1934	No cranes, no nuts, no bolts. Just chain blocks, kopper logs and some leverage. Who said all the pyramid engineers were dead and buried.
Date: Aug '02 Building Hours: 2051	Thanks to the help of willing friends and family we maneuvered the three Deveney water tanks into position.
Date: Sept 02 Building Hours: 2267	And slowly the roof takes shape.
Date: Oct '02 Building Hours: 2500	Colins show how to bring roof framing, and cross bracing together on a feature post
Date: Oct '02 Building Hours:2471	Recycled floor joist are passed through a thicknesser and painted with tung oil. These are now ready for use as exposed roof rafters.
Date: Dec '02 Total Building Hours: 2773	Years End. The king post is in position with plans for a roof in 2003.

2003
Date: Jan '03 Building Hours: 2805	Ridge beam is lowered into position by a crane - perfect fit, Colin and Ross never doubted it.
Date: Jan '03 Building Hours: 2805	Great opportunity to get our red gum log into the bathroom. You will have to wait a bit longer for this one - one day it will be our bathtub.
Date: Mar '03 Building Hours: 2917	The rafters now take their position - nestling into the hand chiseled roof beams.
Date: Mar '03 Building Hours: 2917	Remember - these were the recycled floor joist which we have plained and treated with tung oil. Rubbish one day beautiful the next.
Date: June '03 Building Hours: 3151	Roof Framing Complete! The celestory window is where Colin is waving on the right, Ross on the left. The celestory faces north and will direct the low winter sun deep into the house for warmth and natural daylighting.
Date: June '03 Building Hours: 3151	This has been our most challenging stage. The work has all been done 12 meters above terra-firma. Chris would never let either Colin or Ross up without being harnessed to a pole. I think the fear of being left dangling from a harness worried them more then a fall - but it seems to have worked. Colin had his health set back last September - arthritis, fatigue, fevers. Colin thinks it was a mosquito and does not feel they are an important element of biodiversity anymore! We'll be taking things slowly for a while.
Date: July '03 Building Hours: 3277	Roofing starts! Colin, Ross, Egon and Ari all get harnessed. Chris has given them the challenge to drape the rush matting over the exposed rafters, followed by the Air-Cell insulation, and then the off-white roof sheeting. Work starts on the south roof.   The internal finish is looking very special.
Date: Nov'03	Hard to appreciate the tricky work my boys have been up to in the last 6 months. Due to the pitch of the roof and the height above the steep slope, we made a decision to finish the deck around the house before attempting any further roofing. So off they went again to find some big recycled pieces of timber.
Date: Dec'03	Floor Boards
Date: Dec'03 Building Hours: 3624	Struts, balustrade and floor boards from under.
Date: Dec'03	The next stage is to finish the roof! Then down to finish the boardwalk to give us access to the house with out having to take straw bales up the ladder. Surely we will be ready for the walls! The straw bale walls will be infill on the top floor only. We have been doing many test samples with our earth renders - and are happy that we can finish our house in earth render both inside and out.

2004
Date: Feb'04	Framing for the southern deck. We are now ready for the corrugated roof sheeting.
Date: March'04	The roof over the back deck will also be insulated with AirCell insulation to stop the radiated heat in summer. White roof sheeting also reflects the heat. No hot spots in our house.
Date: April '04	Rafters are sourced from recycled floor joist. These have been put through a thicknesser to reveal the original timber colour. They were then polished with natural Tung oil. Rush matting lines the ceiling. It is draped over the rafters.
Date: July 04	The roof framing shows the shape for the clerestory window
Date: July 04	Colin says the the roof is shaped like the bottom of a boat. I'm sure that should come handy one day.
October 2004	This year we reprioritised what was important. We have found Colin had coeliac disease and hashimoto's disease which had slowed him down for the last 2 years. This is great the coeliac is easily managed with a gluten free diet and the hashimoto's with a thyroid tablet every morning. He still needs a bit of twinking but we are in the right direction now ... bring on the straw.

2005
Date: 28 Dec '04	Straw Bales arrive. Family who had turned up for a holidays suddenly found themselves up in a straw bale tossing event. Thanks Bin and Alex. The straw has been stored in a shed away from the risks of moisture damage.
Date: 8 Jan'05	Colin and Egon spent 3 day screwing of the the roof and checking it was ready for the PV panels to be installed The white corrugated iron provides an ideal material for reflection of heat and water harvesting. Below the corrugated iron is AirCell insulation. This bubble wrap like material is an ideal summer insulation - reflecting heat and preventing it entering the building. It also traps air in its small spaces - effectively providing winter heat escaping the house in winter. The roof has a large area facing the north, this aspect will soon be used for the Photo Voltaic Cells that will power the Newton House, and the solar hot water system.
Date: 11 Jan 05	16 solar panels take their position on the roof. We are not connected to the grid. We are now making all our power from the sun that lands on our roof. This web site will now be updated using solar power!
Feb 2005- Feb 2006	We've needed to stop building for a while. Colin didn't getting better the way the doctors told us. It has been 3.5 years. This last year with lots of tests, probes and twinking. Our time frame has never been what has driven us on this project. I have always said it will take us about 10 years. So that puts us on on schedule. We have not been loitering though.... Check what is happening in our garden.
March 2006	We've started again, downstairs on the utility floor. The room at the back is the power room to support the solar panels. Last weekend we finished to the floor for the water room. I love the way the floor floats. This will hold the greywater system, and pumps. The walls and roof will be finished downstairs for these enclosures, then we are moving upstairs.
	Rick did some wwoofing with us ... and we built this beautiful a gabion rock table. The rock feature becomes the centre piece of the table. Timbers are recycled hardwood rafters.
	A 2 week working bee. This is the kick start we have needed to get our project back on track. Our objective was to get the window and door frames in. To complete the bottom and top plates of the straw bale wall system. And to get the framing complete for the east deck. With this we will be then ready to raise some straw bale walls this year!   Window and door frames are made from recycled Queensland railway sleepers.
Oct '06	Colin lowers the bath in its final resting place.
Oct '06	Skirting boards are in place and will double as the render stops for the straw bale walls. These recycled blue gum bearers have been sanded and finished with tung oil.
Oct '06	The deck now wraps around the east side of the building. you can just see Colin's signature struts coming from the poles below.
Oct '06	This slab of camphor laurel has become the doorway sill.
6-7th January 2007	Our straw bale walls went up this weekend!!! Straw Baling Images