The Tree and the house that Rick built....

First off I am very sad to report that the beautiful 18m River Red Gum tree which the whole of the Burnside village was built around was finally pronounced dead.  Within a very short space of time the tree surgeons had arrived and removed it and now all that is left are the remains of the stump, covered over, a promise of the wood being used for furniture and a very large space in the atrium.  

Its demise has been discussed on the radio, in the local newspapers and by visitors practically since the centre was built around the tree just two years ago.  The impression I got when I visited was most people, from the very young upwards feel very sad and miss the tree.  While I was there I overheard a Mum comforting her 5 year old who on hearing the tree had died had asked her Mum to take her to say goodbye to it.  

On a far more positive note Rick has built our house... ok it's out of modelling board but built to scale and it's so nice to see our ideas in 3D!  I'll take you on a tour:-

This is the South-West side, and the front entrance to our home.  To the left of the doorway is the dining room window.  Looking to the right, the first small window is the loo, next the shower and last window one of the guest bedrooms.  The large over hang of roof is the carport, which will of course have supports.

 This is the East facing side, starting on the left is the other side of the carport.  The first window is the other guest room, then the mud-room and the door to the mud-room.  The last window on this side is our bedroom window so we will be able to see the sunrise.

This is the North facing side, again starting from the left is the sliding glass door to our bedroom.  The sloping wall is the outside shower which should also be big enough for us to establish a small fernery.  The next huge window is the living room and last but not least the final window which can just be seen is the kitchen window.  

Windows have to be bigger this side of the house to enable warm winter sun to heat our concrete floors which will act as the thermal mass, helping to keep the house cool in summer and warm in the winter.  The idea is to have something deciduous on this side to shield against the hot summer sun, come the cooler months the leaves will drop off enabling the sun to warm the house.

And finally the West side, this is the area with the view, we think this is the side we are likely to spend most time being, so on the left is the door to the open living/dining and kitchen area.  Behind the large (at the moment) windowless wall is the kitchen and walk in pantry.  So there we have it....

We have received news from the CFS (Country Fire Service) and our home is in a high fire risk area.  Which means we cant build within 15m of any trees, any shrubs can be no closer than 20m and in the fire season the grass has to be no higher than 10cm.  We also have to have a 22,000 litre water tank designated just for the fire service to use and have a road strong enough to take a fire engine and built to enable a fire engine to turn around! Phew... better to be safe than sorry and so much better to know now so we can plan accordingly.

Next step is to have another chat with the builder and then the draftsman and then hopefully well be on the home run as far as the plans are concerned.