One of the final exterior things to happen on site is the bluestone paving around the building.
Hayes Lane itself is heritage bluestone pavement, and the Melbourne City Council has worked with the 5×4 team to repave the area of the lane in front of the building.
As the 5×4 building uses every available piece of space, this means that this iconic Melbourne bluestone is paved right to the front door!
First the dirt had to be scraped off to reveal the existing old bluestone.
Then all the old stones had to be removed and and new foundations laid to enable more stability in the newly paved lane.
The plaster put on the exterior wall of the neighboring building has been painted black with Ecolour paint to return the building back to its original aesthetic.
Along with the images we took of the stonemasons working on Hayes Lane, we also recorded some footage for our Video Diary. See the video below, or head to our YouTube channel BarleyStore for the full 5×4 Hayes Lane Project playlist.
With a second coat of dark stain being applied to the wooden floors, stairs and bench tops, the patterns in the ASH timber are starting to come into their own.
The stain comes from a dilution of stainless steel soaked in vinegar. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity though – it’s quite hard to apply uniformly, but Timber Care were a match for the task.
Jan from TimberCare prepares the floor for staining
The stain drying
The finished product; 2 coats of stain and a coat of wax for water proofing
The floors received a (rather noisy) wire-brushing from Timber Care, which scrapes away any soft wood, leaving hardwood behind for durability and the smooth finish of floorboards.
Timber Care came and experimented with a number of stains. We finally settled on using the darkest stain for our kitchen bench tops and floors, which is made from vinegar and steel wool stain.
For the eco-plywood cabinets, Timber Care used a white diluted concentrate as an undercoat to ensure the oil wax did not yellow the colour of the wood.
After the stains, hard wax oil is applied to make the wood waterproof. This is particularly important for the bathroom, which has wooden benches. Unlike varnishes, the hard wax oil does not need to be sanded to be renewed.
The white stain looks stark against the natural wood when it is first applied
The stain is rubbed in to create a more subtle colour
The difference of the white stain becomes obvious when viewed side by side with the unstained eco-plywood.
The all-important bathrooms are being installed and tiled. The en-suite bathroom is now beginning to look like a bathroom, having been kitted out with a shower head, sink, taps, and a toilet. The downstairs bathroom is a complete wet bathroom, meaning that it is waterproofed and tiled all the way up to the ceiling.
