James Hardie RAB™ Board is a solid fibre cement pre-cladding. It acts a a 'Rigid Air Barrier' - hence the name RAB. This means it's a layer that is sandwiched between the external cladding of the building and the wall framing, generally replacing building paper. For residential builds it is most commonly used for [...]
Greytown has a strong sense of community and belonging, that is unique to out-of-city living; we know our neighbours and can't go anywhere local without a friendly hello to those we recognise, and even those we don't. Greytown, and the Wairarapa, is also an incredibly house and heritage proud community that has a strong [...]
Last time we talked you through our vision for the Habitat kitchen, and explained the reasons for its position and layout. Moving forward from that point, our next step was to decide on cabinetry and appliances. These decisions would have a big impact on the way the kitchen would look and function. Having a [...]
The kitchen is arguably the jewel in the crown when it comes to designing the interior of the home. It’s the part everyone can’t wait to get stuck in to, and it’s easy to see why. Kitchen design is an opportunity to make a statement; not only about your design style, but also how you [...]
Back in February we wrote a post revealing the exterior design, as well as our design direction and brief for our creation of Mackit Habitat. This included showcasing the form of Habitat with some photo realistic exterior renders that we produced in-house. Since then we have explored and chosen our materials and specifications for all [...]
The weather is slowly (albeit slightly inconsistently!) warming up which has provided us with an ideal setting for the construction of the second storey of Mackit Habitat. Not only will the second storey capture the beautiful view to the Tararua ranges, it will provide a private master bedroom retreat with ensuite and walk in wardrobe, [...]
The floor is down so next comes the walls! While our last update showed the completed subfloor structure and a portion of flooring laid in the downstairs bathroom, progress has been swift and we can now walk the entire lower floor of Habitat! Being able to experience the full scale of the dwelling is thrilling, [...]
The winter months on a building site always prove challenging, with an immediate, steady and constant stream of rain. However, at Mackit we are lucky enough that winter has brought our new builder, Hayden. Since his arrival on site, progress has been strong and steady, and up out the mud our blockwall and subfloor structures [...]
NZ houses are typically constructed on one of two methods of foundation. The first is a concrete slab on the ground, which are usually 100mm thick with reinforcing mesh, and a perimeter footing. The second is a system of timber piles and bearers. Conventionally, all are constructed out of simple, treated, radiata pine. Habitat uses [...]
A pitfall of being your own client, is that sometimes your project gets pushed to the bottom of the list. We were so busy with client projects towards the end of 2017, that we didn’t manage to get the Habitat plans submitted to Council, for building consent, until January. Meanwhile, we had our team of [...]
