First-time house renovation

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

A couple of pics up on my blog now - including a very cheesy one of me sloshing wallpaper paste everywhere! I'm looking forward to posting photos of this room finished - I'll be so proud as every single room will be "pretty much done" then...! (I swear they'll never all be 100% done!)

BB

Well done Beth - who's a clever girl! I'm amazed at what you are all tackling and you're all doing so well. You could be launching a new career here!

And the photo is lovely.

How's the gorgeous Chester?

andrew-b

I'm all excited :j at the moment as i just managed to strike a deal on new soffits and fascias, and guttering after getting another quote yesterday afternoon. By a bit of negotiation and holding my ground i managed to knock the price down by £244 (over 12%) :j:money:but including ogee-guttering (much nicer than square guttering and better flow) at "no extra cost" (whether it was i'm not sure but i think i got a good deal all the same). There was an attempt to up the price by £50 but i held my ground - in hindsight i would have aimed £50 lower to let them add it back on!

I had another cheaper quote from the company fitting the new front door plus another not-so-accurate phone quote using the same products at similar price which i used to bargain with. I also had a fitting date in a few weeks to work to when OH has some time off which probably helped. But I've seen this company work from the comfort of my sofa as the bungalow behind ours had new soffits, fascias with the ogee guttering last year so it feels like a safer option than going with someone whose standard of work is relatively unknown.

So in less than a month from now our bungalow should hopefully be transformed on the outside! The downside is the house budget is running thin on the ground now but the rest of the house renovation is mainly redecoration so the big expenses are now out of the way hopefully!

Well excuse my excitement :j just had to share with someone!

Andy

TomsMom

Well done Andy :T, I can feel your excitement! It's a lovely feeling when you can do a deal at a price you'd aimed for.

latecomer

We had the person from the bathroom showroom round last night who looked at the defects and has said that the cistern top (possibly the whole thing) and the pedestal for the sink will be replaced no problem. The sink may also get replaced but she had to check as the mark on it is relatively minor. In fact i'm going to go chase her up as she said she would get in touch this morning.

We also need to make a decision on what to do abuot our shower mixer. We were planning to use the old one for the near future but as the extension, and hence the boiler upgrade, might have to be shelved for a while its making us think about whether we should go for a different mixer/tap instead. Trouble is that we cant find a low pressure wall mounted combined exposed shower/tap bar valve anywhere. There are some that work with 0.5 bar but I'm not sure if we even have that. Maybe its time to invest in a water pressure guage?

As the MIL has gone on her holidays it doesn't really matter for now as we wont be starting tiling the walls until she returns unless my OH is feeling very brave

andrew-b

Latecomer, have a look at Grohe Eurodisc...there's a wall mounted bath/shower mixer that will work at 0.1 bar. See http://www.bathrooms365.com/acatalog/Grohe_Eurodisc_Taps.html (just noticed they don't give a price but it's also available at screwfix) and http://www.grohe.co.uk/m/25_971/page/modules/pn/article.php?part=view&action=view&product=33364G042&offset=0 (in particular follow the link to technical product information on the grohe product listing ). As a rule of thumb for a gravity fed shower 0.1bar corresponds to 1 metre head of water (ie 1m from shower head to bottom of cold water tank).

Initially our bathroom plan was to squeeze a bath into the recess where the washbasin is with the grohe eurodisc bath/shower mixer mounted on the wall. I spent a long long time finding that shower valve only to then decide to ditch the bath idea! Still hopefully my research will be of benefit now! Bet you wish you'd asked sooner now

Andy

TomsMom

latecomer When we wanted to know the pressure of our water, we got in touch with our water company and they sent a man out to test it FOC. You don't even have to be in, it was tested outside and he gave us a card with the information written on. Maybe you can ask your water company????? I'm not well up on it but ours is pretty high from what I can remember.

jamtart6

quick update from me! suddenly everything is moving again. new heating system is in (well the pipes at least), need to collar the plasterer to see when he can come, front garden looking quite cool now if I do say so myself, had many tip trips so the house no longer looks like a dumping ground, carpets now all out, electrics all done (except 1 switch) so its plastering next then...PAINTING! So excited to choose colours...will prob end up with white though!!!!!!!!!!!

KT1985

My updates are as follows:

We have tided the front of the house and have planted some flowers

I have painted half of the living room

The dining room is finished

I have put new worktops in the kitchen (we have kept the original oak cabinets)

and yesterday... i did new plumbing and fitted the new sink. This was hard work (although, being ikea it was easy from the point of view of the instructions) but looks great. his means that we have water again! :T

latecomer

andrew-b wrote: »

Latecomer, have a look at Grohe Eurodisc...there's a wall mounted bath/shower mixer that will work at 0.1 bar.

thanks for that. I cant find a 0.1 bar model but 0.2 is just as good. We should have about 0.4-0.5 bar so it should be fine. I'll need to check whether OH likes it and also whether I can cancel the one I've already ordered. The alternative is that we get the boiler upgraded to a new combi now and then stick with our original choice. And then once the extension is done we can get the boiler moved. Makes it more expensive which we should probably try and avoid with the current situation.

@ TM - its the pressure from the tank that I meant but I hadn't thought about asking the water company about the outside pressure. Will definitely be useful for the future.

Not really in the mood for doing anything on the house at the moment. Going to visit some friends tomorrow/saturday to take my mind of the job situation.

matt_boro

hi all!

house is now all stripped back to bare walls and floorboards... that was 2 weeks of hard graft, and i think i have seriously !!!!!!ed my shoulder from so much wallpaper stripping!

got a builder coming round tomorrow and the weekend to knock through the kitchen into the dining room, measure up for windows and repair the roof.

plumber is coming next tuesday to install central heating and first fix kitchen and bathroom, hope to have electrician in the week after for the rewire.

as you can tell, im not a patient man!! :beer:
Matt