First-time house renovation

latecomer

If your attempted growing is anything like mine then perhaps it just needs a little longer. I had completely given up on my grass but after 3.5 weeks (meant to start sprouting in 3-4 days!) it finally started growing.

Wedding presents are great although I have to say most of ours are still in boxes to keep them nice. Cant wait to get them out and start making use of them.

latecomer

I've got something similar to look forward to in the very near future. Heard that the in-laws have finally cut their holiday short due to the forecast for winds getting stronger later this week. This means that the tiling will probably start later this week and hence I need to chase up the bath/shower mixer and finish off the couple of small bits of tiling still be to done on the floor. Also got some filling to do around there the original extractor hole was cut.

Our new toilet has a very odd fastening method which is a long rod which goes through the same hole as the toilet seat screws into and a fastening that you put into a drilled hole in the floor. The fastening is a bit like a rawl plug which expands out to presumably lock into position within the hole. I'm sure it will work......... maybe

Midori_2

Sounds like you had a good day Andy, we are changing our bathroom suite at some point although I am leaving that room till last as it is relatively useable! We have these good ideas but when it comes to doing the actual work we just think 'what are we doing? where do we start?'! Do any of you guys have DIY experience or is it a kind of pick it up as you go along type of thing?!

Midori

latecomer

When it comes to plumbing I always use compression fittings which are basically idiot proof. I had never done anything with plmbing until I helped my now in-laws replace the OHs bathroom in her flat. FIL says its all basically common sense and to be fair he's mostly right. In our house, I've moved radiators and added radiators, added TRV valves to all radiators and now just about finished with modifying the plumbing for the new bathroom.

Compression fittings are easy to use. You need a clean pipe, some PTFE tape and 2 adjustable spanners. As long as you dont go mad with the tightening or the PTFE tape then you shouldn't have a problem. If you are going to try it, start off with something simple and then once you get more confident you can more onto more tricky things.

lisal0u

Hiya,

Had quite a productive weekend! We now have working sockets upstairs and all the radiators are back on. The plumber can now come back and service the boiler.

We also finished off putting a big fence up at the back of our garden because there have been people nosing around a few times! I'm sure it wont stop people getting in but it will definately make it harder. Next doors had all their power tool stolen from their garage on Wednesday in broad daylight so we're going to have to be careful!

Jamtart - I'm gald you finally got 'bathgate' sorted ha ha!

andrew-b - I didn't even know you could get doors with fittings that let you lock them from the inside just using the handle! Wish I'd known cos thats a great idea!

Our toilet sounds exactly the same as yours and it also has a bit of a wobble! Will have to do the same as you and pack it a bit then seal it with silicone!

latecomer - Any news on the interview yet?

BB1984 - Oooo white compant bedding! Very nice! I would love some but its a bit expansive, they dont often have sales either! Maybe Stuart and me will have to get married :rotfl:

TomsMom - My spuds are going mad too! I'v had to cover them over twice already. Broccoli and cabbages are in pots and I'm going to put a ring of vaseline around them to keep the slimeys off!

I've got Wednesday off so Im hoping to get to the house and do something productive. I've been trying to clean up all the dust but its impossible. I washed the living room floor and when it dried it looked no different :-( Any tips on how to clean dust and plaster of wooden and quarry tiled floors?

Lisa

Shimmyhill

Sounds like a hard day Andy, we have that to look forward too but bathroom is ok so staying as is for the time being. I already know to fit a new style toilet i will need to relocate the soil pipe as it is a fair old distance from the wall

Speaking of pipes !! Started weeding the area for table and chairs to sit and discovered that where the plastic guttering downpipes attach into the old ceramic pipe they didnt fit the pipe far enough in - now it is blocked and the rain water must just over flow !! Another job i have found myself - GREAT !!!

Shimmyhill

Ohhh and another question !!

What do people paint radiators with - i have tried in the past radiator paint and frankly it is evil ! ?

I want to paint some of the original Rads, just white and want an easier way to do it assuming there is one !!

latecomer

lisal0u wrote: »

latecomer - Any news on the interview yet?

Will be either end of this week or sometime next week before I expect to hear anything.

Seems that breaking into garages must be fairly common as we were warned about it from a member of the local neighbourhood watch. Mind you if anyone tried to break into ours they'd probably trip over the stuff on the floor and do themselves an injury

latecomer

Shimmyhill wrote: »

What do people paint radiators with - i have tried in the past radiator paint and frankly it is evil ! ?

We used normal radiator paint. Gave them a really good rub down first and then 2 coats of paint. Also rubbed down a little bit between coats in any places it didn't look good. End result wasn't bad at all. I'll go out to the garage and check on the make of radiator paint if you are interested.

andrew-b

Shimmyhill wrote: »

What do people paint radiators with - i have tried in the past radiator paint and frankly it is evil ! ?

I just use standard white paint for wood & metal. Actually i've still got to do the top coat on the spare room radiator - one of the jobs left over since decorating that room in December 2007..can't believe it was that long ago now!

Andy