First-time house renovation

Spicey

Welcome Gemma another blog how exciting :j
The plasterers came sunday and finished.
DH has put the bathroom and cloakroom windows in, so can start fitting the bathroom out - yeh will have a loo soon.
Looking after GD this week so wont get much done, though Im sure she wont mind washing down walls etc :rotfl:

KT1985

TomsMom wrote: »

I'm feeling your excitement KT. We're having the underlay delivered tomorrow, the carpets for the two bedrooms and lounge delivered on Thursday and they will be fitted on Sunday. H/S/Landing carpet will be done a bit later when the fitter can get back. I'm so looking forward to it, not least because it will be so much cleaner (uncovered concrete floors make the house so dusty!) and cosier.

I'm starting to look and beds and wardrobes too :j .

I know what you mean about dust- it is so disgustingly dusty atm with no apparent reason, and only worked out today that this is the culprit!

I am waiting to go to another auction to buy a wardrobe- going in 2 weeks I think.

lisal0u

Hi Everyone and welcome Gemma!

Sorry I haven't been on here for a while, had a bit of catching up to do!

I've got this week off as we really need to get a move on! We've had the keys for 10 months now and its about time we got it finished!

This week we've undercoated all of downstairs and put the first coat of actual colour on in the livingroom. Its so exciting its starting to look like a house and not a building site.

Just wondering if any of you can help me with my under stairs dilemma. We opened up under the stairs and discovered it was damp so dug the floor out. There was no damp proof membrane so we need to put one in. Whats the best way of doing this? If we lay a membrane how do you attach it to the damp proof course? Is it easier to fill with sand and concrete or lay a suspended floor like the rest of the hall? Ive downloaded the building regs but they're a bit confusing!

I'll take some pictures today when we have finished painting the living room and update my blog finally!

KT1985 & TomsMom - How exciting getting carpets, I cant wait to get to that stage, I'm also sick of dust. No matter how much you clean it comes back with a vengeance!

In terms of what we've spent I'd imagine when we've finished it will be close to £30k :eek: Its such a lot of money but we have completely stripped the house and put it back together so I guess its not too bad!

Gemma whats the address for your blog? Mines http://stuartandlisashouse.blogspot.com/ I look forward to reading yours!

Right I'd better get on! Need to go get more paint! If anyone is painting at the minute B&Q are selling 2 tins of crown neutrals for £20 and if you have a 10% off card thats only £9 a tin, bargain! (Should be £15 a tin).

Bye for now
Lisa x

andrew-b

Door company still not received replacement latch..anyway at least i know they won't be coming today.

Lisa, none of our floors have damp proof membranes (or at least not that i'm aware of) although we don't appear to have problems (probably because we are on chalk soil). I'm sure i've seen diagrams somewhere of recommended floor structure..yep here you go http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/constructiongroundfloor.htm think that was it.

Sounds like quite a job and being under the stairs you might want to wear hard hats! Are you sure though the floor is damp and it's not just condensation caused by lack of ventilation? If there's no damp proofing in that floor maybe there are none elsewhere in the house either. I'm not sure when they actually started putting damp proof membranes into floors...but had some discussion on this with my building surveyor (aka Dad) who seemed to think it was around the 1950s.

Andy

lisal0u

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for that! Its definitely damp and smells really musty. We're on clay soils and the bricks up to the damp proof course are also pretty wet!

The flooring in our house is a bit odd, the living room and hallway is a suspended timber floor but the kitchen and dining room is quarry tiles on a solid floor. I don't expect there is a damp proof membrane under the quarry tiles as it was built in 1938 but there doesn't appear to be any damp problems there. I think the understairs used to be a coal house.

Its frustrating cos its the only job holding us up. After this has been fixed we can lay the flooring downstairs!

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

The couple of you looking for wardrobes... "pinesolutions" is all i have to say for great all round service - they'll price match too.

Andy

Andy -I want built-ins. Do you remember my bedrooms, photo number 8 has the stairs to the attic on the left hand side (you can just see between the two temporary wardrobes) and photo number 9 you can see there is a natural alcove where the bookcase is.

We've got temporary wardrobes from the other house in and they're just too big and look overpowering so we think built-ins would be better. Trouble is OH can't build them unless he recovers (which IF he does it means sometime next year) and we don't have anyone else who can build them for us.

I rang somewhere yesterday who says we on just outside their area so they wont come out to have a look unless we give them a firm order (eh? how do we know we want to order unless we've seen their sample doors and suggestions ) but he did give a rough estimate of just under £1800 for each room for a 4-door run, hinged doors with oak-look frames and mirrors. We think that's a bit OTT. No-one else seems to want to come to our corner of north Wales.

So - challenge of the day for any of you guys. This is how they were and we would like something that will go with chests from this range. We don't want a wall of oak doors as we think this will be too much for the wall, that's why we thought of a frame to match (as close as possible) the chests but with mirrors to keep the room light.

What does anyone think?

andrew-b

Ah yep i remember now... how about Ikea..linky ..not had a chance to look if any of it would match though.

I think i considered their PAX system at one point. Pretty sure there's a few good reviews on the forums here somewhere. I can see a link to "wardrobe planner". Not sure if you are in an Ikea delivery zone though!

Andy

TomsMom

Thanks Andy. I've looked at the Ikea ones on their website as quite a few people on MSE have mentioned them, but their nearest store is 2.5 hours' drive away so haven't seen them in the flesh. Wont be able to get to their store now though. I suppose I need a good carpenter but they're as rare as rocking horse droppings around here!

I googled Hammonds but there seems to be quite a few complaints about them and I want to steer clear of the likes of Sharps etc.

Midori_2

hello,
To answer Spiceys questions about bungalow loft conversions we are hoping to do ours as we need to extra bedroom but after seeing plans we are not so sure it will work as we wanted it to. Possibly thinking to have an extension instead. If we didn't need the room we probably wouldn't bother.

Jamtart, I dread to think what the costs might be, what with needing to replace windows and doors, connecting to gas, putting in central heating, carpets, paint, new bathroom, kithchen (there isnt one at all), and the loft conversion/ extension.... probably 20 -30k?? although we are trying to do everything ourselves as much as possible. Not really done very much yet so only spent a few hundred quid so far.... maybe need to speak to the bank! otherwise it is just a bit each month.

Hi Gemma, looking forward to noseying round another blog, it is a great place to get tips or ideas from and its really motivating to see others progress.

KT1985 and TomsMom, we are looking at carpets at the mo, thinking about which rooms and what colours, thinking of having same neutral colour throughout, one question though, would you put the carpets under or up to the skirting boards? (yet another thing that needs ordering!)

Going to the bungalow this weekend as we are getting a kitchen. A lovely auntie is changing hers and giving us the old one... it is really nice and doesn't need changing but she fancies a change! Still need to knock a wall down though and level the floor before we can install it.

sorry, waffled on...
Midori

TomsMom

Midori wrote: »

hello,


KT1985 and TomsMom, we are looking at carpets at the mo, thinking about which rooms and what colours, thinking of having same neutral colour throughout, one question though, would you put the carpets under or up to the skirting boards? (yet another thing that needs ordering!)


Midori

Our skirting boards were put on first (by the builders) and the carpets will go up to them. Once fitted properly (the grippers are nailed just in front of the skirting board then the carpet stretched and fitted over the grippers with the carpet being tucked down) it will be a nice neat finish. This is how our carpets have been fitted every time we've bought them from various places with various fitters, I think it's the norm. If you have them fitted under the skirting board, what happens when you wish to change the carpet in the future - you'd have to take the skirting board off.

I'm only speaking from experience, if you post this question as a new thread then perhaps underlay-guru or another carpet expert will give you the profession opinion.