First-time house renovation

jimbugalee

Spicey wrote: »

Wow your brave. we are keen DIYers, but Gas thats a step too far for us!
Luckily my BIL is a registered plumber/heating guy, so we got it done by him still cost loads though!

We assumed that the gas guy may run the pipes but he was happy for us to do. Now from reading above that doesn't sound like the best idea but I just assumed he was confident we could do it having inspected the previous work and invited his boss round to ok it also. I am sure there are differing opinions on this. Our first priority is to be safe rather than save money! I also have a sneaky suspicion he is doing the soldering and OH running the pipes. That would seem more sensible/safer?

Yes, it is still costing a lot. Looking at £1,000 for the boiler, £400 installation and whatever it cost us in copper pipe, connection etc.

TomsMom

Spicey wrote: »

Afternoon all. Oh what a good day, the inspector came this morning and was most impressed, especially as I was quoting BS numbers etc, what a relief! He said see you when you start digging footings for extension, he was lovely. And this afternoon I have just checked the council web site and we now have full planning permission, so full steam ahead on the extension.

Well done Spicey, how exciting!

Bathroom tiles - I (we, no I) have decided on a beige marble efffect with a border half way up of shades of mosaic browns. Now the big decider is do we tile the walls floor to ceiling all way round or only do half way up except of course round bath and shower. What everyone view on this? I really like the idea of fully tiled, but I can also see the benefit of half tiling in order to add a different colour in the form of paint that can be changed every now and then. Need to decide by saturday because thats when Im getting the tiles.

Picture of fully tiled, beige marble effect with mosaic type border. That's the main bathroom. I prefer fully tiled for a bathroom but of course it's personal choice.

Same tiles portrait rather than landscape in the en-suite. The tiles are 25cm x 40cm and look good both ways, just depends on the size of the room.

Half-tiled in the downstairs WC with painted walls above.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger to get a better idea.

If buying borders and you want tile trim above and below the border (as in our downstairs WC where we have satin aluminium trim) learn from our mistake . Our border is three mosaic tiles deep, the tile trim is top and bottom so the mosaics are placed on the part of the trim that goes on the wall but the middle row of mosaics have sunk in because there's nothing behind it. You can see this quite clearly to the left of the window in the photo. I think our son did quite a lot of swearing (we weren't in when he did it) as it was almost impossible to build it up successfully with adhesive. We're quite disappointed as we think it is very noticeable but at least it's not the main bathroom.

Hope the pictures are of some help in making up your mind.

Spicey

TomsMom wrote: »

(Picture of fully tiled, beige marble effect with mosaic type border. That's the main bathroom. I prefer fully tiled for a bathroom but of course it's personal choice.)



Those look exactly like the ones I was thinking of. The border is different. Looking at it I think I am going to go tile all over. Thankyou for your help, most grateful. I can now go ahead and order them.

Spicey

Shimmyhill wrote: »

Another question, have you capped the chimneys that you have blocked and did you insulate them before you bricked them in ??

At the moment we are looking at having cowels put on them, which will allow ventilation, but stop rain and wind. Other thought is to have them reduced to below roof level. Decision not made yet, but will prob go with the cowels, they dont cost much so can always reduce the height at a later point.

jamtart6

:j:j:j:j:j:j Our extension plans got approved today!!

Only took 12 weeks :rolleyes:

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

:j:j:j:j:j:j Our extension plans got approved today!!

Only took 12 weeks :rolleyes:

Well done JT. Time scale seems about right, we put ours in early October and got the go ahead on Christmas Eve.

Shimmyhill

Actually did some work on the house today

B&Q have 15% off stuff at the mo including cooker hoods so went and bought it, have now fitted it and the 2 cupboard end shelves

Of course the power point is in the wrong place by about 6" :rolleyes:

Kitchen is ready for tiling now, having had some tiles stuck on the wall with blu-tac have decided to have another look at tiles before we commit !! Hoping to get the kitchen finished soon so will have a room in the house done !! (well nearly)

Shimmyhill

jamtart6 wrote: »

:j:j:j:j:j:j Our extension plans got approved today!!

Only took 12 weeks :rolleyes:

Good news

jamtart6

I am excited to get the extension started!

In other good news, our plasterer has completed the upstairs only need hall stairs landing done in this "batch" of plastering yay!

jamtart6

Shimmyhill wrote: »

Kitchen is ready for tiling now, having had some tiles stuck on the wall with blu-tac have decided to have another look at tiles before we commit !! Hoping to get the kitchen finished soon so will have a room in the house done !! (well nearly)

Good idea about the blu tac thanks