First-time house renovation

BB1984

helping-hubby - i don't know how to add an RSS feed to my blog! i googled it but it all sounds very confusing...can you tell me how? I'd like to subscribe to all of your blogs too, so i don't have to keep logging onto them to see if there's any news. (i'm not normally incapable at this kind of thing so i'm quite frustrated!)

If we're all admitting our ages, I'm 24 and my fiance is 27. There aren't huge numbers of bungalows around our area - ours is the only one in our road. But I love it because it's on a corner plot, so everyone knows it when I say we live in the bungalow on the corner of XXXXX Road!

Really excited (and nervous) about moving in tomorrow! My step-dad (electrician) isn't at work today as he's just got back from his hols, but he's sent his little apprentice round today to do some painting, bless!

BB

helping_hubby

Google/RSS Feed tutorial

* Go to google, you should see an iGoogle link in the top right hand corner. If you have a google account already you can just log in. Otherwise create a google account. For blogger newbies, you can use your google login to create a blogger blog ( http://www.blogger.com/ )
* Once logged into iGoogle you can add gadgets and feeds.

How to add a MSE feed:
* Go to this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=391713
* Click on the little blue icon next to the forum you want. It'll take you to a page asking if you want to add it to google reader or google homepage.
* If you click to add to Google homepage, it will add a box on your homepage (remember you have to be logged in to iGoogle to see it).
* On your iGoogle page you can organise the boxes by dragging them about, and you can edit the settings by clicking on the down arrow. You can then change the number of posts displayed (between 1 and 9).

How to add other RSS feeds.
On Shimmys it's dead easy, because (he/she?) has the classic Orange RSS logo to click on.
On Westbroke, right at the very very bottom, there's a link: Subscribe to: Posts (Atom).
On mine, I've added a gadget to the top right to make it easy to subscribe.
But on BB1984s I can't see anything I'm not familiar with wordpress, but I bet there's something in your settings where you can add gadgets to your page, and there'll probably be one called RSS or subscribe or something

I hope that helps some people.

BB1984

Thanks! That's a very useful guide - and you managed to explain it without using too much computer-y language too...!

I did actually manage to work out how to add shimmy's - I use iGoogle already so that one was easy. I'll have to look at yours and Westbroke later, as my settings here at work don't allow me to view your (or my) blogs properly. I'll have a look at mine too and try to add an RSS gadget (I know it's there, I just can't view it properly to sort it out now!)

It's a very handy thing, as I have iGoogle on my screen all day, so now i can see when you update your blogs without going on the sites (shh don't tell my boss...!)

BB

Shimmyhill

Have been at the house today, ripping tiles of the walls and having great fun pulling the old kitchen out !!

One tip you guys forgot to tell me was to check the battery in my digital camera as it was dead !!! All the pics on my blog thing are from the iphone so not great quality, using iweb seems to be harder than it should be so may look into some other blog software !

latecomer

Good work. I found the first week to be mad. Ripping everything out, stripping walls, ceilings, fixing wiring, plumbing. Great fun too.
After that I had a "OMG what are we doing" moment or two but its all good

And is that a pink radiator I see in one of the pictures? (is there any way to zoom or open them bigger?)

Peter_Simon

Bathstore are doing VAT deals on their bath ranges:

http://www.bathstore.com

latecomer

I'm guessing eveyone has been busy this weekend seeing as this thread was way down on page 6!

We had a fairly busy weekend. Spent friday night painting the cornice again and its looking pretty good. saturday was spent out looking at fireplaces and christmas shopping. We were going to order the fireplace but the assistant suggested we should meaasure up exactly what we want as we need it to be slightly smaller than the standard size. When we got back we realised that our exiting fireplace "hole" is about 1.5 inches higher than the hearth will be so I suspect there might need to some changes to that. It appears to be just a slab of cement which has been put in on a corrigated iron base (others are the same), I'm guessing I could probably remove it completely easier than I could lower it though. I'm going to give the people at the fireplace shop a ring to see what their advice is. anyone got any experience of this? I might post a new thread on it for general advice.

Yesterday started with more painting of the cornice and ceiling and they are now looking good. I'm going to try and give the cornice a coat of brilliant white emulsion tonight as most of the defects have been well hidden by the numerous undercoats. Mixed up some filler and filled all the holes I could see round the walls.

Then I went under the floors and put up some loft insulation suspended on the under side of the boards in the same way as I'd done previously in the bedroom. As we are going to have sanded floorboards I suspect they are going tbe cold so hopefully this should help make a small difference. It better as its not a pleasant job although at least this time it was made more bearable by my OH who took the cover off one of the old sofa cushions for me to lie on, which was fantastic

Getting our chimney tested tomorrow afternoon and the in-laws are coming over but only on the condition that there is something for them to do as they hate sitting around. So I'm going to try and finish the wall preparation tonight which will allow them to put a mist coat on the new plaster and then all round the walls.

Whats everyone else been up to?

helping_hubby

Can your in-laws come round and finish my mist coat?

I started painting the living room on my own on Saturday but I got so daunted and bored that I only did 2 walls. I did another 2 walls on Sunday. And I'm hoping OH is finishing the 5th (22 foot!) wall, and the ceiling today.

Then it'll be another 3 coats to do I really want to have it done by Christmas so we can wake up in the morning to a cosy-ish (still won't have floor or curtains) room.

I also mixed up some plaster and got filler happy by filling every hole I could see. I have not idea what I'm doing, but they seemed to have dried nicely and when I get a few minutes of wondering what to do next, I can sand them all down!

I think my filling skills were quite good, and I'm debating whether to have a go at plastering a small wall. It's a bit in a bedroom that's been boxed in. OH has filled in half with plasterboard, but it doesn't line up with the existing plastered wall. It's only a foot wide and from floor to ceiling. We can't afford a plasterer yet and have other priorities for any spare cash we get. Any hints and tips for a complete newbie welcome.

I've also got plasterboard under the stairs to sort out. This was another thing we were going to get plastered, but no money. So now I'm thinking of filling the gaps and over the screws and just painting it as it is. Any opinions? Or better ideas?

Today the plumber has arrived. It didn't start off to good with the stop !!!! being broken and not being able to turn the water off. But apparently things are moving now and we are bath-less.

latecomer

I'm sure they probably would if they have nothing else to do, or at least the MIL would and FIL would follow. MIL hates doing nothing, FIL hates being left on his own!

Plastering is something thats often worth paying someone to do as getting a quality finish is important in most cases and its not something most DIYers are that good at. I can fill no problem but dont think i'd be good at plastering. That said I'm still going to give it a shot one day!

I'd be very tempted to try it for the first time where no-one would see it. My OH did some small patches in the middle of our walls which I had to sand quite a lot to get flat. I'll find out how good/bad the finish is tomorrow when the mist coat goes on.

fingers crossed the bathroom goes in without any further hitches

Our hopes of having the front room finished by Christmas have been ended by the news that the fireplace installers wont be able to fit it until the middle of January. Mind you thats not going to stop us doing everything else and we can just put a board over the hole and pretend its not there

helping_hubby

latecomer wrote: »

I'd be very tempted to try it for the first time where no-one would see it. My OH did some small patches in the middle of our walls which I had to sand quite a lot to get flat. I'll find out how good/bad the finish is tomorrow when the mist coat goes on.

Thats the good thing about this bit of wall, it'll be mostly hidden by a book shelf. And my logic is that it can't look much worse than it does now :d or can it?!