First-time house renovation

ukmaggie45

jimbugalee wrote: »

The problem is I haven't seen tiles which can be used on floor and wall which are ceramic. Has anyone come across these?

HI there, we have big ceramic tiles in our bathroom, and I'm pretty sure that we saw them used as floor tiles as well at the shop (Rapid Hardware). Can't post pics as am still at the caravan and I didn't get round to taking pics of the bathroom at home yet. And I can't remember the make - sorry!

Main disadvantage is they're much thicker than the usual ceramic tiles, so now the shower is very stiff - we need to make a hatch in the back bedroom wall to access the mixer part of the shower, so we may be able to move it a mm or so to ease the shower knob.

But they look wonderful. Our bathroom is very small, so we had the tiles put horizontally rather than vertically IYSWIM. Seems to widen the space.

Sorry not much help, but at least you know there are such things out there!

jamtart6

Anyone else hate building inspectors???

He has said our lintel isn't strong enough, we have to take it out and have it re-done I am so annoyed, he was here 5 minutes

He also said a tiny bit of the foorings needs to be 6 inches deeper which is fine, but need to do it tonight as the concrete is coming in the morning.

SO annoyed about the lintel

Sorry jim can't help with the tiles as we're not even up to that stage

ukmaggie - thanks SOO much for reminding me about rapid! I had totally forgotten about that little gem!

jimbugalee

oh no JT - doesn't sound like you're having a great day either!!

I take it you have to use that building inspector? He is from the council? We still have to cross that stage eeek

jamtart6

jimbugalee wrote: »

oh no JT - doesn't sound like you're having a great day either!!

I take it you have to use that building inspector? He is from the council? We still have to cross that stage eeek

I assume so, he is from the council yes. £414 for all 3 stages of inspection and he was literally here 5 minutes. His reasoning about the lintel doesn't make sense. It was to do with joists upstairs, so will have to get Mr JT on the case. grr. At least we can get the concrete for tomorrow still :cool: although still having concrete dramas, to the point where I rang one firm up and asked for 6m3 of cement for extension footings :rotfl:ye gods! this extension is sending me batty! i fear it is only the start of a series of bad things to come!

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

Anyone else hate building inspectors???

He has said our lintel isn't strong enough, we have to take it out and have it re-done I am so annoyed, he was here 5 minutes

OMG JT, how awful for you. Did you have any calculations done and if so who by? Were they deemed to be OK at the approval stage and now the inspector thinks they're not good enough?

We are very lucky in that our building control officer is a really lovely fella. He knows our son from going out to properties he's working on, he also happens to be married to the headmistress of the village school where our grandchildren go (a two teacher school) so we know him (and her) from going to school at Christmas, harvest festival, etc. He came out before we did anything, on an unofficial "let's pick your brains" basis, and was very helpful, as was the planning officer who also agreed to come out for an unofficial chat.

Only thing the planning officer was a bit concerned about was that I mentioned I wanted the roughcast painted rather than leaving it the horrible dirty grey-brown it was. He was not so keen as he thinks the colours some people have used is making the town look like Balamorey! I assured him it would be very understated and we heard no more about it.

Are we lucky because we live in a small community? Are BCOs in big towns and cities more difficult? I don't know but I do feel for you.

jamtart6

I live in a fairly small place - definitely suburbia rather than one of those cute Welsh villages though! It was moving a door inside the house, our builder did it (family!) so I can't understand why it has been done wrong. I'm not resting until I get to the bottom of what is actually wrong, think I will ring Mr Building Control and get him to explain it to Mr JT again. He was nice but silently I was calling him all the names under the sun!

The problem is the planner-man put the lintel on the extension plans when in actual fact, they had nothing to do with it as the door in question is inside the main house and is just an interior wall so we just went ahead. Council spotted it on our plans and demanded an extra £50 off us to inspect that as well and now he tells us it isn't right. I'm not convinced to be honest but won't know anything more until I've spoken to the builder. All I can say is THANK GOD we didn't get it plastered

ukmaggie45

Hi Folks,

Can't remember where I was up to talking about the house we are trying to buy, and this thread is now so long it'd take me too long to find it - besides I'm feeling lazy! :rolleyes:

We had the survey done, and it's come back with a few bits and pieces we're trying to find out more about. DH called surveyor yesterday and left a message on his answerphone. He called back today.

Basically he thinks it's a sound well-built house, but we need to check the wall ties in a small area as there are indications some may be failing. It seems to be on the side wall of the house, where there was some damp work done a few years (not sure how long ago, but def not more than 12 years as that's when vendor bought).

Andy, you were worried about the payment for fixtures and fittings being high with us being at the threshold for higher stamp duty - our conveyancing solicitor (colleague of S2 on my Solicitor slow over probate thread) was on to that like a rottweiller! :rolleyes:

Anyway, DH spoke to EA yesterday, and they spoke to vendor again. Upshot is vendor now says forget the fixtures and fittings, it's all getting too complicated, just go for the offer price (249,999).

Vendor has now found a place, offered on it, and offer accepted, so wants things to move on now I guess.

We've got various things that we'll need to get done in our own house before we put it on the market. Plus it's going to take ages to declutter and slowly move stuff (assuming we complete on the house). So will be joining your merry throng in two houses at once :eek: if everything goes to plan!

Will have to do a lot of financial homework over the weekend, and make sure the funds can be in place in a reasonable time. Hopefully it won't be a problem.

But I'm 61 on Monday, so will be having a day off then - besides, it's a bank holiday so none of the professionals will be available anyway!

jamtart6

Happy birthday and good luck with it all!

TomsMom

Thanks for updating us Maggie. Have to say I'd quite forgotten about your house, lots going on on the thread and with you being at the caravan. I hope your weather hasn't been as awful as ours the last few days. We've just waved goodbye to the last steam train of the season, fingers crossed for next year. I did get to go on it with d-i-l and the grandchildren yesterday. OH couldn't come, his white blood cells are low and his doctor told him to keep away from people until his next transfusion to avoid infection.

Well, our bedroom furniture was supposed to be delivered today according to the shop but the delivery company has put it off, they're hoping to come next week now. BH on Monday, OH in hospital Tues/Wed so we told them they can't come when he's not here (he'll need to move other furniture out of the way and supervise getting the new stuff up the dog-leg and under the low ceiling - I don't want that responsibility!). So maybe we'll get it next Thurs/Fri.

OH wallpapered the chimney breast whilst I was enjoying myself on the train yesterday, it's made a tremendous difference to what the fire looks like against the wall. I'll take some photos and update the blog at the weekend.

Have a happy birthday on Monday Maggie.

ukmaggie45

TomsMom wrote: »

Thanks for updating us Maggie. Have to say I'd quite forgotten about your house, lots going on on the thread and with you being at the caravan. I hope your weather hasn't been as awful as ours the last few days. We've just waved goodbye to the last steam train of the season, fingers crossed for next year. I did get to go on it with d-i-l and the grandchildren yesterday. OH couldn't come, his white blood cells are low and his doctor told him to keep away from people until his next transfusion to avoid infection.

I suspect our weather has been marginally better (says she currently sitting in sunshine and watching it looking rather nasty in your direction ) but it's still been pretty horrid - too much wind always!

Thought of you when we were parked in the Co-op in Pwllheli when the steam train came in a bit ago. We didn't make it onto the Cambrian Coast Railway this year - maybe next year.

Glad you made it onto the steam train, sorry to hear TomsDad isn't so good. I'm sure he'll be unhappy to have missed the steam train chance, please send my commiserations.

Thanks for the early birthday greetings, and thanks to JT too.

If you're around Abersoch on Monday, feel free to join us in a glass of champers! :beer:

Maggie