First-time house renovation

latecomer

@wallbash - love the lack of H&S going on inthe first pic! One person standing on a work-mate type of thing and another standing on a chair to put in a concrete lintel

@jamtart - good job on the constructing of the shed twice (ok I know you just meant that for the painting )

@ukmaggie - I'm not sure whether I've missed something but have you actually offerred on the house yet? I didn't think so but I'm now not so sure (and I cant find any reference to it in your previous posts)


We've not been getting much progress this week. The weather, or more specifically the rain, has stopped play on 2 days this week. On monday there was only one guy and he had to shift about 300 blocks in from the road and then clearing some of the site to get down to ground level. Tuesday there was some progress with the channel for the dwarf wall foundations being dug out (drains are were also going along this channel)
Foundation for dwarf wall went in yesterday and this morning was being modified as it was too high to run the drains along so they are now going to the side of the foundations. I left the builders this morning getting ready to cut a strip off the side of the foundations (whch are thankfully far wider than necessary) to leave space for the drains.

The patio doors should be getting delivered on monday so that will be great. Also the builder has said he has some additional man power available so wants to start on the loft earlier than originally planned. To be fair to the builder he is always concerned about the finances and wanted to make sure we were happy with this (and would be able to rearrange the finances to suit of course )

one of the downsides of the change in clocks is that I never get home in time to see the work thats been done in daylight. So I have to check it out in the morning and by then the builders ar generally on site and I feel rather conspicuous when I start poking around and being nosey (and taking the odd pic or two of course )

wallbash

love the lack of H&S going on inthe first pic!

In my defence there are four of us putting in a 4ft lintel , so mob handy .

I only got worried once, standing on the loft beams . in an empty house with a
(potential ) drop of 20ft ... no ceilings to break my fall :eek:

jamtart6

Latecomer - completely didn't realised I'd "constructed" the shed twice However, did I mention it was a race against the dark and rain to get it painted so that it would have at least some treatment on it? I thought it looked marvellous but I've now seen it in the light :eek: think it might need a third coat

TomsMom e-mailed me earlier in the week and she was feeling poorly with her throat so perhaps thats why she hasnt been around. Hope everything else is ok though :A

Wallbash - the pics are great! Love that there was no H&S - would make life much easier :rolleyes::D

Any updates from anyone else? I think I've cured my fear of paint colours - we are on the verge of a turquoise feature wall :eek: Lots of progress going on for us finally :T Rest of the fence panels coming tomorrow to be painted and put in. Then we have fence on two thirds of the garden and a shed the house looks so much better for getting all the garden tools, sprays, compost etc. out of the kitchen and into the shed! Why...one could almost mistake it for a house not a building site

Hoping to re-commence the drains this week and pick tiles for bathroom next week. Mr JT's friend is a kitchen supplier and got us a quote for our kitchen with granite for £6200 :eek: he did say he would give it at a good price but Wickes were over £10k for the same thing. Obviously will be checking out quality etc. before we decide anything, but I've heard things about granite and ensuring it is the right sort, in fact that reminds me, I'll have a word with that granite supplier bloke who is knocking around MSE. Does that sound like a trade price to anyone or would you be totally suspicious as well?

latecomer

Well just a minor update from us.

Our drains are in but due to some issues they weren't complete by the time the inspector turned up so its been rebooked for monday. They did remove one of our chimneys completely but have of course left the one that the boiler is under. Thankfully they seemed to a reasonable job of covering it over as its been pretty wet overnight and there is torrential rain forecase for tonight/over the weekend.

Turned out there were 5 on site yestserday which is a current record. There is now scaffolding on the outside of the external side wall thats being buidt up and also now at the side of the house to aid taking down the chimney.

Plans are to get the drawf wall up for the kitchen and then hopefully continue working on the external walls today as there must have been 5 people there again.

they are going to try and get started on the loft conversion next week but the details are to be finalised as to the exact plan of attack. Should be getting a draft schedule from the builder. Need to start thinking about getting some stairs chosen as we probably wont want to pay more and get something a little nicer looking. No idea what exactly but thats mainly because I've no idea what is available. And that reminds me that I need to chase up the builder over the window for the kitchen that he's meant to be getting a price for.

I went out this morning and took some pictures so I'll update the blog at the weekend.

jamtart6

Good luck with it all latecomer! Sounds like lots of good progress! My boys will be doing the drains for a second time tomorrow. Damn inspector!!

latecomer

Thanks! I'm just hoping that the weather holds out for another week or two to allow them to get the walls and roof on the extension. I'll even settle for rain all weekends until thats done

ukmaggie45

Hi Latecomer,

latecomer wrote: »

@ukmaggie - I'm not sure whether I've missed something but have you actually offerred on the house yet? I didn't think so but I'm now not so sure (and I cant find any reference to it in your previous posts)

Offered, offer accepted, surveyor been in, sols now talking, had phone call from our sol this am to say she's writing up a report for us today, so OH will go into town to pick it up this evening. :j

We're trying to work out how we can extend, where to put patio doors, etc. All more complicated as it's in a Conservation Area. Same one as the last house, but on the western rather than the eastern side of the hill. DD was up last weekend, and laughed at us for always living on hills! :rolleyes:

Hoping to meet the vendor sometime in the next couple of weeks (she's working Sunday to Sunday, so won't be this weekend or next) so she can tell us what the trees in the garden are etc. Ooooh, I'm all excited! :j

Looking forward to seeing your blog update.

Maggie

jamtart6

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hi Latecomer,



Offered, offer accepted, surveyor been in, sols now talking, had phone call from our sol this am to say she's writing up a report for us today, so OH will go into town to pick it up this evening. :j

We're trying to work out how we can extend, where to put patio doors, etc. All more complicated as it's in a Conservation Area. Same one as the last house, but on the western rather than the eastern side of the hill. DD was up last weekend, and laughed at us for always living on hills! :rolleyes:

Hoping to meet the vendor sometime in the next couple of weeks (she's working Sunday to Sunday, so won't be this weekend or next) so she can tell us what the trees in the garden are etc. Ooooh, I'm all excited! :j

Looking forward to seeing your blog update.

Maggie

:T Congrats maggie! this is very exciting news! :j:D

TomsMom

Yoo hoo everyone, I'm still around.

I did get down to Bristol to see TD last weekend. He was OK but starting to have the first known side effects - Mucositis which affects the mouth/throat. Mouth goes slimey, develops blisters, tongue swells, sore throat. They started him on oral morphine on Monday. By Wednesday he was on morphine drip, can barely talk because of the swollen tongue, can't swallow so expelling saliva, can't eat so on liquid food through his central line. Four drips in at the moment with various meds etc. He feels very poorly and has asked me not to go this weekend.

Probably a good weekend to ask me not to go as I'm waiting for the results of a throat swab - GP thinks it might be a strep throat, also ulcers under and on tongue and one ear affected. Not as bad as TD though. I wouldn't be let in to see him if I have an infection and there is something definitely there but it's not a virus (temp normal and I always get a rash with a virus and that's absent this time, so bacterial infection possible).

DD has been visiting for a couple of days, we were going all the way in the car from my house today dropping her two children back home on the way. She would have probably gone to see TD on her own if I couldn't go, but all cancelled now. She can't do next weekend so hoping my son can find the time to take me.

Good to hear what everyone's been doing. Maggie - I'm getting excited for you, looking forward to hearing what the survey says.

wallbash

Floor is in , weather tight , cracking on with the plastering of the walls.
Time to think of stairs. Went over budget, as it was a 2 up 2 own ( orig)
with stairs exposed in rear room, went for hard wood.
A strange choice as we plan to fully carpet .
So I ordered a custom fit hardwood stair with ranch style handrails .

Then found it was delivered but not installed
( but guess who had a friend who 's father was a retired carpentry teacher,
who jumped at the challenge :j)




I have already mentioned that we had applied for an improvement grant.
easily obtained when the property had no bathroom and an outside W/C
But submitting the paperwork ( at the conclusion of the project) they turned down the amount we had spent on the stairs :mad: But with cleaver accountancy we upped the cost of the windows .... so we came out all square. :rolleyes:

Micro bore central heating was concealed in the walls, boiler was in the loft.
As bathroom was the same size as kitchen, washing machine and tumble dryer was installed in bathroom :eek: all electrics run to airing cupboard outside
on landing. Few raised eyebrows from building inspector , but he passed it.

Life was getting easier :rotfl: