First-time house renovation

TomsMom

TD can't come home. He woke up with a temperature of 103F this morning so they're trying to find the infection. Could be blood again or his central line. They're doing cultures and a chest x-ray. He is so gutted, he was so looking forward to it.

At least it happened before he came home, if he was here he'd have had to go all the way back again and I think that would have been worse.

And, they've now withdrawn the accommodation for his appointment at Bristol. Bristol say they can't afford transport on two different days and the cost of the flat. Funny that, HA here in Wales is paying for his treatment and anything associated with it! Still, he's sticking to his guns and will keep putting the appointment off until he feels strong enough for 9 hours in a car in one day plus however long he has to hang around the hospital. I've never known him to put his foot down before, he's normally the sort not to make waves - is this what a new immune system and change of blood type do to you :rotfl: .

Sorry for your problems JT - hope you get it all sorted soon, it must be driving you mad.

andrew-b

Sorry to hear TD can't come home yet...must be frustrating for him getting so near to it too. Enough time still to make it home for christmas hopefully..and better it happen now than at home i guess.

suisidevw

Really sorry to hear that TM,

So.... I played football this morninga nd have since spent the last 6 hours working on the fireplace and it's ALMOST there, nearly completely backfilled and another couple of bits! Going to attempt to paint the surround tonight/tomorrow as Lowris away seeing her best friend and it'll be a great surprise!

Anyway, here's a timeline of my day!

stolt

hello everyone, got lots done today and even the week jsut gone lots has happened. And another busy week next week with hopefully the granite tiles going down aslong as the electricains finish the underfloor heating on tuesday. Tomorrow its trying to cut the skirting boards for the hall and the playroom, fingers crossed we get it all done as i could do without it running into another weekend..

heres my blog if anyone fancies a nose.
http://projectneverending.blogspot.com/

andrew-b

Floor looking good stolt ..like parquet flooring but without the splinters!

Had been hoping to get some of our bathroom done yesterday but ended up clearing spare room in an effort to even get to my DIY gear ..despite a day of clearing and 2/3rd a wheelie bin of torn up packaging (mainly empty boxes for bathroom bits etc like shower valve, taps etc that i'd been hoarding) i can still barely see the floor though! I think i severely understimated the mess in the room - if only we had a garage or a decent shed ..but neither are really an option right now.

stolt

andrew-b wrote: »

Floor looking good stolt ..like parquet flooring but without the splinters!

Had been hoping to get some of our bathroom done yesterday but ended up clearing spare room in an effort to even get to my DIY gear ..despite a day of clearing and 2/3rd a wheelie bin of torn up packaging (mainly empty boxes for bathroom bits etc like shower valve, taps etc that i'd been hoarding) i can still barely see the floor though! I think i severely understimated the mess in the room - if only we had a garage or a decent shed ..but neither are really an option right now.

Unfortunately we've ran into some probs after LloydsTSB decided to make changes to a long-term credit card debt. The interest had been frozen for years and now they want to start charging interest. It's within their terms that they could change the agreement at any time with notice. Despite honouring our side of the agreement, negotiations on Friday to keep the interest frozen or for a reduced early settlement figure failed. So we've had to scrape together the cash to pay the debt in full. Really couldn't have come at a worse time in the run upto christmas! Just another victim of the credit crunch i guess!

bummer about the credit card, i had someting recently with a play card and mbna said someone had made a transaction of a £1.00 at 5.30am so they had to cancel it and re issue just make sure a fraudster hadnt got hold of it. Nightmare because i like to have one card for for all my diy stuff so i can keep track of it all. Started putting the skirtings on today and well really pee'd myself off because i just couldnt get the hang of the angles and had to keep to doing it over and over, just got a small bit left to cut and will finish off next week

andrew-b

Is a bit tricky the skirtings as corners are rarely exactly 90 degree angles! Lots of double-checking needed before you cut as so easy to mess-up! If they are to be painted white you can get away with the joins not being perfect as filler covers a multitude of sins.

Did you mitre internal corners or only the external ones?

jamtart6

well not solved the problem I mentioned above but never mind

tomsmom - i am so sorry about TD, is he any better now?

andrew-b - bad news about the credit card, but it must feel a relief to get rid of it!

suisie - LOVELY fireplace!!

Well we have glossed some more, I'm no closer to finding any tiles that I like for the bathroom - want white large glossy ones with some sort of texture/vein through it - no luck anywhere! Everywhere is just full of travertine.

In other very very happy news, the builder family member was back this weekend and will be doing loads of building over xmas as he is off. We have it built up 3/4 of the height on one side, you can see where the 2 doors and windows go - same on the other side will happen in 2 weeks time then he will do the back run over xmas - possibly might need a roofer in January! hurray!!!

Just feeling so much better than something has happened.! Put up the xmas tree and made a mantle piece for ourselves out of the spare insulation so that we could put a garland across. its the least homely house you'll ever see - hopefully not this time next year though!! (our 3rd xmas- hopefully will have moved in by then!)

hope everyone else is doing well

stolt

andrew-b wrote: »

Is a bit tricky the skirtings as corners are rarely exactly 90 degree angles! Lots of double-checking needed before you cut as so easy to mess-up! If they are to be painted white you can get away with the joins not being perfect as filler covers a multitude of sins.

Did you mitre internal corners or only the external ones?

I did a lot of research (maths isnt my strong point) and i've had enough of angles to last me a lifetime. I mitred one of the lengths of the internals at 45 degrees and then scribed it (what a job that is, not to self I need to get some more blades). Just got a load of weird external angles to do next weekend and hopefully i can stick them on aswell (dont think i'll get time to paint them before christmas, although they are primed ready for painting so dont stand out that much, must say the larger skirting makes a big difference.

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

I'm no closer to finding any tiles that I like for the bathroom - want white large glossy ones with some sort of texture/vein through it - no luck anywhere! Everywhere is just full of travertine.

I have to admit that we struggled to find exactly what we wanted for the bathroom/en suite. It was a case of "I can't tell you what I want but I'll know it when I see it" :rotfl: . (As is so often the case with us ladies :rolleyes: ). A severe lack of any tile showrooms within a reasonable distance made it difficult, and many trips out taking all day left us a bit frustrated. The ones we eventually chose were about as near to what I had in mind as I'd seen, although I would have preferred a non-glossy finish like the border. But time was against us and the price was good! Same with the kitchen and although I like them I still have the feeling I played safe. Well, they're up now and I can't see us changing them for a very very long time.

In other very very happy news, the builder family member was back this weekend and will be doing loads of building over xmas as he is off. We have it built up 3/4 of the height on one side, you can see where the 2 doors and windows go - same on the other side will happen in 2 weeks time then he will do the back run over xmas - possibly might need a roofer in January! hurray!!!

Just feeling so much better than something has happened.! Put up the xmas tree and made a mantle piece for ourselves out of the spare insulation so that we could put a garland across. its the least homely house you'll ever see - hopefully not this time next year though!! (our 3rd xmas- hopefully will have moved in by then!)

Good to hear some progress will be made soon, I hope the weather is kind and lets it all happen!

I'm thinking about getting our Xmas tree out. It's in the crawl space in the loft and TD told DD he would get it out when he comes home. I think not! I might try and do it this week, if not DD is coming Fri/Sat so she will get it out for me.

tomsmom - i am so sorry about TD, is he any better now?

His temperature yesterday was down to 37.5C so close enough to normal. He had to have transfusions on Thursday and yesterday, his red cells are plummetting again but apparently this is normal, his blood results will be up and down for a long time. He was is in good spirits when I visited him and in his mind he's coming home mid-week - we'll have to see what Dr says. It looks as though it was an infection in his central line, which they took out on Friday as a precaution (I think they panicked a bit as he was feeling very poorly and he had an infection caused through the permanent line in his arm a few months ago which he was lucky to survive). So now he's back to having one of those things in the back of the hand for his drips, blood, etc.

Nothing more has been said about accommodation overnight when he has to go to Bristol but TomsMom has now decided to get involved. No way is he (we actually as I will probably go with him) doing the journey there and back in a day. TD is more likely to give in rather than make a fuss. Not me, I will just keep telling them it's too much. 9 hours in a car is bad enough for a well person. I think I may become even more unpopular than I already am (because I couldn't go down and be his full time carer when he was in isolation and then in the flat - that's why he was transferred back to Bangor immediately after isolation, they would normally have kept him in the flat for up to two months. Hey - I saved them lots of money there, surely they can manage one night!)

Stolt Hope you get on OK with the rest of the skirtings.

Andy Sorry about the credit card - cr*p timing just before Christmas.

Suiside You should be very proud of your fireplace, it's lovely. Only one Christmas stocking????????? Who's on the naughty list and not expecting Santa to leave any presents :rotfl: .