First-time house renovation

suisidevw

That must have been a hard pact!

Hope you're taking loads of pics of it progressing? Can't wait to see it in there

Ours is all fitted in now and slopped on the second coat of primer and undercoat last night for a couple of coats of the eggshell tonight. SO excited! Heading to a pub quiz so do one after work then another after the pub!

jimbugalee

YEY fire all installled and burning away

Updated blog with pics
http://seatonroad.blogspot.com

keith969

That stove looks really good. Does it heat the place well - certainly looks like it should?

jimbugalee

It feel quite warm now but I have the french doors open to let some of the initial smoke out so can't really tell. I think it'll mean we don't have to have the heating on downstairs at all, certainly not in lounge and adjoining kitchen. Great for Christmas!

latecomer

@JT - can you tell the architect to liase directly with the building inspectors and get everything signed off. you shouldn't be stuck in the middle and personally I'd have been on to the architect from the start to get things sorted. Tell him that if he isn't willing to do this you'll get a structural engineer to do the calculations and send him the bill.

In a change to our intentions we have agreed to an additional payment to the builders so they can buy the materials to allow them to get the roof finished. Didn't want to but he made a good case for it and to be fair the weather really has slowed them down a lot and he's still got to pay his guys.

Its a bit of a gamble but I dont see we've got any choice. Once the roof is on and sealed and the windows are in then we can stop paymetns if we are not happy as there is no risk to the house but until that happens we are kinda stuck. As it is the kitchen is due to be delivered next week, hopefully at the end of the week as there is nowhere to put it at the moment.

We have given the builder the go ahead to buy a standard Velux rooflight for the kitchen so they dont have to construct the proprietary one thats one the plans as it will take longer as they'll have to design it and either built it or order from somewhere.

and it seems that the forecasters must have redefined sunny spells to mean frequent and heavy showers. Its been pretty miserable here for the last couple of hours - I'm just glad they haven't opened up the rest of the roof yet.

jamtart6

andrew-b - thanks so much for the pic of the tiles by the way - are they as grey as they look in the picture in real life?

latecomer - I have been onto the architect, he doesnt deal with the council (failed to tell us this) and usually uses independent inspectors (wonder why? - didn't tell us this when we got the quote/plans). He did finally do the calculations but the problem is that the building inspector said they looked fine, then when we rang to check that they were definitely OK, they decided they were subject to a lot of changes. I'm just concerned that they will change their minds again after it is built i'll keep my fingers crossed for good weather for you! I'm not a fan of paying in advance, but you are right, theyhave to pay their workers!


jim - that looks SO cosy!! fabulous!!

ritani

jimbugalee wrote: »

Hi all,
Think I've missed as fair bit as just got back from Marrakech A lovely break and we made a pact not to talk about the house ... it worked, mostly!!

Had a bit of stress when we got back as slate hearth not delivered and fireplace being installed today. Finally it turned up yesterday afternoon only to find it was the wrong size!!!! They'd cut it way too big AAARGH. OH went mad!! We decided to cut it ourselves as had no other choice. It looks good and fire being installed as I type. We'll have to get some money back from slate place.

Hi.
I have only just discovered this thread in my search for slate hearths and what a great thread it is!
Your fireplace looks amazing, is it welsh slate or imported? May I ask what supplier you used for it and do you think they were reasonable? (well except for the sizing issue).
I am looking at Brazilian mont black for an open fireplace but am worried about the cleaning and maintenance of it. Are you planning to seal yours or leave it as it is?
Many thanks

latecomer

jamtart6 wrote: »

He did finally do the calculations but the problem is that the building inspector said they looked fine, then when we rang to check that they were definitely OK, they decided they were subject to a lot of changes. I'm just concerned that they will change their minds again after it is built

My understanding is that this is covered during the evaluation of the building warrant application and once they are happy with the plans then it gets granted and thats the end of it. Maybe I'm missing something?

jimbugalee

ritani wrote: »

Hi.
I have only just discovered this thread in my search for slate hearths and what a great thread it is!
Your fireplace looks amazing, is it welsh slate or imported? May I ask what supplier you used for it and do you think they were reasonable? (well except for the sizing issue).
I am looking at Brazilian mont black for an open fireplace but am worried about the cleaning and maintenance of it. Are you planning to seal yours or leave it as it is?
Many thanks

Our slate is Welsh slate. The fireplace guy said it was particularly nice and the imported isn't as nice (it's cheaper).
We got it from here http://www.slateandstone.net/
I wouldn't really have any problems recommending them but they are just so busy before Christmas I think there is where the problems occured. Realistically you need to give yourselves 4-6 weeks to get the slate. If you ask for the 'riven' effect it can take up to 8 weeks and will be more expensive. We preffered the riven but just didn't have the time.

This company (http://www.manthorpe-slate.co.uk/) were also particularly helpful and have a great photo album if you're not sure which slate to get. I guess if you want black you don't have the choice of Welsh slate.

You've just reminded me re sealing it. I think I will ask the slate guy tonight when I talk to him about the refund for our delivery and sizing mess up.

Hope that's helpful. I put a post a bit further up re the steps we took to get the fire installed.

suisidevw

Jim, that's stunning, really nice. Roll on the painting of the breast! What colour are you doing it/the room? Would like to hear your comments on the slate as well, it stains doesn't it, does it need to be sealed?

Really happy with the granite we have got but maybe I'd have gone for the slate again, oh well, it was only £100!