First-time house renovation

jamtart6

thats so funny stolt!!!

stolt

ive had them in stitches at work, i'm not the smallest bloke and they all said they cat imagine me hiding behind a gate from a load of firemen! i was so embarrassed. had the sirens and lights going, whole bloody street were looking:o

suisidevw

I bet you were, I'd be sheepish then too, but it sounds in control

Lisa- the stairs look brilliant, I think some nice pewter stair rods would finish it off Did you manage to get the rest of the flooring in the end?!

Tonight marks the 7 days since I finished backfilling hte fireplace, SOOOOOOOOO, tonight will be the first burn up! Haven't actually got any logs yet so suppose I should buy some but don't fancy the expensive rubbish at petrol stations, anyone know of anything else half reasonable? I will phone some local carpenters/joiners/tree surgeons later

Instructed the plumber to start on our bathroom on 25th January so the next month will be spent sourcing bits and pieces all over the place so be prepared for plenty of questions guys!

ukmaggie45

andrew-b wrote: »

If i don't have my stick i usually have at least hoe or broom with me in the garden to help me get up from the floor as else i have to crawl to the nearest wall (bit embarassing if your in the front garden!).

LOL Andy, I know just what you mean! I've got some walking poles with the ski type handles - just cheapo from Aldi, but they're at the caravan. I find the crutches are good as if you lean forearm straight on them on the elbow rest thingy bit they are quite stabilizing when chopping up big prunings. Not sure I've explained that very well LOL.

We called at the house on way to my counselling session yesterday evening. There's a big hole in the pavement in front of the front wall, reaching across neighbour's too. And another in our drive. John had a good look (I waited in the car as it was raining) and said he could smell gas around the hole in front of the wall, but not by the one in the drive. He went in and emptied out the dehumidifier again, another 2 and a half litres I think.

He's planning on phoning Transco today to ask how it's going, and we'll be going back to the house this evening to look as well. Just want to get the central heating going before the cold at the weekend, or at least to see how well it's working. Nice plumber lady said that radiators could do with a power flush probably, as they aren't heating up terribly well, hotter at the top than the bottom. Bit afraid if we do that we'll just open up leaks (it's an old narrow gauge system from what I can make out) and then we'll have even more dampness to contend with!

Can't remember if I mentioned this before, but we may have sulfate attack to the concrete floors on the ground floor. There are signs of salts surfacing in the cupboard under the stairs. I don't think we'll have time or energy to look further into this till after Christmas. But once Christmas is over we'll be ripping up all the carpets and then getting back in touch with the damp and timber surveyor so he can take samples.

TM, glad to hear TD is doing so well. Sorry to hear his feet are swelling up - might it be worth asking his doc if support hose would help? Or those socks you wear on planes? Please note I'm not a doctor, so these are just suggestions for things it might or might not be worth asking doc about.

lisal0u your stairs look good. Must admit I like the idea of carpet rods (sorry, can't remember who suggested that) but I suppose the downside is they'd tend to be dust collectors...

Just had to go downstairs to answer the postie (twice) as DD1 is getting all her shopping sent here to save her carrying it from London, managed to resurrect yesterday's fire from the few embers left.

Started talking to OH about getting a multi fuel stove this morning. I think he'd prefer an open fire. But I'm not so keen - they're not really the same when you have to burn smokeless fuel, but with a multi we could get a bit of a blaze going from time to time.

Am doing a slow re-read of the damp survey, really must get in touch with surveyor again to let him know how it's going currently and that we probably won't be in touch again to arrange second visit before the New Year.

Will fill you in on the gas leak when I know more.

Maggie

suisidevw

A stove will be a LOT more efficient than an open fire Maggie!

I suggested the stair rods. Runners are dust collectors on their own so rods won't make much of a difference IMO!

kmmr

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hi kmmr, welcome to the thread. Did it take you a long time to get planning permission. It's academic for us at the mo as we haven't even talked to Planning, or tried to find an architect - we only completed last Friday. But interested to hear how long it took you to get it sorted.

Haven't quite got planning permission yet... just finalized and submitted the application! It's taken us a few months to sort the plans but I think we are happy now. It's my first big extension, so I was a bit nervous and made the poor architect draft about 20 versions.

In theory it is 8 weeks from now that we find out.

You only need planning permission (from my experience) for external works, not for internal changes. You may need building regs approval for internal changes that impact the structure.

I am in a conservation area in West London, so I have to submit for planning even to prune a tree, but in non-conservation areas the rules will be less strict. Plus it's a flat, which almost always need planning permission for changes.

Now I am investigating the party walls act, and the building regs requirements. Plus preparing a full scope of work for builders to quote from. Feels like a good few months of intense work before I can even think about getting the sledgehammer out!

latecomer

@TM - glad ot hear TD is doing ok and I supposed having enough will power to be stubborn enough to take a bath is a good sign

@stolt - thats a monster fire you have there...... great story though. What you should have done is said to the neighbours we're having a bonfire party and invited them round for a few beers

@kmmr - welcome to our little thread/whinge-fest


Our plumber was on site this morning but no mention of what happened yesterday. Was going to fit the boiler and on removing it from the box realised there was no mounting bracket for it. Also he still had the same horizonatal flue that was incorrectly supplied/ordered in the first place. He asked if I had any objections to it being vented out the side and I said no provided it was approved by the architect as I presumed he had put it as a vertical flue for a reason. Phoned the architect and there are regulations regarding venting towards a boundary which we dont meet and hence it has to be vertical.

anyway it should be getting fitted today so fingers crossed there will be heating and hot water when we get home. I'd actually settle for just hot water but both would be a bonus.

Also just heard that the kitchen units should be getting delivered between 1pm and 2pm. We spent last night re-arranging furniture and just about everything else too. Was up in the loft looking at leaks again but there wasn't much I could do and the worst one was comign in just beside the old central heating header tank so I just used the lid from that to catch the drips and funnel them until the tank. Its amazing how blaze you get with small leaks once you've had some bigger ones........

We really need to find time to look at flooring and get some ordered if we want it to be fitted before the kitchen. Hopefully a job for this weekend all going well but will have to work around xmas pressie shopping too. Oh and I really want to get a tree - doesn't matter if its only 2 feet high - going to have one no matter what.

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

Oh and I really want to get a tree - doesn't matter if its only 2 feet high - going to have one no matter what.

Ah bless! You can have a peek at mine if you want, just until you get yours you understand . If you look very closely you'll see what still needs doing in the sun room (Son, where are you, I need you to put me in your WORK diary PLEASE ). We don't have a fairy for the top, will try and get out next year to get one, but I cross-stictched the Eeyore stocking that's near the top. That tree is actually my son's cast off (along with some of the decs) and I have to say he does create the most beautifully decorated tree I've ever seen. Their's is decorated gold and white and is stunning. I've told him he has to come and decorate mine next year :rotfl: .

Like I said yesterday, I will not be going back into the crawl space in the loft to put it back, I will have to find a new home for it. I had a very hard job getting back out through the hatch, I thought I was going to be stuck until DS got home from work to pull me out. You need to be a contortionist to get out, much harder than getting in.

I hope your house is nice and toasty when you get home Latecomer.

lisal0u

suisidevw wrote: »

Lisa- the stairs look brilliant, I think some nice pewter stair rods would finish it off Did you manage to get the rest of the flooring in the end?!

Hiya,

We did actually think about stair rods but they wernt that cheap and as they dont really serve a purpose we didnt bother in the end. Maybe one day when we have money again ha ha.

We did manage to get the rest of the flooring, i was so relieved. Stuart popped into the shop and they had 6 boards left (we needed 5) hooray! They were the last boards of that kind anywhere so we were very lucky!

Ill look forward to some lovely pics of the first official lighting of the fire

TM - Your tree looks beautiful! I have been banned from putting ours up till we are moved in :-( I have been and picked it up from my Dads garage though and it has some how snuck into the livingroom ha ha!

We tried out the undefloor heating downstairs for the first time and its brilliant! I was a bit worried that it wouldnt be warm enough but it really is! It took about 2 days to get the house upto 21 degrees (no heating in the house for 18 months) but now its hardly having to heat much at all to maintain the temperature. It so lovely on bare feet too

Tonights job is hopefully finishing the tiling in the bathroom, then I can get on with decorating!

x

latecomer

Thanks TM

We have a artificial tree somewhere in MILs loft I think or perhaps in our back room. That would do I really want a real one. There is a little shop I passed on the way home last night which had some real ones outside and one must have been about 2" high. Might stop by on the way home if its still there. Mind you that means I'll have to then try and find some decorations and lights.......