First-time house renovation

stolt

Hello everyone, hope you all had a lovely christmas. Ours was quiet but kids really enjoyed themselves. managed to put my back out playing monopoly last night (dont ask!) have updated our blog with some photos of the tiling and skirting boards plus amitco floor is done.
http://projectneverending.blogspot.com/2009/12/post-christmas-updates.html


Did the skirting today in the extension and will start painting the ceiling on saturday (still got skirting in playroom to paint aswell) , but skirting is painted in the hallway and looks ten times better than it did, went for 6inch skirting and i think it makes a big difference, wish i could do the whole house but all those angles were palying on my mind!

Hope everyone is doing well, cant wait for the weather to get a bit better as i really want to make a start the garden. Me and the wife totally stripped it bare in september and i think we have three trees in total in it now so want to get some bamboo for screening so it has a decent start. Going to have a good summer (trust me, when it snows in december we always get a good summer lol)

Welcome pawpurrs, i also remember you on the selling thread and read your posts with interest, seem to remember you having a bit of bad luck when you were selling your house.

jasper12

Thanks for the welcome folks :j
We managed to get out of the snow drifts today, bought the rest of our tiles and underfloor heating from topps tiles = 15% discount off even when using tesco vouchers so happy with that. Also ended up buying bathroom suite from b&q = half price and 15% on top.....ok, could probably get it cheaper in trade stores but really haven't got too much time and quite happy with what we paid (£450 all in for lovely roll top, sink and toilet. So looks like our bathroom will be the first room to be completed!!! Yay!

Also picked up a few other bits and bobs, roller blind and light fitting for the lounge.

Was looking at the thermal lining paper stuff you get.....the stuff which is about £50 a roll. Our cottage is long and narrow. The fire is at one end and our bedroom is at the other. 3 external walls and a HUGE window...and it is cold . Solid walls so we can't get cavity wall insulation. Have looked at the other options and, tbh, they seem a bit of a hassle (oh dear, perhaps I should have just bought a new house, not sure I have the patience for this renovation malarky!!!) Has anyone actually used this thermal paper....does it actually work?

Been flicking through some of your blogs and it is really inspiring to see other peoples journeys....inspiring but also a bit scary :rotfl:

pawpurrs

Welcome Jasper, hee hee, you following me about I went to B and Q yesterday and am getting underfloor heating and tiles from topps :rotfl:
I have a second hand free roll top bath coming! Which tiles have you gone for from topps?
Its amazing how all the little things from the DIY stores add up isnt it? Spend £200 on incidentials alone for the kitchen, plug sockets, plumbing bits etc.......:eek:
It looks like there was a leak in the kitchen behind the old sink as that wall is really mouldy have given it a scrub with some mildrew remover....... Need to get the room preepared now for the kitchen, quite fun ripping it apart, now the hard work starts........
Keep changing my mind on the colour for the kitchen units........
And am getting a bit twitchy because someone owes us £16K and thats the budget for doing up the house, they should have paid by now..........

latecomer

Welcome jasper

Hope everyone had a good christmas - we ended up going to OH sisters and had a good time. Was great to get away from work and builders.

OH had contacted the roofers who did the dormers to see if they were interested in slating the pitched area of the extension roof and they came yesterday to make a start. First they had to get the snow and ice off the roof which slowed things down a lot. Then they discovered some of the slates that had been put on by the builders had little or no overlap. They asked us to go up so they could show us then I said they could strip them off and start from scratch. I managed to get hold of the builder around lunchtime to let him know what was happening and he wasn't pleased at all. Admittedly we should have notified him before they started but then he was meant to have called on the 26th and didn't so I wasn't taking all the blame. And even so you'd have thought that as we were paying for it to be done and it in no way affects what he gets paid he would be happy. the only things he was concerned about was the fact he wasn't liable for them working on his scaffolding and that he wanted it in writing that it wasn't coming off his money.

Then later on there is another conversation at which point he says that the roof isn't ready to be slated as there are various bits that need done first but very vague about the details etc etc. Also a fair bit of moaning about the fact he wasn't consulted and it was just dumped on him. So we said that was fine and that we shouldn't have done it and we'd leave it all for him to do as per the original plan......... which of course he didn't like at all either
I then updated the roofers and agreed to only slate the back bit until the rest of the roof is ready so there is no comeback from the builder should anything not be right.
And of course this morning its snowed which has stopped play with the roofers. They phoned to say it was useless and they were also concerned about getting home but they would be back tomorrow if the weather was better.

The builder had orginally said he would get one of the guys out to fix the problem with the roof tomorrow but I've now told him not to bother due to the weather as we dont want to force someone to work out in the snow etc. He's still planning on coming out and setting a new schedule of works and payment from now to the end of the job. Mind you I hope he doesn't think we're just going to accept whatever he proposes, its going to have to suit us too.

All fun fun fun.

jasper12

pawpurrs wrote: »

Welcome Jasper, hee hee, you following me about I went to B and Q yesterday and am getting underfloor heating and tiles from topps :rotfl:
I have a second hand free roll top bath coming! Which tiles have you gone for from topps?
Its amazing how all the little things from the DIY stores add up isnt it? Spend £200 on incidentials alone for the kitchen, plug sockets, plumbing bits etc.......:eek:
It looks like there was a leak in the kitchen behind the old sink as that wall is really mouldy have given it a scrub with some mildrew remover....... Need to get the room preepared now for the kitchen, quite fun ripping it apart, now the hard work starts........
Keep changing my mind on the colour for the kitchen units........
And am getting a bit twitchy because someone owes us £16K and thats the budget for doing up the house, they should have paid by now..........

LOL..wasn't following you, honestly..opposite ends of the country for one thing!

I just wish you still got clubcard points in b&q, the amount we have spent in there is unbelievable :eek:

We have gone with marble blue mosiac pebbles for the floor of the bathroom and a white bumpy tile for the walls, with a blue marble 2 row border 1/2 way up. For the kitchen it was the rajah floor tiles (kind of a rusty brown slate effect) with pilkington gloss square wall tiles in 3 shades, cream, cocoa and white coffee (ok, that is not the official colours but you get the idea!) Still think we will end up woith cream/white units - wickes do a very nice 'distressed' cottage style. I think at the moment though we may just paint the units which are there..think we are going to have to concentrate on the heating first.

Got someone from the energysaving trust coming out to discuss renewable options with us, seriously considering biomass boiler - we would be able to get a 30% grant, with the rest covered by an interest free loan from government..thus freeing up money for the kitchen. Confusing...yes!

We have had a few problems with mould as well, mainly in the bathroom but also on some of the windowsill, caused by condensation I think. I put another coat of varnish on the windows last night but have noticed some have got little 'pits' and dips in the varnish this morning so looks like I will have to sand it down and try again....argh! Think it may be that I forgot to wipe them down with sugar soap so think the varnish has collected round little dirt/greasy spots. Also had a cat which decided she wanted to go walkabout on it :rolleyes:

Or do I fancy doing a bit of paper stripping instead. Choices choices.

suisidevw

Morning all,

Quick question and advice please. Lowri and I went tile shopping yesterday. We are after 16m2 of tiles for our bathroom floor and walls. Price that came in for a lovely light coloured slate with a texture (large tiles) was £381. We went to a few different tile warehouses, not just the big chains and in general the prices were around the £425 mark. Is this expensive, or way off the pace? Our bathroom suite is white and was thinking grey grout for floor and ivory for the walls. Is this half sensible?!

Judging by stolts problems recently I just want to buy in store and take away rather than online!

Thoughts and opinions much appreciated, I believe the slate has to be sealed too.... is this simply a case of laying on a coat of something? UF heating will be used too!

Happy new year everyone, looking forward to reading about the 2010 developments!

suisidevw

Was hoping to come home from work to an answer! :beer:

Just caught up on the last few pages, think it's going to be an exciting few months!

stolt

suisidevw wrote: »

Morning all,

Quick question and advice please. Lowri and I went tile shopping yesterday. We are after 16m2 of tiles for our bathroom floor and walls. Price that came in for a lovely light coloured slate with a texture (large tiles) was £381. We went to a few different tile warehouses, not just the big chains and in general the prices were around the £425 mark. Is this expensive, or way off the pace? Our bathroom suite is white and was thinking grey grout for floor and ivory for the walls. Is this half sensible?!

Judging by stolts problems recently I just want to buy in store and take away rather than online!

Thoughts and opinions much appreciated, I believe the slate has to be sealed too.... is this simply a case of laying on a coat of something? UF heating will be used too!

Happy new year everyone, looking forward to reading about the 2010 developments!

definately buy from a shop you can go to, i would never go through what we have with www.tilesporcelain.com absolute nightmare and says everything about why they are cheap, they still owe me £1900 and i think i wil have to go via my credit card to recover the funds, i still have a pallet on the driveway that needs collecting. From when we were looking at slate they all stated it needed sealing after grouting then once a year (most of the granite we looked at was the same) they all sell sealer (its quite expensive) and i was going to have a look on ebay but one of the tilers did say like nearly everything else in life you for what you get so dont buy cheap.

pawpurrs

Well this living in a renovation isnt much fun at the moment! DH has been chasing out the walls in the kitchen for the new plug sockets and the Dust is indescriable, our sitting room is attached to the kitchen and its a never ending battle, I fear my furniture will be ruined! Its driving me nuts! Its only a small cottage and we have moved from a much larger house, so its allready crammed without all the kitchen stuff displaced every where! It makes life so much harder living in the renovation, hey ho! Have been managing ok without a kitchen but cant wait for it to be returned to me.
Been and spent all the Tesco vouchers at topps got the tiles for around the cooker and all the grout and stuff for the floor tiles ( which we had surplus from the last house, local hand made Terrrocotta tiles) So hopefully the floor will be laid at the weekend. The cooker has been ordered and I am most excited about that! Sad I know! It should be a nine week wait for one. The kitchen fitter is coming on Tuesday to double check a few things and prob will take the belfast sink to make the unit that sits on.
Have cleared out the garden room today to move the cooker and the washing machine up there so they are out of the way now, have put some of the old owners stuff that he left behind on freecycle, and will have two cookers to ebay fairly soon, hopefully a little money to spend elsewhere.
Next job after the kitchen is the sitting room which wont be much fun either, as theres a ceiling to come down, and that is prob lath and plaster, so that will be one heck of a mess! A fireplace to comeout and a wall to come down! :rotfl::rotfl:

pawpurrs

Susie doenst sound expensive to me for the tiles, you get a special sealant for slate that you paint on. HTH, grout colours sound fine to me!