First-time house renovation

jimbugalee

YEY JT - bathrooms are exciting!!! My Dad has taken our vinetian blind home with him this week as it needs cutting down since we tiled round the window. Should have that up next weekend so people can't see me in the shower grrrr lol

This weekend we had a major tidy up in the front and back garden. Freecycled the cooker and an old tele. The tip near us are sooooooooooo annoying. We went up in a van (not a builders one) and they wouldn't let us dump any of the things we had saying it was too much. Ok sort of fair enough but they said if we came back in 2 vehicles they would accept it and can't take a part load?!!! Also they asked who told us they take plasterboard as they don't ..... we pointed out the big fat sign next to a bin saying 'Plasterboard' grrrrrr So had to unload everything into two cars and take back up there. We've still got stuff to take. Wish we had a skip but they are just so expensive. How does everyone get rid of their building rubbish etc? Maybe we won't have much more after this hmmmm

Did some work on my office to be this weekend. Still looks like cell block H AAARGH. Def not moving in yet!! Think we need to get it all rendered and plastered now. hmmm ££££

Here's updated blog:
http://seatonroad.blogspot.com/

Hope everyone had good weekends?

suisidevw

Morning!

Exciting time for us, had a great weekend, won football Sat am and then watched the Ospreys beat Leicester in the afternoon, followed by plenty of booze in Cardiff with inlaws and friends etc. Nice and chilled yesterday watching football and a nice walk in Cardiff bay!

Anyway, it's exciting as our bathroom has started this morning. Andy turned up at 7.45 just before we went to work and we went through what's happening again. Andy checked suite to make sure all OK. I got a call a couple of hours ago saying that the rough peach tiles that are on there now are part of 3 layers or tile upon tile upon tile so there's plenty of mess and no shower for a few days! Anyway, shower at the gym and our work so no real probs there.

Here's a pic of the bathroom so you can imagine what we've had for the last 6 months since we moved in and maybe I'll stick a pic up as we go over the next 9 days! Everythings going, all replastered, only thing staying is window!

jimbugalee

Loving the peach suite! Looking forward to new piccies when it's finished

jamtart6

love it! we have avacado green at the moment, soon to be replaced with white!!

we have tiles in the bathroom, a wall and a half is done, all need grouting still but looking great!!

brick work finished, waiting for one quote for the roof then need to decide on a roofer. windows man has been as well so he is getting them all made and then being ready to fit them within a day of us ringing which is great. SOOOO excited!!!

lisal0u

Hiya,

Not much to report from me but just thought Id stop by and say hi!

Jammie & Suiside - Looking forward to seeing your bathrooms come together! Ours is almost done. Just got to seal the skirting and bath side panel and put up a blind!

Really need to finish tidying up after weve been unpacking then I can take some more piccys of the finished house, well almost finished! Still got a few bits and bobs to do and buy some curtains! Our neighbours think were setting a new trend with opaque plastic up at the windows ha ha.

Jim - We had to hire 5 skips all together and your right they arent cheap! We couldnt really avoid it though as we knocked down 3 walls and removed a chimney!

Got our first proper fuel bill today eek! £300 for electric and £117 for gas since August! Seems a lot to me but didnt really know what to expect! I have been playing around with the thermostat and timer for the underfloor heating so hopefully it wont be so pricey next time!

Also tested the robot hoover we bought over a year ago the other day! Its brilliant but very lazy ha ha! It even sings a little tune when its finished and goes back to charge like its proud of itself! Think Ill have to give it a name!

Maggie - How are things coming along at your new house?

TM - Hows TD doing this week?

Lisa x

jimbugalee

My nan has a robot hoover! It would be totally pointless in our house as it's full of so much junk and we don't really have many carpets ... only in 1 room

Lisa - we're on a tariff with Scottish Power where we read our own meter (as much as we like) and submit the meter readings online. You still pay a fixed cost every month but save about 10% I think. Also it's peace of mind as at any point we know exactly where we're up to with bills.

lisal0u

We only have carpets upstairs, does a fab job on the wooden floors and even gets under the sofa! No more lurking dust bunnies in my house :-)

Ill have a look into that tarrif, Ive heard good things about scottish power, were with e-on at the minute. Need to go do a price comparison now Ive got a bill to work with. Weve always rented a 2 bed flat that was all electric so no idea how much this 3 bed house is going to cost!

jimbugalee

I found comparing gas & electric reeeeeeeeeeally tricky. Yes good if you have a bill to work with. We're on a fixed rate with Scottish Power till June this year I think. They might not be as good in your area but I haven't had any problems with them - really helpful especially as randomly another company tried to steal our gas supply grrr!

TomsMom

lisal0u wrote: »

Got our first proper fuel bill today eek! £300 for electric and £117 for gas since August! Seems a lot to me but didnt really know what to expect! I have been playing around with the thermostat and timer for the underfloor heating so hopefully it wont be so pricey next time!

Not sure if this helps as a comparison, we pay £60 p.m. gas and £45 p.m. electricity by DD. Sometimes we're in front, sometimes in arrear, but it seems to be working out. Not been in a year yet so not sure if it's been estimated correctly by BG who worked out best for us. Our heating is on from early morning to late night as we're home all day but it's quite a cosy house so doesn't have to be up too high. We set the boiler between 50F and 55F on the coldest days for heating, DHW is set at 50F.

Also tested the robot hoover we bought over a year ago the other day! Its brilliant but very lazy ha ha! It even sings a little tune when its finished and goes back to charge like its proud of itself! Think Ill have to give it a name!

Ah, how cute. I wish my appliances sang to me :rotfl: .

TM - Hows TD doing this week?

Making slow but steady progress, thanks. His appetite is almost back to normal and he's put on almost one of the two stones he lost. His hair is growing back, looks like a number 1 and coming through darkish grey, he was fair before. We ordered ginger and curly for a change but didn't get it :rotfl: .

He's been to have a CT scan today along with his check up. Because he had so much chemo they're checking to see if it has damaged his heart. It looks like the nerve endings in his feet could have been damaged, his has pain in the balls of his feet when walking even short distances. They don't tell you this sort of thing when telling you about the treatment. He has to go in for a transfusion next week as his red cells have dropped again, it's very common but as long as his white cells and platelets keep improving they're happy, red cells are the last thing to settle down.

He has to go to Bristol for his 100 day post transplant check soon, at last they have agreed to the overnight accommodation in the flat - some arm twisting by his consultant here I think!

suisidevw That peach suite brings back memories - hate to admit it but we had one . With three layers of tiles coming off your bathroom should be a fair bit bigger by the time it's finished!

littlerose12345

Wow a robot hoover sounds fab!! Do you have a link Lisa? Might have to put one on the wedding gift list x