First-time house renovation

latecomer

Ouch - on both counts!

We are in the process of trying to negotiate getting the builders off site. They have agreed to remove the scaffolding but want access to the house which we are refusing. I've said that we will put out all "their" materials (its not worth enough to argue over in the grant scheme of things) in return for stuff they have removed (not much but its making a point) and the boiler paperwork being returned, complete with installers details. they've already had access to remove tools

BIL is coming over on saturday in case there is any nonesense and will probably try and get OH to be elsewhere.

Have another builder coming tomorrow to look at the remaining work so he can quote. 2 builders who have alreayd quoted are hopefully able to start pretty much as soon as we pick one.

helping_hubby

Hi Everyone! Not sure if anyone remembers me Spent last weekend painting the interior doors and have just updated my blog and I thought of you guys and sure enough this thread is still going and there are still a lot of familiar usernames It's good to see people are moving onto the gardens.

@Stolt - I am _not_ thanking you for the picture of the spider a few pages back! It's horrible!

Talking of cats (Maggie) I am having a nightmare with cats pooping in the front garden. They are now pooping on the pavement and I trod in it too and that was the last straw! I have no means of putting a water sprayer out there though. I tried putting down rabbit pellets, been a week and only one poop on the path, none in the flower beds. I know it's a long shot, but they don't poo in the back garden, so I was thinking maybe the rabbits deter them!

stolt

I'll keep an eye out for the cats in the bark, funnily enough i havent seen alot of cats around here which is strange as they are usually everywhere. Perhaps my girls scare them off.

Had my start of my root canal treatment today, and it hardly hurt at all!!! so i'm pain free tonight and took a phone from the company supplying the artificial grass, we cant afford to get it fitted by them so i was going to buy it and fit myself 'rolls eyes' however i gave them the final measurements and he phoned me on the way home and said he feel like he knows me (i've discussed lots of aspect of the job over the phone and sent pictures and plans of what i wanted) so he said i feel like i know you and hes going to send one fitter with the grass on sunday to help me fit it, well i'll do the labouring and this guy is going to help cut it and make sure it all looks right, the best bit.... all ive got to do is buy him a drink!!! I think i'll give him a bit more than a drink but i'm over the moon with this, and cant believe my luck. I always moan about companies that offer bad servic but think with the grass company https://www.easigrass.com, i should give them a massive thankyou for helping me.
The wire for the gabions are arriving tomorrow but i wont get a chance to make them his weekend so it will have to be next weekend, but we are going to have grass alot sooner than i thought. Weathers been good all week here and its definatley feeling like summer. Good luck everyone.

jimbugalee

helping_hubby - love your paving in the front garden, it looks really good

aliasojo

Stolt, it's nice to hear of companies who go that extra mile 'just because' rather than because of ££££££ signs.

Do you mind if I ask what type of 'grass' you've opted for? I've had a hankering for this for a couple of years now, the grass in our back garden never thrived as we don't get a lot of sun so we dug it up but I miss the greenery iyswim. I'm dying to see yours done.

aliasojo

jimbugalee wrote: »

helping_hubby - love your paving in the front garden, it looks really good

I can only see card making, where's the paving?

jimbugalee

oh, maybe I got the wrong blog! lol

aliasojo

No, I think I did. I've just had a quick search through old posts and found the link to the right one. All these lovely tidy gardens are making me envious.

stolt

aliasojo wrote: »

Stolt, it's nice to hear of companies who go that extra mile 'just because' rather than because of ££££££ signs.

Do you mind if I ask what type of 'grass' you've opted for? I've had a hankering for this for a couple of years now, the grass in our back garden never thrived as we don't get a lot of sun so we dug it up but I miss the greenery iyswim. I'm dying to see yours done.

No not all, if you have a look on the easigrass website its called the knightsbridge lawn, its a natural looking lawn with brown threads in it. I had the emerald type lawn before and that looked great but just wanted something a bit more natural this time. Give them a call and ask for Anthony as i say hes been really helpful with me, discussed and advised about the sub base that I put down etc. He mentioned that if you live around london to go to selfridges and checkout the display hes done there. They seem to do a lot of the large department stores aswell. I was having it for the same reason as you by the end of the summer last year (and it wasnt a hot summer was it) it was just a dust bowl with large cracks in the lawn) plus around march time the grass was too muddy (heavy clay around here) so the kids couldnt go out in the garden. I cant wait for the transformation and its rare to get such a good company that obviously puts the customer first beyond everything else.:D

latecomer

Thats a fantastic service from the company - I guess it makes sense for them as the better it looks, the more likely they are to ask where you got it from etc. Note that I'm not suggesting that your finish wouldn't be as good - but I'm sure it would take longer.

very nice to hear.

Our builders have gone very quiet following our reply asking them to return all our material if they want the materials in the house returned to them. If they haven't replied by tonight we'll send them another email as we need the scaffolding removed this weekend if possible and I really dont fancy doing the one at the front myself. If the worst happens we'll try and remove the all the rest of the scaffolding at the weekend which shouldn't be too bad and leave the one at the front as its not in the way of the remaining building work.

I was up the ladders at the front last night taking down the remaining slate from the scaffolding. I'm not great with heights but being up on the scaffolding hasn't bothered me yet - but this is the first time I've attempted to get onto the bit at the front. As the house is on a slop its considably higher than at the back or side when accessed from the back. Ladders were getting near fully extended and rather wobbly as I neared the top and hence I decided to take the slate off by remaining on the ladders (which I'd tied on to the scaffolding of course) and taking it down a few at a time. Had to use a brush to pull the piles over slate to the edge but got there in the end. Then I moved the ladders inside the scaffolding to access the guttering and removed all the bits of slate, nails felt and general grot into a bucket. Need to do the rest too but I'm sure the builders will want their ladders back so I need to do it before saturday or I'll have to our ladders which aren't bad but not as good as theirs.