First-time house renovation

stolt

Plasterer wrote: »

Thanks Stolt, just out of interestwhat was the cost of your artificial turf per square metre?

Cost was about £20.00 a sq m, then you need underlay aswell.


Ive been at it all day!!,rained most of the morning but it brightened up in the afternoon. Got all the topsoil all moved:D, and started on the bark, although out of that mound i'm left with about a ton bag left that i dont need or can hide!!!, (just stuck a sign on it offering the neighours free bark) which seems to have done the trick as the neighbour over the road wants some:D

Didnt get the box hedges planted in the lawn but i did get round to sorting out the irrigation system and its all working (will will save some hassle in the summer), also just remembered that i didnt put the sand in the last bit of turf that me and the missus fitted yesterday. Missus planted some alliums bulbs and cut some of the lastic sheeting away from the gabions....

Bought another tree fern and i've got some painted lady ferns on there way so going to have a little shady area there.

Next week the cobbles and the gabions and the outside lights..

I think our wood pigeon is happy again, hes not been a happy bird since ive been playing with the garden and its not had any grass to play on!, early morning and just noticed that you can see the rain drops on his tail.











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latecomer

Looks great stolt - if I lived near I'd take the rest of your bark

@plasterer - what an improvement - hope the home owner appreciates it.

We had another 2 roofers round on saturday - first was a scaremongerer and wanted a structural surveyor to come out and give a report before he would do anything else - but still managed to stay for an hour telling me how bad everything was. Second was also highly critical of the work thats been done but didn't make a song and dance about it. He came with the joiner who is quoting for the rest of the work and I have to say I liked them both just need to see what the quote from them is.


While speaking to the joiner I asked whether removing all the plaster and plasterboard upstairs would help things along or not. His reply was that they dont employ labourers and hence we would be paying joiners to do general labouring so it was definitely worth me doing it and that he wouldn't mind at all. It would also mean it could be ready for them to start sooner. Mind you I'd need to get rid of OH for a weekend to keep her away from the dust.

I did lots more clearing up and took another couple of runs to the tip. Yesterday I dug out the drive in front of the garage to expose the drain that I want the downpipe to connect into. The original builder talked me into agreeing to have the new downpipe connect into the existing downpipe which is now inside the garage by coming through the garage wall just above ground level to make it easier for them. I cant remember what stage this was done at but either way I've decided I want it done properly on the outside and hence digging down to expose the pipe.

Was very glad I took lots of pictures as I started digging where I thought it might be but thuoght about it and realise I didn't have any idea where it might be. So I put the pc on and checked out all the old pictures until I found one that showed its position. So I started digging about 3 feet to the left of my original attempt and got it pretty much spot on


My folks are up visiting relatives and have been over today to help tidy up in the garden and cut the hedge. Haven't seen it yet but its going to be a big improvement over what it was! they also said that one of the builders, who was meant to come on saturday to give the final details of his quote but didn't turn up, had dropped by and left the final quote. Also apparently another builder just stopped by and offerred his services saying that he'd done a lot in our area and could give numerous references - shame he didn't come by about 4 weeks ago as we might have considered him.



Right I'm off home to continue the tidy-up.

Plasterer

Quote-@plasterer - what an improvement - hope the home owner appreciates it.

Not quite finished yet - i'll post some pics later of the finished wall

Yes I do Sorry, its my wall on a property I rent out :rotfl: Sorry poor writing skills.. Ive now got to do the other three houses in the street - so its turned out nice

latecomer

Thought it was a lot of work to do for somewhere you were renting from someone else :rotfl:

I presume you are going to repair to 2 patches before you are finished? And I'm glad its recognised as being a good job and you get some work from it.

My folks have done a great job out in the garden - looks like someone cares about it now (for a little while anyway )

Plasterer

latecomer wrote: »

Thought it was a lot of work to do for somewhere you were renting from someone else :rotfl:

I presume you are going to repair to 2 patches before you are finished? And I'm glad its recognised as being a good job and you get some work from it.

My folks have done a great job out in the garden - looks like someone cares about it now (for a little while anyway )

Yes -not quite finished my wall yet - Working with lime takes a long time and the wall needs to be covered with wet hessian for a few days so it doesnt dry out to quickly - great advert for me though as i say the other neighbours want theres done. I think when I do theres though it will be more than a couple of hours a day (for some strange reason I tend to put in a full day way I know theres a pay packet around the corner) :rotfl:

I'm rendering a swimming pool for the next week or so - I will then pounce on the wall. soon as i've done it all i'll upload some more pictures.

latecomer

Plasterer wrote: »

(for some strange reason I tend to put in a full day way I know theres a pay packet around the corner) :rotfl:

I thought my builders would do the same - but turns out they were too stupid to even do that!

I'm rendering a swimming pool for the next week or so - I will then pounce on the wall. soon as i've done it all i'll upload some more pictures.

I'd have thought that a swimming pool would be a bit wet to render :rotfl:

aliasojo

stolt wrote: »

Didnt get the box hedges planted in the lawn but i did get round to sorting out the irrigation system and its all working (will will save some hassle in the summer),

Stolt I must have missed something......irrigation system? Explain please? I require details for [STRIKE]copying purposes[/STRIKE] sheer interest. :whistle:

stolt

aliasojo wrote: »

Stolt I must have missed something......irrigation system? Explain please? I require details for [STRIKE]copying purposes[/STRIKE] sheer interest. :whistle:

Due to my overall plan of having a nice lazy summer enjoying my garden rather than trying to water it etc. I've installed watering system. Really easy, half inch main pipe in the flower beds and from that 4mm pipes with nozzels spray the flowers. One end of the hose is blocked off and the other has a hosepipe connector on it (you can put as many nozzles on it as you want) i've just bought another 10 extension pipes and spray heads to put in this weekend to cover all the plants. its made by gardena and i think you can buy some in kit form. Basically plug the hosepipe in and leave it to do its thing:D:D

jamtart6

looking good stolt and plasterer what a lovely wall!! great job!

latecomer - i do agree in principle, money on heating etc is wise but i want nice cushions too goddammit!!

well people we are SO close to moving in after almost an eternity! skirting, cupboards, carpets, floor tiles and final bit of plumbing then we're away! SOOOOOOOO excited! Wedding v vvvvvvv close too !

Hope everyone is well including TD!

latecomer

Very exciting times - bet you cant wait to move in.

We're hoping to get the final quote in tonight and then its decision time. We got more details from the other builder we like but its starting to get a bit woolly in places which I'm not very happy about. Still not heard from the builder I fell out with last week but then thats no great loss.

And as its been approx an hour since I started writing this post - I've now had the quote in from the joiners and its not that different to the others. Mind you there is over £3100 for plumbing work - which only consists of commisioning the boiler, connecting in 1 or 2 new radiators and running pipes to the sink. There is also the new mains pipe to be connected but then thats not a huge job IMO.

the quote for the roofering work is a fair bit less that I expected but there are no details of what will be done. Will have to sit down and have a look at it and see what we need clarified.

I've just asked for clarification on lots of things so we'll see what the response is.