First-time house renovation

TomsMom

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

And I bet TomsMum will be along in a while demanding them too!

Beautiful photograph Littlerose. What a gorgeous setting.

littlerose12345

TomsMom wrote: »

Beautiful photograph Littlerose. What a gorgeous setting.

aliasojo wrote: »

What an absolutely lovely picture, definitely one for a frame I think.

You look beautiful. x

Thank you! We were very lucky as it had started to rain after the ceremony so we took the group shots inside the church then husband and I went to a beautiful garden near a local castle for some photos and the sun was shining for us. We managed to get some lovely photos, will definitely be difficult to pick shots for the album, and there are several potentials to be framed / canvassed!

Only thing is we're terrified of putting holes in our newly plastered walls! Hehe haven't put anything up apart from the kitchen wall units! lol

ginvzt

Congratulations to everyone for different reasons (wedding, baby...)!

I think I have decided that I want to do our library/music room in "Nordic Spa" colour from Dulux Light & Space range. I hope to lay engineered oak flooring as well there. Might give a go to Ikea one, as it seems quite well priced, but need to see it for myself first - one day after work, as I work next door to one. We saw the engineered wood in B&Q and Wickes and the prices are very high, when we bought it before (well, 3-4 years ago now), we paid something like £15-£18 per sq.m, but now it is all over £30-£35...

suisidevw

Lovely photo Littlerose, awesome setting!

Look as though they are making good progress Maggie!

ukmaggie45

aliasojo wrote: »

maggie...I can't even look at your pics without a sharp intake of breath. It will be better once you have walls.

:rotfl:

Just saw a reply you did on another thread about vinyl in living rooms, so have taken a look at the Rhinofloor. Thanks. :beer: After toying with going for engineered wood in kitchen and morning room now I think we might try and use a wood effect vinyl instead - will probably be more practical (looking ahead a couple of years and thinking about 2 small and possibly muddy small boys rampaging around the house! ).

However...

On another thread I read a while ago someone said vinyl floors shouldn't be laid on asphalt, which is what our builder is recommending on our concrete floors once they are poured. Anyone know if this is so? I've emailed the help addy at Armstrong Floors, but not sure how long they'll take to get back to me, so thought I'd ask here too.

OH took more photos yesterday evening, they've poured concrete for the foundations now. Photos to follow when I've had time to upload them.

suisidevw

Can asphalt just be screeded for the vinyl or is this not an option? I'm not sure if this is your 'forever' house Maggie but I'd prefer to purchase the house off you with engineered wood as opposed to vinyl. I have vinyl in kitchen however and this is fine!

ukmaggie45

suisidevw wrote: »

Can asphalt just be screeded for the vinyl or is this not an option? I'm not sure if this is your 'forever' house Maggie but I'd prefer to purchase the house off you with engineered wood as opposed to vinyl. I have vinyl in kitchen however and this is fine!

Thanks suiside, I was wondering if the asphalt attacked the vinyl somehow. (shrugs shoulders) Guess it's perfectly possible to screed it. I'll let you know what Armstrong Floors say when I hear from them.

This is our forever house, but it's taking so forever to get into (we completed 13 dec last year) that I'm beginning to wonder if I'll survive long enough to get into it! :eek:

I take your point about preferring to have wood rather than vinyl as a purchaser. :T Kitchen/morning room and utility will probably have vinyl, might think about the engineered wood for hallway... Kitchen and morning room will become all one room, so although it would be possible to have 2 separate floorings in there I don't think I want to go down that route.

TomsMom

Well, you've got me there Maggie - the only asphalt I've heard of is for road surfaces etc. But I do lead a sheltered life :rotfl: .

I've never seen engineered wood either so don't really know much about it. I'm not a lover of wood floors though, my nephew had laminate floor in the living room and they quickly covered it with carpet as his wife feels the cold and couldn't live with it.

My son and d-i-l have laminate in their hall and wish they'd never done it. It dents very easily and with a dog and three kids (plus the recent addition of a puppy) is very scratched.

Our concrete floor in the kitchen had a layer of latex over it, done by the builders as it was very uneven, and we've had vinyl (also vinyl in the bathroom). The vinyl is Rhinofloor and is reasonably warm underfoot. I dropped something on the kitchen floor and it did take a little chip out of the surface and exposed the white under layer. Luckily it's slate tile effect so I just went over with a black permanent marker to disguise it so it can't be seen. Don't know what would happen with any other colour not so easily disguised.

I think all types of flooring have their drawbacks. I wouldn't be happy with dents and scratches in a wooden floor, even if it does give it "character", unless I lived in a very old house with lots of other character aged features. Vinyl and carpet will eventually wear and need replacing. Ceramic tiles are cold underfoot unless you have underfloor heating and are prepared for the expense (I'd need mine on during the night for the bathroom) and are uncomfortable if you're standing in the kitchen for any length of time according to my d-i-l.

Not a lot of help am I?

latecomer

@littlerose - beautiful pic, looks like a fantastic setting too.

@maggie - think its one of those things thats very personal. We love wood but didnt' think it was practical for having kid(s) and potentially a dog too. Also a lot more expensive than laminate even with builders discount. We paid about £12/m2 for our Quickstep and while its only been down for a couple of weeks I think it looks great. Haven't dropped anything on it yet though
Some of the wood effect vinyls are very good and warmer underfoot too. Still not my cup of tea.

Not much happening on our house at the moment - got a copy of a letter the architect has send to the BCO showing the proposed change to the garage steps - without running it past us first despite being told to??? He's also asked at the bottom of the letter whether changing the garage door to a roller type would be enough for him to accept the steps. This would probably be our preferred option but I geuss we'll need to wait and see what happens. Not sure what to do if he accepts the first proposal which we dont like?

spirit

littlerose - what a beautiful pic, certainly a good one to look back on in years to come :T

ukmaggie - well it looks like you are making cracking progress on the house. Just tell me that you are not going to mix yoghurt and cowshyte on the walls a la Grand Designs last night :rotfl:

re flooring, I'm going to have engineered wood for the hall and then running through to the sitting and dining room. I wouldn't personally touch laminate with a barge pole. In my last house, in 2004 i had bamboo flooring put down in the hall. I only wish I'd gone the whole hog and done the sitting and dining rooms done there. Up to the day I moved out, there was not one scratch, dent or mark anywhere. I didn't tiptoe around it either, I had various lodgers in that time and 3 cats. All I did once a week was get a very slightly damp mop and swish it over.

I didn't pay a fortune for it either, it was only from Homebase but I did have it fitted professionally.