First-time house renovation

stolt

Hopeful_5 wrote: »

Sorry to read about your problems with ceiling and doors, Stolt . Hope you can get these sorted without too much hassle.

I still haven't got over last week's torrential rain and my exposed insulation (the breeze blocks still haven't all dried out) and today when I went to the bungalow the insulation at the bottom of the door openings had been shredded, presumably by a fox. The new roof is due to be started on Monday but considering my build started only a week after Maggie's, this is somewhat overdue - and hence, no doubt, my problems :mad:.

I'll be grey by the end of this.

Hope

At least its just grey, and not falling out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopeful_5

That's why I called myself 'Hopeful' !

Hope

latecomer

@maggie - looks fantastic. Great to see someone making huge amounts of progress and not having trouble with the builders
@hopeful - I wouldn't worry too much about the rain, we started our extension last september and they were trying to put up the blocks in some of the worst weather I can remember. Didn't seem to make any difference at all alhtough they did try and stop it going into the cavity. Mind you if we'd have decent builders like maggie's they might have got it up before the weather got to that point.....

@stolt - sorry to hear about the roof. Its my big concern with our extension and the builder is being very unhelpful when we try to find out whats covered by the roofers guarantee. Hopefully you'll get it sorted without too much trouble.

@aliasojo - been buying el cheapo screws again? Get some proper ones and that should sort the heads coming off at least. I'd always recommend a pilot hole particularly if its in a thin piece of wood as the last thing you want if for it to split.

We've not been up to much. I've been on holiday last week and this one too. Have done a little diy but mainly at the inlaws house. They have just started an extension although they are only having a single room with a flat roof. Their soil is extremely sandy (whole area is) so it is very easy digging. They'd lined someone up to do the foundations and blockwork but once the skip arrived FIL was out with the spade despite his bad shoulder so we went through to get away from the house and also to help out. BIL and SIL were also around so we all had a go and the trench for the foundations is done. Will need a little tidying up but thats about it.

On our front, builder is being a !!!!. However we've found someone who will do the drains and the boiler work :T
Its someone we used for gas work before (when OH said she could smell gas and got the gas cut off for 3 days...) and he's called Gas Safe to make sure that they are happy with him doing the work given the circumstances, which they are Seems that not only was the boiler not commissioned it may not have been notified either which is illegal. Might have to explore reporting the installer and see if Gas Safe will do anything.

Apart from that haven't done a great deal. Little LC is taking up an emormous amount of time, not been very settled last couple of days and is currently sleeping in pram top cot thingy at my feet. OH having a much needed sleep

I did spend a couple of hours on thursday cutting down the large roddy in the back garden, and the thing next to it as this is going to be the location for our new shed. Managed to rearrange the skip and got about 75% of the foliage from the bushes in. Yesterday I spent a coulpe of hours digging out the roots, thankfully pretty small (although lots of them!) and shallow so wasn't too bad. Then managed to condense most of the remaining stuff into the garden waste bin but its not going to be collected until next week.

I finished off the flooring and doors between the kitchen and back room (cant remember if I said that last time). Got one final thing to do and thats drill a hole for the locking bolt in the joining strip. Hope its not directly over a screw.......:rotfl:

Other thing we've done is put together a list of materials for relaying the path, building a small retaining wall, plasterboarding the diningroom ceiling, building a base for the shed and building my storage in the garage. OH phoned round a couple of builders merchants and managed to get what I think is a pretty good price. Still its £350ish which is more than I was expecting but its a lot of materials.

Our builder had said he was happy to order materials for us at our last meeting but when I then asked about it was told he required a 10%+VAT margin for anything going on is account. Told him we would get our own - I'd rather pay more than line his pockets for simply making a call. And I bet he'd claim the VAT back on it too.

Need to try and decide on a shed. There is one of gumtree thats supposed to be under a year old and about half price but its a corner shed and I'm not sure about it. Gave the guy a phone and he's told me where it came from so I can go see one made up (the one he's selling is deconstructed ready for pickup). Also been looking at them online and cant decide what to do

Andyb - where did you get yours from? I could look back but I'm being lazy
Anyone else got online shed retailer recommendations?

Will try and get some more updates on the blog before I'm backat work too

EDit: on the 200th page - and nearly 4000 posts too. Keep up the good work everyone :beer:

aliasojo

latecomer wrote: »

@aliasojo - been buying el cheapo screws again? Get some proper ones and that should sort the heads coming off at least. I'd always recommend a pilot hole particularly if its in a thin piece of wood as the last thing you want if for it to split.

Anyone else got online shed retailer recommendations?

Lol, I didn't think I did. They were Turbo Ultras which are the stainless version of the Turbogold screws I've used for years and never had a problem with. Never again though.

Only shed advice I've got is don't even think about giving any of your hard earned to Waltons. Shockingly shoddy products, poor reviews across many sites. I bought 2 Waltons sheds and they were both little better than firewood. I complained and got some money back as a compromise. I know better now but I wish someone had told me to steer clear, then.

stolt

latecomer - builders eh,,,,, you would think that was there bread and butter so to speak...... ours not sure i guess i'll have to get someone in before the winter sets in its a rubber roof and i can see any noticable holes or splits up there.... just wish i'd took pics of the roof before the copings went on, could look back to see how the rubber was laid before the copings wet on..


quick question that someone may be able to help, been quoted £300.00 for supply, fitting and certifying a new 16 way consumer unit! does that seem about right?

thanks

aliasojo

Think we were approx £250 ish so seems in the right ball park. Our new one is a Wylex and is much more sensitive than the old one. Certain kinds of lightbulbs blowing can make the thing trip. Suppose it's better being too sensitive than not enough mind.

stolt

aliasojo wrote: »

Think we were approx £250 ish so seems in the right ball park. Our new one is a Wylex and is much more sensitive than the old one. Certain kinds of lightbulbs blowing can make the thing trip. Suppose it's better being too sensitive than not enough mind.

thanks aliasojo, puts my mind at ease then, used this electrician before and hes always seems reasonable.

suisidevw

Keep with the updates all, getting there!

Yes, fine price Stolt as that'll include a test too which will take half a day or so

andrew-b

latecomer wrote: »

Andyb - where did you get yours from? I could look back but I'm being lazy

Ours came from Florada, a local supplier, but their website says "down for maintenance". However I've just done some digging as other companies that i knew supplied their sheds have stopped. Just looked at companies house which says they have gone into liquidation and were wound up a month ago!! The case is described as a "voluntary creditors liquidation". So it looks like i may be lucky to have got my shed before they went under!

Explains a few things though that didn't seem right at the time (such as delivery by the boss's car(!) and probs with their timber supplier which delayed my order and issues with finding someone to install it for me). It's a shame as they made good sheds and the boss seems like one of the good guys. Companies house shows a previous "voluntary arrangement" from a while back that was completed.

Mainly went with them as they are a local manufacturer so the prices were less than buying via their website plus they did the install for much cheaper.

The only other supplier for modular sheds in the UK is Shire (B&Q sell some of them) but they didn't have the sizes i wanted and were more expensive than my local deal but the main advantage was they were treated already.

For the shed base we used Ecobase which i bought from Simply Garden Buildings as they were the cheapest supplier - highly recommend for the base but it's worth taking time to level the ground before you lay it. I was suitably impressed by that company too and they supplied Florada sheds too (Still listed on one of the other websites ran by the same company).

I'd avoid walton's like aliasojo says...i was tempted by them then did a bit of digging on them and steered well clear!

latecomer

thanks andyb and aliasojo - will steer clear of Waltons. Want to try and get it sorted sooner than later.

@stolt - £300 sounds reasonable provided its all signed off etc. The only thing I know about brands is that Wylex have had a huge recall recently on MCBs (IIRC).

materials should be \arrivimg tomorrow morning so should have everything we need to get things done. builder has ignored my calls today but been in touch via email tonight. He seems to think we're not going to pay him - hans't grasped the fact that he's the untrustworthy one..... And he's now very interested in the price of the contractors and insisting on written quotations etc. Dont see how he can argue though as he's been unable to get anyone to do the work. He's also demanded we put in writing the fact that we'll pay within a certain time of the work being completed so we've agreed to this (with the stipulation its within a certain time of the work being completed to building controls approval...). Also said that in return we'll need a written agreement stating the timescales that thw work will be completed in once the drainage work has been finished.

I did manage to spend a couple of hours outside today and got the path round the side of the house fixed so it should be wide enough for the pram. Just relocated some of the concrete blocks from one side of the concrete path to the other but had to move our wood and about half the stone thats stored there. ALso managed to get all the remaining rubbish and remains of the bushes into the "full" skip. Its slightly over height but dont think it will be an issue.

Need to clear out the store room tomorrow so we can get the ceiling plasterboarded at the weekend. My brother and his partner are coming to stay so he's going to give me a hand to get it up. I was hoping to get the walls stripped beforehand but will have to settle for clearing the room and removing the hideous coving thats up - its really badly fitted.