First-time house renovation

Spicey

http://spice-villa.blogspot.com/

Hi all! Yes I have finally got round to updating my blog!:beer:
I could not believe it had been a whole year. I have been reading and keeping upto date with what everyone is doing but never seem to find time to tap on the keyboard, so note to self "make time".

Will be taking lots of photo's later so will add them to blog as well.

We bought all the wood flooring we will need and it is sitting in a neat pile which I made after carrying it all in from the front garden where it was so kindly left, by wickes delivery!
The kitchen is so very nearly finished as is the bathroom.
The back garden has had a war going on between us and the brambles, we may have got the upperhand but every now and then one trys to grow again, we have to inspect it regularly.

Glad to see all are still working hard.
Jill

ukmaggie45

Electrician wants to know what ampage the cooker will be in kitchen.

15 or 30 amp.

We haven't chosen oven yet. But I feel inclined to go for 30 amp wiring as that will future proof either for us or next inhabitants. Would a smaller oven work on the bigger ampage wiring?

Update on rest to follow when less dentally challenged! :eek:

stolt

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Electrician wants to know what ampage the cooker will be in kitchen.

15 or 30 amp.

We haven't chosen oven yet. But I feel inclined to go for 30 amp wiring as that will future proof either for us or next inhabitants. Would a smaller oven work on the bigger ampage wiring?

Update on rest to follow when less dentally challenged! :eek:

definatley 30amp.

had root canal earlier in the year, not the most pleasent experience i can recall....

Hopeful_5

Good luck with the dental work, Maggie .

I expect there's been lots of progress since you last posted pictures on here.

My builder has asked me to mark out for the sockets etc. Hadn't realised I had to decide what amp for the cooker too. My head will explode with all the options I've got to weigh up, for absolutely everything .

Been looking at sun pipes for the bathroom, which is now enclosed due to the extension. I can't really compare like for like because they all use different measurements for the light emitted. Wish I could go in to a shop and see some in action, as it were. Think I will go for Solatube. Fingers crossed.

(I took some photos on my mobile but I don't seem to have email on it so can't get them up on here - yet).

All the best to everyone .

Hope

ukmaggie45

Spice, good to see your progress! OH enjoyed your photos of the extension going up. Looking forward to the next installment!

Hope, I know exactly what you mean about feeling as if your head will explode with all the decisions to be made! :eek: We must begin working on the bathroom and shower room options. I think we'll probably go for slightly higher toilet in both rooms, as it's less difficult for me to get up off it. And I suspect my bones will get more rather than less creaky over the next few years! Seen a possible, but can't seem to find it on the web to give a link.

Stolt, agree about root canal work! I :eek: was thinking that I was to have a crown fitted yesterday, but Nice Lady Dentist has managed to put a new filling in place. :j Next thursday it's getting the work done ready for bridge to be fitted (had a temporary one in place for over 2 years, but it's getting a bit tender feeling now) and the following week fitting it. Thanks for the oven info.

Not sure quite what happened to this week! ;-) DD1 and friends up last weekend, but didn't see much of them as still laid low following virus. OH has been going to the house most days and taking photos to keep me up to date on progress. Anyway, here's the week's progress.

Front of house last Friday.


Front of house by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Saturday we went to try and find a gas fire for the living room. We think we've decided on one, and builder reckons it's fittable in the room.

Here's the back of the house on Saturday. Roof nearly finished on back.


Back of house by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

We put table and chairs from garden in the diner area to get a bit of an idea of its size, though still hard to tell as so much debris in there still!


Diner by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Garden is looking autumnal, here it is viewed from the diner.


Looking out from diner through door opening by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Monday saw progress on the front roof.


Front of house 11 Oct by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The airing cupboard and hot water cylinder have gone from the back bedroom.


Back bedroom airing cupboard gone by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The doorway into the front bedroom has gone, this will be plastered over. Access will be through the boxroom which has been knocked through.


From front bedroom into landing this door to be blocked by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Here's a shot of the same room taken on Wednesday.


Bedroom 1 knocked through by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The shower room has the beginnings of partition between it and the utility room.


Shower room begins to emerge by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The debris has been cleared from the kitchen diner.


Diner area from kitchen area by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Here's the beginning of the door from utility room through to hall.


Beginning of doorway from utility into hall by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

And they've broken through into the bedroom extension. This is looking out of it across the the landing.


Extension bedroom to landing by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The roof is very nearly finished now. There's a few ridge tiles to go on, but builder is leaving them till after the light tubes are fitted.


Front of house 13 Oct by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

OH met with builder yesterday (Thursday) and sorted out a few things, but must check what was decided over power points in the kitchen diner. Next payment due today, so I'll be going over to the house sometime today, my first visit since Sunday afternoon. Builder told OH that the windows will be coming next week. Once they are in the place will begin to look much more like a house!

Off to upload yesterday's photos now!

Spicey

Maggie, looks like its progressing well. Love the choice of fireplace.

DH decided he thought some of the tiles he put up in the bathroom werent quiet right so pulled them down and took the plaster with them! so now we are having to replaster before we retile.

Wont get much done this weekend as DH taking future SIL to buy a car and I plan to make the christmas puddings and cake.
Off to Aqua at the gym now!

TomsMom

Great pictures Maggie, it's lovely to see the progress being made and it all taking shape. I love your fire. I remember seeing pictures of Stolt's fire last year and wished we could have had a built-in one but with that part of the wall being random stone at least 2' thick we were told it was best not to mess and we couldn't even have a balanced flue fire. Still, we're happy with the electric fire we had and to be honest we've not used it for heat, this is quite a cosy house and the central heating is enough.

:hello: Spicey, nice to see you posting again.

suisidevw

Lovely pictures Maggie, coming along beautifully!

No DIY this weekend, got a few of the boys up as my wifes away so beer will be consumed and general degeneracy. Cracking!

Hopeful_5

Maggie, still going great guns! The fire's lovely, very modern. I didn't know you were having light tubes. I've been asking around and on here for recommendations but didn't get any. My builder gave me a brochure for Sola Skylights but, as I said above, I think I will go with Solatube. Have you decided which ones to get yet?

A while back you said you weren't keen on the Howdens kitchens and asked for recommendations. Well, over the weekend I visited Homebase and was really impressed with their Odina range - German quality, Italian design apparently. I take it from your fire choice that you are going for a contemporary look so check these out.

Hope

latecomer

@hopeful5 - not sure about Homebase these days but my mum sold kitchens for them for years and didn't have that many good things to say about them. The biggest problem was with quality - nearly every kitchen had damaged or missing items. Like I said, things may have changed as this was a few years ago now.

We had my brother and his partner visiting this weekend so I took full advantage and got him to help board over the ceiling. Turned into a big of a mammoth job but we got there in the end. As we were trying to screw into the joists above, we needed 4" drywall screws so I ended up on a special trip to Screwfix. Then found out my old cordless drill was completely dead despite being on charge for 12 hours. Ended up using a full size drill with adjustable speed but of course as there is no torque settings we had to be careful not to go right through the board or knacker the heads on the screws. I'd cunningly bought a pack of PZ2 driver bits and then found out that drywall screws are philips heads ...... arrrggghhh. Persevered with the PH2 bits I had lying around but as they invariably came either with tools or as part of kits they didn't last long. Ended up going back to screwfix and buying 4 proper branded ones and ended up just using one. Just proves that point that cheap isn't always a good thing - something I'm sure everyone on this thread is aware of

One minor mishap though - brother was crawling around the eaves to mark the joists and put a few holes down with a screwdriver to help locate the joists from underneath. One corner we couldn't find the hole so I looked into the next room (nursery) and found it. Wasn't overly popular with Mrs LC but given everything else that was getting done she wasn't that concerned really.

Yesterday afternoon I tried to complete the plumbing in of the radiator in the hall. I'd put the pipes and valves on above floor level but hadn't connected them up under the floor. Did this and then filled the system up and found that I had a minor leak (just weeping really) at the TRV side but no way I was leaving that with the new carpets down. Also had a more significant leak under the floors where the microbore and 15mm pipe were joined. I couldn't find my pipe cutter when I did that bit so it wasn't a huge surprise. Waited until baby LC was next having a feed (about 10pm) and then undid the joints and re-did them. no leaks above ground and I got the heating back on

Today went under the floors and found the pipe there was still leaking but just needed nipping up a little. Then had a crawl round under the floors to make sure I can access the entire house. Had to widen one hole as I just wasn't going to fit but apart from that managed to get everywhere. Plumbing work is an absolute disgrace - really should have done it all myself and I could have tidied it all up properly - looks like a load of spaghetti under the old kitchen. WAsn't sure how I was going to tap into the ring main to get my new socket but found that the electricians had instead of tidying up the old socket where our new double doors are have just put the wiring into a box and thrown it under the floors - would have been rather annoyed about that but as it happens it solves my problem rather nicely. Makes a nice change

then spend about 3 hours digging out all the soil around the drains at the front. Forgot to say we got a new BCO approved plan from the architect but it doesn't really work with what we've actually got given the fixed angles of the chambers and our limited distance from the house to make all the connections. Spoke ot contractor who is meant to be doing the work and he wasn't best pleased given my description but I dropped in a copy of the diagram so he can actually look at it and see what he thinks. So in preparation of this I dug out all round the existing drains from the house and also cleared about 2 feet to the side which is where the new downpipe connection is going to go - thought it was better to dig out all possible options and then only have to fill in more rather than dig out additional stuff in the evenings.

And hence I'm knackered and not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. In fact given the time I'd better get some sleep as no telling what baby LC has in store for us tonight