First-time house renovation

latecomer

Really finishes off the kitchen very nicely. I have to say I do like gloss units and colour but for us we immediately thought of oak and stayed with that to the end. I still think we should have gone with the granite but given we have spent probably in the region of £20k in remedial work something were just going to have to give and unfortunately that was an obvious candidate.

I have a confession to make too - our boiler work is going to be done when the guy gets back from his holiday and although he originally said he wouldn't commission a boiler without a power flush he said that following inspection of the system he might settle for a manual flush potentially using the mains pressure. After chatting for a while (he does like to talk ) he found that we'd removed all radiators when we moved in a flushed them through with a hose in the garden, that the system had been chemically flushed probably 4-5 times and always had inhibitor added after being flushed and drained. He also learned that the Magnaclean had been installed at my request a couple of months ago and was very happy about this and said provided it was relatively clean he would be happy to forget the powerflush completely.

So once I'd spend 3.5 hours digging out the drains the other night I shut the heating down and opened the Magnaclean to see how much gunk it had collected. To me it seemed very clean but I gave it a quick wipe anyway - and when it was inspected the guy said it was so clean he didn't even bother to wipe it down

He's happy that the system has been very well maintained and I'm delighted that there isn't going to be a powerflush. Will definitely be draining the system down anyway as I've got to move the drain valve as its currently where the new steps are going to have to be built.

So provided we can get the building control guy booked for after his holidays we should get the drains tested and the boiler signed off in the same day which would be fantastic.


EDIT:

Also forget to mention that we have hopefully resolved our Jeldwen door problem - OH phoned up the same person who helped with the window and she emailed a warranty claim form out. We filled this in and emailed it back an dthey got in touch to say that they could send an engineer out to inspect the doors etc but that we would be liable for the costs if they determined it was an installation fault. Alternatively they were happy to send out a replacement mechanism under warranty without any inspection. we went for the latter as we're not convinced its not an installation problem (it was done by idiot builers #1) and they said it would be with us within 5 working days. Got home today and found it had been delivered already. Now just need to get the old one off and install the replacement.

Also shed should be delivered on monday. Still slightly apprehensive given that its been ordered online but it had good reviews and for £200 its worth a shot. I can always add additional supports if required. My folks are up next weekend so I'll get my dad to help with creating the base and also all the electrics work I want done.

suisidevw

Splashback looks epic KMMR! Lovely!

I have some good news not house related. I went for a job on Wednesday which 7 applied internally for, 2 were interviewed which included me and another guy who worked in the interviewers team. Anyway, I managed to get the job starting in 2-3 weeks which is 3 scales higher than I am at present, approx £6k which isn't to be sniffed at in these times, especially considering I work for local government!

Anyway, will now be able to afford to buy our oak internal doors

latecomer

Congrats - £6k is never to be niffed at even in good times, £500 extra a month goes a long way. The only time I got a pay rise like that was when I got made redundant

Hopeful_5

KMMR - it all looks gorgeous! I spent a good while looking at your lovely French doors - I'm going to have two sets but it all seems such a loooong way off.
Latecomer - sorry to hear about the drain delay. It's half term time round about now so that might be the reason for the spate of holidays; have had the same hol prob myself .
Suisidevw - congratulations on the promotion!
Aliasojo - will let you know about the light tunnel.

My roofers finally arrived this week and it is coming along. But (of course) there is an issue. My bungalow is semi-detached and I am having interlocking tiles like my neighbour so there is no need for the ridge tiles which originally separated the two roofs. My neighbour's roof began life a reddish colour but over the many years has discoloured to a dark brown. My new roof is brown so the two blend well but the tiles which were under the ridge tiles are still reddish so there is a line of red tiles where the two roofs meet. I can't understand why the roofers didn't just replace those tiles with my new ones - well, I can, it would cost a bit more. The tiles in question are slap bang down the middle of the two bungalows, so half is on my side and half on my neighbour's. Does anyone have any views? Of course over time the tiles will go brown, but it will take years and in the meantime it looks wrong.

Hope

kmmr

Hi Hope,

Is there a way you can speed up the aging process? I'd suggest you ask google... I saw one link that said if you put milk on them they age faster, but personally have never had to deal with tiles.

Is this something that only you will notice? I have lots of little things that annoy me about my place, but in reality I know no-one else would ever notice unless I told them. So since it will end up the same, perhaps just live with the slight annoyance until it does match?

stolt

afternoon, anyone understand home electrics..... pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee...

having trouble with one of our GET ceiling receivers....


the diagram shows to could be connected up as follows...





The electrician said the receiver will have to go back the light it feeds is constantly on..., hes left it as follows i was looking at the diagram and thought perhaps as he was in a rush hes done it wrong..... more for my peace of mind i just want to check ...


the wires in the receiver are the wires from the ceiling, looking at the diagram are the wires for the load suppose to go to the light or are they to come from the wires in the ceiling. If i changed these wires on the receiver could the receiver go pop?
perhaps the liv wires fromt he celing need to go into the little lightning symol on the receiver?

Hopeful_5

Thanks, KMMR. It's not just me though, I've asked a friend who agrees it is not right. I've now phoned the builder who is going to speak to the roofers, la la li la li la ........ What is it all like? I long to be at your stage where you have almost forgotten how stressful it all was and are wondering why you got so upset at the time. I'll keep reminding myself that I will get to that happy place one day .

Stolt, hope you soon get the info you need. Maybe post a new thread if no one on here has the answer.

Hope

latecomer

@Hopeful5 - hope you get the roof sorted - I just dont understand why trademen wouldn't just ask what you want done. It should be obvious to them its not going to look right as soon as they start it.

@stolt - what does the reciever do? Anyway it doesn't look right to me. If the reciever is meant to control the lights then they are going to need to connected to the load connections as per the diagram. Did the electrician look at the instructions as it looks like he's just bypassed the receiver

If you have other recievers, can you access one to check how its wired?

Spicey

Afternoon all! it a lovely blue sunny day, Ive been to the gym so now I thought Id sit down with a coffee and catch up with what everyone is doing.


We decided that as it has got rather chilly we ought to sort out the loft insulation. The electrician had just pulled it up and left it in heaps, along with old wire and other rubish he couldnt be bothered to bring down:mad: It also turned out that the arial booster and socket had just been left lying instead of being screwed to something. The electrian was a nightmare so the least said about him the better! Although the loft was part boarded there was no insulation under the boards so they had to be removed. DH managed to get the insulation all down by last night and next weekend we are boarding (new modern kind) it all over, and installing a loft ladder.

There still seems so much to do and I wonder if it will ever be finished, prob a case that when we get to the end we will have to start again, like painting the 4th bridge.:rotfl:

latecomer

Good news in that case:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7250560.stm

PS its the Forth bridge

I'm going to head home and hopefully find a shed somewhere up the side of the house....provided its been delivered and they've followed the instructions!