First-time house renovation

ukmaggie45

Gosh,well, things moving on apace when comes to ideas... As usual I've done a complete change of plan on the tile stuff.

Went to house this afternoon, the render painting is coming on fast. :j


Back of house render gets painted by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

We think we might have chosen stuff for the shower room, done a complete about turn, think maybe white tiles with coloured glass mosaic inserts, and now we're thinking black vinyl on the floor - well, with silver splodges.

Tomorrow we might go back to carpet shop to begin looking... We need to speak to builder about when he needs the vinyl fitting in bathroom etc.

Too tired to write more tonight, sorry!

Mags

latecomer

Wow what a difference. Its amazing the difference it makes seeing it painted. We felt the same about ours once the pebble-dash went on (and our neighbours all commented on it too).

Are you planning on having carpets - if so make sure you price up underlay and things online first as its a fraction of the price of most retailers.


On our project - I watched the weather forecast which said it was going to sunny spells both days and after a very long lie yesterday - we all fell back asleep and woke up around 11am :eek:

I went out and started on the drains. Cleared out underneath the chamber and then built a frame to house the concrete base. Mixed up some concrete and then shovelled it in. then mixed some more as I'd not done enough. Finally mixed a 3rd lot as there was still alittle bit more required! :rotfl:

Then started building up around the pipes so I could put the pea gravel round the pipes. Problem was that I'd dug so much of the earth out that it would have take about 4 tonnes of gravel to cover the pipes without doing this. Mind you it was a good way to get rid of the bricks and stones that I'd dug out in the first place. And then covered the pipes with gravel and just started the backfilling with earth when the rugby started - wished I'd kept digging TBH

After the rugby got the rest of the wall paper off the dining room walls - just did it dry with a scraper so still there is some of the backing to get off but it just takes a little wipe with a wet sponge and then it comes off nice and easy. Hopefully will get that done one night this week.

Today didn't do much until later on. One job that really needed done was moving the drain !!!! for the central heating system as its currently just above the steps that are going to be rebuilt and would be encased in concrete if I didn't
Should have been a simple job but couldn't find what I was looking for on the screwfix site ( I was looking for drain valve rather than drain c0ck). The ones on teh Screwfix site all have a straight pipe coming out the back which is obviously meant for a coupling fix onto. Couldn't figure out how to connect it to the pipe without having to have a straight coupling on the outside of the wall which would leave it sticking out about 4 inches from the wall. Anyway decided to just go and get them and figure it out afterwards. Turns out the one I'd picked was out of stock so looked up the paper catalogue and found that they did a threaded one - ideal or so I thought. Turns out it was a half inch rather than 15mm so asn't any good - until I came across a wall plate elbow which I'd bought when doing the shower and it was a perfect match for the female end and it also meant I could fix it on side of the wall in the recess. Everyones a winner

Once I started the job it didn't take that long at all - in comparison to most things I do which take forever Had to go round and turn off all the radiators and stop valves (taking careful note of the number of turns given that the system was just balanced this week!). Was brave and used the push fit connections and plastic pipe and had the job done and heating back on within 1.5 hours.

Still no word back from the builder so I'll get OH to phone him tomorrow. I suspect he's probably upset at being reminded that we know he let the roofer do less than was quoted for but thats his problem. I'm going to give him one last chance to get the stuff done and then tell him that the alternative is we get someone else to do it and sent him the bill for any shortfall from the remaining balance.

edit: sorry wasn't meant to be a novel

TomsMom

Hello peeps, I'm still around! I've got a quick question and thought I'd ask you knowlegeable lot before I threw it open to the board in general.

We want a piece of 22mm white laminate window board (the sort used for window sills in conservatories but hopefully wider than normal window sill width) but only need a small piece, maybe 1 metre length. I've only managed to find it sold in long lengths such as 3 metres or 5 metres. Does anyone know if there is anywhere you can get shorter lengths? Local suppliers only do the long lengths, I was wondering if there was anywhere online that maybe would supply shorter lengths.

It's needed for a top for a low pillar which butts up to the window sill on the dwarf wall, it looks like where a wall was knocked out when the conservtory was added. Previous owner tiled, very badly as usual, over it so now the tiles are off it's just bare concrete/cement stuff.

The conservatory is still waiting to be finished, floor levelling then some floor covering, a couple of damp spots sorting where the paint has bubbled. We need to get this window board job done fairly quickly as TomsDad has relapsed and has to start radiotherapy in two weeks' time so he wants to get this job out of the way before he becomes too ill again.

andrew-b

TomsMom, Wickes MDF windowboard (Edit for link: http://www.wickes.co.uk/MDF-Window-Board/invt/120515 ) . I think the minimum length is 1.5metres...which is what i used for our kitchen and bathroom windowsill.

Really very sorry to hear of TD's relapse.. everything crossed for him to fight his way through it ..send him our best wishes and keep us posted.

TomsMom

Thanks for that Andy. OH has had a look and measured where it has to go. The pillar top is like a square but will need a bit cut out. If he could get a piece big enough to do it in one and cut the bit out it would need to be 22mm x 420mm. If he did a join on a narrower piece it would need to be 22mm x 260mm so unfortunately the Wickes one wont do the job.

I'm not sure he'll actually get what he wants. You can probably imagine that finishing off the conservatory has been under discussion for about 18 months now. This is typical TD, leaves everything to the last minute, why do a job today when you can leave it for a few months! Sorry, I shouldn't moan in the circumstances.

He's going to play around with some MDF sheet he has lying around, he says if it doesn't work he'll hang his head in shame!

Thanks for looking, I really appreciate it.

andrew-b

I'd piece together a couple of pieces..i knows it's not ideal but a bit of filling/sanding and a few coats of paint you'll never know otherwise.

andrew-b

TomsMom wrote:

This is typical TD, leaves everything to the last minute, why do a job today when you can leave it for a few months!

Sounds strangely familiar....sitting here at laptop...tons of decorating to do ....bet you i'm running around like a headless chicken in March when bubba due! Guess i should get on with it!

We were meant to find out if boy/girl baby last week at 20 week scan but was a bit of an anti-climax when they couldn't tell us. Rescan this week as they didn't get all they wanted but now we're wondering if we really want to know if boy/girl if they can tell this time. If they get it wrong and i paint nursery the wrong colour i'm not going to be very pleased!

aliasojo

TomsMom wrote: »

We want a piece of 22mm white laminate window board (the sort used for window sills in conservatories but hopefully wider than normal window sill width) but only need a small piece, maybe 1 metre length.



We need to get this window board job done fairly quickly as TomsDad has relapsed and has to start radiotherapy in two weeks' time so he wants to get this job out of the way before he becomes too ill again.

Phone round a few local double glazing/conservatory companies. One of them might be kind enough to sell you what you need, they often have 'bits' floating around.

Very sorry to hear of TD's relapse, thoughts with you both. x

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

Sounds strangely familiar....sitting here at laptop...tons of decorating to do ....bet you i'm running around like a headless chicken in March when bubba due! Guess i should get on with it!

We were meant to find out if boy/girl baby last week at 20 week scan but was a bit of an anti-climax when they couldn't tell us. Rescan this week as they didn't get all they wanted but now we're wondering if we really want to know if boy/girl if they can tell this time. If they get it wrong and i paint nursery the wrong colour i'm not going to be very pleased!

I'm not sure I'd want to know either. Scans weren't around when my babies were born, you had to wait and then got your surprise! If I had a family of, say, 4 boys and was desperate for a girl then perhaps I'd want to know, but if it turned out to be another boy there's the risk of mega disappointment.

I hope they get all they want with this week's scan, and that you've made up your mind if you want to know by then. Does Mrs Andy want to know? I can see how nice it would be to paint the right colours and buy accessories suitable for boy or girl but I'm glad I never had to make the decision of whether or not I wanted to know!

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

I'd piece together a couple of pieces..i knows it's not ideal but a bit of filling/sanding and a few coats of paint you'll never know otherwise.

I think that's what he's got in mind. He's going to try and round off the edges too, to match the window sill.