First-time house renovation

TomsMom

aliasojo wrote: »

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

Thanks AJ. Because of where we live there are very few "local" DG places and no conservatory companies. But we do know one guy who does fit DG so it's worth a phone call if his current experiment doesn't work.

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

andrew-b

TomsMom wrote: »

Does Mrs Andy want to know?

She did ..but now not too sure either as we've realised it might not be 100% accurate! It doesn't really make much difference to us either way ..but it's complicated by if it is a girl it will be a carrier of my condition. A carrier daughter wouldn't be affected by the condition but any sons they had would have 50% chance of having my condition and daughters they had would have 50% chance of being carriers. So my condition would skip a generation but could pass to the next...though by then the medical profession might be better setup to treat or in an ideal world cure it. If we have a son it won't have the condition or be a carrier.

Of course there are grandmothers wanting to know which colour wool to buy but it's not upto them! Still i get the feeling we won't have the option of finding out as baby is never cooperative at any of the scans...one this week will be the 5th one so maternity is becoming a second home!

latecomer

@TM - sorry to hear about TD sorry I cant offer any advice on the window sill either - my brain no longer seems to function correctly. Are the longer lengths too expensive?

@andy - if you are not sure you want to know then dont find out. We didn't want to know and although I'm sure it didn't make any difference to the overall experience (we didn't buy anything before the birth at all except for ordering a pram and cot so didn't have to worry abuot colours) it just seemed right to us.

We should hopefully be getting the flue fixed today - the plumber/builder is coming with a flashing kit and I've asked Mrs LC to ask him to photograph whats there already as apparently there is a hole in it. Mrs LC has sent another email to joiner asking for dates when work will be completed. nothing controversial yet .......

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

@TM - sorry to hear about TD sorry I cant offer any advice on the window sill either - my brain no longer seems to function correctly. Are the longer lengths too expensive?

Yes LC, too expensive and wasteful for such a small job. The pillar top is quite a bit less than 1 metre square and then there's a smallish square to cut out of one corner. He started playing with some MDF yesterday and, true to form, it's come to a standstill. We were going to put a small TV in the conservatory and it would probably sit just nicely on this pillar top but ........ no pillar top no TV (I'm not too fussed about having a TV in there, but if he procrastinates any longer he'll miss out on this particular TV which he quite fancies, ball's in his court! God, I'm mean to a sick man!).

If the MDF is successful it butts up against the window sill but it wont match. I'm rapidly getting to the stage where I'm going to say "who cares any more" and for a fussy, picky, pernickity perfectionist that really is throwing in the towel!

I'm sorry to read about your continuing problems LC, what a nightmare you've had with your renovation. Makes me realise we were very lucky with our builders.

latecomer

Yeah its getting a bit long in the tooth now but the house is fanastic and its been worth all the pain. Just wish we could get it finished from a contractors point of view and get back to normality. Got a letter in yesterday advising us that the amendments ot the building warrant that the architect has requested will be £225+vat and take 4 weeks - didn't know anything about that but thinking about it I guess its no surprise and is the price of changing your mind. Mind you the majority of the changes are probably due to changes the builder made rather than us but thats life.

that reminds me that we need to find out whats required to be done in the showerroom upstairs to get it signed off by building control. I know he wants the air admittance valve moved from being buried inside the stud wall but not what the alternative is.
Would rather not finish the showerroom completely unless we have to so we can do it in our own time.

ukmaggie45

TM, sorry to hear TD has relapsed. Sending you both some cyber hugs and cyber chocolate (definitely non-fattening that way! ).

OH rang builder this morning and they were fitting the first bifold door. :j He'd hoped to fit the other this afternoon, but it's chucking it down again, so suspect they'll have to leave it.

We went to the house yesterday evening to meet with Fitted Wardrobe Man. Useful session, and we've decided on pretend oak with portholes on the two central doors, with mirror in the portholes. While real wood would be nicer than plastic we really need something practical and easy to clean. Also picked up the Thermaskirt plan from builder.

Lots more work gone on! Plastering begun downstairs, with formers to make arch in living room in place. Oh, and the old enclosed banister and balustrade has gone from hall and landing. It looks amazing, so much lighter and brighter! Bit scary climbing the stairs with vertigo though! It'll be replaced with tempered glass, looking forward to getting photos when we're less rushed and there's more light.

OH gone to the shops, so if the rain's gone off he might try for some outside photos on his way home. I'm sick of all this grey and damp! Hope it's dry tomorrow.

Shower room downstairs is proving a bit of a headache design wise. It's 2.7 metres long and 90cm wide. So we've got a 90cm square shower tray on order, glass shower door, small vanity basin unit, and toilet crammed into it. Then we realised there's no heat in there. And not really much space to put a radiator in, but think may have to go for heated towel rail raised up the wall beside the loo. Plus we want to put in some glass mosaic tiles as accent, most of tiles will be plain white (but possible large - 60x30cm).

Can't remember if I said or not, the sun tubes on the landing are all finished off now, and looking great. They bring a surprising amount of light in, especially when the sun's shining.

We should really be looking at light fittings and carpets, but I've been sleeping really badly recently. Yesterday was awake from 1am through till the end of "You're Fired", so unsurprisingly I'm feeling a bit droopy today. So window shopping online instead of going to visit the shops. Hopefully will be more together tomorrow and up to some shopping after meeting with builder again.

Bibbitybob

Afternoon all,

I've been lurking for a while on this thread, I love reading everyone's updates.

We bought our house early August and the entire place is in need of renovation. Luckily my OH and my Dad are both incredibly handy and an do most things which has and is going to save us a bomb.

We've almost finished the bathroom, just a few finishing touches to do but we've ended up working on the kitchen diner instead. We've knocked a wall out to make the downstairs rooms open plan - an L shaped kitchen diner and living room. We've spent the weekend with a great big hole in our kitchen wall where we removed a window and replaced it with French doors, with one side in need of bricking up. The kitchen has been delivered rigid so we've got a room full of cardboard covered units to work around. I've been posting progress on my homepage if anyone fancies taking a look.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets frustrated at times? We're living here through it all and I'm so tired of being cold (new boiler needed before can use CH), everything being covered in brick dust (not at a point I can deep clean again yet) and not being able to prepare food as we have no worktop. I keep spending evenings at my parent's so I can get warm and eat proper food (and for their company, of course!!), it's all getting so wearing but I know it'll be worth it in the end.

ukmaggie45

Welcome to the thread Bibbitybob, just read the first couple of entries in your blog, will be back in a moment to catch up properly! Really looking forward to reading all about it all. :beer:

Just uploaded the pics of the sun tubes so thought I'd come back and post the best one. OK, it's not a great pic, but the light is difficult to work with at this time of year.


Sun tubes finished off on landing by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

OH has just come back from House, and the diner bifold is in, other will go in tomorrow (weather permitting). Scaffold is down. Will pop back with pics if I can later.

aliasojo

Bibbitybob wrote: »

Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets frustrated at times? We're living here through it all and I'm so tired of being cold (new boiler needed before can use CH), everything being covered in brick dust (not at a point I can deep clean again yet) and not being able to prepare food as we have no worktop. I keep spending evenings at my parent's so I can get warm and eat proper food (and for their company, of course!!), it's all getting so wearing but I know it'll be worth it in the end.

Some friendly advice meant well........dont let the renovations take over your life. It is very frustrating sometimes. Try to leave some time free every now and then, simply so you can remember how to have a life.

Our house stuff has been going on for so long and has been all we've lived, eaten and slept, for as long as I can remember. The stress and the hassle has finally taken it's toll and it's broken my relationship with my OH. I would cheefully go back to grubby carpet and chipped paintwork if I could only turn back the clock. Try to keep everything in perspective and dont let house stuff overtake you. x

andrew-b

Wise words..but sorry to hear about your relationship with your OH aliasojo and hope you can patch things up if it's not too late. Seems we have it all in this thread ..good and bad!