First-time house renovation

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 2:34PM

@aliasojo - I take it you are not planning on carpeting the stairs? Thats what we did and it looks great with the solid oak ballustrade. We had cheapo stringers (in fact cheapo staircase) and MIL mixed stains to get something that looked similar to the oak and did a good job. Still not the same as having actual oak but then beggars can be choosers etc etc

I can take a couple of pics if you want?

We've got the plumber/general builder here today to finish off the boiler work. And he's just about finished - just got a little work to do on the roof and then he can do the flue gas check. hopefully he's going to fit the controls at the same time. Only bad thing is that means the bill will be coming soon...... just got to hope its as reasonable as last time we used him.

Also OH has spoken to the guy doing MILs ground and block work to see if he might be interested in creating our concrete ramp and he's said he's definitely interested so I'm going to take some video and some pics and take them through with me tomorrow. Hopefully that might be a good and not too expensive solution

aliasojo · 26 November 2010 at 2:36PM

Dont have any bannisters or newels of any kind andy, they got removed ages ago. Staircase itself is not worth tarting up (joiners opinion as well as mine). Replacement is needed.

Not having a good time today, in the middle of emulsioning walls and I'm running out of paint. Just been on the phone and nowhere has anymore, apparently the silk version which is what I have, has been discontinued. Best of it is, I never use silk, it's always matt I use....I didn't even realise this was silk until a short while ago, obviously I've picked it up by mistake and just opened it thinking it was my usual matt. I have a tin of matt here but you cant paint matt on over silk, you run the risk of crazing (been there, never again!). I soooo want to drink alcohol right about now.

aliasojo · 26 November 2010 at 2:37PM

latecomer wrote: »

I can take a couple of pics if you want?

Yes please.

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 2:43PM

What paint is it? We could scour the interweb for you and I'm sure find it somewhere

If its any consolation from where I am sitting (at PC working from home today) I can see a trail of silk paint which FIL used by mistake when going round the sockets and on one (and only one!) side of the coombe ceiling. First time I saw it I thought it was a leak coming through due to the different appearance against the matt

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 2:44PM

aliasojo wrote: »

Yes please.

Will have to be from the mobile as OH has taken camera with her to the MILs. Give me a few mins and I'll see if I can get a good pic or two.

Spicey · 26 November 2010 at 2:46PM

aliasojo - first of all hugs. Oak stairs would be great, but I agree with the others, do they really need replacing or can they be repaired.

Mr S finished the attic last weekend and we moved all the boxes from garage to loft and then put rabbits in garage, which is just as well as winter has set in, though we have not had any snow here yet.
This weekend Mr S says he will finish the little jobs he left in the kitchen (fitting dishwasher and some fiddly joinery).
He says we will have the bathroom finished by xmas as well!:rotfl:

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 3:26PM

aliasojo · 26 November 2010 at 3:51PM

Paint crisis over (Dulux Endurance Natural Calico btw - silk is now discontinued).....just given the walls a coat of Zinnser (thank God for the store cupboard that is my shed!), should be dry in an hour and will recoat with the matt version when dry. Joiner is coming tomorrow, so I guess I'll be up at 5am doing the 2nd coat.

Your stairs look great lc. Would never have thought they were *just* cheapos iyswim. Might go price pine ones now. Like your carpet too, I originally was having carpet top landing and bottom hall with a runner up the stairs but who knows now. Might just go get a few carpet sample books and nail the samples to the treads, lol. I could pretend I was just eccentric.

If you get a minute, can you take a close up of the area where the bannister meets the underneath of the top landing please?

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 3:56PM

The ballustrade is what you notice and it is Burbidge oak. Carpet was a bargain too as its got a minor flaw so the retailer couldn't sell it as new and we bought about 110 m2 of it which helped negotiate more discount. Need to do a little work but will take pics and post up shortly.

latecomer · 26 November 2010 at 4:11PM

Ok took a break to get some refreshments and realised the light was going - also this has reminded me that the plasterer forgot to do the stair side of the handrail so thats something else that needs done. Anyway hope these show what you want - if not let me know and I'l try again