First-time house renovation

latecomer

OH had already suggested I go out and make a snowman but its too deep for that now. We took the pram out and went to the doctors to weigh LLC but whereas last night the snow in the centre of the road was hard and compacted, today its alll slushy and horrible. Glad OH didn't try it by herself. There was apparently a little plough trying to clear the end of the road but all it did was churn things up and make it worse and it got stuck twice too

@TM - sorry to hear that TDs treatment is going to go beyond christmas, I'm sure that will just add to the stress. Regarding the heating, if its any consolation we've had ours on 24/7 since LLC arrived apart from when its being worked on

@andy - glad you got to speak to someone who with a brain. Folk can be so jumped up sometimes and could do with being taken down a peg or two. Bet the dog is loving the snow - we've been watching the dogs in the park opposite going loopy in the fresh snow.

latecomer

I reckon the average depth in our back garden is approx 2-2.5 feet with deeper drifts

aliasojo

What happened to the pics andy? I cant see them.

Not had a great day today, joiner finally turned up at nearly noon and spent 4 hours fixing a small bit of floor that was squeaking and had to be cut out and replaced, and he laid the plastic sheeting and the softboard underlay for the laminate....and that was it. I could have done that myself and let him get on with other things but we would both have to have been in the same space and it wouldn't have worked. He's never been speedy gonzales but today was slow even by his standards. I'm trying to not think about it too much because I honestly dont have any alternatives right now. He's a nice bloke and I like the standard of his work, I just dont know how much longer I can keep paying him. I really need this all sorted.

One of my Howdens Dordogne doors has split quite badly along the grain so no doubt I'll have to fight with them to get a replacement. And the house is freezing because half the downstairs rads are off. This is me today > . Actually, that's me most days tbh.

TM...sorry to hear TD is not having a great time, I have oodles of sympathy and kind thoughts for you both. ('Oodles' is a flipping stupid word really isn't it?!)

Hope everyone isn't too 'snowed under' one way or the other.

latecomer

Oodles is a fantastic word - very underused.

Sorry to hear your still having trouble aliasojo - why not just talk to him and just tell him that you need it done quickly so you can get the heating back on. Hopefully howdens will be ok about the door and just replace it.

I spent about an hour clearing round my car again as OH wanted to try and get out to the shops. The road is better and with some extra clearing at our section we got the car out. Then started moving boxes from the back room in the hope of clearing it but that was rudely interrupted by LLC who wanted some attention. Not got a huge amount more to do and OH went to screwfix while she was out and got some coaxial cable so I can put in the TV point in the back room. They were out of stock of the splitter but I'll just disconnect the front room until I can get one. Mind you its not going to happen tonight - but will make a concerted effort to get it done tomorrow.

typeractive

Hi all,

I popped over to my house today to do a few bits n bobs - round 2 of insulating the attic and throwing in some vapour control before finally being able to plasterboard the attic, which should mean I'll be able to get that room skimmed.

Anyway, when I got there I got concerns about my gutters as the icicles were massive. Got into my bathroom which I just plasterboarded last week or so, to find a wall saturated along with my new windows and their frames. I reckon the gutters have frozen up and the water has got under the slates at the eaves and came through the ceiling.

Very frustrating as I'll need to get this fixed, and rplace the plasterboard and insulation I shoved in. I've just tried to put a polythene layer over the inner wooden frames for the moment to try and protect from the water. I think I'm going to get some new guttering put up and some eaves guards that I've heard are pretty good for stuff like this.

Funnily enough I was talking to my builder mate and he was saying from the start of the snow there would be loads of gutters to come down and be replaced - I bloomin knew mine would end up being one of them! Grrr...on the plus side, I guess it's just aswell I hadn't had it all skimmed and finished with my new bathroom suite installed.

Hope the weather isn't affecting everyone with their reno's!

Cheers

latecomer

Thats not so good although I'm surprised you've got that much water through as everyone has the same problem with snow at the moment and I wouldn't say it was normal to get a saturated wall, perhaps the outer skin but not the inner one. I'd have a look or get someone to look just to make sure there isn't something else going on.

typeractive

latecomer wrote: »

Thats not so good although I'm surprised you've got that much water through as everyone has the same problem with snow at the moment and I wouldn't say it was normal to get a saturated wall, perhaps the outer skin but not the inner one. I'd have a look or get someone to look just to make sure there isn't something else going on.

Could be some broken / moved slates also I guess. Either way it's getting in and getting wet!!!

andrew-b

aliasojo wrote: »

What happened to the pics andy? I cant see them.

Sorry your too late the snow has all melted here now! :rotfl:

Going to wind down my posting in the DIY forum for various reasons and keep my bar stool in 1st-time-house-renovators...near the coffee-machine and bar :beer: but out of shot of the peanut gallery!

With Christmas drawing closer and deadlines looming it's time to concentrate my efforts on completing the decorating once and for all as it's not going to get done on it's own..list making underway to divide and conquer.

As Latecomer has been highlighting, i won't have much time when baby arrives!

typeractive

andrew-b wrote: »

i won't have much time when baby arrives!

Hey congrats Andrew! All the best with the reno and the bambino!

:j:j

ukmaggie45

Canucklehead wrote: »

fantastic photos of your rebuild...gives folks an excellent idea of how to run a renovation. Hope the thaw comes soon so we can see the progression and the finished product.

Thanks Canucklehead. :beer: Builder managed to source some hardcore on Friday. OH went and had meeting with him at the house, but they ended up sitting in his van as it was dark and they couldn't find the temporary lighting! :rotfl: Plumber will be coming in to install bathroom this week, and then it'll be the tiler I guess. Think they'll have to leave the shower room until the ground floor is fully relaid as it's all going to be skimmed in asphalt.

Some of the stuff for the fitted wardrobe is stashed in the main bedroom, and Wardrobe Man is installing it on Monday. We need to think about maybe built in stuff in the small part of the room, but we'll leave that till the new year now I think.


More fitted wardrobe parts by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

We still haven't managed to get to the carpet place, but at least we've chosen most of the vinyl we need, though am having second thoughts about the one for the bathroom! (was going to be the same as in the kitchen)