First-time house renovation

latecomer

We got our heating controls fitted yesterday but guy left it on manual as he doesn't like fancy control units and left it for us to set up. Suits me fine but ended up on the phone to him for about half a hour last night as he explained everything. He does like to chat He also felt the need to justify his costs despite being told by OH that we were happy with the work and approx cost (they'd already discussed it when he was at the house). He's going to get a price for downpipes in both cast iron and replica plastic (possibly aluminium too) but wont be able to do anything until the new year.

Got lots planned for the weekend to try and get ready for Christmas including painting the dining room ceiling and possibly walls, fitting new socket in sitting room, connecting up TV point and decorating christmas tree of course

ukmaggie45

latecomer wrote: »

Got lots planned for the weekend to try and get ready for Christmas including painting the dining room ceiling and possibly walls, fitting new socket in sitting room, connecting up TV point and decorating christmas tree of course

OMG we haven't even got a tree yet. And if we did have one we haven't got space for it. Must get OH to take the new hob over to the house so I can get at the rest of the [STRIKE]junk[/STRIKE] stuff in the front room to sort out. Think we might stow stuff in the wardrobes at the house, must try to reclaim living room floor! :eek:

Good luck with the dining room decorating - here's hoping Little LC has a sleepy time over the weekend!

latecomer

I got tasked with getting a bushy one - so I got a monster one (not quite what I intended!) but its that big I'm going to have to prune round the back to keep it off the good curtains

Also need to have a huge clearup to make space for the masses arriving on/around christmas day too

Edit: LLC has a cold so is very sleepy and not himself at the moment. Am hoping he'll be back to normal over weekend - would rather lose DIY time/sleep etc than have him not well.

ukmaggie45

latecomer wrote: »

I got tasked with getting a bushy one - so I got a monster one (not quite what I intended!) but its that big I'm going to have to prune round the back to keep it off the good curtains

Aaargghhh! :eek: I think I must try and make the effort to go with OH to buy tree - he always buys one that is too big! Sorry you have to prune it for the curtains. Smaller tree next year?

latecomer wrote: »

Also need to have a huge clearup to make space for the masses arriving on/around christmas day too

Oh don't remind me of the masses arriving and the huge clean up needing doing! :eek: Need to try take it a day at a time I think. I'm washing down the tiles in the bathroom slowly, do a vertical line or so every time I visit bathroom (except in the middle of the night). Must get OH to vac the stairs too (DD1 is allergic to dust and stairs are well covered in it).

latecomer wrote: »

Edit: LLC has a cold so is very sleepy and not himself at the moment. Am hoping he'll be back to normal over weekend - would rather lose DIY time/sleep etc than have him not well.

Oh dear, sorry to hear LLC has a cold. And I'm totally with you on losing time and sleep is better than a not well baby. So here's hoping he's a happy bunny and just feels like sleeping a lot in the run up to Christmas!

This time next year you'll prob be trying to "child proof" your house. So enjoy the time you don't need to do that! :beer:

Best wishes to you and your OH and LittleLC and hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

suisidevw

Tree all up here, pics over the weekend!

We have 11" of snow in Cardiff!

ukmaggie45

suisidevw wrote: »

Tree all up here, pics over the weekend!

We have 11" of snow in Cardiff!

Looking forward to tree pictures. :beer: :j

Urm 11" sounds like lots!

No snow here yet. Or none that stuck.

andrew-b

Tree been up here since the 7th..slimline artificial one in the lounge bay. Last year we had a larger artificial one in a corner of the room but now we've relocated desk, filing cabinet, main pc etc there's not so much room plus the old one was looking a bit worse for wear.

Finally wired my smoke alarms into the lighting circuit

Was like this :



Now got this:



Diagrams just show the cable routes. Thick vertical line represents bathroom/kitchen larder wall. Smoke alarms interconnected with 3-core and earth.
2x Ei2100 smoke alarms (multisensor alarms - optical and heat) and a Ei164RC heat alarm in the kitchen. Used the double-pole switch (with neon so it's obvious to us it's not been accidentally turned off) as if you wire it to wiring circuit you have to have a means of isolation for maintenance. Will replace with a lockable switch when i can get hold of one that doesn't cost me a small fortune. Though if the switch is turned off the alarms have rechargeable lithium battery backup that will last upto 6 months.

All works and my ears still hurt.

Problem of the day was that i can no longer get in my shed. I'd left the "weatherproof" padlock undone all day (not sure i'd closed the keyhole cover though!) and when i went to lock it it would click closed so guessed it was frozen. Took it in the shed and sprayed with WD40 which did the trick. Walked out the shed, clicked the padlock shut. Came indoors and about 1 1/2 hours later realised i needed something from the shed. Within that time the padlock had frozen again and key wouldn't go into the keyhole. Pushed the key a bit harder..key went *snap*! Fortunately i managed to extract the broken piece of key and also have a spare key....but of course the WD40 is in the shed!! So Saturday i can't do anything until i've thawed the padlock out to get in. OH won't have time before work to buy another can of WD40. If i snap the spare key i may have to break a window to get in, unlock it and climb in and then remove the bolts securing the padbolt so i can remove it.

aliasojo

andrew-b wrote: »

Problem of the day was that i can no longer get in my shed. I'd left the "weatherproof" padlock undone all day (not sure i'd closed the keyhole cover though!) and when i went to lock it it would click closed so guessed it was frozen. Took it in the shed and sprayed with WD40 which did the trick. Walked out the shed, clicked the padlock shut. Came indoors and about 1 1/2 hours later realised i needed something from the shed. Within that time the padlock had frozen again and key wouldn't go into the keyhole. Pushed the key a bit harder..key went *snap*! Fortunately i managed to extract the broken piece of key and also have a spare key....but of course the WD40 is in the shed!! So Saturday i can't do anything until i've thawed the padlock out to get in. OH won't have time before work to buy another can of WD40. If i snap the spare key i may have to break a window to get in, unlock it and climb in and then remove the bolts securing the padbolt so i can remove it.

Middle name's not 'Frank' is it?

I'm joining you in the skinny tree situation this Xmas. Living room has extra units in it as there's no other place to put them right now so our big tree just wont fit. Warned kids there would be a sharp reduction in presents this year so it's just as well the tree is skinny, it makes the present pile look bigger, lol.

I'm supposed to be varnishing today but I sooo can't be faffed. I would really like a week on a beach in Bermuda with a cold drink, a pile of books and no kids, house or hassles. Where's Jim'll Fix It when you need him?

On the upside, I've just found a metal loo roll holder online that I saw in Edinburgh last weekend at the big Xmas Fair thing they do every year. I meant to go back and buy it but I got caught up and then it went completely out my mind. (Amazing what effect a huge big pretzel can have on you ) It was unusual and German made (had a wee metal man sat on a loo inside an outhouse) so didn't expect to see it again but I found it this morning. Happy days are made of simple things.

Hope you're not all too cold where you are and things are all going the way you want them to. :beer:

andrew-b

sorted..went to shed with wife's hairdryer hooked up to the christmas tree light extension lead - only a few inches of cable to spare. Then i found it had thawed enough already to open with spare key! Need to dry it out properly now.
Only had a sprinkling of snow this morning...but it's coming down hard now (couple of inches in the last hour alone).

ukmaggie45

The house is all cleaned up and left now till the New Year. Will give the concrete time to cure fully before the asphalt is poured. And then it'll be time for the thermaskirt and kitchen fitting.

Here's the heated towel rail in the bathroom.


Heated towel rail by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Here's the shower screen, it opens either way.


Shower screen in bathroom by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Overbath shower by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The ladders are stowed in the living room for now.


living room archway by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

The 2 picture lights have been installed in the living room, builder suggests we may need to get less bright bulbs for them. We'll see once we've decorated.


Lights in the living room by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Might go up tomorrow if the weather's OK so that I can take some photos myself.