First-time house renovation

TomsMom

TomsMom wrote: »

Ah! We'll have to check if they're nailed or screwed.

Checked with builders - the chipboard floor has been glued and nailed. They said if we're worried to screw along the joists too but that it would be adequate as it is.

I've just tried out some floor tiles in my stocking feet and it's flippin' freezing underfoot - and that's in my centrally heated lounge not over at the house. Now I'm thinking of trying to find some nice sheet vinyl instead, we have that in our kitchen and it's much warmer underfoot that the tiles.

lisal0u

TomsMom wrote: »

Checked with builders - the chipboard floor has been glued and nailed. They said if we're worried to screw along the joists too but that it would be adequate as it is.

I've just tried out some floor tiles in my stocking feet and it's flippin' freezing underfoot - and that's in my centrally heated lounge not over at the house. Now I'm thinking of trying to find some nice sheet vinyl instead, we have that in our kitchen and it's much warmer underfoot that the tiles.

We're putting down tiles in our bathroom but we're putting in underfloor heating too so it will be lovely and warm underfoot! For our bathroom (2m x 2m) it cost £90 for the kit. You can install it yourselves and its really easy but you will need an electrician to hook it up to the mains! Might be worth having a look into if you want tiles! x

KT1985

Had a great day- tiled up the fireplace, and the delivery from Victoria Plumb was fantasitic. Great value, great looking bathroom ware!

Tomorrow is wallpaper stripping day- then I can plaser in the chases left behind by the electricians.

TomsMom

lisal0u wrote: »

We're putting down tiles in our bathroom but we're putting in underfloor heating too so it will be lovely and warm underfoot! For our bathroom (2m x 2m) it cost £90 for the kit. You can install it yourselves and its really easy but you will need an electrician to hook it up to the mains! Might be worth having a look into if you want tiles! x

I've thought about underfloor heating, and our son is trying so hard to get us to have it (he's a tiler and fits bathrooms and kitchens and has also done underfloor heating on some of his jobs). BUT, the en-suite is actually off the loft bedroom which will be the spare/guest room. Plus, the only time I'd really need it on even in the bathroom would be in the middle of the night for my barefoot trips to the loo.

We've decided the free tiles aren't what we really want, shame really as we've had so much extra expense with the building work we could do with cutting down on something else! We don't like to look a gift horse in the mouth but we'd struggle choosing a wall tile if we had those floor tiles so we'd rather have a free choice for the wall.

jamtart6

KT1985 – House is about 25 years old and judging by the rest of it, it hasn’t ever been re-wired. My Dad is going to put in the extra socket but we are going to get a real spark to put a new fusebox in for us. We are currently on a 4 fuse board, which everyone seems to think is unsafe?? No idea at all what it will cost us L Never heard of Victoria plumb but they sound great! Have yougot a pic of your suite?


LisaLou – have got a few piccies, will put up on my blog asap! They look awesome! I also fancy underfloor heating in our new extension – is it expensive?


TomsMom – didn’t mean to worry you over the tiles!

BB1984

Lisa, your blog looks great! I love your big bay windows - that room looks lovely and sunny. KT - have you started a blog yet...?!

I'll wade into the tile debate too - we've got 250x250mm slate tiles on our bathroom floor, most of which is chipboard under (where we had to take up the rotten floorboards). We covered the floor in either 9mm or 11mm (can't remember which) ply, and used a whole box of screws at 6" centres all over. Then we used flexible grout, and it seems to be fine. It's not 100% solid - you can feel a small amount of movement, but that's natural for a timber floor. Haven't had any cracked tiles so far, although granted they've only been down for a few months. And yes they are very cold underfoot!! But I wear slippers the whole time so doesn't bother me.

A few inches of snow here, I nearly slipped over coming down the hill this evening! All looks very pretty, I took a couple of photos of the garden, which looks nice as the rubble etc is covered over...! Still snowing tonight, so I wonder what I'll wake up to tomorrow...?!

BB

TomsMom

[QUOTE=jamtart6;18364383
TomsMom – didn’t mean to worry you over the tiles! [/QUOTE]

No problem Jamtart. It's good to look into these things. I think we're all learning a lot from each other and it saves making mistakes.

When I was discussing it with my son, telling him what the builders had said, he said if we were having the tiles and were really worried he would have put ply down for us on top of the chipboard. He has done this many times when he's tiled bathroom floors with suspended floors (put ply onto floorboards I mean), as BB says he uses flexible adhesive and grout in these cases.

We've been very lucky here in Wales, we had some snow but nowhere near as much as a lot of people. It's all gone now. The builders came back this morning and had to brush the snow off the roof but soon started tiling the roof again, on the dormer side today and if the weather holds they may get it finished tomorrow.

If you check my blog you can see the snow that lay on the roof this morning in the first photo. In the second photo (right hand side) you can see the snow on the mountains in the background. That's part of the Cader Idris range. [Click on the picture to make it big - I discovered that today - then move the bar to the right, the snow blends into the sky at the top. See where they've stuck the broom in the scaffolding tube after they swept the snow :rotfl: ]The third picture shows the hills at the back of us but there's nothing on there. Bet they were froze up there today!

BB1984

Wow, TM! Your builders are superstars - must have been so cold up on that roof today - makes me feel chilly just looking at the pictures!
I'm so jealous of your view, it is just stunning.
BB

lisal0u

jamtart6 wrote: »

KT1985 – House is about 25 years old and judging by the rest of it, it hasn’t ever been re-wired. My Dad is going to put in the extra socket but we are going to get a real spark to put a new fusebox in for us. We are currently on a 4 fuse board, which everyone seems to think is unsafe?? No idea at all what it will cost us L Never heard of Victoria plumb but they sound great! Have yougot a pic of your suite?


LisaLou – have got a few piccies, will put up on my blog asap! They look awesome! I also fancy underfloor heating in our new extension – is it expensive?


TomsMom – didn’t mean to worry you over the tiles!

Hi,

We are putting underfloor heating all downstairs as there isn't room for radiators and also in the bathroom because our towel radiator isn't going to warm the room enough. Downstairs we are having carbon film and cable in the bathroom. The cost of it all including the underlay and 3 thermostats was £1013 including VAT and delivery. That doesn't include the cost of an electrician to hook it up to the mains (luckily my Dad can do that!). I got quotes from 3 companies and all but one was willing to negotiate the price quite a lot. The one that didn't want to budge on price wanted £2500 hahah how do these people stay in business!

Thanks BB, they were one of the reasons I bought the house! I may regret it when I come to dress them though! Got one quote for curtains and it was £600 :eek:

TomsMom - your builders really are brilliant! The ones I had would have a thing or two to learn from yours!

All the snow has nearly gone here now :-( its turned to sleet. I never got chance to build a snowman :-(

jamtart6

thanks lisalou - that doesn't sound too bad at all. I just think it will be warmer in the extension than a radiator