First-time house renovation

MadMonkey

Shimmyhill wrote: »

Cavity fillling day is getting closer so expect the weather to get sunny from the 12th onwards

We are having a new boiler fitted tomorrow so i would expect the weather to be very very cold for the next 2 days (whilst we are heating free) and then from Friday there will be a heatwave;)

andrew-b

Wickes doesn't come out too well from those last few posts!

Shimmyhill those plinths were they in the "take away" range ...if so you might be able to get them from wickes order only range (seperate catalogue and seperate website - link on the wickes website). The Canterbury range (which we have) is light oak coloured...you may have to pay a bit more than you hoped but if it matches might be worth it.

TomsMom, the tiles is a pain but at least they are sorting it (sort of thing that puts me off online tile buying - fortunately the one's we want are in B&Q locally (unless they've discontinued them!). As for the damp is it being fixed at the source? Sounds a relatively minor source that i'd hope can at least be patched up (perhaps just needs a lead flashing or something?). I'm not convinced it's a good idea boarding up a damp wall as surely the larger the surface area of wall exposed to the room the quicker it will dry? If it was me i'd want to be sure it's fixed at source, hack all the blown plaster off and get down the hire shop for an industrial sized dehumidifier to try speed up the drying process. I'd want to be sure it's fixed before covering it up - rather than risk a cover up and then having to pull it all down if it didn't work. I know you trust your builders but if necessary get a second opinion - even if just to tell your builder's the best way to deal with it. Hassle i know but i'm sure you'll get it sorted! Hopefully it turns out to be a minor blip and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about later!

Andy

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

As for the damp is it being fixed at the source?

Yes Andy. There's some damage/a crack where the concrete fillet is (where the extension joins the old cottage). The fillet itself is apparently sound so there is to be tube silicone and spray silicone used on the outside. There does seem to be a problem with water ingress with these old stone houses, we've had it in a couple of places in our present place (keeps the local jobbing builders busy!)

Sounds a relatively minor source that i'd hope can at least be patched up (perhaps just needs a lead flashing or something?).

That wouldn't be possible unless the whole of the concrete fillet was removed, and as it is sound there's no point as it would be a big job. They're confident the silicone will work and we know they'll do a better job than the local builders (we don't have a lot of confidence in some of the locals, especially those who use sand from the beach instead of building sand!).

I'm not convinced it's a good idea boarding up a damp wall as surely the larger the surface area of wall exposed to the room the quicker it will dry? If it was me i'd want to be sure it's fixed at source, hack all the blown plaster off

The plaster is coming off and the silicone should stop any further water ingress and the theory is that the provision of the holes and air vent will allow the heat from the radiator to dry out the wall from the inside. If there are any problems they will be back to sort it out.

TomsMom

An update on the damp wall situation.

OH has been and had a chat with the builders today. The wall has been protected for the last 5 weeks by the scaffolding/planks. No new water has been able to get in. It's been drying out and the plaster is apparently crumbly but not wet although what can be seen (on the photo) is evidence of water ingress over time. So, it's better news than was first thought.

Today they've been on the outside of the wall and where the fillet is between the old cottage and the extension has been cleaned out, sealed and the area sprayed with silicone as planned. This should mean no more water ingress.

They will still go ahead with the battening/plasterboard and the holes/air vent behind the radiator to make sure that it does dry out thoroughly.

There should have been a delivery of border tiles and the toilet for the main bathroom today. By mid-afternoon they hadn't arrived and a phone call to the suppliers received the reply "Oh, they're not marked for delivery and I don't know why. I'll check and get back to you." When he rang back he said he's contacting the courier and we will now be getting them on Friday.

Not the best week, must be because we did so well last week :rotfl:

latecomer

good news on the damp TM
also the pattern on the wall after taking the paper off is kinda cool!

Nothing happening with ours at the moment. Still royally pee'd off about the skirting boards. I've got some holes to fill up with plaster behind where the skirting boards will go so might have a go at that tonight as mixing the plaster is quite theraputic.

Might have a go at installing the extractor in the bathroom at the weekend as I've had the core drill (borrowed) for about 3 months now.

lisal0u

Blimey I have missed 2 and a half pages!!

Been on a training course for 2 days then spent the whole day at the house and now I've been called into work :-( So I'm just catching up!

Hi MadMonkey, I've joined your blog so I can keep updated on your progress! Thats my next job to catch up on the blogs I'm following!

Sorry to hear about the tiles TM how very annoying! I hope they sort themselves out and that they arrive on Friday if not sooner! Read your blog from start to finish and youll remember how far you have come! That always cheers me up when I get a bit fed up with it all!

Today I was busy all day but didn't seem to achieve much. Cleared up the rubble from knocking off the last of the plaster. Filled another 7 rubble bags. In doing that I realised that most of the windows hadn't been properly sealed and I could see daylight between the window edge and the brickwork. Bought some expanding foam to fill all the gaps and managed to cover myself in it. Even got it in my hair!! If you ever use it please wear gloves as it really doesn't come off! I look like I've got some weird disease!

Had my Dad wiring again and we are so nearly finished. We should be done at the weekend hooray!

Got to do a bit of brick laying one evening this week as the bricks under the stairs and basically just stacked. There is no mortar between a lot of them! Also got another ceiling to insulate.

I always used to think thank god its the weekend, but not so much now ha ha I work harder at weekends at the minute!

xx

TomsMom

Well, Wickes let us down again. 16 sq metres of tiles were down for delivery today and the 16 sq metres of non-matching tiles (delivered in two drops because they got it wrong :rolleyes: ) collected for return to Wickes.

The courier came to collect the ones to go back. "Have you got 16 boxes of new tiles for me then?" asks OH. "No" was the reply "We have a lot of trouble with Wickes deliveries, they're always getting things wrong and we have to take a lot of stuff back".

OH gets on the phone and reminds Wickes we were due to have the tiles delivered today. Wickes chappy checks on his computer and says they are booked out to us "Leave it with me, I'll check". He rings back and says "Yes, they are definitely booked out to you but we can't find them in the warehouse. We'll have another look but if we can't find them we're having a new delivery next Monday, we could get them out to you by Wednesday or do you want to cancel".

"NO, NO, NO, DON'T CANCEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The builders will need them, they'll be ready to fix them on Tuesday, I want them ASAP."

Wickes chappy promised to ring back later this afternoon to tell us if he found them or if we'd have to wait till next week. Of course, we didn't get a phone call.

I need a "tearing my hair out" smiley!

I suggested to OH that he tells Wickes tomorrow that as we had 34 sq metres of the same tiles delivered a couple of weeks ago for the main bathroom that haven't been used yet (no problems with that delivery by the way!) we could use 16 of them in the en-suite, ask them to pick up the remaining 18 sq metres and then send a new 34 sq metres (matching codes). I thought that was a brilliant solution to the problem but OH says we can't expect anyone to lug 18 boxes down to the van (they can't park right by the house) then lug another 34 metres up to the house. Why not Wickes have c*cked up mightily on this so they should put it right, send two men out to lug the boxes around.

All this because a stupid picker saw, on the original order, 11 doors and 16 boxes of tiles. So he gets it mixed up and picks 11 doors and 11 boxes of tiles. Do people just not bother any more or do you reckon he had a hangover

Well, tomorrow (Friday) should bring the bathroom WC and the border tiles that were supposed to come on Wednesday (not from Wickes). Now I wont hold my breath but I'm really, really hoping that someone up there smiles down on us tomorrow.

There............. I feel much better now I've got that off my chest.

On a different note - the bath, shower cubicle and tray, and the toilet and basin for the en-suite were ordered last week from Diamond Bathrooms who told us they will deliver on Monday. We had a phone call from them yesterday to confirm the delivery will be on Monday - they don't use couriers but deliver themselves. Now that's good customer service (and they're thoroughly nice blokes too, especially the cute one I got talking to in the office who price matched everything when I told him what I'd found them for on the net - and his name is Andy too!)

andrew-b

Not impressed by your wickes experience..i'd have probably cancelled by now and looked elsewhere!

I've been really busy here ...

Wednesday i spent most of the afternoon and evening ripping out the shower cubicle, removing tiles, removing tile adhesive (still about half the shower area to do), removing shower tray, breaking up shower tray (acrylic-capped stone resin which was too heavy /bulky to get to tip in the car).

Then yesterday morning i spent removing the waste pipe for shower and basin (far too complicated route)and filling up the holes through the walls.

Yesterday afternoon i decommissioned the old shower and stripped out the pipework back up into the loft and re-plumbed some of the pipework in the loft ready for new pipework for the new shower valve. I'm not surprised the flow rate on the old shower wasn't very good ..i counted 8 x 90degree elbows in the hot pipe (new one will have about 1!).

Yesterday evening i dug up part of the bathroom floor which was loose/hollow where old radiators pipes were. Glad i rerouted the pipework elsewhere as i found a couple of joins in the pipe under the floor and i suspect in time they could have failed as apart from a sticky piece of paper on top of the pipes they were unprotected.

Today i've got to fill the floor in again. Hopefully by next week the room will be ready to plaster.

Andy

jamtart6

aww TomsMom - so sorry to hear of your Wickes nightmare, hope it sorts itself out today.

We haven't done anything in the house all week need to shake a leg with regards to getting a planner man on board to do the plans to submit to the council!

Wickedkitten

andrew-b wrote: »

Not impressed by your wickes experience..i'd have probably cancelled by now and looked elsewhere!

I've been really busy here ...

Wednesday i spent most of the afternoon and evening ripping out the shower cubicle, removing tiles, removing tile adhesive (still about half the shower area to do), removing shower tray, breaking up shower tray (acrylic-capped stone resin which was too heavy /bulky to get to tip in the car).

Then yesterday morning i spent removing the waste pipe for shower and basin (far too complicated route)and filling up the holes through the walls.

Yesterday afternoon i decommissioned the old shower and stripped out the pipework back up into the loft and re-plumbed some of the pipework in the loft ready for new pipework for the new shower valve. I'm not surprised the flow rate on the old shower wasn't very good ..i counted 8 x 90degree elbows in the hot pipe (new one will have about 1!).

Yesterday evening i dug up part of the bathroom floor which was loose/hollow where old radiators pipes were. Glad i rerouted the pipework elsewhere as i found a couple of joins in the pipe under the floor and i suspect in time they could have failed as apart from a sticky piece of paper on top of the pipes they were unprotected.

Today i've got to fill the floor in again. Hopefully by next week the room will be ready to plaster.

Andy

Wow, you've really been busy :money: