First-time house renovation

latecomer

TomsMom wrote: »

Nothing like having expensive tastes and not enough budget - that's my problem too!

I love the sink, should look fabulous. Hope you find the bath you want at the right price.

Its very unusual for me as I normally for something plain and simple (its the engineer in me ) but the sink just grabbed us both. We dont actually have a budget for the bathroom, just a general budget for the whole house which is something we should probably sort out. Mind you without knowing what building work we will be having its difficult to do a real budget.

I guess its worth spending a little more on the suite and tiles etc to get a look we are really happy with as we're going to be staying here for a while. I dread to think what the taps are going to cost. Need to start looking if we are going to be doing it soon.

Edit: Woohoo just seen that my PC bits have been delivered and as OH is working late I know what I'm going to be doing when I get home

lisal0u

andrew-b wrote: »

The infamous shower waste problem is rearing it's ugly head again today! The old waste is gone completely now but i have to try and work out this afternoon how to make a hole below floor level through 11inch cavity wall - with severely limited outside access as it exits into the drain gully! Time to dig out the cold chisel and club hammer...
Andy

Hi Andy,

We've been cutting holes through our outside wall using this (one for toilet waste, one for bathroom extractor and one for kitchen extractor): https://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9807069&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=diamond+drill&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1235391414388&isSearch=true

They aren't cheap so you could look at hiring one. I got a few quotes for hire and it was around £35.

BB - I also like your 3rd choice of door, its similar to the ones we've used in our sliding doors and they do look lovely and let lots of light in!

TomsMom - Sorry I can't help with your curtain dilema, I've started looking at curtains for our two big bay windows and I think its going to be a nightmare. Especially as the windows meet the ceiling and the ceiling is plasterboarded eek! I agree with you about how costs all mount up! Its quite frightening sometimes! I've been keeping a spreadsheet of what we have spent but I don't like looking at it hahaha

latecomer - the sink is lovely, I was sucked in by modern design for our bathroom. I'm glad we chose it though as it does look lovely! Have you had a look at bathstore? Their Euro range is quite modern but wont cost you £3000! We were also looking for travertine for our bathroom but we wanted big tiles and they would have been too heavy for the plasterboard even! In the end we went for porcelain ones that look like travertine.

Been at the house all weekend but still not managed to get the electrics finished. Partly my fault as we had a change of plan. We decided to knock the wall out under the stairs and have it open plan. It does make a big difference to the hall, but this did mean I wanted an extra socket under there. So Dad had to mess about with the ring main. We are also having to dig the floor out under the stairs as it has no DPM and extend the floorboards, another little job that we wern't expecting!

The plasterers finished boarding the hall and landing and will be skiming it this week.

Im hoping to have a day off this week with Dad so that we can finally finish the electrics and then the plasteres can get the kitchen finished. When thats all done we can get the floor down and skiritng, archtrives and doors then it might feel like a home!

Also got to buy the kitchen this week as Ikea's 10% off offer ends on the 1st March. Still hoping to be in by the end of March but Im not holding my breath!

x

jamtart6

thanks for the advice re: bathrooms. I have spoken to my OH and he said "do what you like" (dangerous!) so I am going to have another look round this week, and hopefully find something I like that will fit our bathroom and we can cancel the B&Q one...as we've been waiting 8 weeks they can't really say no!

latecomer

lisal0u wrote: »

We've been cutting holes through our outside wall using this (one for toilet waste, one for bathroom extractor and one for kitchen extractor): https://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9807069&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=diamond+drill&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1235391414388&isSearch=true

Did you have any trouble with cutting the hole? I have borrowed one off someone at work to fit an extractor in the bathroom but he said I really should use a drill with a clutch on it as they tend to stick?

We did look at bathstore but didn't see anything we liked. Thanks for the idea though. Hopefully the in-laws will locate a showroom with one of the baths we want to view.

lisal0u

latecomer wrote: »

Did you have any trouble with cutting the hole? I have borrowed one off someone at work to fit an extractor in the bathroom but he said I really should use a drill with a clutch on it as they tend to stick?
quote]

My Dad has used it with a pretty hefty drill and it seemed ok. It was cutting into plasterboard first that seemed to give it a bit of grip before it got to the brick. It made a lovely neat hole! Good luck with it!

latecomer

I've been putting it off for months but I should really just get on with it. We've got render on the outside so I'm slightly concerned abuot that but the plans it to go most of the way through and then use the pilot drill to break through and guide it back in from the outside.

Did you have to deal with render on the outside? If so what did you do?

lisal0u

No we didn't have render to deal with. It did cut a very neat hole though and didn't damage the outside bricks. It left behind a perfect round core of brick. I imagine if you do it like you have said and do half inside and then start from the outside I don't see why it would damage the render, unless it is very brittle.

latecomer

Its an old house and we've been advised that the render isn't great, hence why I'm going to have to be careful! I think its a job for next weekend

Shimmyhill

I need to drill 2 holes like that - one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. My bungalow is bricks for both sides - would that b&q drill bit do the job do you think ?

Also, and this is something i am sure i should know, how do you know if your drill has a clutch ?

Utter bonus over the weekend, Focus sell our exact kitchen !!! Just diff handles on the doors but the doors are identicle - can now get the plinth and all the finishing bits we need

lisal0u

Shimmyhill wrote: »

I need to drill 2 holes like that - one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. My bungalow is bricks for both sides - would that b&q drill bit do the job do you think ?

Also, and this is something i am sure i should know, how do you know if your drill has a clutch ?

Utter bonus over the weekend, Focus sell our exact kitchen !!! Just diff handles on the doors but the doors are identicle - can now get the plinth and all the finishing bits we need

Hi Shimmyhill,

Yes that drill bit will cut through 2 layers of brick as thats what we have too! It might be worth looking at hiring as you usually hire the full kit (drill and drill bit) if you only want it for a day it would only cost around £40, worth bartering too, I managed to get them down by about £20! We only bought one as my Dad will use it for other jobs!

Not sure how you tell if a drill has a clutch. I'll ask my Dad!