First-time house renovation

Shimmyhill

TomsMom wrote: »

Okey Dokey Latecomer This is what my son suggests.

If your floor is concrete - prime with Bal Prime APD diluted 50/50. Do not PVA. Then use Rapid Set adhesive. Can walk on it in 3-5 hours.

If your floor is wood - fix ply, prime with Bal Prime APD neat. Use a flexible adhesive (don't go for a cheapy, you get what you pay for). Can walk on it in 4-6 hours. Again, do not use PVA.

As far as being without a toilet for a while - same suggestion as me i.e. bucket or if it's in the daytime maybe your neighbours would let you use theirs.

Hope that helps. Must dash.

Sorry to jump in but i must ask !!!

Why does he say to not use PVA, i thought it was the done thing when tiling onto concrete ??

TomsMom

Shimmyhill wrote: »

Sorry to jump in but i must ask !!!

Why does he say to not use PVA, i thought it was the done thing when tiling onto concrete ??

Sorry for the delay Shimmy, I've been out tonight.

OK, have a look at this article which will explain it much better than me.

We have concrete floors downstairs and my son always uses Bal Prime APD to seal concrete floors, diluted 50/50. It's not the cheapest but it's good and it does the job with no problems.

TomsMom

Latecomer - I've just remembered something else my son mentioned. When tiling your bathroom floor, tile completely under where the toilet is going to be then fix your toilet down. That is much easier than trying to cut tiles around the shape of your toilet and will give a much neater job.

andrew-b

Incidentally it's well worth phoning BAL for advice - though their website is quite comprehensive with product guides if i recall which will tell you everything from whether you should prime the floor with anything and how long it will take to dry. When we tiled our kitchen floor we tiled on top of thermoplastic/vinyl floor tiles (some including professional tiler's will say it's not possible - other's like me who've done it without problem will say it is providing the old tiles are well stuck down!). BAL recommended which of their products was most suitable - which in our case was BAL SPF (single part flexible).

Get your BAL adhesive from a local tile shop rather than Topps and you should save a bit of cash. I sent my Dad off to his local tile shop to price match against internet prices when we did the kitchen floor!

Andy

latecomer

Thanks again TM, was planning on doing just that. I didn't fancy trying to cut travertine to shape for a toilet

Andy - we have looked at some of the ceramic copies of travertine but didn't see any that we really liked. And if we just do the floor its going to cost a huge amount as its not a big area. That said I'll definitely go and have a look. We're also going to have a look at wickes to see what they have.

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

We're also going to have a look at wickes to see what they have.

If you do see anything in Wickes that you want, you should be able to pick up their Wickes Direct catalogue, issue 4 is out at the moment and prices are valid until 3 March. In there, at the back, is the info about 15% off your first purchase. Code is CAT09 and anyone can use it. You can order on the phone or internet to use that code. Delivery is free over £45. Good idea to have tiles delivered unless you have a van which can take the load as a normal car can't.

latecomer

I'd noted that from either earlier in this thread or another thread. thanks for the reminder though

ukmaggie45

andrew-b wrote: »

It's done!!



The "knee-cap" section of the "leg" wasn't intentional - just the floor broke out that way!

Ha ha! Love the leg shape complete with knobbly knee!

Golly, you've had a job doing that haven't you! Hope you're not too sore following your efforts, and that the drain problem isn't too difficult to fix. Prob will find out when I get a bit further on - am currently trying to catch up on this thread, and you all have been so busy!

I might even join in soon, as it's possible we'll be seeing some of the money from my parents' estates in the not too distant future, and we'll be doing some renovating of our own!

It's not quite a first time house renovation, as we've been here for 35 years (yikes!) but although we did a bit over the first few years (wall down for a through lounge, walls down to make a single room for kitchen/dining room, rewire, double glazing, central heating) we haven't touched a thing for years. Oops, forgot the bathroom - we did that about 3/4 years ago, and now we have a bathroom I can bear to be in - practically had to shut my eyes to go into it before - not fond of flesh pink, and that was the colour of the suite! :eek:

So might begin doing a few "before" photos as will be looking for ideas for most of the rooms, and I can't think of a better place to go than here! :A

Maggie

jamtart6

welcome welcome maggie! i have loved taking our before and after shots, very satisfying! (we're very much in the middle at the moment, with no real obvious progress e.g. heating which can't be seen, so pics have been great).


Well, we have a brand spanking new fusebox as fitted this morning for the princely sum of £35. Next electrical job is an alarm, have posted on the main board too, but does anyone have experience of wired or wireless burglar alarms pros/cons and also cost? I have no rough idea at all!

My OH has taken the fire out and almost finishing the last bit of wallpaper stripping.
Lots of jobs to be done tomorrow. Just had a look at the rough calculations of how much everything will cost and nearly had a heart attack. The old saying "you never have money once you have a house" is SO true!!

Josepina

Hi everyone, I find it really entertaining reading about the work everyone is doing! Our building work is due to start very soon, builders arriving to set up Mon then hopefully get going on the 9th! EEEK I'm so nervous we been planning this for about 9 months now!!
Anyway we're having an extension and building over the garage (bit complicated to explain) then having Kitchen Diner knocked into 1 big room. They reckon it will take about 3 months.
As the garage needs empying we've bought a shed which OH put up yesterday and today we spent sorting out garage and craming stuff in it.
Well I finally feel like we made a start so thats good!
We also made a blog today although haven't put anything on it yet! http://olwaysmoanin.blogspot.com