First-time house renovation

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

You have all been busy busy! I haven't been overly constructive as I've been poorly since Wednesday :-( Feeling better now though! Dad and Stuart have been busy enough for me though!

Almost almost finished the electrics, started wiring up the consumer unit and the electricity company are coming on Friday to hook it up to the meter.

The hall is plastered but I haven't taken any piccys yet, it does make a lovely big difference though!

Stuart has started stripping the bannister and has tiled the bathroom floor and also dug down to the foundations under the stairs so that we can build new posts to rest the new joist on so that we can extend the floorboards. Good job we decided to open it up under the stairs as there was no damp proof membrane and it has rotted the floorboards and one of the joists!

Hi Josepina I've added your blog to my favourites. I can't become a follower of your blog for some reason! Good luck with your renovation! I look forward to seeing it progress!

Jamtart I bought a wireless alarm for £120 (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-5618.aspx) but I bought it from Ebay. Its easy to fit because its wireless. You kust have to find somewhere to plug the alarm panel in!

I will do some blog catching up later this evening after we have been and grouted the tiles!

Bye for now
Lisa

latecomer

We spent the weekend looking at bathrooms again. think we have decided on the bath but still cant quite decide on the taps. I suspect we will settle on a fairly plain monobloc as we both quite like that style. Also saw a combined shower/bath mixer which we quite liked so we are making some progress. In fact I think we are ready to start ordering things. I've been told to email the boss of the local showroom who does Kohler as apparently he'll do a deal on supply only orders. In fact I should probably do that now before I forget!

this is the bath we've decided on:

http://www.clickbathrooms.co.uk/pd-SHWBATH003A.htm

And probably this tap although we still need to make a final decision:

http://www.homesupply.co.uk/bristan_prism_basin_mixer_tap_with_popup_waste=PMBASC.htm

Last night I decided I was going to start the work for installing the extractor fan in the bathroom. first job was to cut out the hole for the isolator switch box, decided on the position and then got stuck in. Plaster was easy and then the real work started. Drilled into the brick to what I thought the required depth (after measuring!) and then knocked it out with hammer and bolster. Tried it out for size and its not even close, typical! Got the drill going again followed by some more general knocking out and then with some final modifications I manage to get it to the right size. needed a tiny bit of packing in one corner to get it level but apart from that its looking good.

Then drilled up behind the cornice but not too far as I haven't checked above yet. Tried poking the end of the wire up but its geting stuck on something. Need to go up into the loft to check that there are no wires in the area and then try and break through. Hoping I haven't come up under a beam as as they run perpendicular to the wall its being mounted on I should be ok. Mind you with my luck I'll be smack bang in the middle of one :rotfl:

I wont be able to finish the job this week anyway as I've had to bring the borrowed core drill back in to work as the owner needs it for a job. I can get everything else done then it wont be a huge job to get it finished and now I've started I've got the momentum to get it done

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

this is the bath we've decided on:

http://www.clickbathrooms.co.uk/pd-SHWBATH003A.htm

And probably this tap although we still need to make a final decision:

http://www.homesupply.co.uk/bristan_prism_basin_mixer_tap_with_popup_waste=PMBASC.htm

Nice bath Latecomer. The taps are very similar to the ones we've got for the downstairs WC handbasin (we've got a mini version as it's just a small cloakroom basin).

Hoping I haven't come up under a beam as as they run perpendicular to the wall its being mounted on I should be ok. Mind you with my luck I'll be smack bang in the middle of one

Good luck, hope you don't have any problems.

latecomer

Thanks TM. We've looked at a lot of baths and decided we didn't like ones with a profiled side panel. This one also has a good size screen as quite a few seem too short for the curve which means OH would probably flood the floor even more than usual :rotfl:

Josepina

Hi everyone! I had a big shock today, I was expecting the builders to start dropping off a few tools and before I knew it they were digging up my drive!!! I'm pleased and excited but still in a total state of shock cause I didn't think anything was starting til next week.
Good news is they seem like a nice bunch and they've bought their own microwave and kettle, bad news is no more lie-ins for me

I'm going to start to put a few pics on blog, Lisalou - I don't know why my followers bit isn't working, I've never had a blog before anyone here know or understand it?
Latecomer -I really like the bath.
Is it too early for a glass of wine? I felt like I needed 1 at 10am !!

latecomer

Its never too early for a glass of wine

Glad to hear the builders have turned up and started too. Hope when the time comes ours are that reliable.

TomsMom

Josepina wrote: »

Hi everyone! I had a big shock today, I was expecting the builders to start dropping off a few tools and before I knew it they were digging up my drive!!! I'm pleased and excited but still in a total state of shock cause I didn't think anything was starting til next week.

That's a nice surprise - better than not turning up when they were supposed to!

Good news is they seem like a nice bunch and they've bought their own microwave and kettle, bad news is no more lie-ins for me

Now you wont feel obliged to keep making them tea all day long. I'm sure they'll appreciate some biscuits though .

I don't know why my followers bit isn't working, I've never had a blog before anyone here know or understand it?

Here you go Josepina, have a read through that and you should be able to add the Follower widget.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing about progress.

latecomer

Now TM and co, make sure you are all sitting down........ I've got a surprise for you:

http://the2yearproject.blogspot.com/

Not much content but we all have to start somewhere. I'll be trying to add stuff to it as I go. I cant seem to find lots of the pictures I took but that hopefully they are on the backup image of the old hardrive so I'll have a look and see what I can find. Failing that it might have to be a couple of posts for the past year and then onto current stuff.

Feel free to tell me if I've screwed anything up on the blog.

Dont say I'm not good to you

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

Now TM and co, make sure you are all sitting down........ I've got a surprise for you:

http://the2yearproject.blogspot.com/

Not much content but we all have to start somewhere. I'll be trying to add stuff to it as I go. I cant seem to find lots of the pictures I took but that hopefully they are on the backup image of the old hardrive so I'll have a look and see what I can find. Failing that it might have to be a couple of posts for the past year and then onto current stuff.

Feel free to tell me if I've screwed anything up on the blog.

Dont say I'm not good to you

WOO HOO!!! :T

I've just been and had a read and become your first follower :j

Don't envy you the wasps' nest. I certainly wouldn't have been brave enough to go anywhere near that!

By the way, I can't see anything that you've screwed up, looks good to me.

latecomer

Thanks TM. Will be trying to get it up to date and then keep it up to date