First-time house renovation

andrew-b

Wow that's a good piece of useful software! For those who haven't tried it, as well as doing your thermal loss calculation quickly and easily, it helps you find which Stelrad radiator are suitable. My own calculations were in the right ballpark already but the software did it much quicker than i did and saved paper.

Are the output ratings (BTUs/Watts) for the wickes radiators based on the same operating temperatures as the stelrad calculator or would i need to make adjustments?

Andy

andrew-b

Jamtart, have a look at towel rails made by Abacus as i have one sat here waiting to be fitted in our bathroom and it comes with a 10 year guarantee and looks to be good quality. They are quite high output for their size compared with others i looked at. If you get a white one they give out more heat than the equivalent chrome one ..though they might not look as nice you wont be polishing it forever! Got mine from homesupply.co.uk . Manufacturer's website is at http://www.abacusdirectltd.com.

Don't get a towel rail from Screwfix though. I got one from there and sent it back. When i unwrapped it i noticed it was rusted inside already. Also the brackets supplied are completely useless for a curved towel rail (they would be ok for the flat ones but with the curved rail the bracket wouldn't sit flush on the wall )- i saw someone on diynot forums reported the same problem.

Andy

latecomer

We're also looking for a towel rail/radiator but it needs to be able to heat the room too. I very nearly bought some on Screwfix until I saw they were 150W and hence would only be suitable for warming towels.

We found one that we liked in a showroom but at £800 it was a bit steep (think there was 30% off but it finished that day). I'm trying to find something similar online and this i might be a contender:

http://www.radsnrails.co.uk/stainless-steel-ladder-radiator-towel-rail-1800mm-high-500mm-wide-p-565.html

Would also need to see what their valves look like before ordering.

Big plans for the weekend including doing the bathroom ceiling and hopefully the floor and joist repair too. Need to see how things go though.

Still haven't decided whether to overboard or replace the existing ceiling yet so I need to make my mind up fairly soon

lisal0u

Hi Everyone!

TomsMom - Its looking amazing! I cant wait to see the final pics, I'll also be a bit sad that there wont be anymore updates to watch out for though!

Canucklehead - We bought a towel radiator that said the output was 1500 BTU's for our bathroom that is 1.8 x 1.8m. When the plumber installed it he said it would definately not output 1500. He explained that towel radiators are not regulated like radiators so they can put whatever ratings they like. He said that my radiator might output 1500 if the boiler was pumping out boiling 100 degree water! We decided to put in underfloor heating to make sure it will be warm enough but I wish I'd known before that that was the case!

Meter Plus are coming back today to connect my consumer unit to the meter. The managing directors PA called again yesterday to say that he had been in touch with Meter Plus to confirm the appointment. SO fingers crossed they will turn up.

Not sure what we will be doing at the house this weekend but there is plenty to do. I'm hoping to get a bit of gardening done aslong as the weather is ok!

I'm so glad its Friday, its been a loooooooong week this week!

TomsMom

lisal0u wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

TomsMom - Its looking amazing! I cant wait to see the final pics, I'll also be a bit sad that there wont be anymore updates to watch out for though!

There'll be a few more yet. Kitchen didn't get finished, there were so many hold ups that the guys didn't have time, they already gave us two extra days and must all be on their next job next Monday. They still have to put a couple of layers of felt on the store room flat roof, there's been rain the last couple of days and today strong winds so someone will be back to do that.

The decorator comes Monday so we've a big clean up to do over the weekend to try and get rid of as much dust and dirt as possible. We made a start on the kitchen this afternoon, the worktops are nice and clean. We'll hopefully make good progress over the weekend so that the decorator can get stuck in.

A question for all of you, see if you know what I'm talking about and can steer me in the right direction.

You might remember we kept one of the alcoves (albeit much reduced in depth) in the hallway as you can see here in the second picture or a bit clearer here (second picture) before it was skimmed. The electricians put wiring in for a light in the top to shine down on a vase or something but didn't get around to bringing what I thought was going to be a spotlight, not sure if it's possible to sink one in or we need a surface mounted one. Well, now the electricians have finished and we're not paying for them to come back 60 miles, we need to find a switched light to go in the top of this alcove. Any suggestions? I was thinking of one of those under cupboard lights you have in the kitchen but haven't seen a switched one. Does anyone know of anything suitable?

andrew-b

How about a "picture light"...here's some for you here to start you off - i noticed a pull cord on at least one:

http://www.lights4living.com/category/picture-lights/36/0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0/1 . All our bathroom lighting and lounge lighting came from them. We had a few problems that they bent over backwards to resolve ...one missing bulb and i broke a glass panel on a wall light in the lounge by overtightening a screw that they replaced at cost price.

Andy

andrew-b

Also look at their single spotlights http://www.lights4living.com/category/single-spotlights/76/0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0/1 as some of them have a switch one them - a bit more affordable too!

Andy

TomsMom

Thanks Andy. The normal picture lights will be too big I think. The spotlights are worth looking at if I can't find a switched cupboard light. That's a useful site, I need an outside light too so will have a good look. Thanks.

michelle183

I purchased manufactured in Germany which comes with a 5 yr guaretee i paid the supplier for the kitchen in full. The supplier has now dissolved his kitchen company and he has not paid the manufacturer for my kitchen even though i paid him. The company i bought the kitchen from did not accept payment my credit card so i used my switch card do the German manufacturers still need to honour their 5 year guarentee to me even though the company did not pass on my payment to them.

i would be grateful for some advice.

jamtart6

i have solved bath-gate! i pointed to the bath in the shop and said "i want that bath without the spa" the woman walked over looked at the barcode and ordered it. the bath turned up wrong as you know. went to b&q yday and they said the shelf edge label was incorrect so didnt correspond to the bath, so when the woman got the barcode it was for a diff bath, so not her fault nor mine so we areblaming whoever put the shelf edge label on. we are able to get a replacement at the same price and I'm going to push them for more discount, they'll be sorry i ever ordered a bath from there chcked that the bath fitted and it did hurrah so no chipping of plaster needed

worked on the garden today in the lovely sunshine. starting to come together nicely!