House renovation and garage build
Discussion
We have doors!
Unfortunately no pictures of doors, as it was too dark by the time I got home. It is good to be able to have some privacy on the throne though!
We've now got 8 doors and door frames to fill, sand and paint, so that should keep us going for a while! As the doors/frames had been hacked around to fit the original locks in 1931 when the house was built, then when Jen's granddad put the hardboard over the doors in the '70s and now when we've gone back to the old style latches, there is a lot of filling to do - next time I renovate a house I'm going to try and keep existing door frames etc, it would probably be less hassle to have replaced them.
The skirting around the fireplace has also been sorted to, after it had to be removed for the damp treatment. The skirting on one side has had to be trimmed to meet the existing skirting, which wasn't removed for the damp proofing. It's one of those things that is noticeable if you look at it and/or know it is there, but when the furniture is in the room I'm sure it will be hidden.
Unfortunately no pictures of doors, as it was too dark by the time I got home. It is good to be able to have some privacy on the throne though!
We've now got 8 doors and door frames to fill, sand and paint, so that should keep us going for a while! As the doors/frames had been hacked around to fit the original locks in 1931 when the house was built, then when Jen's granddad put the hardboard over the doors in the '70s and now when we've gone back to the old style latches, there is a lot of filling to do - next time I renovate a house I'm going to try and keep existing door frames etc, it would probably be less hassle to have replaced them.
The skirting around the fireplace has also been sorted to, after it had to be removed for the damp treatment. The skirting on one side has had to be trimmed to meet the existing skirting, which wasn't removed for the damp proofing. It's one of those things that is noticeable if you look at it and/or know it is there, but when the furniture is in the room I'm sure it will be hidden.
Back to my point about re-using door frames being a bad idea - just noticed that the hinge for the bathroom door is pulling out already. Not what you need to find as you're about to fly halway around the world. Hopefully Jen can get it sorted out while I'm away.
On a more positive note, I had a builder round to quote for building the garage.
On a more positive note, I had a builder round to quote for building the garage.
I'm back from Japan and things have moved on a bit.
First of all I've sorted the bathroom door, it just needed the hinges tightening up, it looks like the towel holder that had been hung over the door was stopping it shutting properly, so that has been binned.
The last bits of painting in the front room have been done and the carpet is being fitted on Saturday morning, the only thing to do before then is decide if we want to keep the floor vent or not, and block it up if not. It was there because of the back boiler, but not needed for the wood burner as it is under 5kw, I'm swaying towards keeping it, but with an open/close cover.
As the carpet is being fitted we can now start sorting out furniture and A/V, the non Ikea bits have been ordered and I have a lot of audio and network patch cables to make this week to link devices to the sconnections already on the walls.
On the garage front I've recieved a quote, which is a bit more than I was expecting, but it included a few things we hadn't asked for (pulling down the old garage and relaying the path down the side) so hopefully I can get it nearer to the budget.
First of all I've sorted the bathroom door, it just needed the hinges tightening up, it looks like the towel holder that had been hung over the door was stopping it shutting properly, so that has been binned.
The last bits of painting in the front room have been done and the carpet is being fitted on Saturday morning, the only thing to do before then is decide if we want to keep the floor vent or not, and block it up if not. It was there because of the back boiler, but not needed for the wood burner as it is under 5kw, I'm swaying towards keeping it, but with an open/close cover.
As the carpet is being fitted we can now start sorting out furniture and A/V, the non Ikea bits have been ordered and I have a lot of audio and network patch cables to make this week to link devices to the sconnections already on the walls.
On the garage front I've recieved a quote, which is a bit more than I was expecting, but it included a few things we hadn't asked for (pulling down the old garage and relaying the path down the side) so hopefully I can get it nearer to the budget.
A few final jobs before the carpet gets fitted tomorrow morning, the room is clean and empty and we have been to Ikea to but some bookshelves to go in the alcoves. The room is looking a bit bare at the moment, but hopefully will look a lot different by this time tomorrow:
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I also got a chance to wire up the surround sound speakers, a sure sign that the room is nearly finished and much more in my comfort zone. They are on stands with the cables running internally, so should look fairly neat when they're in. Not to mention the increase in sound quality after almost a year of just using the TV speakers!
Satellite speakers by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I also got a chance to wire up the surround sound speakers, a sure sign that the room is nearly finished and much more in my comfort zone. They are on stands with the cables running internally, so should look fairly neat when they're in. Not to mention the increase in sound quality after almost a year of just using the TV speakers!
Satellite speakers by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Edited by Craikeybaby on Monday 24th March 13:02
Hey what a transformation since I last looked on here! Good work.
Those towel things are pants if they're the ones made of flat plate that fit over the door yet still fit under the door frame. They always move and scratch the door to bits and as you say, they don't allow the door to shut properly.
I usually just fit a nice decorative rail of hooks actually onto the back of the door.
I'm liking the speakers. I have an Onkyo AV amp and it's the most complicated bloody thing I've ever bought. Getting the hang of it now, or at least I was. It's being stored at a mates for now. Still wish I'd bought a Yamaha though.
Anyway, really taking shape Craikey. Well done!
Those towel things are pants if they're the ones made of flat plate that fit over the door yet still fit under the door frame. They always move and scratch the door to bits and as you say, they don't allow the door to shut properly.
I usually just fit a nice decorative rail of hooks actually onto the back of the door.
I'm liking the speakers. I have an Onkyo AV amp and it's the most complicated bloody thing I've ever bought. Getting the hang of it now, or at least I was. It's being stored at a mates for now. Still wish I'd bought a Yamaha though.
Anyway, really taking shape Craikey. Well done!
Annoyingly, once again I don't seem to have any before pictures of the front room, but these two should give you an idea:
The gas fire in front of the back boiler:
Old back boiler by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Jen stripping wallpaper (this was in September):
Untitled by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
First thing yesterday morning it looked like:
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
That was the calm before the storm, first the guys from Direct Carpets in Balsall Common (another great recommendation from PH) arrived to fit the carpet:
Carpet down by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Just after they went, the Ikea delivery arrived so we had flat packed furniture to assemble:
Furnitue to assemble by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
After making good progress with the small unit for the phone and the first of the shelves for the alcoves we hit a slight hurdle on the second set of shelves - the female part of the adjustable feet wasn't threaded, so we had to head back to Ikea. Luckily it is only about a mile away, but did result in a £50 spend on other little bits.
After a break to catch up with my parents, who were flat hunting in Warwick, we continued with the second set up shelves, getting them assembled and ready to attach to the wall - until I managed to melt a drill bit drilling the hole for the plug to attach it to:
Melted drill bit by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
At this point we decided to call it a night, as it was getting a bit late to be drilling. So I built the AV unit, dug out the lamps from my old flat and swapped the plugs to fit into the 2 amp lighting sockets - I say I, but I got Jen to do one, as she previously didn't know how to wire a plug...
First thing Sunday a new drill bit was purchased and the shelves were attached to the wall, Jen moved the books and DVDs over and I started on the network and AV set up. I say started, because I ran out of speaker cable and network patch cables, which I should be able to sort out tomorrow. I've also ordered some shorted HDMI cables, as the longer ones from my flat make the rats nest of cables even worse. At the moment this is the view as you walk in the room:
Rat nest of cables by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Due to the above, I can only show photos looking back from the TV wall, but we are really pleased with it so far:
Lounge done by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Lounge done by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Just sorting the cabling, hanging some pictures and painting the door to go!
The gas fire in front of the back boiler:
Old back boiler by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Jen stripping wallpaper (this was in September):
Untitled by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
First thing yesterday morning it looked like:
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Empty Lounge by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
That was the calm before the storm, first the guys from Direct Carpets in Balsall Common (another great recommendation from PH) arrived to fit the carpet:
Carpet down by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Just after they went, the Ikea delivery arrived so we had flat packed furniture to assemble:
Furnitue to assemble by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
After making good progress with the small unit for the phone and the first of the shelves for the alcoves we hit a slight hurdle on the second set of shelves - the female part of the adjustable feet wasn't threaded, so we had to head back to Ikea. Luckily it is only about a mile away, but did result in a £50 spend on other little bits.
After a break to catch up with my parents, who were flat hunting in Warwick, we continued with the second set up shelves, getting them assembled and ready to attach to the wall - until I managed to melt a drill bit drilling the hole for the plug to attach it to:
Melted drill bit by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
At this point we decided to call it a night, as it was getting a bit late to be drilling. So I built the AV unit, dug out the lamps from my old flat and swapped the plugs to fit into the 2 amp lighting sockets - I say I, but I got Jen to do one, as she previously didn't know how to wire a plug...
First thing Sunday a new drill bit was purchased and the shelves were attached to the wall, Jen moved the books and DVDs over and I started on the network and AV set up. I say started, because I ran out of speaker cable and network patch cables, which I should be able to sort out tomorrow. I've also ordered some shorted HDMI cables, as the longer ones from my flat make the rats nest of cables even worse. At the moment this is the view as you walk in the room:
Rat nest of cables by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Due to the above, I can only show photos looking back from the TV wall, but we are really pleased with it so far:
Lounge done by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Lounge done by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Just sorting the cabling, hanging some pictures and painting the door to go!
RC1 said:
Nice work with the colour scheme... looks very calming
Thanks, Jen was worrying that she'd chosed the wrong colour for the walls, but with the carpet down it works a lot better.Griff Boy said:
Looking good mate, no, strike that, looks like you have yourselves a home! I can't wait to get to that stage on my build!
Even though we started on this room in September it was only the last weekend that is started coming together like this, the last steps made all the difference. I'm enjoying your thread, or whole house would probably fit into one of your rooms, so not envious of the amount of work involved!Definitely consider a rug to protect the carpet (even an off cut of the carpet?). Our hearth is bigger than yours and our carpet looks to be a harder wearing weave (read - not as snazzy looking!) - and our stove is a pellet stove, so should be far less trouble than a wood stove but we've still managed to get ash, soot and burn marks over it this year... :-/
Agree colours look good!
Agree colours look good!
Thanks - that is already in hand, a couple of off cuts have gone back to the carpet shop to have the edges stitched, so will have one of those out when we use the fire.
The rest of the off cuts have been laid on the landing patchwork style, but are much better to walk on than the floor boards we've had for the last year.
The rest of the off cuts have been laid on the landing patchwork style, but are much better to walk on than the floor boards we've had for the last year.
I missed it yesterday, but it is a year and a day since we moved in to 119! We're about where we expected to be with the renovations (except for not having finished painting the kitchen).
Despite the odd wobble while we're doing the more laborious DIY tasks we've had a great year and wouldn't be out off doing a similar project in the future!
Now to get that garage built!
Despite the odd wobble while we're doing the more laborious DIY tasks we've had a great year and wouldn't be out off doing a similar project in the future!
Now to get that garage built!
There hasn't been that much progress this week, we've got a new coffee table to match the shelves and the surround sound is set up, although it isn't the neatest installation ever.
We spent some time in the garden yesterday, and it looks a lot better, although I imagine it is going to look a lot messier while/after the garage is built. I remember last year thinking that our lawn looked really yellow compared to next doors, so I'm quite pleased with the result of my work on that - thanks to the PH lawn thread!
The main focus at the moment is getting quotes for the garage, and working out if we are going to pay someone to do it all, or project manage it ourselves. Although, at the moment I'm trying to work out where replacing the fences fits into the project, and if indeed we do need a fence along the side of the garage - so maybe project managing a build isn't the best idea!
At the moment quotes are coming out a bit higher than expected, but there seems to be some room to knock them down a bit - for instance the best quote at the moment includes pulling the existing garage down - something that I was planning to do anyway, so hopefully a few man-days can be removed from that quote.
We spent some time in the garden yesterday, and it looks a lot better, although I imagine it is going to look a lot messier while/after the garage is built. I remember last year thinking that our lawn looked really yellow compared to next doors, so I'm quite pleased with the result of my work on that - thanks to the PH lawn thread!
The main focus at the moment is getting quotes for the garage, and working out if we are going to pay someone to do it all, or project manage it ourselves. Although, at the moment I'm trying to work out where replacing the fences fits into the project, and if indeed we do need a fence along the side of the garage - so maybe project managing a build isn't the best idea!
At the moment quotes are coming out a bit higher than expected, but there seems to be some room to knock them down a bit - for instance the best quote at the moment includes pulling the existing garage down - something that I was planning to do anyway, so hopefully a few man-days can be removed from that quote.
Obviously, we don't have a single curtain yet...I'm starting to get a better idea of what needs to be done for the garage project - hopefully it will be starting soon. I'm just waiting for a quote from the electrician and one more builder who will be coming round next week.
I've had to up the budget by 25% and reduced the scope of the project, going for a slightly smaller garage (along with a shed for all the non car stuff) which means the garden landscaping part can be put off until next year, when the patio and veranda get done.
I've had to up the budget by 25% and reduced the scope of the project, going for a slightly smaller garage (along with a shed for all the non car stuff) which means the garden landscaping part can be put off until next year, when the patio and veranda get done.
More small jobs this weekend, but ones that are getting us nearer to pulling the garage down, which will be the next major change.
First of all, we managed to swap our old living room furniture for some logs to top up the wood store. Jen's friend has just bought her first house and her Dad had a lot of wood left over from a tree he chopped down last year, so both sides came out of that well. We've now got a full logstore and an empty(ish) room for to paint the internal doors and store the contents of the garage, whilst it is being rebuilt.
I also made the first step for pulling down the garage by disconnecting the electrics and removing thewell burried armoured cable extension lead nailed to the fence. This exposed the fence as being in worse condition than I thought, so probably a good job that it is going to be replaced soon!
First of all, we managed to swap our old living room furniture for some logs to top up the wood store. Jen's friend has just bought her first house and her Dad had a lot of wood left over from a tree he chopped down last year, so both sides came out of that well. We've now got a full logstore and an empty(ish) room for to paint the internal doors and store the contents of the garage, whilst it is being rebuilt.
I also made the first step for pulling down the garage by disconnecting the electrics and removing the
The main progress this weekend has been emptying the garage, which ended up being easier than I expected everything we want to keep fitted into the back room without too much trouble - the stuff which will go in the shed fitted in the 7' x 5' area a marked out, so I know I won't need to get a massive shed!
After we'd sorted out the stuff we wanted to keep the MIL came round to help us sort out the stuff we'd been told we "must keep", which has been sat in the garage getting damp for the last 2 years :roll eyes: Only then did we get to the original contents of the garage - a lot of which seems to have been acquired from, the old Alvis factory, where Jen's granddad worked as a toolmaker. We're pretty sure that the blue cabinet would have been his tool chest from the factory.
Garage almost empty by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Most of the stuff at that end of the garage is for the skip, although I think to get a skip into the back garden we're going to have to take the garage down first. Just out of the shot is the workbench, which I am going to try and restore and use in the new garage. At the very least the metal legs will need stripped down and repainted, but it could probably do with a new top too.
Other than that, it has just been normal tidying/maintenance in the house/garden, the sort of DIY that you need to do when you're not renovating a house.
After we'd sorted out the stuff we wanted to keep the MIL came round to help us sort out the stuff we'd been told we "must keep", which has been sat in the garage getting damp for the last 2 years :roll eyes: Only then did we get to the original contents of the garage - a lot of which seems to have been acquired from, the old Alvis factory, where Jen's granddad worked as a toolmaker. We're pretty sure that the blue cabinet would have been his tool chest from the factory.
Garage almost empty by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
Most of the stuff at that end of the garage is for the skip, although I think to get a skip into the back garden we're going to have to take the garage down first. Just out of the shot is the workbench, which I am going to try and restore and use in the new garage. At the very least the metal legs will need stripped down and repainted, but it could probably do with a new top too.
Other than that, it has just been normal tidying/maintenance in the house/garden, the sort of DIY that you need to do when you're not renovating a house.
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