Yet Another House Renovation Thread
Discussion
The expense with our stairs appears to come from our choice of materials and the design. I think DIY-shed staircases start at about 400 quid for a boggo straight run of 12 treads. You can pretty much spend as much or as little as you want on stairs as long as they comply with building regs (Part K IIRC).
Walnut is probably the most beautiful but very expensive as you can see. The worst thing about it though is its so soft it's possible to damaGe it with a finger nail.
Not good if you have dogs or kids.
We have a dog and our walnut floor looks about 50 years old
Nice project though, good luck with it
Not good if you have dogs or kids.
We have a dog and our walnut floor looks about 50 years old
Nice project though, good luck with it
As a joiner by trade, you have indeed chosen an expensive staircase to manufacture!
The lack of stair string on the balustrade side essentially means you want a cantilever staircase. Expensive.
You can make this a LOT cheaper by simply having a cut string on the balustrade side and standard string on the wall side, and cheaper still by having a standard string on both sides. American walnut is expensive, not the worst, but not middle of the road either! Having said that if you were to go for standard strings both sides and just have solid walnut treads and handrail the cost would be reduced massively.
The lack of stair string on the balustrade side essentially means you want a cantilever staircase. Expensive.
You can make this a LOT cheaper by simply having a cut string on the balustrade side and standard string on the wall side, and cheaper still by having a standard string on both sides. American walnut is expensive, not the worst, but not middle of the road either! Having said that if you were to go for standard strings both sides and just have solid walnut treads and handrail the cost would be reduced massively.
MP85 said:
I'm after a similar number of treads with winders at the foot and winders at the top.
I've an inordinate feeling I'm going to need to be sitting down when I hear back from my joiner!!
What materials are you looking for? If you go for a softwood staircase with MDF treads and risers (presuming you will paint and carpet it) then it shouldn't be too much really.I've an inordinate feeling I'm going to need to be sitting down when I hear back from my joiner!!
Obviously as soon as you start wanting cut strings, different material treads and turned spindles/newels then the price starts going up.
Had Mat (campfreddie - architect/structural engineer/all round good egg) over tonight to get a few ideas for various things. He's given us a much better plan for the master bedroom / en suite than we had come up with plus a few different ideas for the kitchen.
Also talking about the stairs, he's suggested a cheaper solution might be to mount the treads in to the wall.
I also think we may switch to oak from American walnut because it is lighter in colour (as well as being cheaper - £60 cu ft instead of £100 cu ft and we need 17 cu ft for the treads) - the hall is very dark already.
Also talking about the stairs, he's suggested a cheaper solution might be to mount the treads in to the wall.
I also think we may switch to oak from American walnut because it is lighter in colour (as well as being cheaper - £60 cu ft instead of £100 cu ft and we need 17 cu ft for the treads) - the hall is very dark already.
Although I may burn in designer hell for this, before knocking things down go and see a kitchen and a bathroom designer and see what space you'd need to get the best out of the space.
The number of times I've seen works being done twice or having to compromise due to poor planning is just unreal.
Good luck.
The number of times I've seen works being done twice or having to compromise due to poor planning is just unreal.
Good luck.
Rosscow said:
What materials are you looking for? If you go for a softwood staircase with MDF treads and risers (presuming you will paint and carpet it) then it shouldn't be too much really.
Obviously as soon as you start wanting cut strings, different material treads and turned spindles/newels then the price starts going up.
Nothing special, this will be a carpeted staircase fully enclosed, up to the loft space. I dont want cheap and nasty, i would like a certain amount of longevity out of the stairs, but they certainly dont need to be anything particularly dazzling!Obviously as soon as you start wanting cut strings, different material treads and turned spindles/newels then the price starts going up.
I can breathe again now!!
ETA: my spelling is awful.
Edited by MP85 on Friday 20th July 12:09
Well it was an early start this morning, dropped the boss off at work for 6am then drove over to the house. The sheep were only just waking up when I got there. Lovely mist clearing upwards as the sun burnt it off. I love this time of the day. Very very quiet and still but its the kind of light that says "we're having summer today!".
My job was to finish getting carpets clear from upstairs ready for the electrician to start marking out sockets and cable runs and start the chasing. The bathroom lino was layed on hardboard. This was a bit of a struggle.
Landing carpet up, with the rest of the bedrooms. Floorboards look pretty good for a 1974 house.
Sparks arrives with his lad who broke up from school yesterday. We crack open the plans and they start going round room by room with big marker pens, marking sockets to put in, ones to remove and we have many many conversations about exactly what we want. I must be the worlds worst client. I really wish we'd had the house for a month and could have sat and taken all the measurements and planned things out in more detail. Things are a little "off the cuff" which is not my normal MO plus its not the way to work with trades. Luckily Pete the Sparks humours us and makes us think about things we had not considered plus responds to our changes of plans in a pragmatic kind of way so I'm sure we'll be fine :-)
Pete gets a faceplate off in the hall as a sample and has a chuckle. There are wires coming in to and out of the back box that bear no relation to any circuit or sockets in the locality. Given that the place is not occupied and leccy doesn't matter, we agree to turn the leccy off and let the rewire happen like that (he did want to try and keep some leccy on but clearly thats not feasible).
But - how will he power his cutter and the hoover if he turns the leccy off?
Answer: bit of a hack and an RCD :-)
Spur out the back of the fuse board, via an RCD socket, plug the extension reel in to it, jobs a goodun.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/kvNBtDwx.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/kvNBtDwx" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/kvNBtDwx.jpg)
Lunch break o clock. Pete and Ben had their sarnies. I collected Lottie from work and went and bought a lawn mower. Well lets face it, our little electric jobbie will not cut the mustard. We have never had this much grass to mow before! Being PH, the mower needs an engine, obviously. Back garden is a shade under 230 sq m and can't really justify a sit on (its not that big) so after an hour or so in the lawn mower shop in Northampton we are now the proud owners of our first petrol mower (its like a PH rite of passage isnt it?)
Getting back to the house, we are met by two ghost-like figures on the drive, dust masks dangling taking on liquids. It's Pete and Ben looking like a whole bottle of talc has been emptied over them. The reason soon becomes clear!
I'd like to show you a picture of the dining room but it was too cloudy to actually get a good pic of it!
So, not bad progress for the first day of the rewire. We probably have two more days of chasing out then we can let the dust settle.
And then maybe we can double check all the holes in the walls are where we need them to be
My job was to finish getting carpets clear from upstairs ready for the electrician to start marking out sockets and cable runs and start the chasing. The bathroom lino was layed on hardboard. This was a bit of a struggle.
Landing carpet up, with the rest of the bedrooms. Floorboards look pretty good for a 1974 house.
Sparks arrives with his lad who broke up from school yesterday. We crack open the plans and they start going round room by room with big marker pens, marking sockets to put in, ones to remove and we have many many conversations about exactly what we want. I must be the worlds worst client. I really wish we'd had the house for a month and could have sat and taken all the measurements and planned things out in more detail. Things are a little "off the cuff" which is not my normal MO plus its not the way to work with trades. Luckily Pete the Sparks humours us and makes us think about things we had not considered plus responds to our changes of plans in a pragmatic kind of way so I'm sure we'll be fine :-)
Pete gets a faceplate off in the hall as a sample and has a chuckle. There are wires coming in to and out of the back box that bear no relation to any circuit or sockets in the locality. Given that the place is not occupied and leccy doesn't matter, we agree to turn the leccy off and let the rewire happen like that (he did want to try and keep some leccy on but clearly thats not feasible).
But - how will he power his cutter and the hoover if he turns the leccy off?
Answer: bit of a hack and an RCD :-)
Spur out the back of the fuse board, via an RCD socket, plug the extension reel in to it, jobs a goodun.
Lunch break o clock. Pete and Ben had their sarnies. I collected Lottie from work and went and bought a lawn mower. Well lets face it, our little electric jobbie will not cut the mustard. We have never had this much grass to mow before! Being PH, the mower needs an engine, obviously. Back garden is a shade under 230 sq m and can't really justify a sit on (its not that big) so after an hour or so in the lawn mower shop in Northampton we are now the proud owners of our first petrol mower (its like a PH rite of passage isnt it?)
Getting back to the house, we are met by two ghost-like figures on the drive, dust masks dangling taking on liquids. It's Pete and Ben looking like a whole bottle of talc has been emptied over them. The reason soon becomes clear!
I'd like to show you a picture of the dining room but it was too cloudy to actually get a good pic of it!
So, not bad progress for the first day of the rewire. We probably have two more days of chasing out then we can let the dust settle.
And then maybe we can double check all the holes in the walls are where we need them to be
mattdaniels said:
PS - if anyone has any ideas/designs for how to destroy that fireplace and replace with a wood burner let us know!!!
Chisel and hammers of varying sizes. Perhaps even a crowbar too. Its hard work but so worth it. One thing to remember when getting a log burner is that you might have to get a chimney liner, so thats an extra cost.
Alfachick said:
Chisel and hammers of varying sizes.
No power-tool content 
The SDS drill shall be meeting the fireplace on Saturday. What could possibly go wrong?
Good tip about the flu liner. Thanks. We're going to go to a fireplace shop near Towcester this weekend for a browse and to get some ideas.
Popped over to the house earlier. Impatience got the better of me regarding the fireplace, so I attacked it with a hammer and chisel. 
Pete the sparky is making good progress chasing out all the sockets, but some of the walls are co-operating a bit too much. I think it's fair to say we are going to need a lot of plastering done afterwards
Toxic Nerve and VEX have been very helpful with input to the whole house video / audio distribution. I should be finalising the schematic this weekend. Satellite dish arrives tomorrow. Builders arrive Monday to take the utility room walls down.
Busy busy busy!
Pete the sparky is making good progress chasing out all the sockets, but some of the walls are co-operating a bit too much. I think it's fair to say we are going to need a lot of plastering done afterwards
Toxic Nerve and VEX have been very helpful with input to the whole house video / audio distribution. I should be finalising the schematic this weekend. Satellite dish arrives tomorrow. Builders arrive Monday to take the utility room walls down.
Busy busy busy!
A word of advice, don't buy the liner from your woodburner supplier, the mark-up when we looked into it was tremendous! Also, go for the higher grade liner (can't remember the spec), we bought ours from a manufacturer/supplier somewhere near High Wycombe (all online). Can't remember the name as it was about 8 years ago. Also, make sure you fill the void with vermiculite - it stops the hot liner/cold void/condensation issue...
Em
Em
Rosscow said:
New wood burners are great, I've just fitted two.
This one in our kitchen/diner (still need to put the vent in the floor hence the hole in the glass hearth). Do you like the vent I made to spread the heat into the hallway?!
Quick question, but how does that hearth meet regs for installing a free standing wood burner? Wanted to put one in here but proximity to an archway left me thinking a hearth would stick out too much, but that looks quite small.This one in our kitchen/diner (still need to put the vent in the floor hence the hole in the glass hearth). Do you like the vent I made to spread the heat into the hallway?!
Thanks.
Busy weekend.
Pete the electrician has been making good progress. Almost all of the chasing out is done (I just need to finalise the positions of speaker and network sockets for the AV stuff but leccy stuff is done). He's also ripping out the old wiring where he can.
Lottie has made great progress in the garden. Front and rear lawns mowed with the new mower, and the front beds stripped and emptied. There were some mahoosive rocks in there, took two of us to move them!
It looks like we have an ex-vegetable patch in the back garden. We want to make it the same as all the other grass. Can we just rotavate it?
Muggins here decided there was not enough mess being made, so decreed that all the wallpaper and woodchip must come off. I learned two things today :
1. Wallpaper stripping takes a lot longer than you imagine.
2. Putting woodchip on ceilings must be made illegal.
It's taken me a day and a half to strip the dining room, which is going to become my new office (you can tell by the chasing for the power sockets )
This was just hideous textured wallpaper and it took me that long. The kitchen has woodchip over the walls and the ceiling. Sod that, I'd rather rip the ceiling down and put a new one up.
Campfreddy popped over to check the joists and utility room walls to confirm they are not structural. Builders arrive tomorrow to knock them down
Tenants have asked to move in to our current house on 24th so we need to be moved in by 19th. August is going to be busy!
Pete the electrician has been making good progress. Almost all of the chasing out is done (I just need to finalise the positions of speaker and network sockets for the AV stuff but leccy stuff is done). He's also ripping out the old wiring where he can.
Lottie has made great progress in the garden. Front and rear lawns mowed with the new mower, and the front beds stripped and emptied. There were some mahoosive rocks in there, took two of us to move them!
It looks like we have an ex-vegetable patch in the back garden. We want to make it the same as all the other grass. Can we just rotavate it?
Muggins here decided there was not enough mess being made, so decreed that all the wallpaper and woodchip must come off. I learned two things today :
1. Wallpaper stripping takes a lot longer than you imagine.
2. Putting woodchip on ceilings must be made illegal.
It's taken me a day and a half to strip the dining room, which is going to become my new office (you can tell by the chasing for the power sockets
)This was just hideous textured wallpaper and it took me that long. The kitchen has woodchip over the walls and the ceiling. Sod that, I'd rather rip the ceiling down and put a new one up.
Campfreddy popped over to check the joists and utility room walls to confirm they are not structural. Builders arrive tomorrow to knock them down
Tenants have asked to move in to our current house on 24th so we need to be moved in by 19th. August is going to be busy!
Productive day today.
The wood samples for the stairs arrived. Americal Walnut and Oak. We are going to go oak - the American Walnut will be just too dark for the hallway. The oak sample is the thickness that the stair treads will be. Should look fab with white risers, white bannister and oak handrail. We're going to replace the parquet floor with oak flooring and have oak fire-door type doors downstairs to continue the theme, with white walls. (we think - need to mock this up and see how it looks).
The main job of the morning was to demolish the utility room. It's robbing far too much space from the kitchen.
The guys didn't hang about. First wall came down pretty quickly.
Second wall not long behind.
At this point I mentioned what a ball ache it was going to be to strip the woodchip from the ceiling. We very quickly decided as we had not made enough mess, to rip the ceiling down too.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Rn7aRGDm.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/Rn7aRGDm" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Rn7aRGDm.jpg)
Utility room. Gone. Ceiling. Gone.
We now have a nice 5m x 4m space to put a nice kitchen in to.
The wood samples for the stairs arrived. Americal Walnut and Oak. We are going to go oak - the American Walnut will be just too dark for the hallway. The oak sample is the thickness that the stair treads will be. Should look fab with white risers, white bannister and oak handrail. We're going to replace the parquet floor with oak flooring and have oak fire-door type doors downstairs to continue the theme, with white walls. (we think - need to mock this up and see how it looks).
The main job of the morning was to demolish the utility room. It's robbing far too much space from the kitchen.
The guys didn't hang about. First wall came down pretty quickly.
Second wall not long behind.
At this point I mentioned what a ball ache it was going to be to strip the woodchip from the ceiling. We very quickly decided as we had not made enough mess, to rip the ceiling down too.
Utility room. Gone. Ceiling. Gone.
We now have a nice 5m x 4m space to put a nice kitchen in to.
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