New restoration project - what have I done!

New restoration project - what have I done!

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Pixel-Snapper

5,321 posts

192 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Good god Griff...

Can I come live in the kitchen? I can cook well and can live of scraps.

What I'd do with a kitchen like that.

Progress is looking fantastic.

S10GTA

12,674 posts

167 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Awesome. I have just read the whole thread, what an epic house. OP, you win at life bow

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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olly22n said:
Griff Boy said:
Trophy200 said:
As a novice to this scale of DIY myself may I ask how you fix the flooring down?

Just to add, mega-impressive work to date too.

Trophy200
It's a floating floor, so it's not fixed down at all. It sits ontop of the underlay and has an expansion gap all way round the outside.

Cheers for the comments.
I presume the boarding is screwed into the floor boards underneath. How do you ensure it is flat?
Hi, the sub floor is wooden floor boards, onto which I've set 9mm ply, which is screwed every 100mm with 30mm screws. I had to add the ply to bring up the floor level to match the kitchen floor and alsobthd lounge was a mush mash of floor board thicknesses, some up to 30mm thick! I then over boarded the whole area with hardboard to help even the floor, the hardboard was then stapled with an air stapler. I used 5500 staples in the lounge! . Then a rubber based underlay was Laid out on top ready for the floating floor. With all the prep work the sub floor was nice and even so the finished floor sits nicely! Hope this helps!

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
S10GTA said:
Awesome. I have just read the whole thread, what an epic house. OP, you win at life bow
Lol, cheers for that mate! Not much else I can say to that!

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
Pixel-Snapper said:
Good god Griff...

Can I come live in the kitchen? I can cook well and can live of scraps.

What I'd do with a kitchen like that.

Progress is looking fantastic.
I've seen your cooking pictures and they look bloody good, so go for it! :-)

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
Johnniem said:
Griff, I have exactly that granite in my kitchen. It really looks great and it's kind when you want to put hot stuff on it (it doens't leave white stains for ever!). I have a table next to the kitchen made of that granite. It seats 12 comfortably and I can tell you that 10- people to move it is about right. When we moved into the house my wife said 'perhaps we could move the table across by about 1 foot' (she missed decimalisation as she skipped that lesson!). Haha!! When I suggested that if she wanted it moved she might like to take the cost out of her kids wedding fund, she rescinded and thought better of it! It is a great table though!

Great thread and in total awe of you doing so much yourself. Great news on the business front but not so much on the missed family holiday.

Orrabest.
Cheers for that, I've seen the whole slab in the factory and it looks great, so fingers crossed!

The fabricators guess that the slab weighs about 600kg....

mercGLowner

1,668 posts

184 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Wow, just wow! Fantastic job and awesome house, the progress you have made is outstanding, congratulations.

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
Managed to get another day at the house today, stupidly decided it would be a good idea to spend the day on my knees doing the floor.... Well, finally after an 8 hour stint, managed to get the lounge finished!

Of course, after doing a 50m2 floor, I now can't stand upright, both knees are a funny purple colour, and pills have been taken... As the guy from Lethal Weapon says, "I'm getting too old for this s@&t!)

Some pictures of the floor:







Next job, carry it through to the kitchen, as the granites getting fitted next Tuesday, I need to get the floor done before then, better get the hot tub going!


richtea78

5,574 posts

158 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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What's the hole in the middle of the floor for?

I think most of my house would fit in that one room!

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
quotequote all
richtea78 said:
What's the hole in the middle of the floor for?

I think most of my house would fit in that one room!
Ha ha, looks bigger on pictures. It's 7.2 x 7.3m excluding window bays, in real life

The holes are for floor are sockets, 1 x 5amp lighting circuit and a normal 13amp socket. There's going to be a sofa there with table behind it, and the whole room has been wired for a separate lighting circuit, so will be putting a lamp on the table behind the sofa, hence the socket in the floor. Also handy for charging things whilst sitting on the sofa, as the walls 3-4m away. Lazy I know, but heyho!

marky911

4,417 posts

219 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Wow! I haven't checked in on this thread for a couple of months. Truly immense job you're doing Griffboy.

Nothing to add, just that. Amazing turnaround.

Craikeybaby

10,404 posts

225 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Great job there - that is a lot of flooring!

Probably teaching a grandmother to suck eggs here, but have you got some knee pad trousers? They make that sort of job much comfier.

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Craikeybaby said:
Great job there - that is a lot of flooring!

Probably teaching a grandmother to suck eggs here, but have you got some knee pad trousers? They make that sort of job much comfier.
Yep, a nice few pairs of snickers with built in knee pads, but being the stereotypic powerfully built, goateed company director I'm built more for power and lifting than up and down on my knees all the time, also broke my right knee playing rugby years ago, and it still affects me now. But your right, the built in knee pads do make a huge difference!

Depressing thing is that I've still got another 140m2 to go!

RRLover

450 posts

202 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Incredible & inspirational.
I'm currently looking at an old house thats in need of rescue, in terms of size its 249 sq metres. I'm just weighing up the pro's & con's of it.
Sash windows all 27 of them require overhaul, electrics, plumbing, damp, woodworm .... Your thread gives me the "can" do attitude.
Excellent work

NerveAgent

3,306 posts

220 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling truly inadequate 2 years in to refurbing a 3 bed semi biggrinbiggrinbiggrin

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
RRLover said:
Incredible & inspirational.
I'm currently looking at an old house thats in need of rescue, in terms of size its 249 sq metres. I'm just weighing up the pro's & con's of it.
Sash windows all 27 of them require overhaul, electrics, plumbing, damp, woodworm .... Your thread gives me the "can" do attitude.
Excellent work
Good luck with it mate, and that's not sarcasm!

It's immensely satisfying, and financially rewarding, but please don't underestimate the sheer volume and amount of hard labour they take to do. It's either a "get someone in to do it" or just get on and learn yourself, research, ask, watch and then do it! I spent a lot of time planning the refurb, putting together spreadsheets of costs and work specifications. Never underestimate the cost of the "little things" such as new blades for a multi tool, levels, hand tools, the list goes on and on.

I've had 2 days off since dec 2014, where I haven't been at the house or at work, it's a hard commitment, and I'm really lucky that my wife is a real hands on person too, no moans about broken nails, no whining (well not a lot...:-)) and this has made a huge difference to the psychological aspect of the work, it's much better to work with someone that by yourself!

Basically go for it, but you'll have to work for it! The financial rewards are good though, I've recently had the house revalued, and it's almost tripled in value since I bought it, definitely helps make it all worth while!

Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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NerveAgent said:
I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling truly inadequate 2 years in to refurbing a 3 bed semi biggrinbiggrinbiggrin
Houses, like the bloody Forth road bridge!

westberks

941 posts

135 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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Griff, great job and top marks for the overall planning.

Having done these without spending enough time just getting stuff planned properly I can vouch for the fact you end up spending more and getting stung if you don't do your homework first.

Loving the finish and detailing too


Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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westberks said:
Griff, great job and top marks for the overall planning.

Having done these without spending enough time just getting stuff planned properly I can vouch for the fact you end up spending more and getting stung if you don't do your homework first.

Loving the finish and detailing too
Cheers mate, I spent ages trying to get it right, but I'm still off in certain areas, mainly the cost of the "little" things. Like for instance, I've just got the materials for refurbishing the windows, the following:

76 chrome plated brass ring pulls,
38 chrome plated brass hooks
200m 8mm sash cord
38 locking window latches
76 parting beads with integral brushes
6 tins of exterior undercoat
6 tins of weather shield exterior white gloss
Sandpaper
Wood filler

Total for that lot? Best part of a grand!


Griff Boy

Original Poster:

1,563 posts

231 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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More floor work been done! Had some help from a joiner mate, as my backs still in the "is it, isn't it" camp and I'm worried it'll completely go if I push too much! So I did the dado rails and patching in the main first floor hallway, good job to do as needed to be done, but all at waist height! Bonus!







Sparkys in today. Managed to get about 75% of the sockets in, ceiling roses and started on the fire alarm system as well, back again on Tuesday to carry on with the second fix work.