Our Little Durham Restoration Project...
Discussion
Quick update; this weekend was mostly painting, though I did get a few other jobs done too.
Landing mist-coated walls:
Front bedroom second coat:
I also hung a radiator and the towel rails for the bathroom. This was a) to get them out of my way and b) so I can sort out the locations for the pipes that I need to plumb in.
Towel rails:
Bath and shower 'in place':
I finally got around to finishing off my studwork in the bay window and insulating what could be insulated. This bit caused me a few issues in terms of getting it insulated and ready to be plastered. With a bit of help from my plasterer we worked out the best way to do it and, after running a few repairs to the ceiling, filling the ceiling with insulation and removing trim from the windows, it's all ready to be finished off. Looks like this now, but should be transformed next time I see it:
Hallway plastered out:
Living room ceiling done:
I've sorted out the last few bits and pieces in the kitchen so that's ready to be plastered too now. I'm back on Friday evening and by then everything should be plastered and hopefully my electrician will have managed to get the Blacksmiths electrified again. My parents are here at the weekend, so we should get a lot of plumbing done in the bathroom and hopefully my Mum will get upstairs spotless and a load of the painting done. My girlfriend is supposed to be working out final colours this week, so some colour should be going on in the next few weeks if all goes to plan. I need to crack on with plumbing in radiators and getting the bathroom sorted out as the sooner that's done, the sooner we can move in.
Landing mist-coated walls:
Front bedroom second coat:
I also hung a radiator and the towel rails for the bathroom. This was a) to get them out of my way and b) so I can sort out the locations for the pipes that I need to plumb in.
Towel rails:
Bath and shower 'in place':
I finally got around to finishing off my studwork in the bay window and insulating what could be insulated. This bit caused me a few issues in terms of getting it insulated and ready to be plastered. With a bit of help from my plasterer we worked out the best way to do it and, after running a few repairs to the ceiling, filling the ceiling with insulation and removing trim from the windows, it's all ready to be finished off. Looks like this now, but should be transformed next time I see it:
Hallway plastered out:
Living room ceiling done:
I've sorted out the last few bits and pieces in the kitchen so that's ready to be plastered too now. I'm back on Friday evening and by then everything should be plastered and hopefully my electrician will have managed to get the Blacksmiths electrified again. My parents are here at the weekend, so we should get a lot of plumbing done in the bathroom and hopefully my Mum will get upstairs spotless and a load of the painting done. My girlfriend is supposed to be working out final colours this week, so some colour should be going on in the next few weeks if all goes to plan. I need to crack on with plumbing in radiators and getting the bathroom sorted out as the sooner that's done, the sooner we can move in.
Well we have pipes now!
We managed to get all the hot and cold water pipes plumbed in and the central heating pipes are laid in the room, they still need to be plumbed through the wall to tie into the existing pipework, but that is pretty straightforward.
Was a bit fiddly in places, but was easier than I was expecting. I bought a pipe bender to do the turns and managed to plumb everything using just a handfull of t-pieces. Everything is capped off and pressure tested, no leaks except....
This is where we've plumbed the hot and cold in, the cold is going from the kitchen to the boiler, the hot is going from the boiler back to the kitchen. Unfortunately the old pipe is half inch and the new pipe is 15mm and although it isn't pissing water everywhere, it is weeping very slowly.
I'm on the look-out for some suitable adaptors if anyone has any bright ideas? I'll be trying to sort that out next weekend.
We spent today re-fitting the floorboards and doing the pipe cutouts. We've also fitted the waste pipe for bath and basin and we know what we're doing with the shower waste too. That's going to be a right faff to say the least! We also cut the boards so that the floor could come up without disturbing the shower tray, which sits on a mortar bed. This is essential for fitting as the shower tray has to go down, then the waste plumbed in with the rest of the floor up. I'll need to fit a load of noggins to make sure the shower has maximum support first too.
We've also measured up the new banister rails, step into the bathroom and a few other bits of woodwork, so that's all going to Laithes Mill near Penrith so the woodman can start getting everything together. Skirtings and architraves are being ordered this week too. I've solved the last of my issues with the new kitchen, so that should be ordered soon too.
Plasters finished downstairs this week, all looks great and my Mum is there painting for the next three days, so a lot more should be painted by my next update.
Living room chimney, looks really good:
I'm particularly pleased with this, the new bay window:
When we bought the house it was all wood panelled and looked very much like it had been added onto the room rather than being a part of the room. I've lined it with an insulated stud frame, insulated the roof, the it's all been covered with plasterboard and skim right up to the window. It looks so much better like this and I'm really happy with how it's turned out! There's an oak window sill to go on to finish it off.
Next up I've a few more plumbing jobs to do, hopefully will get all the radiators on the walls and plumbed in so we can think about leak testing the central heating. That'll get me a long way towards being able to screw the floor down. Insulation to finish downstairs too. Stud walls to go in the bathroom. Hopefully I'll have electricity in the Blacksmith's this week and then I can build a workbench.
We managed to get all the hot and cold water pipes plumbed in and the central heating pipes are laid in the room, they still need to be plumbed through the wall to tie into the existing pipework, but that is pretty straightforward.
Was a bit fiddly in places, but was easier than I was expecting. I bought a pipe bender to do the turns and managed to plumb everything using just a handfull of t-pieces. Everything is capped off and pressure tested, no leaks except....
This is where we've plumbed the hot and cold in, the cold is going from the kitchen to the boiler, the hot is going from the boiler back to the kitchen. Unfortunately the old pipe is half inch and the new pipe is 15mm and although it isn't pissing water everywhere, it is weeping very slowly.
I'm on the look-out for some suitable adaptors if anyone has any bright ideas? I'll be trying to sort that out next weekend.
We spent today re-fitting the floorboards and doing the pipe cutouts. We've also fitted the waste pipe for bath and basin and we know what we're doing with the shower waste too. That's going to be a right faff to say the least! We also cut the boards so that the floor could come up without disturbing the shower tray, which sits on a mortar bed. This is essential for fitting as the shower tray has to go down, then the waste plumbed in with the rest of the floor up. I'll need to fit a load of noggins to make sure the shower has maximum support first too.
We've also measured up the new banister rails, step into the bathroom and a few other bits of woodwork, so that's all going to Laithes Mill near Penrith so the woodman can start getting everything together. Skirtings and architraves are being ordered this week too. I've solved the last of my issues with the new kitchen, so that should be ordered soon too.
Plasters finished downstairs this week, all looks great and my Mum is there painting for the next three days, so a lot more should be painted by my next update.
Living room chimney, looks really good:
I'm particularly pleased with this, the new bay window:
When we bought the house it was all wood panelled and looked very much like it had been added onto the room rather than being a part of the room. I've lined it with an insulated stud frame, insulated the roof, the it's all been covered with plasterboard and skim right up to the window. It looks so much better like this and I'm really happy with how it's turned out! There's an oak window sill to go on to finish it off.
Next up I've a few more plumbing jobs to do, hopefully will get all the radiators on the walls and plumbed in so we can think about leak testing the central heating. That'll get me a long way towards being able to screw the floor down. Insulation to finish downstairs too. Stud walls to go in the bathroom. Hopefully I'll have electricity in the Blacksmith's this week and then I can build a workbench.
Dunno, my Dad has always used PTFE on compression fittings, so I have too. What's it for if not for putting on the threads of plumbing fittings?
Another plumber has advised that they would just wrap PTFE around the 15mm olive, but I presume using the half inch olive will be the better fix, so I've ordered some.
Thanks.
Another plumber has advised that they would just wrap PTFE around the 15mm olive, but I presume using the half inch olive will be the better fix, so I've ordered some.
Thanks.
I've found some half inch olives on eBay, so they are real!
I'll let my Dad know about the PTFE tape, is it detrimental to the seal, or just not necessary?
Plan of attack is to remove PTFE tape and see if that works. Then add ptfe tape to the olive and see if that works, then either a soldered connector or a half inch olive.
I'll let my Dad know about the PTFE tape, is it detrimental to the seal, or just not necessary?
Plan of attack is to remove PTFE tape and see if that works. Then add ptfe tape to the olive and see if that works, then either a soldered connector or a half inch olive.
Right, big update for you because, a) last week I was too busy to update the thread and b) we cracked on over the weekend!
On the leaking joints; I fixed them with the PTFE tape no problems. But I remove PTFE tape as advised from the other joints when I redid them and they leaked instead. Annoying! When my Dad redid them this weekend he got them sorted, all good to go.
However...... he also dislodged some dirt in the box section that those pipes run through in the kitchen, which then bridged the gap between the pipes and the box, which then caused two damp patches in the fresh plaster. Also annoying. Except that it identified a leak that had been going on for a while and we were able to sort that out, dodgy connections hidden away:
Exploratory hole:
Creating a mess:
Pipes bent and dropped down:
Pipes recessed into the wall and wrapped in vapour barrier:
Cemented in place ready for a plaster skim:
So the box is gone too, which neatens things up and solves a problem I was going to have down the line. I figured it was easier to recess than to rebuild the box and to then do the fiddly tiling around it. When we sort the kitchen the worktop will be trimmed and slid left as at present the conservatory door doesn't open fully. The pipes would have made that job harder, but that's sorted. I can cut a piece of the off-cut to fill the hole left in the worktop as the best solution with that, though that was inevitable given the problem with the worktop length.
Central heating is in and working! We plumbed up all the radiators, leak tested, fixed a few leaks and then refilled and ran it up to temperature. It heats up extremely quickly and the house was boiling in no time, really impressed with it and no risk of being cold in the winter with that and the two wood burners. Need to drain, remove a few rads when the finished floor goes down, refit, flush and add inhibitors and then balance the radiators when the TRVs are on. That can wait.
I jacked up the dining room floor on scaffold planks so that a rotten cross member could be replaced. Now the floor has no bounce!
Insulation is finished in the downstairs floor. I decided to bin-off the special clips that I had been using and just prop each board on 4 nails while the expanding foam set and glued the boards in place. Can't believe I persevered with the clips, it took me an entire day messing with the first half of the dining room, but I had it all finished in about 90 minutes without having to rout slots and mess about. Maybe I got quicker at it too as I got the technique for sizing the cuts right.
Ready to go:
Done and ready for the floor:
After leak-testing the plumbing there was nothing stopping the floor downstairs going down, so we got that screwed and glued as well. All done except for two boards to cut in the hallway and a strip of boards in the dining room (I needed to drive back to Manchester and was falling asleep at the saw by this point!)
Living room, you can see the fresh cut boards vs the dirty ones!
Dining room nearly finished:
It's amazing how much stiffer the floor is than the boards we lifted, it's absolutely rock solid, really impressed with it!
We also made good progress in the bathroom and hopefully most of the suite will be going in next weekend:
You can see right through the wall! (Twin brick, no cavity.)
Boards are screwed and glued as much as can be. The missing section is to allow the fitting and subsequent plumbing of the shower tray. Once the wastes are all solvent welded together the rest of the floor goes down.
I've still not sorted out a vanity unit, so I'll have to make a frame to support the sink and taps we do have so that we have the sink working in there. Might be a while before the vanity unit happens as the prices quoted mean I can get my carpenter to do bespoke from Oak to match the rest of the wood going in.
Painting continued at a pace, most of the house is now two coated in matt white, so you have to be careful to avoid snow-blindness. My Mum is there this week finishing off ceilings and a few walls that haven't been done yet, so that should be just about done for the next update.
My last bit of news is that the electrician called round on Saturday and sorted out the Blacksmiths for me! Just a small temporary installation that'll see me right until the place is properly sorted, but it's a big step forward! Two lights and 4 double sockets:
Blocks are there to block up those entrances as I don't need them, it'll make the building more secure and it'll give me more wall to hang things off. I have all the wood I need to be able to construct my workbench, so hopefully I can get that kicked off next weekend. Plan is to hang the bench full width across one side then cut my shelves so they slide underneath. I then need some more tracks for the wall and can mount the rest of the shelves above the bench. Should hopefully get my tool cabinet delivered next weekend, which will mean I can get properly organised and start using the place for more than just storage.
So we're still roughly on target. Aiming to move in towards the end of September, though I'll need to have a chat with the Financial Director about what stuff is essential prior to moving in and what can be lived with.
On the leaking joints; I fixed them with the PTFE tape no problems. But I remove PTFE tape as advised from the other joints when I redid them and they leaked instead. Annoying! When my Dad redid them this weekend he got them sorted, all good to go.
However...... he also dislodged some dirt in the box section that those pipes run through in the kitchen, which then bridged the gap between the pipes and the box, which then caused two damp patches in the fresh plaster. Also annoying. Except that it identified a leak that had been going on for a while and we were able to sort that out, dodgy connections hidden away:
Exploratory hole:
Creating a mess:
Pipes bent and dropped down:
Pipes recessed into the wall and wrapped in vapour barrier:
Cemented in place ready for a plaster skim:
So the box is gone too, which neatens things up and solves a problem I was going to have down the line. I figured it was easier to recess than to rebuild the box and to then do the fiddly tiling around it. When we sort the kitchen the worktop will be trimmed and slid left as at present the conservatory door doesn't open fully. The pipes would have made that job harder, but that's sorted. I can cut a piece of the off-cut to fill the hole left in the worktop as the best solution with that, though that was inevitable given the problem with the worktop length.
Central heating is in and working! We plumbed up all the radiators, leak tested, fixed a few leaks and then refilled and ran it up to temperature. It heats up extremely quickly and the house was boiling in no time, really impressed with it and no risk of being cold in the winter with that and the two wood burners. Need to drain, remove a few rads when the finished floor goes down, refit, flush and add inhibitors and then balance the radiators when the TRVs are on. That can wait.
I jacked up the dining room floor on scaffold planks so that a rotten cross member could be replaced. Now the floor has no bounce!
Insulation is finished in the downstairs floor. I decided to bin-off the special clips that I had been using and just prop each board on 4 nails while the expanding foam set and glued the boards in place. Can't believe I persevered with the clips, it took me an entire day messing with the first half of the dining room, but I had it all finished in about 90 minutes without having to rout slots and mess about. Maybe I got quicker at it too as I got the technique for sizing the cuts right.
Ready to go:
Done and ready for the floor:
After leak-testing the plumbing there was nothing stopping the floor downstairs going down, so we got that screwed and glued as well. All done except for two boards to cut in the hallway and a strip of boards in the dining room (I needed to drive back to Manchester and was falling asleep at the saw by this point!)
Living room, you can see the fresh cut boards vs the dirty ones!
Dining room nearly finished:
It's amazing how much stiffer the floor is than the boards we lifted, it's absolutely rock solid, really impressed with it!
We also made good progress in the bathroom and hopefully most of the suite will be going in next weekend:
You can see right through the wall! (Twin brick, no cavity.)
Boards are screwed and glued as much as can be. The missing section is to allow the fitting and subsequent plumbing of the shower tray. Once the wastes are all solvent welded together the rest of the floor goes down.
I've still not sorted out a vanity unit, so I'll have to make a frame to support the sink and taps we do have so that we have the sink working in there. Might be a while before the vanity unit happens as the prices quoted mean I can get my carpenter to do bespoke from Oak to match the rest of the wood going in.
Painting continued at a pace, most of the house is now two coated in matt white, so you have to be careful to avoid snow-blindness. My Mum is there this week finishing off ceilings and a few walls that haven't been done yet, so that should be just about done for the next update.
My last bit of news is that the electrician called round on Saturday and sorted out the Blacksmiths for me! Just a small temporary installation that'll see me right until the place is properly sorted, but it's a big step forward! Two lights and 4 double sockets:
Blocks are there to block up those entrances as I don't need them, it'll make the building more secure and it'll give me more wall to hang things off. I have all the wood I need to be able to construct my workbench, so hopefully I can get that kicked off next weekend. Plan is to hang the bench full width across one side then cut my shelves so they slide underneath. I then need some more tracks for the wall and can mount the rest of the shelves above the bench. Should hopefully get my tool cabinet delivered next weekend, which will mean I can get properly organised and start using the place for more than just storage.
So we're still roughly on target. Aiming to move in towards the end of September, though I'll need to have a chat with the Financial Director about what stuff is essential prior to moving in and what can be lived with.
Edited by paulrockliffe on Tuesday 27th August 17:22
Got a good couple of days work in over the weekend, Dad came over to teach me how to do stuff and we made a good start on the bathroom.
The wastes are in under the floor, the floor is screwed and glued. And over-boarded with plywood. The studwork for the shower is in, the back is plasterboarded, the side needs a bit more plumbing to get that boarded and the shower tray has been cemented in place.
We removed the old down-spout and replaced with new stuff, with a hopper thingy to take the wastes from bath, shower and basin. Not a conventional method of plumbing, but all our drains run to the sewage drain, so it makes no difference and is the neatest way of getting everything plumbed in.
One of the benefits of working in Manchester and living in Durham is that I get a lot of thinking time, so I was able to design a washstand in my head on the way up and put it together in about 90 minutes on Saturday morning. First proper use of my Dewalt DW770 compound mitre saw, so I did a few unnecessary mitres:
This is just a temporary solution as I've not sorted a proper stand out yet. I've brought it back to Manchester to sand and paint and I think I'm going to drop the legs a couple of inches as it's too high as it is. Very happy with it though, will look good when it's all plumbed in etc.
I spent Sunday evening working on a workbench for the Blacksmith's, progress was slow as the wall needed a few bricks trimming to get a level piece of wood on. That's screwed on and level, I've cut the sides and the next job is to get them screwed to the wall level. Then the back is to come off the wall and have the top built, then all screwed back on with a couple of joist hangers to support the front face. Sounds complicated, I'll get some pics as I'm doing it next weekend.
I've been on an adventure this evening to get wall tiles for the shower and tile adhesive for the floor tiles as that's the job for next weekend.
The wastes are in under the floor, the floor is screwed and glued. And over-boarded with plywood. The studwork for the shower is in, the back is plasterboarded, the side needs a bit more plumbing to get that boarded and the shower tray has been cemented in place.
We removed the old down-spout and replaced with new stuff, with a hopper thingy to take the wastes from bath, shower and basin. Not a conventional method of plumbing, but all our drains run to the sewage drain, so it makes no difference and is the neatest way of getting everything plumbed in.
One of the benefits of working in Manchester and living in Durham is that I get a lot of thinking time, so I was able to design a washstand in my head on the way up and put it together in about 90 minutes on Saturday morning. First proper use of my Dewalt DW770 compound mitre saw, so I did a few unnecessary mitres:
This is just a temporary solution as I've not sorted a proper stand out yet. I've brought it back to Manchester to sand and paint and I think I'm going to drop the legs a couple of inches as it's too high as it is. Very happy with it though, will look good when it's all plumbed in etc.
I spent Sunday evening working on a workbench for the Blacksmith's, progress was slow as the wall needed a few bricks trimming to get a level piece of wood on. That's screwed on and level, I've cut the sides and the next job is to get them screwed to the wall level. Then the back is to come off the wall and have the top built, then all screwed back on with a couple of joist hangers to support the front face. Sounds complicated, I'll get some pics as I'm doing it next weekend.
I've been on an adventure this evening to get wall tiles for the shower and tile adhesive for the floor tiles as that's the job for next weekend.
Gingerbread Man said:
paulrockliffe said:
I've brought it back to Manchester to sand and paint and I think I'm going to drop the legs a couple of inches as it's too high as it is.
If it helps, a basin with pedestal is normally 32" high.Thanks, we're trying to do the best we can wherever possible, but there's a few big jobs that we haven't looked at that might make a big difference. Would love to get the cavity walls insulated, but it's probably going to be too much cash for us at the moment with everything else we've got going on. Eventually the roof will want insulating properly too, but that'll be part of a loft conversion hopefully.
Spent two days working at the weekend, but popped out to see our five year old Nephew make his football debut (scored the winner!), so didn't get a great deal done on Saturday. I had intended to finish plumbing the shower valves and get the other plasterboard wall up, but I'd bought the wrong connectors and when I realised B&Q didn't open until 10 on Sunday I decided to do something else instead.
Whenever I start a new job it always involves a good bit of thinking time and you always lose a lot of time the first time round making sure you're doing things right etc, so not many pics for this week.
I started off by finishing screwing down the ply in the bathroom, then sealing with PVA. While that was drying I popped outside to carry on with my workbench. I've mounted and levelled a beam around the outside of the span, then cut 5 cross supports to length. Then I removed the beam from the wall, screwed and glued the cross supports to the beam, then screwed the front beam on. Next up the whole thing was lifted into place (Heavy!) and sat on a couple of workstands while it was rescrewed to the wall and the front beam was fixed with a pair of joist hangers.
Does that make sense? Anyway, next I cut two large sheets of 18mm ply to size and dropped those in so it looks like this:
There's surprisingly little deflection across the span and you could easily work with it as it is. I'll be putting a centre support in to stiffen it up a bit though. It does need the ply lifting out and adjusting a bit as the bench isn't perfectly square due to the constraints of working in a bent building. Once I've done that it needs the ply fixing in, a little filler and varnishing. Will need a vice fitting too. Not sure how best to fix the ply, I'd normally glue for a better working surface, but the bench is semi-temporary and it would be good to be able to reuse the ply when the time comes, so I might screw it.
Storage under the bench will probably come from the shelving that was in the workshop when I bought the place, but cut down to height. I don't know what to do about shelving above though as I deliberately made the bench very deep so any shelving on that wall will be a pain to get to.
Anyway, by this time the PVA was dry and I was back inside laying out tiles. The bathroom floor is 60 x 60 Epsilon Perla tiles from betterbathrooms.com. I'm doing the shower back and side in the same but the 60 x 30 ones. Plan is then to do the back wall where the toilet is in something bright (loads of samples coming..) and then the two side walls will be tiled in the same style of tile as the back, but in white. Walls that are tiles will be done to the height of the shower screen and the rest painted in either a white or a colour that goes with the bright tiles.
The tile layout was fairly straightforward; because of the layout I can absorb any small bits easily, but in the end there wasn't too much to worry about. Normally you'd lay from the centre of the room with an even gap around the room to fill, however this would mean just under 30cm strip running from the doorway which wouldn't look very good, but you can't see the run at the opposite side. Running a full tile by the door means trimming 15cm off the tiles that are at the far end of the room, but these aren't obvious because of the toilet bath and cabinet.
I decided the best bet was to tile out from the doorway with full-sized tiles. Highly unconventional, but it will work as there's only 3 tiles before they hit the cabinet on the side and a thick skirting board over the top, so easy enough to ensure the tiles don't go out of line further up. If there was a problem, the tiles could be cut and any gap wouldn't be visible.
The only bit I'm not entirely happy with is that I'll be left with a 5cm strip of tile running up to the shower tray. It'll look fine, but it's annoyed me because I was talked out of getting a 900 deep shower tray, which would have left me trimming the last tile to fit and no narrow strip. Oh well. The rest of the tiles fit well and will work well with the door threshold/oak step that's being made as we speak.
I managed to get two rows down, including cutting two end tiles and notching for the toilet water supply. I've got a £10 eBay wet tile cutter which made the cuts a doddle! Best £10 I've ever spent I think, just eclipsing the £16 Black and Decker Workmate!
This was a job I wasn't really looking forward to because it requires skill as well as knowledge. So far I've been just using knowledge, which is all over the internet. However I found it pretty straightforward in the end. I dry laid the two tiles for the doorway to get the first tile in that pic in the right place, then worked from there before removing the doorway tiles. The tiles in the doorway sit over the oak step to give a seamless entrance, so they can't go down for a few more weeks yet.
The tiles were easy to get level and get the corners lined up, I used the wedge system that B&Q sells to make sure, but I don't think it was really necessary or that it did much with such heavy tiles. Maybe it'll help minimise movement as the adhesive sets? I think one tile is a tiny bit low at one corner, but it's underneath the toilet, so no problems. All the grout lines look the same width and perfectly lined up! Having said that, I'll wait until I've checked them after the adhesive has set before signing the job off as a success!
Next weekend I should get the rest of the tiles down and the shower fixed and possibly tiled too. Hopefully I can et sign-off on the wall tiles and get those delivered and on the wall the following weekend, which will let me plumb in the toilet and fit the bath.
I sanded and painted up my washstand during the week. It's only temporary so I used the cheapest non-hideous B&Q paint, but I think it looks great:
The tap is fitted and the basin sat-in, the basin will likely need a bead of silicone round it, but apart from that it's ready to plumb in and fix to the wall.
The girlfriend finished painting the ceilings, but I've stopped taking pictures of white walls now, but she did get rid of the hideous green on the archway:
It needs some filling and sanding and a few more coats, but looks loads better now!
Hopefully the oak floor will be ordered this week, I'm nearly ready to order coving and the hearth has been ordered. Once that's tiled the stove can go in, and the living room will start coming together.
More next week........
Spent two days working at the weekend, but popped out to see our five year old Nephew make his football debut (scored the winner!), so didn't get a great deal done on Saturday. I had intended to finish plumbing the shower valves and get the other plasterboard wall up, but I'd bought the wrong connectors and when I realised B&Q didn't open until 10 on Sunday I decided to do something else instead.
Whenever I start a new job it always involves a good bit of thinking time and you always lose a lot of time the first time round making sure you're doing things right etc, so not many pics for this week.
I started off by finishing screwing down the ply in the bathroom, then sealing with PVA. While that was drying I popped outside to carry on with my workbench. I've mounted and levelled a beam around the outside of the span, then cut 5 cross supports to length. Then I removed the beam from the wall, screwed and glued the cross supports to the beam, then screwed the front beam on. Next up the whole thing was lifted into place (Heavy!) and sat on a couple of workstands while it was rescrewed to the wall and the front beam was fixed with a pair of joist hangers.
Does that make sense? Anyway, next I cut two large sheets of 18mm ply to size and dropped those in so it looks like this:
There's surprisingly little deflection across the span and you could easily work with it as it is. I'll be putting a centre support in to stiffen it up a bit though. It does need the ply lifting out and adjusting a bit as the bench isn't perfectly square due to the constraints of working in a bent building. Once I've done that it needs the ply fixing in, a little filler and varnishing. Will need a vice fitting too. Not sure how best to fix the ply, I'd normally glue for a better working surface, but the bench is semi-temporary and it would be good to be able to reuse the ply when the time comes, so I might screw it.
Storage under the bench will probably come from the shelving that was in the workshop when I bought the place, but cut down to height. I don't know what to do about shelving above though as I deliberately made the bench very deep so any shelving on that wall will be a pain to get to.
Anyway, by this time the PVA was dry and I was back inside laying out tiles. The bathroom floor is 60 x 60 Epsilon Perla tiles from betterbathrooms.com. I'm doing the shower back and side in the same but the 60 x 30 ones. Plan is then to do the back wall where the toilet is in something bright (loads of samples coming..) and then the two side walls will be tiled in the same style of tile as the back, but in white. Walls that are tiles will be done to the height of the shower screen and the rest painted in either a white or a colour that goes with the bright tiles.
The tile layout was fairly straightforward; because of the layout I can absorb any small bits easily, but in the end there wasn't too much to worry about. Normally you'd lay from the centre of the room with an even gap around the room to fill, however this would mean just under 30cm strip running from the doorway which wouldn't look very good, but you can't see the run at the opposite side. Running a full tile by the door means trimming 15cm off the tiles that are at the far end of the room, but these aren't obvious because of the toilet bath and cabinet.
I decided the best bet was to tile out from the doorway with full-sized tiles. Highly unconventional, but it will work as there's only 3 tiles before they hit the cabinet on the side and a thick skirting board over the top, so easy enough to ensure the tiles don't go out of line further up. If there was a problem, the tiles could be cut and any gap wouldn't be visible.
The only bit I'm not entirely happy with is that I'll be left with a 5cm strip of tile running up to the shower tray. It'll look fine, but it's annoyed me because I was talked out of getting a 900 deep shower tray, which would have left me trimming the last tile to fit and no narrow strip. Oh well. The rest of the tiles fit well and will work well with the door threshold/oak step that's being made as we speak.
I managed to get two rows down, including cutting two end tiles and notching for the toilet water supply. I've got a £10 eBay wet tile cutter which made the cuts a doddle! Best £10 I've ever spent I think, just eclipsing the £16 Black and Decker Workmate!
This was a job I wasn't really looking forward to because it requires skill as well as knowledge. So far I've been just using knowledge, which is all over the internet. However I found it pretty straightforward in the end. I dry laid the two tiles for the doorway to get the first tile in that pic in the right place, then worked from there before removing the doorway tiles. The tiles in the doorway sit over the oak step to give a seamless entrance, so they can't go down for a few more weeks yet.
The tiles were easy to get level and get the corners lined up, I used the wedge system that B&Q sells to make sure, but I don't think it was really necessary or that it did much with such heavy tiles. Maybe it'll help minimise movement as the adhesive sets? I think one tile is a tiny bit low at one corner, but it's underneath the toilet, so no problems. All the grout lines look the same width and perfectly lined up! Having said that, I'll wait until I've checked them after the adhesive has set before signing the job off as a success!
Next weekend I should get the rest of the tiles down and the shower fixed and possibly tiled too. Hopefully I can et sign-off on the wall tiles and get those delivered and on the wall the following weekend, which will let me plumb in the toilet and fit the bath.
I sanded and painted up my washstand during the week. It's only temporary so I used the cheapest non-hideous B&Q paint, but I think it looks great:
The tap is fitted and the basin sat-in, the basin will likely need a bead of silicone round it, but apart from that it's ready to plumb in and fix to the wall.
The girlfriend finished painting the ceilings, but I've stopped taking pictures of white walls now, but she did get rid of the hideous green on the archway:
It needs some filling and sanding and a few more coats, but looks loads better now!
Hopefully the oak floor will be ordered this week, I'm nearly ready to order coving and the hearth has been ordered. Once that's tiled the stove can go in, and the living room will start coming together.
More next week........
Thanks, yes that's my Dad's influence I think. We're able to do everything to a very high spec because we're not paying someone else to do the work for us, so I get to have all the woodwork machined from oak trees at a little sawmill near Penrith rather than having Travis Perkins send me MDF skirtings to paint etc. (also it's the only way I'll get a budget signed off for the workshop to be done to the spec I'm aiming for...)
To keep motivated and pushing things forward I'm treating it as a second job, every time I get tired and have a strop because the walls aren't square or the floors aren't level I think about how much I'd have had to pay a professional to do the work and focus on what I'm going to do with the savings when I'm finished (Westfield...?)
I don't think I've done any jobs yet where I think I would have preferred someone else to just do them, I'd rather have done it myself and learned something. Only complaint is really that I can't spend enough time working each week because I'm away during the week so it's taken longer than hoped to get to where we are. Once we're moved in I think the pace will slow a bit because I need to get back out on my bike at the weekends.
Just had word that the skirting boards are being delivered this afternoon and that the newel posts and banister rails will be ready next Friday. Really looking forward to the skirting, it's 7" x 1" oak to match the doors with a slightly modified ogee profile. Should look fantastic!
To keep motivated and pushing things forward I'm treating it as a second job, every time I get tired and have a strop because the walls aren't square or the floors aren't level I think about how much I'd have had to pay a professional to do the work and focus on what I'm going to do with the savings when I'm finished (Westfield...?)
I don't think I've done any jobs yet where I think I would have preferred someone else to just do them, I'd rather have done it myself and learned something. Only complaint is really that I can't spend enough time working each week because I'm away during the week so it's taken longer than hoped to get to where we are. Once we're moved in I think the pace will slow a bit because I need to get back out on my bike at the weekends.
Just had word that the skirting boards are being delivered this afternoon and that the newel posts and banister rails will be ready next Friday. Really looking forward to the skirting, it's 7" x 1" oak to match the doors with a slightly modified ogee profile. Should look fantastic!
Here it is! Lovely English Oak!
Skirting Boards:
Architraves:
The skirtings have been supplied in 5m lengths ready to be cut to length. Someone on a different thread told me that it wasn't possible to get lengths over 4m and they had a good reason for that, so not sure what's going on here. I asked my Dad about it and he said he was offered up to 8m in length, though that stuff was French.
Mum is staining it all ready and then I need to hire a van to go and retrieve it from the Lakes a week on Friday.
Skirting Boards:
Architraves:
The skirtings have been supplied in 5m lengths ready to be cut to length. Someone on a different thread told me that it wasn't possible to get lengths over 4m and they had a good reason for that, so not sure what's going on here. I asked my Dad about it and he said he was offered up to 8m in length, though that stuff was French.
Mum is staining it all ready and then I need to hire a van to go and retrieve it from the Lakes a week on Friday.
Lynch91 said:
This looks really good, I initially hadn't realised that those were tiles not floor boards! Any chance you have a link for them?
Just one other thing, unless you chop the skirting you are going to need a lorry as a sprinter lwb has a load bay of 4.5m
The tiles are these:Just one other thing, unless you chop the skirting you are going to need a lorry as a sprinter lwb has a load bay of 4.5m
http://www.betterbathrooms.com/bathroom-tiles/bath...
You should note that although their website (and the order picking software) says there's three in a box, there's actually four. Bear that in mind if you were to order them or you'll end up returning a few boxes! Also, 10 boxes weighs about 300kg and will bottom out the suspension of a Ford Focus. Perhaps the most important advice I can give you is that if you collect from their warehouse in Leigh they'll charge you a price that is a good bit lower than the website; I paid £24 a box rather than the £30 that's on the website and the same thing happened when I went back for matching wall tiles. I didn't ask for a discount either.
The tiles are really very nice. We struggled to find something that was nice and that wasn't slippery, these have a slightly textured surface. We didn't want white or black and a colour wouldn't work because if you decide to redecorate it's new tiles time. These are perfect.
My Dad is cutting the skirting to length as I type and sorting them out for each room according to my spreadsheet, so they will mostly all fit in. There's one length that is 5m long, it'll have to go on the roof of my Dad's camper van I think.
Ha ha, there are spreadsheets for everything, it's the only way to make sure the right hand knows what the left hand is thinking.
Each piece of skirting is laid out on the sheet as a border along some cells so my Dad and the woodman can see exactly where each one goes in the house. The length is then marked and the sheet sums all the lengths by room and gives a total. It means if I get something wrong my Dad should spot it and it means the woodman has made sure all the lengths fit onto the lengths supplied and I won't be making up one wall with a load of off-cuts.
Each piece of skirting is laid out on the sheet as a border along some cells so my Dad and the woodman can see exactly where each one goes in the house. The length is then marked and the sheet sums all the lengths by room and gives a total. It means if I get something wrong my Dad should spot it and it means the woodman has made sure all the lengths fit onto the lengths supplied and I won't be making up one wall with a load of off-cuts.
He's this weeks update for you all. Managed to get quite a lot done, but everything takes so much longer when it's going back in, so sometimes it doesn't seem like I've managed to do all that much. I've still got plenty of pictures for you though!
I'm still working on the bathroom, it's taking longer than I'd hoped. If you've seen my other thread you'll know I've been pratting about trying to fix a couple of weeping connections on my shower. Still not there, but have a few things to try next weekend so hopefully it won't delay me any more. Because of that I've not been able to get the last plasterboard on, so I can't fir the shower screen or start tiling.
I must have spent three hours bending two bits of pipe to get to this point:
I fired up the boiler and filled a bucket with lovely hot water, so now I'm reasonably confident we'll have good flow to the shower heads. Then someone on here pointed out that those isolators will restrict the flow and given that they're going to be plasterboarded in, I decided to crack out the blowtorch again:
I also did my first ever grouting. Think it went ok, but I guess I won't know for sure for a while. Looks great anyway:
The basin is fully plumbed in, though I need to swap the trap as that one is a 40mm one on a 32mm thread, so it leaks a tiny bit. It was great to hear the water flowing under the floor and see it flying out of the downspout into the drain. A little disconcerting how noisy the waste was, but I'm hoping when the bath is connected it'll be a bit quieter. The toilet isn't plumbed in yet, I need to tile that back wall first....
I ran up the central heating on Saturday as it was a bit cold and I wanted to see what it was like, I had to turn the boiler downs as the towel rails were too hot to touch, so shouldn't have any problems keeping warm.
Still a lot of work to do in the bathroom, but I'm confident it'll be finished in a fortnight now.
Oak floor has arrived, two days after ordering! We managed to negotiate a decent discount, free Tonguetite screws and free Saturday delivery, so I man-handled a cubic metre of wood into the house and had a play about. If you've never seen a cubic metre of wood, imagine this picture with another 6 packs next to it:
We'd had a sample and really liked it, turns out it wasn't representative and what we've ordered has more detail and better colour and looks absolutely stunning!
Really pleased with this and looking forward to getting it all fitted.
Speaking of wood, my Dad took delivery of 12 cubic feet of Oak last week and has been busy cutting it to approximate length and staining and varnishing. These are going to look stunning, I'm really pleased with them and I've only seen pictures so far.
Some of the architraves (70mm x 1"):
A few of the skirting boards (7" x 1"):
Before the oak floor can out down there were a few little bits of tidying up to do, with some gaps around the two hearths, so I got the shovel out and mixed a couple of barrows of mortar and used some plastic sheeting to seal the holes enough to support the mortar while it sets:
Lastly, the marble tiles arrived for the hearth in the living room. I found time to lay these out and work out which ones to cut where:
Unfortunately and inexplicably, every single one has had a corner damaged:
None have two corners done and they weren't done in transit so I've no idea what happened to them. A quick email last night and replacements are being sent out. As it happens a lot of them could still be used as they're being cut, so I'll be able to do the two hearths upstairs as well now too.
Speaking of s
te products but great customer service, I had my electrician start second fix last week. Turns out all my sockets and plugs are ste too. But another email last night and I've got a refund. My electrician had already matched them at his suppliers as I needed some intermediate switches, so he's ordering replacements for everything, that actually look a lot better, so I'm happy.
See that gap between switch and face plate? It's caused by the holes in the plates being slightly in the wrong place. By forcing the plates on they can't be fitted to the switch properly. When these are fitted to the wall the plate then curves because the screws are angled inwards. The whole design is reliant on the flat plate being in complete contact with the wall and the switch being in complete contact with the plate. As a result when fitted (Most couldn't be fitted) the socket wobbles in the back box and the switch wobbles in the plate. Id already sent loads back because the rivets had been split and looked really ugly. Complete ste.
Next up; my parents and I have next week off work so we've nine days to break the back of the project; we're going to work a room at a time, coving, architraves, flooring, skirting, door and move onto the next. My Mum can then move in with the finished coat of paint. I'll let my Dad concentrate on those jobs and then while he doesn't need me I'll work on getting the bathroom finished.
Should get downstairs done, then upstairs we won't do the skirting unless I can test my alarm wires as the floor isn't fixed down yet. I've got new banisters, newel posts and steps for the bathroom and kitchen to collect and I expect those will take a bit of time to get fitted.
I'm moving in at the end of the week regardless, though I'm only in Durham at the weekends.
I doubt I'll have time to update you next week, so expect a big update in a fortnight.
I'm still working on the bathroom, it's taking longer than I'd hoped. If you've seen my other thread you'll know I've been pratting about trying to fix a couple of weeping connections on my shower. Still not there, but have a few things to try next weekend so hopefully it won't delay me any more. Because of that I've not been able to get the last plasterboard on, so I can't fir the shower screen or start tiling.
I must have spent three hours bending two bits of pipe to get to this point:
I fired up the boiler and filled a bucket with lovely hot water, so now I'm reasonably confident we'll have good flow to the shower heads. Then someone on here pointed out that those isolators will restrict the flow and given that they're going to be plasterboarded in, I decided to crack out the blowtorch again:
I also did my first ever grouting. Think it went ok, but I guess I won't know for sure for a while. Looks great anyway:
The basin is fully plumbed in, though I need to swap the trap as that one is a 40mm one on a 32mm thread, so it leaks a tiny bit. It was great to hear the water flowing under the floor and see it flying out of the downspout into the drain. A little disconcerting how noisy the waste was, but I'm hoping when the bath is connected it'll be a bit quieter. The toilet isn't plumbed in yet, I need to tile that back wall first....
I ran up the central heating on Saturday as it was a bit cold and I wanted to see what it was like, I had to turn the boiler downs as the towel rails were too hot to touch, so shouldn't have any problems keeping warm.
Still a lot of work to do in the bathroom, but I'm confident it'll be finished in a fortnight now.
Oak floor has arrived, two days after ordering! We managed to negotiate a decent discount, free Tonguetite screws and free Saturday delivery, so I man-handled a cubic metre of wood into the house and had a play about. If you've never seen a cubic metre of wood, imagine this picture with another 6 packs next to it:
We'd had a sample and really liked it, turns out it wasn't representative and what we've ordered has more detail and better colour and looks absolutely stunning!
Really pleased with this and looking forward to getting it all fitted.
Speaking of wood, my Dad took delivery of 12 cubic feet of Oak last week and has been busy cutting it to approximate length and staining and varnishing. These are going to look stunning, I'm really pleased with them and I've only seen pictures so far.
Some of the architraves (70mm x 1"):
A few of the skirting boards (7" x 1"):
Before the oak floor can out down there were a few little bits of tidying up to do, with some gaps around the two hearths, so I got the shovel out and mixed a couple of barrows of mortar and used some plastic sheeting to seal the holes enough to support the mortar while it sets:
Lastly, the marble tiles arrived for the hearth in the living room. I found time to lay these out and work out which ones to cut where:
Unfortunately and inexplicably, every single one has had a corner damaged:
None have two corners done and they weren't done in transit so I've no idea what happened to them. A quick email last night and replacements are being sent out. As it happens a lot of them could still be used as they're being cut, so I'll be able to do the two hearths upstairs as well now too.
Speaking of s
te products but great customer service, I had my electrician start second fix last week. Turns out all my sockets and plugs are ste too. But another email last night and I've got a refund. My electrician had already matched them at his suppliers as I needed some intermediate switches, so he's ordering replacements for everything, that actually look a lot better, so I'm happy.See that gap between switch and face plate? It's caused by the holes in the plates being slightly in the wrong place. By forcing the plates on they can't be fitted to the switch properly. When these are fitted to the wall the plate then curves because the screws are angled inwards. The whole design is reliant on the flat plate being in complete contact with the wall and the switch being in complete contact with the plate. As a result when fitted (Most couldn't be fitted) the socket wobbles in the back box and the switch wobbles in the plate. Id already sent loads back because the rivets had been split and looked really ugly. Complete s
te.Next up; my parents and I have next week off work so we've nine days to break the back of the project; we're going to work a room at a time, coving, architraves, flooring, skirting, door and move onto the next. My Mum can then move in with the finished coat of paint. I'll let my Dad concentrate on those jobs and then while he doesn't need me I'll work on getting the bathroom finished.
Should get downstairs done, then upstairs we won't do the skirting unless I can test my alarm wires as the floor isn't fixed down yet. I've got new banisters, newel posts and steps for the bathroom and kitchen to collect and I expect those will take a bit of time to get fitted.
I'm moving in at the end of the week regardless, though I'm only in Durham at the weekends.
I doubt I'll have time to update you next week, so expect a big update in a fortnight.
dazwalsh said:
I put a huge amount of that exact same flooring down in my mums living room, think it was approaching 40 sqm. Fantastic service by UK flooring direct and it still looks perfect 1 year in. Those tongue tite screws are awesome just make sure you drill pilot holes first as the wood is liable to split.
I've ordered 55sqm of it, it's to do our hallway, living room and dining room, agree the service has been great. The screws say they don't need a pilot hole and my Dad did an identical floor without pilot holes, so I'll see how I go and only drill pilots if necessary.Edited by dazwalsh on Tuesday 17th September 09:09
Right, finally back and have a bit of time to update. Been pretty tired since the weekend as I ended up working 8am to 10pm pretty much every day for 9 days. Things take ages to go back in don't they! The long hours were so we had a chance of getting through everything we had planned, but there's still a lot left to do!
Anyway, we started with the coving in the living room and dining room. Took a while to get up to speed, but once we were into it it went up fairly quickly. Mum has sanded it and painted it and it looks really good now. Obviously nothing was straight, so quite a lot of faffing about was required:
Next up we tackled the floor downstairs. This is 18mm solid oak across the hallway, living room and dining room. We'll be taking it into the pantry too as we've lots of spare. We have laid it as one continuous floor across the three rooms with no thresholds. The intention was to tie the downstairs rooms together aesthetically and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out!
Floor is fixed with Tonguetite screws, no underlay or glue and the door frames were set for height to allow the floor under. It went in fairly well, though with 37 rows in the two rooms it took the best part of two days for me and my Dad to get it all down! We should have gone for 150mm ratehr than 125mm boards to save some time.
Unfortunately the floor was quickly covered in cardboard to protect it while we're finishing the rooms off, so it'll be a while before we can properly admire the job, it all now looks like this:
While we were doing the floor, Mum worked her way through all the doors, stained and two coats of varnish, so the next job was to get most of them fitted. I borrowed a couple of routers and a jig, which made things pretty easy. We spent about 90 minutes getting it all set up then about 20 minutes a door getting them hung and then 30 mins adjusting any doors that needed a tweak. 6 doors on, with the bathroom door still to be adjusted once I've stuck the rest of the tiles down. There's still a door under the stairs, a sliding door to the kitchen and the hallway door left to fit but these are all waiting the frames fitting.
My Dad spent 2.5 hours fitting one door knob and then decided that there were better uses of his time. Might need to get a pro in for these as they're a massive faff! Look great though:
Next job was the bathroom; as things stood everything was still to fit and the floor was only part-tiled. I started by tiling the back wall to allow the toilet to be fitted, then tiled one side wall where the bath will go.
The tiles are level, but the floor falls about an inch across it's width!
Toilet was then fitted and we got the new 110mm waste pipe connected into the old cast-iton stuff. That was a bit of a pain as the cast iron bit wasn't really the right size, but some angle-grinder work and a mallet soon had the two pipes fitted together. They won't be coming apart in a hurry!
I've cut the rest of the floor tiles, after removing towel rails so they could be drilled for the central heating pipes. These are all still to be fixed down as I ran out of time on Sunday, but getting them down will be relatively quick compared to getting them all cut.
The grouting is still to finish and the tiles are going higher and I need to tile the left hand wall, but I should be able to get through all that over the weekend. The bath is still to fit, but that's not a huge job.
We fitted the shower cubicle and that now just needs tiling, grouting and the shower heads fitting. Took a good bit of time to get that in as every bit needed to be plumb and square etc. The door still needs a bit of adjustment, but we're really pleased with how it's come out:
While I was tiling the bathroom, the electrician was making a start on the second fix and that should be largely finished in the next couple of weeks, so we'll have light and electricity in time for winter too!
Dad got stuck into his favourite subject; carpentry and we now have a step into the bathroom! This arrived from our sawmill as 4 lengths of oak and two softwood supports. My idea was to run the top step flush with the tiles in the bathroom with a minimal gap, with the back edge sat on the first joist and routed to allow the tiles to sit on top with no threshold.
Dad managed to execute the plan brilliantly, especially as he was dealing with the fact that none of the walls that the step is up to are flat, square or parallel! The main issue was that the step is flush to the back of the door frame, but the front edge is then way off parallel with the outer landing walls. We've ended up with a slight twist on the two steps to take this into account and you can't really tell.
Dad also sorted that window sills in the living room bay window and this too looks fantastic, no picture though as he's taken it home with him to be stained and to have the biscuit joints cut. Should be fixed in at the weekend, so pictures next week.
Some architraves and skirting went in too. Again, we're really pleased with these and we're really looking forward to getting these all finished.
The living room is closest to being finished; it should be painted at the weekend and we'll get the rest of the skirtings in now my surround sound wires have arrived. These are being fitted to the skirting by tapping RCA plugs in and knocking a small hole in the wall behind to accommodate. There's a discrete set of speakers going on (Can anyone recommend a small amplifier, preferably one that'll take it's volume input from a panasonic TV?), but nothing too loud as I've got a proper sound system in the workshop where I can watch movies and Formula 1.
Wall lights are on, sofas were delivered, so I just need second fix completing, sills fitting, paint, skirtings on, hearth and fire fitting and we're done in here.
Unfortunately I managed to fk up the light switch location, it's behind the door. I've done the same in out bedroom, though it was inescapable in there. Solution is going to be to drill through the wall and fit a second switch to the hall lights switch on the outside of the room. This is about the first thing I've got wrong, so I'm a bit annoyed!
The last job we did was to chop down a few conifers next to the Christmas as they were hindering it's even growth.
There were 4 separate things growing here, all competing for the same space. We've managed to recover 2m of land from underneath and I got sign-off to take down the three big Leylandii that are left at some point too, so the garden will be a bit bigger shortly. Will need a suitable replacement if anyone has any ideas?
So, good progress and we're starting to look like a house again. Highlight of the week was going to the toilet INSIDE my own house for the first time in 5 months!
Next weekend I'm hoping to get all the tiling finished in the bathroom and have a working shower and bath. My parents are coming across again, so we should get some painting done and get some more coving, architraves and skirting in. There's an outside chance that the new banister will be ready, so that could go in instead.
Anyway, we started with the coving in the living room and dining room. Took a while to get up to speed, but once we were into it it went up fairly quickly. Mum has sanded it and painted it and it looks really good now. Obviously nothing was straight, so quite a lot of faffing about was required:
Next up we tackled the floor downstairs. This is 18mm solid oak across the hallway, living room and dining room. We'll be taking it into the pantry too as we've lots of spare. We have laid it as one continuous floor across the three rooms with no thresholds. The intention was to tie the downstairs rooms together aesthetically and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out!
Floor is fixed with Tonguetite screws, no underlay or glue and the door frames were set for height to allow the floor under. It went in fairly well, though with 37 rows in the two rooms it took the best part of two days for me and my Dad to get it all down! We should have gone for 150mm ratehr than 125mm boards to save some time.
Unfortunately the floor was quickly covered in cardboard to protect it while we're finishing the rooms off, so it'll be a while before we can properly admire the job, it all now looks like this:
While we were doing the floor, Mum worked her way through all the doors, stained and two coats of varnish, so the next job was to get most of them fitted. I borrowed a couple of routers and a jig, which made things pretty easy. We spent about 90 minutes getting it all set up then about 20 minutes a door getting them hung and then 30 mins adjusting any doors that needed a tweak. 6 doors on, with the bathroom door still to be adjusted once I've stuck the rest of the tiles down. There's still a door under the stairs, a sliding door to the kitchen and the hallway door left to fit but these are all waiting the frames fitting.
My Dad spent 2.5 hours fitting one door knob and then decided that there were better uses of his time. Might need to get a pro in for these as they're a massive faff! Look great though:
Next job was the bathroom; as things stood everything was still to fit and the floor was only part-tiled. I started by tiling the back wall to allow the toilet to be fitted, then tiled one side wall where the bath will go.
The tiles are level, but the floor falls about an inch across it's width!
Toilet was then fitted and we got the new 110mm waste pipe connected into the old cast-iton stuff. That was a bit of a pain as the cast iron bit wasn't really the right size, but some angle-grinder work and a mallet soon had the two pipes fitted together. They won't be coming apart in a hurry!
I've cut the rest of the floor tiles, after removing towel rails so they could be drilled for the central heating pipes. These are all still to be fixed down as I ran out of time on Sunday, but getting them down will be relatively quick compared to getting them all cut.
The grouting is still to finish and the tiles are going higher and I need to tile the left hand wall, but I should be able to get through all that over the weekend. The bath is still to fit, but that's not a huge job.
We fitted the shower cubicle and that now just needs tiling, grouting and the shower heads fitting. Took a good bit of time to get that in as every bit needed to be plumb and square etc. The door still needs a bit of adjustment, but we're really pleased with how it's come out:
While I was tiling the bathroom, the electrician was making a start on the second fix and that should be largely finished in the next couple of weeks, so we'll have light and electricity in time for winter too!
Dad got stuck into his favourite subject; carpentry and we now have a step into the bathroom! This arrived from our sawmill as 4 lengths of oak and two softwood supports. My idea was to run the top step flush with the tiles in the bathroom with a minimal gap, with the back edge sat on the first joist and routed to allow the tiles to sit on top with no threshold.
Dad managed to execute the plan brilliantly, especially as he was dealing with the fact that none of the walls that the step is up to are flat, square or parallel! The main issue was that the step is flush to the back of the door frame, but the front edge is then way off parallel with the outer landing walls. We've ended up with a slight twist on the two steps to take this into account and you can't really tell.
Dad also sorted that window sills in the living room bay window and this too looks fantastic, no picture though as he's taken it home with him to be stained and to have the biscuit joints cut. Should be fixed in at the weekend, so pictures next week.
Some architraves and skirting went in too. Again, we're really pleased with these and we're really looking forward to getting these all finished.
The living room is closest to being finished; it should be painted at the weekend and we'll get the rest of the skirtings in now my surround sound wires have arrived. These are being fitted to the skirting by tapping RCA plugs in and knocking a small hole in the wall behind to accommodate. There's a discrete set of speakers going on (Can anyone recommend a small amplifier, preferably one that'll take it's volume input from a panasonic TV?), but nothing too loud as I've got a proper sound system in the workshop where I can watch movies and Formula 1.
Wall lights are on, sofas were delivered, so I just need second fix completing, sills fitting, paint, skirtings on, hearth and fire fitting and we're done in here.
Unfortunately I managed to f
k up the light switch location, it's behind the door. I've done the same in out bedroom, though it was inescapable in there. Solution is going to be to drill through the wall and fit a second switch to the hall lights switch on the outside of the room. This is about the first thing I've got wrong, so I'm a bit annoyed!The last job we did was to chop down a few conifers next to the Christmas as they were hindering it's even growth.
There were 4 separate things growing here, all competing for the same space. We've managed to recover 2m of land from underneath and I got sign-off to take down the three big Leylandii that are left at some point too, so the garden will be a bit bigger shortly. Will need a suitable replacement if anyone has any ideas?
So, good progress and we're starting to look like a house again. Highlight of the week was going to the toilet INSIDE my own house for the first time in 5 months!
Next weekend I'm hoping to get all the tiling finished in the bathroom and have a working shower and bath. My parents are coming across again, so we should get some painting done and get some more coving, architraves and skirting in. There's an outside chance that the new banister will be ready, so that could go in instead.
Craikeybaby said:
For the light switches would it be easier to swap the door opening? I made the same mistake in my office.
Upstairs I can't swap the door round as the other end is a stud wall that sticks into the room about a foot, there's nowhere to put a switch on that side other than the back of the stud wall.Downstairs, I could but I think the door very obviously should be hinged the way it is as it hinges into a dead space rather than against the arm of the sofa. The door can be comfortably left open as it is, but hinging the other way it would intrude into the room.
It would be easier to swap that door round (except the hing would need to be cut on the other edge), but it wouldn't be 'right'.
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