Chamonix studio renovation - build thread
Discussion
Chamonix is known as the birthplace of extreme sports, after all.jke11y said:
Gruffy said:
so I had my local Bermondsey place quote me and it came in at £1,600 + VAT. That's being cut this week and I'm shipping it off to my joiner in Brum to bring down with the staircase.
And they'll be getting it from European in Park Royal at 30+less again 
Driller said:
Great project, beautiful place!
Were you careful to smash the asbestos up really small before you chucked it in the skip?
The tiles are a job for this morning (along with carpet and wallpaper). We're pretty confident they'll come up in good pieces. I bloody hope so otherwise that'll seriously dent the budget and the schedule!Were you careful to smash the asbestos up really small before you chucked it in the skip?
I always find prices in France for materials fairly shocking - paint in particular, something like 50E for 2.5l of bog standard Dulux emulsion!
We've got a similar place in L2A and tend to bring as much from the UK as possible, although that said the Castorama (think B&Q megastore) down in Grenoble isn't bad for some stuff, but its a 3 hour round trip!
We've got a similar place in L2A and tend to bring as much from the UK as possible, although that said the Castorama (think B&Q megastore) down in Grenoble isn't bad for some stuff, but its a 3 hour round trip!
Driller said:
Prices for DIY stuff in France are a disgrace. The whole thing is a cartel.
Eg A double wall socket made out of s
tty flexible plastic, no switch and you have to connect BOTH sockets in side yourself, no copper tracking between the two.
€17.50!
Sounds like a business opportunity to me...Eg A double wall socket made out of s
tty flexible plastic, no switch and you have to connect BOTH sockets in side yourself, no copper tracking between the two.€17.50!
Day 4
Finally confirmed the glass this morning. I checked in a couple of local places now that I'm on the ground and nobody could turn it around quickly enough. I also met another Brit who does a lot of building out here and he reckoned they'd never come close on price. Luckily my supplier in Bermondsey came through and will get it to the joiner in time for his drive down next weekend.
Gathered up all the materials for the mezzanine floor this morning. Just got in there before the 12 o'clock siesta started, so they sawed them into manageable pieces, because 12m is a bit much to be hanging out of the van.
"Doe fret and keep gooin" - Maurice is 'black country' (and all about H&S)
Half the wall hangers are up now. I was desperate to keep the floor as thin as possible, to save headroom - I'm 6'4" and we have a total height of 4.3m for both floors. We were also partly limited by what wall hangers were available, so we ended up using 140x140mm joists with 400mm spacing for a span of 3.75m. This felt a bit on the safe side - which I'm happy with - but it wasn't until we started marking up for the hangers that we realised we'd gone properly overboard. Somehow we'd both been picturing 400mm gaps, not 400mm spacing. About 40% of the whole floor space is now joists. A tiny bit closer and we could have done without floorboards altogether! Still, at least it ain't going anywhere.
Essential tools for the job. Now whenever Maurice floats an air biscuit (roughly 5 minute intervals), I can blow raspberries of my own.
Finally confirmed the glass this morning. I checked in a couple of local places now that I'm on the ground and nobody could turn it around quickly enough. I also met another Brit who does a lot of building out here and he reckoned they'd never come close on price. Luckily my supplier in Bermondsey came through and will get it to the joiner in time for his drive down next weekend.
Gathered up all the materials for the mezzanine floor this morning. Just got in there before the 12 o'clock siesta started, so they sawed them into manageable pieces, because 12m is a bit much to be hanging out of the van.
"Doe fret and keep gooin" - Maurice is 'black country' (and all about H&S)
Half the wall hangers are up now. I was desperate to keep the floor as thin as possible, to save headroom - I'm 6'4" and we have a total height of 4.3m for both floors. We were also partly limited by what wall hangers were available, so we ended up using 140x140mm joists with 400mm spacing for a span of 3.75m. This felt a bit on the safe side - which I'm happy with - but it wasn't until we started marking up for the hangers that we realised we'd gone properly overboard. Somehow we'd both been picturing 400mm gaps, not 400mm spacing. About 40% of the whole floor space is now joists. A tiny bit closer and we could have done without floorboards altogether! Still, at least it ain't going anywhere.
Essential tools for the job. Now whenever Maurice floats an air biscuit (roughly 5 minute intervals), I can blow raspberries of my own.
Whoops. I priced up my kitchen with using ikea.co.uk thinking it'd be broadly similar in Geneva. Most of the appliances are 60% over the UK prices!?
HJÄLPSAM slimline dishwasher
IKEA UK £300
IKEA Geneva 699CHF (£479)
FORKYLD integrated fridge
IKEA UK £350
IKEA Geneva 799CHF (£548)
RENLIG integrated washing machine
IKEA UK £400
IKEA GENEVA 899CHF (£616)
MOJLIG 2-plate induction hob
IKEA UK £220
IKEA GENEVA 399CHF (£273)
Total cost in Blighty = £1,270
Total cost in Geneva = £1,916
Difference of £646
HJÄLPSAM slimline dishwasher
IKEA UK £300
IKEA Geneva 699CHF (£479)
FORKYLD integrated fridge
IKEA UK £350
IKEA Geneva 799CHF (£548)
RENLIG integrated washing machine
IKEA UK £400
IKEA GENEVA 899CHF (£616)
MOJLIG 2-plate induction hob
IKEA UK £220
IKEA GENEVA 399CHF (£273)
Total cost in Blighty = £1,270
Total cost in Geneva = £1,916
Difference of £646
What a result. One of the black country glass processors I asked to quote has come back massively cheaper than my London lot. The Bermondsey outfit were very decent about it and let me back out without any penalty at all. He even refused to let me cover his costs for the glass saying he'd use it somewhere else - decent bloke. The black country gang needed a bit of £lubricating to get it turned around quickly enough but I'm still up by about £500 all said and done.
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