Chamonix studio renovation - build thread
Discussion
Here's the wiring after exposing it a bit better. 2 cut through, 1 that can be saved and 2 still clean. We'll drop some terminals in there to patch the knackered wires and run our conduit underneath it.
Made a start on the downstairs plumbing. Not a great deal to do in all honesty.
No tapering threads in France so it's the old school approach of paste and hemp. How quaint.
Made a start on the downstairs plumbing. Not a great deal to do in all honesty.
No tapering threads in France so it's the old school approach of paste and hemp. How quaint.
I've hit my first major problem. The glass for the stairs is in and rock solid. The glass for the mezzanine is in, but with too much play (10mm at the top edge). More details on this thread. Can anybody offer advice?
barryrs said:
10mm at the top only equates to around 1.5-2mm at the point that the glass meets the timber base plate and the timber could could be out by that much.
I would try a firm 5mm rubber foam between the glass and timber and bolt the timber plate up tight as i dont think screws will cut it.
Sounds like a good plan. We'll give that a whirl. I would try a firm 5mm rubber foam between the glass and timber and bolt the timber plate up tight as i dont think screws will cut it.
It's also screwed through the glass in three places (along the pencil line), but I think we can use wider bolts and fill the 20mm holes a bit better. We're going to build up the fixing to about 220mm tall tomorrow, use better material underneath the glass and chuck a load of silicon all over the place. Hopefully that'll sort it.
Edited by Gruffy on Tuesday 8th October 21:45
Day 12
Spent the morning not getting the glass in. The afternoon was spent in IKEA Geneva, buying a kitchen and then smuggling it back into France. 700kg of the stuff. That was a bugger to load/unload on my own.
Day 13
The first half of the day was gathering new supplies for the glass; getting the timber just right. The glass is finally in. Approx 4mm play at the top (1m out of the floor). I'm happy enough with that. 16mm bolts right through the 140mm joist. That seemed to do the trick.
Spent the morning not getting the glass in. The afternoon was spent in IKEA Geneva, buying a kitchen and then smuggling it back into France. 700kg of the stuff. That was a bugger to load/unload on my own.
Day 13
The first half of the day was gathering new supplies for the glass; getting the timber just right. The glass is finally in. Approx 4mm play at the top (1m out of the floor). I'm happy enough with that. 16mm bolts right through the 140mm joist. That seemed to do the trick.
Edited by Gruffy on Wednesday 9th October 18:21
Joiner used screws in the staircase (rock solid) and got cocky, not accounting for the fact that the staircase was CNC'd in a factory. Considering we were trying to save money by not using the ali channels, I'm very pleased with the end result. I have the stone veneer to fix to the front of the floor. Should look lovely once it's all tidied up.
Day 14
Cracking progress today. The stairs were finished, including the media cubby and all the skirting.
We got the electrical conduit all tidied away readied to be wired into the RCD in the morning. Here are the bolts for the glass. That's in a treat now and looking good.
We have the false wall for the kitchen in along with the inset shelf and the box out for the waste pipe, which runs to the bathroom. Here's the cubby underneath of the stairs. Come rental time I think we'll claim it sleeps 5
I cut a hole to run the tv cables.
Cracking progress today. The stairs were finished, including the media cubby and all the skirting.
We got the electrical conduit all tidied away readied to be wired into the RCD in the morning. Here are the bolts for the glass. That's in a treat now and looking good.
We have the false wall for the kitchen in along with the inset shelf and the box out for the waste pipe, which runs to the bathroom. Here's the cubby underneath of the stairs. Come rental time I think we'll claim it sleeps 5
I cut a hole to run the tv cables.
The ceiling is plasterboarded, the false wall for the kitchen (with the ski locker and waste pipe boxout behind it) are in place. The stairs and under-stair unit have had all the gaps filled ready for sanding and painting.
Work has also started on the kitchen units. It's been quite a challenge to figure out how to modify a 211cm kitchen to fit into a 203cm space. Friday was a very productive day. With the kitchen going in things should start taking shape quite quickly next week.
I do love this place.
Work has also started on the kitchen units. It's been quite a challenge to figure out how to modify a 211cm kitchen to fit into a 203cm space. Friday was a very productive day. With the kitchen going in things should start taking shape quite quickly next week.
I do love this place.
Halfway report
According to my original schedule I'm about half way through the six week renovation. Whether that turns out to be accurate or not we'll see in a few weeks time. I'm cautiously optimistic. Either way, here's a summary of where it stands after three weeks.
Budget
I'm running about £1,600 under at the moment. We were running almost £3,000 under budget until we decided to do a full re-wire. That added a few hundred to the bill in materials and extra time, plus I've also bought a better TV than originally intended. I'm probably going to blow some of the saved £1,600 on more luxurious materials and fittings to the bathroom.
Lessons learned to date
I'd like to get the kitchen in by mid-week. The rest of the fireplace needs to come out (I've been putting that one off). After that it's the bathroom, which I think will take a while. We're turning a small bathroom into a wetroom, which means raising the floor, laying underfloor heating, tanking and building a drainage gradient before tiling. Lots more channelling to run water pipes for the shower and electrics for the lighting. I think I'll build a vanity unit to be tiled rather than buy one as I'm not finding anything I like the look of. The toilet needs to be plumbed into the waste pipe we've run behind the kitchen and up through the floor. Getting that through the thick concrete wall is going to be fun job. And then I'm probably going to tile one or two feature walls.
There's lots and lots of filling and sanding to do as well. With painting, I suspect that's going to be about 4 days work. The main flooring will probably go down in a day. Laying flooring over the stairs is probably another day on its own. The system is very good but I have built a hatch into the corner landing and making that tidy is likely to be a bit of a sod. Then it's furnishings, of which I've found most items already, but still need to do some hunting. I'd also like to make a small bench for the entrance and upholster that with cow hide.
Outstanding challenges
Can anybody offer any pearls of wisdom or any good sources for the following items:
According to my original schedule I'm about half way through the six week renovation. Whether that turns out to be accurate or not we'll see in a few weeks time. I'm cautiously optimistic. Either way, here's a summary of where it stands after three weeks.
Budget
I'm running about £1,600 under at the moment. We were running almost £3,000 under budget until we decided to do a full re-wire. That added a few hundred to the bill in materials and extra time, plus I've also bought a better TV than originally intended. I'm probably going to blow some of the saved £1,600 on more luxurious materials and fittings to the bathroom.
Lessons learned to date
- Aluminium channels for frameless glass are probably worth the cost for the fine-tuning adjustability they provide and speed of installation.
- It's all about having the right tools for the job. The €30 disc for the mini angle grinder was infinitely better than the regular €7 disc when it came to channelling concrete, which was becoming a real chore. Cheap kit is often a false economy.
- French electrics and electrical supplies are bloody awful. The only place we could find brown 2.5mm wiring was a trade place that relieved me of €0.54/m. Even the sockets and switches you buy still have red wiring instead of brown (against EU regs brought in back in 2003). And it's all hideously overpriced.
- The French have an odd attitude to earthing. Double and even triple-check that the sockets you buy have both earthing wiring and earth pins.
- French paint is awful. Bring it with you from the UK, unless it's for exterior application. They make it differently out here to handle more intense UV exposure.
- Appliances in Switzerland (or Swiss IKEA, at least) are 60% more expensive than UK equivalents and 30% more expensive than French.
- For everything else, IKEA Switzerland is significantly cheaper than the UK and France, assuming you can bring it back across the French border without being relieved of the difference for French TVA.
- It takes about 10 days of graft to turn dainty mouse-pushing office fingers into something tough enough to handle a bit of manual labour.
- Never, ever feed Maurice onions or cheese and always have an escape plan.
I'd like to get the kitchen in by mid-week. The rest of the fireplace needs to come out (I've been putting that one off). After that it's the bathroom, which I think will take a while. We're turning a small bathroom into a wetroom, which means raising the floor, laying underfloor heating, tanking and building a drainage gradient before tiling. Lots more channelling to run water pipes for the shower and electrics for the lighting. I think I'll build a vanity unit to be tiled rather than buy one as I'm not finding anything I like the look of. The toilet needs to be plumbed into the waste pipe we've run behind the kitchen and up through the floor. Getting that through the thick concrete wall is going to be fun job. And then I'm probably going to tile one or two feature walls.
There's lots and lots of filling and sanding to do as well. With painting, I suspect that's going to be about 4 days work. The main flooring will probably go down in a day. Laying flooring over the stairs is probably another day on its own. The system is very good but I have built a hatch into the corner landing and making that tidy is likely to be a bit of a sod. Then it's furnishings, of which I've found most items already, but still need to do some hunting. I'd also like to make a small bench for the entrance and upholster that with cow hide.
Outstanding challenges
Can anybody offer any pearls of wisdom or any good sources for the following items:
- Sourcing decent stylish wall lighting.
- Sourcing a good-looking and affordable bio-ethanol fireplace
- Beating the €3,000 quote for an electric shutter
- Designing a tidy solution for managing drainage for the ski-locker
Day 16
Putting the kitchen together. A tricky challenge as I want the tall units to go right to the ceiling (2030mm) but they're designed to fit into a 2110mm space.
Annoyingly the extractor unit from
IKEA was missing the plug and the equipment for fitting it into its unit. That'll slow things down until I'm at ikea again next Monday.
Drilling and cutting the cutouts for the sink and hob.
Putting the kitchen together. A tricky challenge as I want the tall units to go right to the ceiling (2030mm) but they're designed to fit into a 2110mm space.
Annoyingly the extractor unit from
IKEA was missing the plug and the equipment for fitting it into its unit. That'll slow things down until I'm at ikea again next Monday.
Drilling and cutting the cutouts for the sink and hob.
Day 17
Some final faffing with the waste pipes for the sink, dishwasher and washing machine. We thought we'd do this so that we have water to mix the plaster with. Once we'd finished and opened the plaster tub up we realised it was ready-mixed anyway. Still, it's nice to have running water again.
Then it was lots of clamping units together, loosening, tapping, tightening and so on, to get the cupboards perfectly positioned. Because I'm a fussy sod and 1/2mm is too much to live with.
Some final faffing with the waste pipes for the sink, dishwasher and washing machine. We thought we'd do this so that we have water to mix the plaster with. Once we'd finished and opened the plaster tub up we realised it was ready-mixed anyway. Still, it's nice to have running water again.
Then it was lots of clamping units together, loosening, tapping, tightening and so on, to get the cupboards perfectly positioned. Because I'm a fussy sod and 1/2mm is too much to live with.
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