Discussion
Here it is! I've finally got out from under my parents feet and bought my first house!
No not the little yellow and green one on the right (although that's mine too), the big brick one on the left.
With this, life has suddenly got serious, bills to pay, much cleaning to be done and plenty of DIY and decorating.
Overall it's in pretty good nick inside and out just lots of little jobs like filling the gazillion screw holes in the walls.
First on the list however is this:
This is a picture of my kitchen ceiling which is rather annoyingly, directly below the shower tray in the upstairs bathroom.
The shower tray flexes probably 2mm and as such, the silicone sealant has come away. I cut away and thoroughly cleaned the offending sealant and reapplied it but I think the amount of flex is just too much to get away with. Unless I apply the sealant and sit in the shower tray for 24 hours straight
So my first question is how to solve this? I want to paint the kitchen but don't really want to start until I've cured this. Because of tiles down to the shower tray and a tiled floor I can't really see that the tray can be removed so I'm looking at either a better way of applying sealant or supporting the shower tray better by sliding something under it.
As far as DIY goes I'm a willing amateur but happy to get a decent tradesman out if that's what's needed.
I'm hoping to run this thread as a sort of blog with many questions along the way. Next on the agenda will be all of the exterior woodwork. Eaves, decking, hot tub, garage side door all need attention. From reading around here Liberon Deck Oil seems to come quite highly recommended so most likely the product I'll use. However I'll have questions on how to prepare my decking before application, ask for opinions on colours for each item or just all clear oil?
I've been having a read through the definitive GU10 thread as pretty much every bulb in my house is a GU10 and many already need replacing. My lounge light fitting is a star shape with 10 tiny 10w bulbs in, 3 of which work.
However it's not all bad news. The previous owners have left quite nice curtains or fitted blinds in every room, as well as the biggest wardrobe I've ever seen in the master bedroom. Seriously, I going to have to go the full Barney Stinson to get even close to filling it.
The Wendy house in the garden is a bit odd for a 26 year old bloke living on his own, as is the trampoline that was also left.
Having read the thread about odd things sellers do I was quite pleased to have dealt with a really nice couple. Really pleasant people and when I got the keys there was a lovely card and a 6 pack of beers waiting for me in the kitchen!
Well I think that's it for now, I'll carry on wandering around with my sander and filler. There were lots of pictures all on 2" screws, not a picture hook in sight!
Sam.
No not the little yellow and green one on the right (although that's mine too), the big brick one on the left.
With this, life has suddenly got serious, bills to pay, much cleaning to be done and plenty of DIY and decorating.
Overall it's in pretty good nick inside and out just lots of little jobs like filling the gazillion screw holes in the walls.
First on the list however is this:
This is a picture of my kitchen ceiling which is rather annoyingly, directly below the shower tray in the upstairs bathroom.
The shower tray flexes probably 2mm and as such, the silicone sealant has come away. I cut away and thoroughly cleaned the offending sealant and reapplied it but I think the amount of flex is just too much to get away with. Unless I apply the sealant and sit in the shower tray for 24 hours straight
So my first question is how to solve this? I want to paint the kitchen but don't really want to start until I've cured this. Because of tiles down to the shower tray and a tiled floor I can't really see that the tray can be removed so I'm looking at either a better way of applying sealant or supporting the shower tray better by sliding something under it.
As far as DIY goes I'm a willing amateur but happy to get a decent tradesman out if that's what's needed.
I'm hoping to run this thread as a sort of blog with many questions along the way. Next on the agenda will be all of the exterior woodwork. Eaves, decking, hot tub, garage side door all need attention. From reading around here Liberon Deck Oil seems to come quite highly recommended so most likely the product I'll use. However I'll have questions on how to prepare my decking before application, ask for opinions on colours for each item or just all clear oil?
I've been having a read through the definitive GU10 thread as pretty much every bulb in my house is a GU10 and many already need replacing. My lounge light fitting is a star shape with 10 tiny 10w bulbs in, 3 of which work.
However it's not all bad news. The previous owners have left quite nice curtains or fitted blinds in every room, as well as the biggest wardrobe I've ever seen in the master bedroom. Seriously, I going to have to go the full Barney Stinson to get even close to filling it.
The Wendy house in the garden is a bit odd for a 26 year old bloke living on his own, as is the trampoline that was also left.
Having read the thread about odd things sellers do I was quite pleased to have dealt with a really nice couple. Really pleasant people and when I got the keys there was a lovely card and a 6 pack of beers waiting for me in the kitchen!
Well I think that's it for now, I'll carry on wandering around with my sander and filler. There were lots of pictures all on 2" screws, not a picture hook in sight!
Sam.
Sorry to tell you Sam, but if the shower tray's flexing and hence leaking, the only real fix is to do the job properly and take it out and re-fix it. Personally I'd replace a flimsy plastic tray with a heavy duty resin filled tray but they're not cheap so a reasonable fix to your problem is to take it out, put a sheet of 18mm WBP ply cut to the same shape and size on the floor under where it was and then apply a 1 inch screed of sand cement mix on the ply and set the tray on that. Yes, it's a lot of work but bodge it now and you'll do it again and again and you're just going to make your kitchen ceiling worse. Do it right now, and the job's done and you can move on to next one confident that this is off the list.
Nice house btw, good luck and hope you're happy there
Nice house btw, good luck and hope you're happy there
BFG TERRANO said:
f
k the leak..... But a ride on mower! Nice first place!
k the leak..... But a ride on mower! Nice first place!
The garden really doesn't justify it, shame really. Not really a website I want to admit it on, but my mower is electric...
Though again another question when I get round to it, how to rid my lawn of all those sodding daisies?
samdale said:
Well I think that's it for now, I'll carry on wandering around with my sander and filler. There were lots of pictures all on 2" screws, not a picture hook in sight!
I also have just got my first place, and have exactly the same joyous task It's a tiny terrace, but the number of nails/screws that were left in the wall was amazing. I have a horrible feeling i'll struggle to make them all unnoticeable once paint is done!
I've spent so much time in Homebase and Screwfix in the last week. You'll no doubt be the same!
My only tip so far (i know nothing about DIY... yet) would be to buy lots of those rubber flexible tubs/buckets. They are really useful.
samdale said:
The garden really doesn't justify it, shame really. Not really a website I want to admit it on, but my mower is electric...
Though again another question when I get round to it, how to rid my lawn of all those sodding daisies?
blade7 said:
Detached with a garage for a first place 
Tell me you had to sell something dear to you like I did 
.
I have got very lucky with landing a good job. Coupled with getting on well with my parents who both agreed they'd rather put up with me for longer and see me save up and buy a place rather than move out for the sake of it and rent somewhere. Tell me you had to sell something dear to you like I did .My main criteria was that is needed to be detached and have a garage. Most in my price range (<£200k) were 2-3 bed and usually bungalows with pokey little gardens. Or a wreck of a house with a mahoosive garden. Then I found this and now have 4 bedrooms. Not sure what I'm going to do with them all yet but I'm seriously considering rent a room. I know I can afford it all without renting a room but it'd be a good way to stave off interest rate rises.
Matt.. said:
I also have just got my first place, and have exactly the same joyous task
It's a tiny terrace, but the number of nails/screws that were left in the wall was amazing. I have a horrible feeling i'll struggle to make them all unnoticeable once paint is done!
I've spent so much time in Homebase and Screwfix in the last week. You'll no doubt be the same!
My only tip so far (i know nothing about DIY... yet) would be to buy lots of those rubber flexible tubs/buckets. They are really useful.
I bought myself a little palm sander and it was only around £20. Paid for itself already sanding down the dozen or so holes I've filled so far. Honestly don't care how long it lasts It's a tiny terrace, but the number of nails/screws that were left in the wall was amazing. I have a horrible feeling i'll struggle to make them all unnoticeable once paint is done!
I've spent so much time in Homebase and Screwfix in the last week. You'll no doubt be the same!
My only tip so far (i know nothing about DIY... yet) would be to buy lots of those rubber flexible tubs/buckets. They are really useful.
Congratulations, looks like a bit of a palace for a first property!
plenty of space to extend that garage too!
For the shower tray, take a look at this: http://www.teleseal.co.uk/
The basic idea is that the seal is made of two pieces, when the tray or bath flexes it moves with it, retaining a watertight seal. My folks had no end of trouble with water seepage until they fitted one of these, no problems since. I used one when I installed a new bathroom and haven't had any problems.
Whats on the patio to the left ? table & chairs ?
plenty of space to extend that garage too!
For the shower tray, take a look at this: http://www.teleseal.co.uk/
The basic idea is that the seal is made of two pieces, when the tray or bath flexes it moves with it, retaining a watertight seal. My folks had no end of trouble with water seepage until they fitted one of these, no problems since. I used one when I installed a new bathroom and haven't had any problems.
Whats on the patio to the left ? table & chairs ?
Does the tray sit on the floor directly, or does it have a removable plinth, enabling access to look underneath the tray? If it is a tray on legs, they may have dropped or never correctly been settled correctly. You might try winding it up, hopefully closing the gap created by the dropped tray.
You could then resilicone and away you go, worth a try.
But if the silicone all around the tray has gone, then winding it up might solve what you can see, but the little 1" bits behind the screen profiles that you can't see might be split and ignoring these will leave a weak spot still where water will happily flow away.
If you can get underneath, also check the waste.
You could then resilicone and away you go, worth a try.
But if the silicone all around the tray has gone, then winding it up might solve what you can see, but the little 1" bits behind the screen profiles that you can't see might be split and ignoring these will leave a weak spot still where water will happily flow away.
If you can get underneath, also check the waste.
Gretchen said:
That looks great. I'd happily rent the little yellow playhouse with it's own garage!! Looks like it has a decent roof on it. I bet it's got a mezzanine level too. Let me know if you want to sell it.
The MDF garage doors are a bit warped but other than that its rather swanky. A sort of felt tile roofing and the garage is the perfect place to keep the mower. It might get painted a slightly more manly colour at some point but I'll be keeping it as a garden shed as the proper garage is somewhat snug with the car in it.
ARH said:
Steve_W said:
Congratulations - very nice indeed.
BTW, if that's a bird table outside the back door, how big are the birds round your way; it looks about 3 foot across??!
I think the house is really small check the sky dish next door :-)BTW, if that's a bird table outside the back door, how big are the birds round your way; it looks about 3 foot across??!
The Sky dish, rabbit hutch and bird table are normal size and the house is for small people.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff