Rutter's House renovation
Discussion
furtive said:
BoRED S2upid said:
You don't get many bricking up openings to create smaller rooms now it's all open plan. However I'm a big fan of separate living rooms and kitchen diners as if your like us the kitchen can get a bit messy nice to keep the kitchen smells away from the living room too.
I would be tempted to put some french doors between the living room and the dining room though, rather than block it off comopletelyGot a bit of prep work done this weekend. The wife started on the skirting boards with the smallest chisel she could find...
We then took the rest of the dado rails off as well as the laminate flooring in the lounge and diner to reveal some very trendy flooring beneath.
The existing stud wall was build on top of a carpet and so seemingly is of little structural benefit!
Then onto everyone's favorite task, stripping wall paper...
A bit of plaster seems to have come away with this one!
Not so bad in the dining room.
I had a go at tackling the shower whilst all this was going on, master tiler i am not but i'll put these here for you to laugh at..
Domino's pizza box templates.
I did the best i could with my limited tools, remember this is only a temporary fix until we get the bathroom replaced! hence why i didn't bother with a new tile when the corner chipped off!
We also had a crack at the kitchen window, It must have been replaced at some point as the brick work outside is well below the tiling inside, i forgot to take a pic before it was set at with a hammer and bolster but here is the end result.
Quite why it was packed out as much i don't know, but the new window was measured to the brick height outside so it needed sorting.
Who needs insulation in the wall cavity?
My girly soft IT hands have never known work like this, and I know the work we are doing pales in comparison to most but i'm proud of what we have achieved so far and really looking forward to the end result.
We then took the rest of the dado rails off as well as the laminate flooring in the lounge and diner to reveal some very trendy flooring beneath.
The existing stud wall was build on top of a carpet and so seemingly is of little structural benefit!
Then onto everyone's favorite task, stripping wall paper...
A bit of plaster seems to have come away with this one!
Not so bad in the dining room.
I had a go at tackling the shower whilst all this was going on, master tiler i am not but i'll put these here for you to laugh at..
Domino's pizza box templates.
I did the best i could with my limited tools, remember this is only a temporary fix until we get the bathroom replaced! hence why i didn't bother with a new tile when the corner chipped off!
We also had a crack at the kitchen window, It must have been replaced at some point as the brick work outside is well below the tiling inside, i forgot to take a pic before it was set at with a hammer and bolster but here is the end result.
Quite why it was packed out as much i don't know, but the new window was measured to the brick height outside so it needed sorting.
Who needs insulation in the wall cavity?
My girly soft IT hands have never known work like this, and I know the work we are doing pales in comparison to most but i'm proud of what we have achieved so far and really looking forward to the end result.
Another weekend of odd jobs in prep for the builders starting today.
Kitchen cupboards taken down, wall ones sold off for £20 rather than me taking them to landfill...
Before
After
Wardrobes upstairs removed, a few light fittings taken down and a ton of stuff up in the loft along with more coving removal and wallpaper stipping.
Today the builder has taken the curve out of the archway before it gets blocked up.
But the main job for today is to sort the fuse board to 17th edition
We are thankfully moving into my brother's tomorrow for just under a fortnight whilst he is on holiday so we can save our lungs from the brick dust!
Kitchen cupboards taken down, wall ones sold off for £20 rather than me taking them to landfill...
Before
After
Wardrobes upstairs removed, a few light fittings taken down and a ton of stuff up in the loft along with more coving removal and wallpaper stipping.
Today the builder has taken the curve out of the archway before it gets blocked up.
But the main job for today is to sort the fuse board to 17th edition
We are thankfully moving into my brother's tomorrow for just under a fortnight whilst he is on holiday so we can save our lungs from the brick dust!
Looks like fun 
While you've got the kitchen units out, there are 3 things I would do - add plug sockets, add plug sockets and add plug sockets!
Did very similar in our old house and added 2 new double sockets. Was advised by a mate to add more, didn't think we'd ever need that many.
Should've listened!
While you've got the kitchen units out, there are 3 things I would do - add plug sockets, add plug sockets and add plug sockets!
Did very similar in our old house and added 2 new double sockets. Was advised by a mate to add more, didn't think we'd ever need that many.
Should've listened!
PlankWithANailIn said:
The house you brought looked fairly well decorated. Any reason you did not buy a fixer upper when that's what you are doing?
Looks can be very deceiving! To be fair it wasn't in terrible condition, just that the wallpaper was falling off in places along with 45 years of bodged DIY attempts, a lot of which seem downright dangerous now that we are taking things like 30 amp plug sockets out that have been wired in with 5 amp wires! We looked at loads of houses but couldn't find any we liked the location of, This was the only house we liked but we liked it how its going to be rather than how it was. We looked at new builds but all the ones we could afford had tiny rooms and poor layouts.The work we are doing isn't all that extreme I wouldn't have said, nowhere near the cost of a full renovation of a total fixer upper or adding an extension.
When the old kitchen door was knocked through yesterday we figured it was blocked up in 86 as there were some 1986 barbie panini stickers, shame there wasn't a Gary Lineker mexico 86 sticker in there as it would probably be worth something!
Bit of a progress update.
The fuse board has been updated,
From this
To this
A skip has arrived on site and hasn't been filled with crap from the neighbours yet!
The bedroom walls are very wonky, Builder is going to have a go at the plaster to see if its worth bothering trying to fix or just easier to take the lot down upstairs and stud wall the lot. Can't really see in the picture here but the baton is straight and a discrepancy of 50mm bottom to top.
And finally the steel has arrived and should hopefully be up today.
Popped in this morning to see the British Gas surveyor and talk about free loft and wall insulation which we are eligible for, just as I was leaving the brick saw was about to come out so I'll pop back tonight and see if the dust has settled!
The fuse board has been updated,
From this
To this
A skip has arrived on site and hasn't been filled with crap from the neighbours yet!
The bedroom walls are very wonky, Builder is going to have a go at the plaster to see if its worth bothering trying to fix or just easier to take the lot down upstairs and stud wall the lot. Can't really see in the picture here but the baton is straight and a discrepancy of 50mm bottom to top.
And finally the steel has arrived and should hopefully be up today.
Popped in this morning to see the British Gas surveyor and talk about free loft and wall insulation which we are eligible for, just as I was leaving the brick saw was about to come out so I'll pop back tonight and see if the dust has settled!
outnumbered said:
Cavity wall insulation is a bit controversial as I'm sure you realise... The "expert builder" bloke in the Torygraph last week reckons that it's going to be the next PPI scandal, for example.
Oh? In what regard it doing more harm than good or people paying for it to be fitted?
Not a huge amount of progress that warrants photographs, plasterers are in currently scraping off a lot of the artex ceilings in readiness for a flat skim coat and then the walls, that should see bedroom 1 & 2 ready for decorating, skirting and carpets which we ordered yesterday.
In the front room we have moved the light socket to the other side of the door as we thought the room seemed to flow better with the door hinging on the other side.
Kitchen/Diner spotlights are going in today and the steel is pretty much boxed in now. New windows and doors are being fitted next week.
In the front room we have moved the light socket to the other side of the door as we thought the room seemed to flow better with the door hinging on the other side.
Kitchen/Diner spotlights are going in today and the steel is pretty much boxed in now. New windows and doors are being fitted next week.
Not a huge amount of progress that warrants photographs, plasterers are in currently scraping off a lot of the artex ceilings in readiness for a flat skim coat and then the walls, that should see bedroom 1 & 2 ready for decorating, skirting and carpets which we ordered yesterday.
In the front room we have moved the light socket to the other side of the door as we thought the room seemed to flow better with the door hinging on the other side.
Kitchen/Diner spotlights are going in today and the steel is pretty much boxed in now. New windows and doors are being fitted next week.
In the front room we have moved the light socket to the other side of the door as we thought the room seemed to flow better with the door hinging on the other side.
Kitchen/Diner spotlights are going in today and the steel is pretty much boxed in now. New windows and doors are being fitted next week.
Its been a while since I've updated this so here are a few progress pics.
Most of the boxing in and plastering has been done now, still a few bits to do but we no longer have artex on the ceilings!
We have nearly finished decorating the back bedroom, just waiting on fitting the skirting. Quite happy with the skirting, we managed to get the ones we wanted on clearance at wickes so bought 40 2.4 metre lengths, hopefully this should be enough for the whole house, was a bit of a squeeze in the skoda though so I had to leave the wife at the shops...
Windows and Doors are being replaced this week so we should get rid of this mess, I had considered getting a fish for the right hand window...
Back door is being bricked up today in prep for the window to go in.
Other than that its been a lot of cleaning and pictures of decorating along with me sulking that I couldn't go and play on my motorbike over the weekend! Neither of which will be of much interest I'm sure.
Most of the boxing in and plastering has been done now, still a few bits to do but we no longer have artex on the ceilings!
We have nearly finished decorating the back bedroom, just waiting on fitting the skirting. Quite happy with the skirting, we managed to get the ones we wanted on clearance at wickes so bought 40 2.4 metre lengths, hopefully this should be enough for the whole house, was a bit of a squeeze in the skoda though so I had to leave the wife at the shops...
Windows and Doors are being replaced this week so we should get rid of this mess, I had considered getting a fish for the right hand window...
Back door is being bricked up today in prep for the window to go in.
Other than that its been a lot of cleaning and pictures of decorating along with me sulking that I couldn't go and play on my motorbike over the weekend! Neither of which will be of much interest I'm sure.
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