First time refurbishment 1960's flat
Discussion
So the refurbishment continues, have decided to just stick to the standard chamfered skirting/architrave for cost reasons - £250 saving! but as it's being painted I'll be getting it in the slightly more expensive primed MDF finish to save time and effort.
The plasterer was meant to start on Monday, however had been pushed back to today/tomorrow and I haven't heard from him so I presume this now means Monday, no bad thing as I'm still working hard to get the plasterboard spot on before being taped and edged - reporting season hasn't helped my evenings but thankfully is just about over now.
The spare bedroom has been emptied and is now done barring the plasterboard on the ceilings, the main bedroom, both bathrooms and en-suite are also ready for the plasterer (save the gaps above the doors and taping/edging).
The kitchen has also arrived courtesy of DIY kitchens and is now in storage off-site, have decided to get a joiner to install it alongside making good the door frames, hanging them and doing all of the skirting/architrave to speed things along. He even offered to fit the wooden floors for an extra £100 - be rude not to take him up on that! - so all in it's costing me £1,200 but will save me weeks in time on jobs where final finish is vital (I was borderline on trusting myself!)
I'll update with pictures as and when I can but now the rest of this week's evenings and the weekend is looking rather busy, beyond sorting the last of the plasterboard as above I've got to finish all of the boxing around the sanitaryware to allow the tiles to go on, build the main bathroom sink unit and go on a shopping spree: I need all the tiles for both bathrooms, wooden floors for the kitchen/hall, lino for the utilities cupboard, the skirting/architrave and all of the related ancillaries.
On underlay for the carpets I'm thinking the Cloud 9 stuff but torn between Cumulus and Cirrus (bedrooms) and need pointers toward some decent (but reasonably priced) sound deadening underlay for the wooden floor - the neighbour below is a nightmare enough without annoying him further!
Other query is the shower above the bath - the plumber has wired the bathroom taps but doesn't seem to have run the pipes in the wall for a shower - I presume that these can be spliced from the bath taps as neither would be used at the same time and run in the wall behind the board (before tiling)?
The plasterer was meant to start on Monday, however had been pushed back to today/tomorrow and I haven't heard from him so I presume this now means Monday, no bad thing as I'm still working hard to get the plasterboard spot on before being taped and edged - reporting season hasn't helped my evenings but thankfully is just about over now.
The spare bedroom has been emptied and is now done barring the plasterboard on the ceilings, the main bedroom, both bathrooms and en-suite are also ready for the plasterer (save the gaps above the doors and taping/edging).
The kitchen has also arrived courtesy of DIY kitchens and is now in storage off-site, have decided to get a joiner to install it alongside making good the door frames, hanging them and doing all of the skirting/architrave to speed things along. He even offered to fit the wooden floors for an extra £100 - be rude not to take him up on that! - so all in it's costing me £1,200 but will save me weeks in time on jobs where final finish is vital (I was borderline on trusting myself!)
I'll update with pictures as and when I can but now the rest of this week's evenings and the weekend is looking rather busy, beyond sorting the last of the plasterboard as above I've got to finish all of the boxing around the sanitaryware to allow the tiles to go on, build the main bathroom sink unit and go on a shopping spree: I need all the tiles for both bathrooms, wooden floors for the kitchen/hall, lino for the utilities cupboard, the skirting/architrave and all of the related ancillaries.
On underlay for the carpets I'm thinking the Cloud 9 stuff but torn between Cumulus and Cirrus (bedrooms) and need pointers toward some decent (but reasonably priced) sound deadening underlay for the wooden floor - the neighbour below is a nightmare enough without annoying him further!
Other query is the shower above the bath - the plumber has wired the bathroom taps but doesn't seem to have run the pipes in the wall for a shower - I presume that these can be spliced from the bath taps as neither would be used at the same time and run in the wall behind the board (before tiling)?
Edited by kiethton on Wednesday 3rd August 17:09
Well, today was an expensive but non-productive day!
All tiles for both bathrooms now ordered and arriving this week - 1 ton! - well worth the trip to weybridge to scope out the place and see them in person. Gone for a grey Brazilian slate in the main bathroom and then a limestone/white tile in the en-suite, should hopefully look top notch when done.
Also ordered the wood flooring - went to golders green to check samples and then order -all's good!
Now just have to finish the boarding and tape it all tomorrow ahead of the plasterer on Tuesday!
All tiles for both bathrooms now ordered and arriving this week - 1 ton! - well worth the trip to weybridge to scope out the place and see them in person. Gone for a grey Brazilian slate in the main bathroom and then a limestone/white tile in the en-suite, should hopefully look top notch when done.
Also ordered the wood flooring - went to golders green to check samples and then order -all's good!
Now just have to finish the boarding and tape it all tomorrow ahead of the plasterer on Tuesday!
Another busy weekend!
Thinking the plasterer wasn't due until Tuesday/Wednesday we decided to take a day shopping - getting the tiles & flooring
Tiles were sourced from Mandarin Stone, we could have ordered online but wanted to check the colours/textures etc in person prior so a trip to their closest store (Weybridge!) entailed a brilliant 90 minutes slog through S Croydon and a busy M25...
Needless to say, the store was great and we now have the tiles for both bathrooms, although my card is crying!
Decided on brazilian slate in the bathroom - 600x400 on the floor, 600x100 on the walls and a textured slate around the bath/shower. To keep the room bright and save cost we'll be leaving the one wall plastered and painted (white).
Bath:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/317/black-s...
Walls & floor:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/311/nero-ri...
The en suite will be a bit more normal - grey limestone (300x400) on the floor with a matching tile in the shower enclosure, couldn't justify the cost of limestone mosaic (£700!) for only a few sqm so have gone for 200x100 tiles which should work just as well. To compliment this we've also gone with a plain white tile for the remainder.
Feature tile/floor:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/38/blenheim...
After that was a trip over to Golders Green to sort out the floor - I had ordered some engineered flooring but wasn't too keen on the quality mentioned in reviews and when I actually got to see it in store so have cancelled that B&Q order, electing instead for some UV Laquered engineered flooring from Wood & Beyond - due to arrive on Wednesday and can be acclimatised for as long as possible before being laid by the Carpenter a week today (living/kitchen & hallway).
So Sunday was set to be a busy day finishing the plasterboard, after a non-productive morning after a few too many bottles the night before we had managed to do little before the plasterer called and said he should be able to start today!
I have never had a busier afternoon! - we've now got 99% of the boarding finished, got the corner edging strips up and got it all taped! The friend that's doing the plumbing was called to ensure a tap could be fitted to give the plasterer water and to fix the slow-dripping mains input that was wetting the hallway downstairs and the reason why the water was off...
Thankfully his guys are in today fixing things and hopefully the plasterer will just have a materials dump this afternoon, because....I forgot to install the vent pipe from the en suite to the vent point in the bathroom - needs to be be done before the ceilings are plastered. Only issue is the ceiling gaps are only ~75-80mm and most vent pipework is 100mm.
Current plan is to take off a baord this evening and fit 68mm drainpipe, coupled with a 100-68 reducer at each end to run within the bathroom ceiling, splitting the vent point there, should then allow the vent to be fitted without issue. Lets all hope all's done shortly!
In the rush I still have no update pictures, will do my utmost to get some more this evening
Thinking the plasterer wasn't due until Tuesday/Wednesday we decided to take a day shopping - getting the tiles & flooring
Tiles were sourced from Mandarin Stone, we could have ordered online but wanted to check the colours/textures etc in person prior so a trip to their closest store (Weybridge!) entailed a brilliant 90 minutes slog through S Croydon and a busy M25...
Needless to say, the store was great and we now have the tiles for both bathrooms, although my card is crying!
Decided on brazilian slate in the bathroom - 600x400 on the floor, 600x100 on the walls and a textured slate around the bath/shower. To keep the room bright and save cost we'll be leaving the one wall plastered and painted (white).
Bath:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/317/black-s...
Walls & floor:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/311/nero-ri...
The en suite will be a bit more normal - grey limestone (300x400) on the floor with a matching tile in the shower enclosure, couldn't justify the cost of limestone mosaic (£700!) for only a few sqm so have gone for 200x100 tiles which should work just as well. To compliment this we've also gone with a plain white tile for the remainder.
Feature tile/floor:
http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/38/blenheim...
After that was a trip over to Golders Green to sort out the floor - I had ordered some engineered flooring but wasn't too keen on the quality mentioned in reviews and when I actually got to see it in store so have cancelled that B&Q order, electing instead for some UV Laquered engineered flooring from Wood & Beyond - due to arrive on Wednesday and can be acclimatised for as long as possible before being laid by the Carpenter a week today (living/kitchen & hallway).
So Sunday was set to be a busy day finishing the plasterboard, after a non-productive morning after a few too many bottles the night before we had managed to do little before the plasterer called and said he should be able to start today!
I have never had a busier afternoon! - we've now got 99% of the boarding finished, got the corner edging strips up and got it all taped! The friend that's doing the plumbing was called to ensure a tap could be fitted to give the plasterer water and to fix the slow-dripping mains input that was wetting the hallway downstairs and the reason why the water was off...
Thankfully his guys are in today fixing things and hopefully the plasterer will just have a materials dump this afternoon, because....I forgot to install the vent pipe from the en suite to the vent point in the bathroom - needs to be be done before the ceilings are plastered. Only issue is the ceiling gaps are only ~75-80mm and most vent pipework is 100mm.
Current plan is to take off a baord this evening and fit 68mm drainpipe, coupled with a 100-68 reducer at each end to run within the bathroom ceiling, splitting the vent point there, should then allow the vent to be fitted without issue. Lets all hope all's done shortly!
In the rush I still have no update pictures, will do my utmost to get some more this evening
We have used Mandarin for a lot of stuff: various tiles in marble, limestone and granite, as well as some ceramic, and a solid stone washbasin. I managed to source stuff in the sales, and their service is excellent.
I am less of a fan of their massively irritating habit of quoting all their prices ex VAT, and not giving a great deal of visibility on delivery costs. And for more standard stuf (e.g. ceramic metro tiles) they are laughably expensive. Got various colours of Victorian metro tiles from Walls And Floors for about a third of what Mandarin charge.
I am less of a fan of their massively irritating habit of quoting all their prices ex VAT, and not giving a great deal of visibility on delivery costs. And for more standard stuf (e.g. ceramic metro tiles) they are laughably expensive. Got various colours of Victorian metro tiles from Walls And Floors for about a third of what Mandarin charge.
Harry Flashman said:
We have used Mandarin for a lot of stuff: various tiles in marble, limestone and granite, as well as some ceramic, and a solid stone washbasin. I managed to source stuff in the sales, and their service is excellent.
I am less of a fan of their massively irritating habit of quoting all their prices ex VAT, and not giving a great deal of visibility on delivery costs. And for more standard stuf (e.g. ceramic metro tiles) they are laughably expensive. Got various colours of Victorian metro tiles from Walls And Floors for about a third of what Mandarin charge.
Yep, mine weren't too bad at all (the split face slates were pricey but expected!) and all apparently came from the "classics" range making them cheaper. The white tiles in the perfect size and finish (no distortion, gloss) came in at ~£14psm inc. VAT so didn't think it too bad - far easier to source all in 1 place - £1,200 has sorted out all tiles in all bathrooms so it could have been worse.I am less of a fan of their massively irritating habit of quoting all their prices ex VAT, and not giving a great deal of visibility on delivery costs. And for more standard stuf (e.g. ceramic metro tiles) they are laughably expensive. Got various colours of Victorian metro tiles from Walls And Floors for about a third of what Mandarin charge.
Delivery is a funny one - its done on pallets & based on weight, £41 per pallet up to 1 ton, our initial order came up 25kg too heavy and they wanted £150 - managed to shave some off to scrape under the 1t cap...
Well I've been typically s
te with remebering to take pictures/it's been far too dark when I've got there after work but things are now coming together!
The plastering is now complete and the place is transformed! - just a totally different flat!
The carpenter is now on site, he put down the engineered oak flooring on some 7mm acoustic underlay yesterday and will be installing the kitchen base units today (DIY kitchens) followed by doors, skirting and architrave over the rest of the week
The level of attention to detail he has shown (to date) is perfect, pointing out my new kitchen divider stud wall is 40mm out of square at the end of a 2m span, when working where to set-out the floor from. For £1,200 for all the above (London) I don't think its too bad!
As he also does tiling (from previous jobs to a very high standard) I may also take him up on that one, don't fancy laying a (literal) ton of slate/limestone tiles.
The electrician is back for second fix come next week and my friend doing the plumbing/heating is due on site tomorrow to second fix the bathroom and potentially rotate the boiler to make the vent pipework neater
Then it's just on me to decorate and we're done! - considering we got the keys at the beginning of May and I've been working around my 60 hour P/W job its not been too bad time wise either.
So with light at the end of the tunnel, with any luck we'll be in come the first week of September (although kitchen worktops are likely to take longer - stone still to be ordered post unit fitting for templating).
Budget isn't holing up too badly either, admitedly I've still got the carpenter, plumber and half the electrical costs to pay (and worktops, carpet and paint to buy) but we are at £15.5k (total) or £13.8k true cost (excludes tools, PPE & furniture) so should come within the £20k budget....touch wood!
I'll source some pictures asap! - sorry!
te with remebering to take pictures/it's been far too dark when I've got there after work but things are now coming together!The plastering is now complete and the place is transformed! - just a totally different flat!
The carpenter is now on site, he put down the engineered oak flooring on some 7mm acoustic underlay yesterday and will be installing the kitchen base units today (DIY kitchens) followed by doors, skirting and architrave over the rest of the week
The level of attention to detail he has shown (to date) is perfect, pointing out my new kitchen divider stud wall is 40mm out of square at the end of a 2m span, when working where to set-out the floor from. For £1,200 for all the above (London) I don't think its too bad!
As he also does tiling (from previous jobs to a very high standard) I may also take him up on that one, don't fancy laying a (literal) ton of slate/limestone tiles.
The electrician is back for second fix come next week and my friend doing the plumbing/heating is due on site tomorrow to second fix the bathroom and potentially rotate the boiler to make the vent pipework neater
Then it's just on me to decorate and we're done! - considering we got the keys at the beginning of May and I've been working around my 60 hour P/W job its not been too bad time wise either.
So with light at the end of the tunnel, with any luck we'll be in come the first week of September (although kitchen worktops are likely to take longer - stone still to be ordered post unit fitting for templating).
Budget isn't holing up too badly either, admitedly I've still got the carpenter, plumber and half the electrical costs to pay (and worktops, carpet and paint to buy) but we are at £15.5k (total) or £13.8k true cost (excludes tools, PPE & furniture) so should come within the £20k budget....touch wood!
I'll source some pictures asap! - sorry!
Thanks - been hard work but hopefully all will be well worth it!
I (again!) forgot to take pictures yesterday evening as I just stopped by to check tradesman progress - boiler was being rotated by the plumber for easier flue running, the kitchen continues to go in and the skirting/architraves are going up.
Biggest job ahead now is just tiling - thinking to get the guy that's in currently to do it as long as the cost isn't too steep! - starting to run out of cash :/
Plan would be to get the place valued when we are done - firstly as we'll need to re-mortgage to get a better rate and to take out some cash to repay my credit cards that have been funding the work.
I was 50/50 on flipping it and getting a proper house, but, something tells me it would be wiser to take 2 years living here (that and Cindy is shattered and just wants somewhere to live). I've got to crack on at work a bit more truth be told as the project is draining my energy for the day job, that and I've been registered for next year's CFA exam, with it being a few years since I did the last ones it'll take some time to get back on top of the material come June - something I couldn't do if working on a new project!
I (again!) forgot to take pictures yesterday evening as I just stopped by to check tradesman progress - boiler was being rotated by the plumber for easier flue running, the kitchen continues to go in and the skirting/architraves are going up.
Biggest job ahead now is just tiling - thinking to get the guy that's in currently to do it as long as the cost isn't too steep! - starting to run out of cash :/
Plan would be to get the place valued when we are done - firstly as we'll need to re-mortgage to get a better rate and to take out some cash to repay my credit cards that have been funding the work.
I was 50/50 on flipping it and getting a proper house, but, something tells me it would be wiser to take 2 years living here (that and Cindy is shattered and just wants somewhere to live). I've got to crack on at work a bit more truth be told as the project is draining my energy for the day job, that and I've been registered for next year's CFA exam, with it being a few years since I did the last ones it'll take some time to get back on top of the material come June - something I couldn't do if working on a new project!
So I think, primarily driven by cost, I may have to look at doing the tiling myself. With 998 kg's of tiles (mostly natural stone) its a bit of a job!
Firstly the rooms - there is the bathroom - fairly complicated with a fair number of cuts around boxing - using 600 x 100 natural slate tiles on the walls, split-face moasic slate around the shower/bath and 600 x 400 slate on the floor...
If I went for the pre-mix adhesive:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/evo-stik-superior-streng...
The correct spacers:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/vitrex-tile-spacers-2mm-...
and armed myself with one of these (and plenty of blades):
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb336tcb-500w-til...
And these:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/tile-nippers/15507
Could I make a good enough go of it to not be classes as amateurish?
I presume that I'll need some external corner trims to look after the external corners too.
Firstly the rooms - there is the bathroom - fairly complicated with a fair number of cuts around boxing - using 600 x 100 natural slate tiles on the walls, split-face moasic slate around the shower/bath and 600 x 400 slate on the floor...
If I went for the pre-mix adhesive:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/evo-stik-superior-streng...
The correct spacers:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/vitrex-tile-spacers-2mm-...
and armed myself with one of these (and plenty of blades):
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb336tcb-500w-til...
And these:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/tile-nippers/15507
Could I make a good enough go of it to not be classes as amateurish?
I presume that I'll need some external corner trims to look after the external corners too.
kiethton said:
Could I make a good enough go of it to not be classes as amateurish?
I presume that I'll need some external corner trims to look after the external corners too.
Large tiles are easier to level on a large surface and is its on to straight plaster you should be fineI presume that I'll need some external corner trims to look after the external corners too.
Definitely the corner trims. Nothing worse than unglazed tile showing
Have you got natural light in the bathroom because lots of grey tiles could look a bit gloomy otherwise.
kiethton said:
If I went for the pre-mix adhesive:
The problem with pre-mix adhesive is with it potentially not drying properly, it really depends on the tiles and substrate whether it will work.There's more effort in mixing adhesive but at least you know it'll set regardless & have a wider set of options to choose from.
Bear in mind there is a difference in what certain brands sell in places like B&Q vs. other outlets (different product/slightly different description, same brand), and also that the prices can vary wildly for the same stuff.
Re. corner trims, if it's natural solid slate you won't have anything to hide in terms of unglazed bits so you can get away without it, assuming you can line things up properly without using a trim as a guide.
Bevelling the edge can be an option but with a little saw it might be tricky to do it neatly.
Bevelling the edge can be an option but with a little saw it might be tricky to do it neatly.
Thanks for all of the pointers guys - have bought the tools - then bumped Into the carpenter at the flat working away so wasnt able to do anything today - didn't want to be working on top of him!
As he does some high quality tiling I've asked him for a quote - if reasonable he can do it...
Was commenting on some bits though - where it's been plastered the (admittedly not perfect) door linings have moved/warped slightly so he's having great fun! - also seems I stuffed the walls around the laundry cupboard with too much sound insulation and its bowing slightly in the cavity - pushing out the board/plaster - another headache he's fixing :/
I did mange to get some pictures though - middle of him working with one room being used for storage:
Bed 1:
Bed 2: (storage currently)
Living room/kitchen:
Plan is to give the plaster their first coat of paint tomorrow and sort out the holes for the spotlights
As he does some high quality tiling I've asked him for a quote - if reasonable he can do it...
Was commenting on some bits though - where it's been plastered the (admittedly not perfect) door linings have moved/warped slightly so he's having great fun! - also seems I stuffed the walls around the laundry cupboard with too much sound insulation and its bowing slightly in the cavity - pushing out the board/plaster - another headache he's fixing :/
I did mange to get some pictures though - middle of him working with one room being used for storage:
Bed 1:
Bed 2: (storage currently)
Living room/kitchen:
Plan is to give the plaster their first coat of paint tomorrow and sort out the holes for the spotlights
Great thread op! Interested to see how this finishes up as I'll shortly be in the same boat as you, full interior refurb of a two bedroom flat not far from you on Bromley hill. Expecting all the same issues regarding concrete ceilings and having to rewire the whole place and we also have to install a complete central heating system as it's currently all electric. Any recommendations you have for local suppliers and tradesmen would be most appreciated.
Can I ask how comes you only dropped the ceiling around the very edges rather than the whole span and also what you plan regarding the lighting? We intend to run down lighters all round but are having trouble finding sensibly priced low profile units so we don't have to loose to much ceiling height. i see you have run all the pipe work to ceiling height are you not concerned about any potential maintenance required in the future?
Can I ask how comes you only dropped the ceiling around the very edges rather than the whole span and also what you plan regarding the lighting? We intend to run down lighters all round but are having trouble finding sensibly priced low profile units so we don't have to loose to much ceiling height. i see you have run all the pipe work to ceiling height are you not concerned about any potential maintenance required in the future?
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