First time refurbishment 1960's flat

[kiethton]

Thanks for that, how are DIY with non-standard things like breakfast bars and a step in one run taking the width to ~750mm for about 1m length?- rest of the run (~1m) is only 600 wide

[fossilfuelled]

Sounds trickier than most, but DIY are just a reseller for natural stone so I shouldn't worry. Most slabs are 1.5mx 3m or so at production, so the width won't be an issue. Depending on colour choice, the epoxy they use will make the joints quite subtle. Just make sure that something that wide/that shaped will fit up your stairs and into the flat. Bear in mind the stuff weighs a tonne and they won't do anything "non standard" to get it into your flat.

The way it worked for me was two days after placing my order on the DIY website, someone from natural stone emailed me and asked when they could template. I phoned their office and said asap, so someone came round the next day. He discussed the possibilities (access to our property is a logistical nightmare for large/heavy items) and based on what we decided, made a template. The next day we got a call saying the material we chose was hard to get hold of as there was only one slab left in the country and Silestone had discontinued it. They offered to get a haulage firm to lift it and get it to their facility in Yorkshire from Essex so they could keep me happy, but it would take an extra week or so. I managed to convince my other half that the alternative they suggested (of which samples were couriered to me overnight to aid negotiations) was actually even better than our original choice. So within 8 days of templating, the guys showed up bang on time, carried all the bits up the 4758681334 steps and fitted them damn near perfectly. If you are as anal as me, with hindsight I would apply the final silicone beading myself, as they made a bit of a mess of that step with a couple of smears. The smell of vinegar, which is the only thing that seems to sort of remove the oily residue left behind is one I rather dislike, so taking the time to do it really carefully in the first place would be worth it! Anyway, quite happy with the surface! Here's a pic just after fitting the first half. 9 joints in the pic, but it's damn tricky to spot them

Edited for spelling by an anal, and insomniac fossilfuelled on Thursday 1st September 05:28

Edited by fossilfuelled on Thursday 1st September 05:32

[kiethton]

Thanks for that, coming in at ~£1450 there - yours looks pretty good!

Have sent a couple of inquiries to some others (London Granite & Affordable granite), will see what ballpark they come back in and go from there

Access shouldn't be too much of an issue - longest length should be sub 2m and its only 1 flight of stairs....

Had the London Granite quote back at ~£2k....

Only issue I can foresee with DIY kitchens is the step from a ~600 to ~750 width half way down one edge

Edited by kiethton on Thursday 1st September 09:14

[fossilfuelled]

Well good luck with it and see how they get back to you.
BTW hope the finger is feeling a bit better - funnily enough I hurt my pinky two weeks ago too! Have managed to build an entire house with no injuries and I was just moving a piece of ply and managed to crush the tip of my finger so hard I'm fairly certain (from breaking fingers numerous times before) its a tiny hairline fracture. What are the chances eh?! Nowhere near as bad as your thankfully.

[kiethton]

fossilfuelled said:

Well good luck with it and see how they get back to you.
BTW hope the finger is feeling a bit better - funnily enough I hurt my pinky two weeks ago too! Have managed to build an entire house with no injuries and I was just moving a piece of ply and managed to crush the tip of my finger so hard I'm fairly certain (from breaking fingers numerous times before) its a tiny hairline fracture. What are the chances eh?! Nowhere near as bad as your thankfully.

Thanks for that, seems like fingers are an occupational hazard...

The NHS still haven't called despite meaning to do the op for pins on tuesday so I've gone via my Vitality - meeting the consultant this afternoon - just want everything external gone in 4 weeks time before I'm off to Croatia!

In the mean time as its just painting and sanding back left really i'll try to weald a roller with my left hand and a whip over Cindy in my right (Mod's I'm just joking!)- she can do the paintbrush work! haha

[maniac886]

kiethton said:

So next task - kitchen worktops

We're looking for some granite/quartz tops at a reasonable price, may be a little complicated compared to some though

Can anybody recommend a company?

I can recommend Mayfair granite, they supplied and installed our worktop when we had our kitchen redone last year and did an excellent job.

[kiethton]

maniac886 said:

kiethton said:

So next task - kitchen worktops

We're looking for some granite/quartz tops at a reasonable price, may be a little complicated compared to some though

Can anybody recommend a company?

I can recommend Mayfair granite, they supplied and installed our worktop when we had our kitchen redone last year and did an excellent job.

Thanks, like London they came in at ~£2k

[kiethton]

Not so busy weekend for obvious reasons, there has been some progress though!

We've finished cutting all of the light holes (what I was doing when I destroyed my finger), having marked everything over a number of hours with a chalk line and tape, triple checking everything -very happy with the positioning as you'll hopefully see over the next progress pictures.

The place is mid-way though being descended on by all of the trades, power points are on but the network cabling and lighting is still in progress - have had to take off the cupboard around the boiler as its fitted too tightly for the certificate to be issued - will be removed and replaced when certified...

The tiling has also been started (although annoyingly the architraves not finished....why the carpenter/tiler couldn't finish one job before starting another ill never know!), things are now taking shape, I've sanded down the walls and when all trades are done I'll clean the place thoroughly before the final decoration to ensure the finish is 100% with no dust everywhere

Granite quotes in progress - given the kink to go over the half-wall it's non-standard so need a special quote from DIY, Mayfair granite did call however and have given a bit of a discount and sent a sample very quickly - a contended if they'll discount a little more...

Pictures below finishing up with the tiling in the shower cubicle, the lies are looking good, the tiler has suggested white grout on the grey limestone and grey on the White tiles - I've overruled with white all over as I couldn't see the grey grout looking anything but dirty on a white tile...he's still got a load more tiles to fix!!!

[kiethton]

[kiethton]

Given we couldn't do too much today we decided to get to ikea this morning to get the wardrobes to enclose the gas meter and one that we'll need for the spare room to match that and our existing furniture, that and some breakfast bar stools

~2.4m long boxes required the front seat pushed all the way forward, both rear seats folded and the boot to be tied down with some packaging string...all I'll say, cindy's ride home wedged on top/next to a load of boxes wasn't very comfortable!!! Thank god for small, heavily tinted windows...although only 20 mins back to beckenham from Croydon she was rather glad when we pulled up outside!!!

[Greshamst]

I've been waiting for this point, where it starts to come together and you get an idea of what the finished job is going to look like, you must be chuffed! I really like the look of the walk in shower.

For a minute I didn't realise that you had blue protective film on the front of the cabinets and thought that was the colour you'd gone for... I was thinking 'that's very... 70s NHS'

[kiethton]

Haha your not the first to ask that!

Thought it best to keep it on until we've finished decorating etc - far easier to keep the kitchen looking nice!

[E36GUY]

Ikea at Croydon at a weekend!

{shudder}

[kiethton]

E36GUY said:

Ikea at Croydon at a weekend!

{shudder}

Don't ask me how but it wasn't bad at all!

Arrived at 10:55, walked to the departments we wanted upstairs, went down to collect everything and straight to a till - not even a minutes wait and all our bits were scanned - we were in and out in little over an hour

[kiethton]

And hats the worktops ordered, a few calls to and fro with Mayfair Granite has seen a decent discount negotiated.

They arrive next week to template and fit the week after - should be comfortably in time to move in - looking like the 24the now!

[kiethton]

So another mini update - we went over to the flat yesterday after work following a report of a leaking pipe, a repeat in the same location it was leaking in last month (before it comes into our flat, before the stop tap, outside in the hallway.

Went over with the plumber to look, only somebody forgot the keys....given this the guilty party was lifted up onto the balcony to break in, using a window left open by our tiler (he's already been reminded....)

Only thing is when she got in the front door wouldn't open from the inside...needless to say she was stuck up there for 10 minutes whilst our friendly neighbours found a ladder to rescue her....we have new locks to fit anyway to fix this small security/safety issue...(think the lock was locked from the outside when it doesn't need to be - the lever would't unlock it)



She did get a picture to show a little more progress on the tiling



with another wall of white tiles also up



After she was rescued we examined the pipes from the hallway to see why its leaking, its leaking from the joint in the public area before it reaches our stop tap and has already started wetting the hall downstairs.

1. rant mode on.

Following the above, my grumpy/nosy neighbour below (no wife, no kids, you know the type...) is now trying to threaten/woe betide me with costs if it moisture comes through the wall into his cupboard beside the hallway and affects him, trying to insist i call out people immediately to sort (like hell I'm calling pimlico at my cost), whilst ignoring the plumber friend that was with me and has told me categorically the leak is before my demise... When he's told I'd try and speak to the freeholder to sort he wasn't having any of it, saying that they wouldn't do anything I had to excuse myself to attend to more important things to stop him going on without reminding him that he's the one alone at home all day that already knows the property manager so could probably also call to resolve....typically its the same neighbour that's reported me to environmental health for noise, ignoring the letter/requests to let us know if there are issues.... Given the leak its been left that I'll attempt to contact the management company to resolve, but given I'm out of the office for pre-op this afternoon and surgery on the finger tomorrow It'll have to be best endeavours. Hey-ho!

[craigjm]

Are you planning to live there or rent or sell?

[Blaster72]

I feel for your neighbour to be honest, it must be pretty tough to live below that flat which has had noisy building works going on above it now for 5 months or so. I'd be pretty fed up if my neighbours took that long with a simple refurb too.

Maybe he is home alone all day, maybe he works nights? What does it matter, be nice and help get the water leak sorted, you said you took a plumber with you - couldn't he do something? - if you are going to eventually move in and live there it always pays to be on good terms with neighbours in flats.

Neighbour troubles apart, it does seem to be slowly getting there and should make a decent place to live for you. The block seems tidy and well kept mostly and this is normally a good sign.

Edited by Blaster72 on Tuesday 6th September 14:14

[Blaster72]

One more thing to add, many blocks have residents associations. Might be worth finding out if yours has one or if there's one resident in particular that tends to get things sorted out.

They might well be able to get the leak sorted much quicker than approaching the management company directly.

[KTF]

Would it have taken much to get the leak sorted or was the plumber not going to touch it as it belonged to the management company?

Does seem strange just to leave it leaking with an unknown fix time?