Our build thread, renovation and extension
Discussion
The finish is generally good but:
- There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
- There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
Muncher said:
The finish is generally good but:
- There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
I hope that wasn't John!- There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
For tiles not anywhere locally!
If you want natural we had very good luck with http://www.stonetilemarket.co.uk/
Not a single broken tile in 3 pallets and all very good (according to the tiler)
No, a family friend (via my girlfriend) which makes things a little awkward.
Backup choice is coming to check it on saturday, he did several rooms in my parents house a while ago whilst working for someone else and the finish is spot on so I know he will do a decent job, he's just more expensive.
thanks for the tip with the tiles, I will take a look.
Backup choice is coming to check it on saturday, he did several rooms in my parents house a while ago whilst working for someone else and the finish is spot on so I know he will do a decent job, he's just more expensive.
thanks for the tip with the tiles, I will take a look.
Muncher, for tiles try James@tmktiles.co.uk - somewhere in fenville. They laid our kitchen/utility tiles (we supplied) and did an excellent job for a good price. I'm going to send him on a mission to find some tiles with sparkle with the bathroom, very professional, would recommend.
Any joy with a plasterer? It's a shame you couldn't use Brett, he's done a really exceptional job (although I did find one place where you could see some scrim - don't think that's too bad in a whole house though
)
Any joy with a plasterer? It's a shame you couldn't use Brett, he's done a really exceptional job (although I did find one place where you could see some scrim - don't think that's too bad in a whole house though
)skintemma said:
Muncher, for tiles try James@tmktiles.co.uk - somewhere in fenville. They laid our kitchen/utility tiles (we supplied) and did an excellent job for a good price. I'm going to send him on a mission to find some tiles with sparkle with the bathroom, very professional, would recommend.
Any joy with a plasterer? It's a shame you couldn't use Brett, he's done a really exceptional job (although I did find one place where you could see some scrim - don't think that's too bad in a whole house though)
Thanks, I think we will be laying them ourselves, how hard can it be? If we take long enough with the prep and planning it should be ok...Any joy with a plasterer? It's a shame you couldn't use Brett, he's done a really exceptional job (although I did find one place where you could see some scrim - don't think that's too bad in a whole house though
)Muncher said:
If you can manage plumbing, you can manage electrics, they are far easier. We laid the cables and the sparks made the joins at the lighting junction boxes in the loft which is the tricky bit, that took them about an hour for all the upstairs lights.
The underfloor heating I would highly recommend U-Heat www.uheat.co.uk We fitted it all ourselves with their advice. It's fairly hard work doing it, but it's not at all technical, you just lay the loops down whilst trying not to kink the pipe. It's a 2 person job definitely.
As for lighting control, I doing really want or need it, but I'm going for Lightwave RF on the basis I need decent dimmers to power the LEDs so the cost of adding a little bit of control is worth it. However I'm not sure how much control anyone really needs for that kind of thing beyond a couple of basic switches.
Have just been speaking to the guys at u- heat, very helpful people, will be using them when it comes to the UFH.The underfloor heating I would highly recommend U-Heat www.uheat.co.uk We fitted it all ourselves with their advice. It's fairly hard work doing it, but it's not at all technical, you just lay the loops down whilst trying not to kink the pipe. It's a 2 person job definitely.
As for lighting control, I doing really want or need it, but I'm going for Lightwave RF on the basis I need decent dimmers to power the LEDs so the cost of adding a little bit of control is worth it. However I'm not sure how much control anyone really needs for that kind of thing beyond a couple of basic switches.
steve1 said:
Have just been speaking to the guys at u- heat, very helpful people, will be using them when it comes to the UFH.
They've been very helpful and are very straight forward in terms of pricing, unlike some companies such as Continental who pick a huge figure out of thin air and eventually reduce it if they have to, just like some double glazing salesmen.Muncher said:
The finish is generally good but:
- There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
bloody hell, sounds horrific, think i'd be unhappy with just one of those - There are several screws showing through
- Scrim tape is visible in parts on the ceiling
- There are multiple dents and scrapes in the wall, really very visible
- The areas round sockets have been poorly finished and will not be covered by the sockets
We have another plasterer coming round on saturday to take a look at it, it is probably all going to need to be redone.
Meanwhile 99% of the upstairs has now been boarded, all of the first fix plumbing apart from a little of the upstairs UFH has been completed. Short of leaving it to be plastered and sorting out a cuts for LED profiles in the bathrooms the upstairs is done until decoration and second fix. (That doesn't sound like much when you say it quickly, right?)
So from the weekend we are tending to the downstairs, sorting the lighting wiring, some wiring for the ovens and then onto boarding parts of that.
Which is the best place to source bathroom tiles from? Any recommendations?
at least you had the forethought sample his work first, imagine coming in to find the whole house like that tiling, pretty simple, porcelain very simple as cutter can be pretty much right next to you (get a good one) travertine for example is wet cut only, I just did our bathroom, 16m2 porcelain floor, 4m2 trarvertine shower, inc. grouting it took 3 days but then no two walls were parallel so every edge tile was cut as I wanted a straight line from the doorway.
grouting takes longer than you think it will, I'd get some waterproof knee pads for doing the floor
Pvapour said:
bloody hell, sounds horrific, think i'd be unhappy with just one of those at least you had the forethought sample his work first, imagine coming in to find the whole house like that
tiling, pretty simple, porcelain very simple as cutter can be pretty much right next to you (get a good one) travertine for example is wet cut only, I just did our bathroom, 16m2 porcelain floor, 4m2 trarvertine shower, inc. grouting it took 3 days but then no two walls were parallel so every edge tile was cut as I wanted a straight line from the doorway.
grouting takes longer than you think it will, I'd get some waterproof knee pads for doing the floor
Good advice, some more! at least you had the forethought sample his work first, imagine coming in to find the whole house like that tiling, pretty simple, porcelain very simple as cutter can be pretty much right next to you (get a good one) travertine for example is wet cut only, I just did our bathroom, 16m2 porcelain floor, 4m2 trarvertine shower, inc. grouting it took 3 days but then no two walls were parallel so every edge tile was cut as I wanted a straight line from the doorway.
grouting takes longer than you think it will, I'd get some waterproof knee pads for doing the floor
Don't buy adhesive/grout from the sheds - BAL is good (there might/will be others)
Never trust anything that "looks" level - I used a laser level
Tile file, profile tool and decent drill bits required
you must be very pleased
Progress is going to slow a bit as I ended up back at A&E yesterday with another collapsed lung, it's small but painful so I will have to see how it goes.
The first plasterer came back, saw his finished work, didn't say a lot and left, the new plasterer will start once he has some spare time. The bathrooms have been finished apart from one panel in the jack and jill for which we are waiting for the oak to sit the sink and tap on. We need access underneath to tighten both of those before the remaining section of board can go on. Luckily there is an offcut of oak which looks to be the right size on eBay which I am bidding on.
I've also picked up a bundle of pipe insulation on eBay for a song which was leftover after a renovation, which needs to be picked up from the Kings Cross area soon, which I may struggle to get to if I'm not back at work soon.
The first fix wiring downstairs should be done today, so my Dad may start boarding some of downstairs at the weekend. The speaker wiring went in last weekend and there are only one or two plumbing bits left to do before the ceilings can start to go on downstairs. The plan is to use two layers of 100mm acoustic rockwool under all the first floors which should hopefully dampen any noise from upstairs or from the various bits of plumbing. There are a lot of time consuming jobs left to do, least of all fitting the back and front doors which involves carefully removing the old cast concrete steps and recasting a new ones.
We have also just had a report through from a tree specialist regarding the feasibility of building the garage under the tree (which is good as it would only cover 17% of the root area) but the recommendations for the foundations just don't make any sense.
What she initially suggested is a pad and beam construction, with a 1m deep root barrier installed 30cm from the perimeter of the foundations. This renders the pad and beam foundation pointless as you are digging straight through and roots that might be there, far deeper than would be required for a conventional trench fill system.
The other alternatives are trench fill (which might upset the council tree officer) or pile and beam which would be prohibitively expensive. Apparently the tree officer won't discuss anything or comment on any proposals until they have a full planning application!
None of the solutions proposed seem to work for us, any ideas?
The first plasterer came back, saw his finished work, didn't say a lot and left, the new plasterer will start once he has some spare time. The bathrooms have been finished apart from one panel in the jack and jill for which we are waiting for the oak to sit the sink and tap on. We need access underneath to tighten both of those before the remaining section of board can go on. Luckily there is an offcut of oak which looks to be the right size on eBay which I am bidding on.
I've also picked up a bundle of pipe insulation on eBay for a song which was leftover after a renovation, which needs to be picked up from the Kings Cross area soon, which I may struggle to get to if I'm not back at work soon.
The first fix wiring downstairs should be done today, so my Dad may start boarding some of downstairs at the weekend. The speaker wiring went in last weekend and there are only one or two plumbing bits left to do before the ceilings can start to go on downstairs. The plan is to use two layers of 100mm acoustic rockwool under all the first floors which should hopefully dampen any noise from upstairs or from the various bits of plumbing. There are a lot of time consuming jobs left to do, least of all fitting the back and front doors which involves carefully removing the old cast concrete steps and recasting a new ones.
We have also just had a report through from a tree specialist regarding the feasibility of building the garage under the tree (which is good as it would only cover 17% of the root area) but the recommendations for the foundations just don't make any sense.
What she initially suggested is a pad and beam construction, with a 1m deep root barrier installed 30cm from the perimeter of the foundations. This renders the pad and beam foundation pointless as you are digging straight through and roots that might be there, far deeper than would be required for a conventional trench fill system.
The other alternatives are trench fill (which might upset the council tree officer) or pile and beam which would be prohibitively expensive. Apparently the tree officer won't discuss anything or comment on any proposals until they have a full planning application!
None of the solutions proposed seem to work for us, any ideas?
Muncher said:
None of the solutions proposed seem to work for us, any ideas?
Well you can build walls on top of steel beams and PFCs, so why not put the foundations in each side of the roots, and then sling a steel beam across the top to build your wall on?A structural engineer can simply and readily compute the beam needed, and it shouldn't cost too much to do as it's basically a single beam.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff