House renovation and garage build
Discussion
Craikeybaby said:
Fitting the loft hatch made a mess of the landing ceiling, so we may accelerate our plans to sort out the landing, which we were going to leave until last. Having been up in the loft I'll also have to board it out, as it has plenty of insulation.
Depending upon the finish you are going for I would be carefull of wanting to do hall, stairs and landings as a lot of stuff needs to be moved through them to get to the room where they are going- beds, wardrobes,bath, steps, etc,etc, too much chance of the walls getting damaged and needing remedial work.Consider putting lighting and a socket or two in the loft whilst its easy to do.
That was our original plan, for those reasons, so we'll have to put up with it (ill post a picture later).
Lights/socket in the loft have already been fitted, although I need to get the switch relocated to near the new loft hatch, but I'm guessing that is a job for an electrician, rather than DIY?
Lights/socket in the loft have already been fitted, although I need to get the switch relocated to near the new loft hatch, but I'm guessing that is a job for an electrician, rather than DIY?
I haven't updated the thread as the only progress has been painting. Although when we got to the house today there was a strange beeping, after checking every room it turned out to be the mains smoke alarm in the lounge. It sounds like a battery smoke alarm with a flat battery, but meant to be mains powered, so Rutherford investigation is needed.
Thanks, he really did care about his house, and we did feel a bit bad at the state it was in, especially as the rewire was happening. We had to go back to the house last night as the alarm was going off and when we were looking around to make sure there hadn't been a break in the rooms we've been decorating over the weekend looked really good!
Made good progress today, finished the walls/ceilings in the rooms we had plastered and went out with my mate to buy a Z4 (he'd only been looking for 11 months).
Next jobs are cutting skirting boards, the refitting the radiators. I've been told that it is best to paint the rear side black, and fit a reflective sheet on the wall behind the radiator. Is t worth it? The logic behind it makes sense, but would it make a noticeable difference?
Next jobs are cutting skirting boards, the refitting the radiators. I've been told that it is best to paint the rear side black, and fit a reflective sheet on the wall behind the radiator. Is t worth it? The logic behind it makes sense, but would it make a noticeable difference?
Slower progress today, got the skirting board for the office cut, which tok a while as I did a lot of measuring before cutting - something I've learnt from past experience. Despite my best measuring the longer runs of skirting don't fit flush to the wall, which I don't think is bang on straight, should I trust the grip fill to hold the wood against the wall? I'm not really sure how else to do it, as it is only a thin layer of plaster, then bricks.
Another lesson learnt is that sockets etc really need masked up, cleaning them up after takes a lot longer than doing the masking in the first place!
Sorry for the lack of pictures, its been dark by the time we've finished this weekend, hopefully I'll get some pictures when the skirting boards are on so there will be a decent change from the before!
Another lesson learnt is that sockets etc really need masked up, cleaning them up after takes a lot longer than doing the masking in the first place!
Sorry for the lack of pictures, its been dark by the time we've finished this weekend, hopefully I'll get some pictures when the skirting boards are on so there will be a decent change from the before!
Craikeybaby said:
Slower progress today, got the skirting board for the office cut, which tok a while as I did a lot of measuring before cutting - something I've learnt from past experience. Despite my best measuring the longer runs of skirting don't fit flush to the wall, which I don't think is bang on straight, should I trust the grip fill to hold the wood against the wall? I'm not really sure how else to do it, as it is only a thin layer of plaster, then bricks.
Assuming the gaps are not too big then just stick/screw the skirting to the wall and then run decorators chaulk along the top of the skirting to hide the gaps. I just no-nails mine to the wall, blobs of it on the back of the skirting takes up any uneven walls.paulrockliffe said:
Isolate the sockets, unscrew the faceplates and wrap in clingfilm. Much quicker than masking them!
Thanks, I'll try that next time!scottri said:
Assuming the gaps are not too big then just stick/screw the skirting to the wall and then run decorators chaulk along the top of the skirting to hide the gaps. I just no-nails mine to the wall, blobs of it on the back of the skirting takes up any uneven walls.
Thanks! I think I've just got to have faith in the grip fill. I was planning to run a bead of caulk along the top anyway, so will see how it goes. After getting stranded in Paris last weekend, we're back at the house now, as we're allegedly moving in in less than 2 weeks!
Really struggling with cutting the skirting boards around the fireplace in the back bedroom:
Back bedroom by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I'm not sure that the floor is flat, which isn't helping with the mitre joins lining up. Should the bottom of the skirting be on the floor? Or should we be leaving a couple of mm anyway to allow for this sort of thing?
On a more positive note the skirting for the office has been glossed & will be fitted this afternoon when the gloss has dried.
Really struggling with cutting the skirting boards around the fireplace in the back bedroom:
Back bedroom by Lewis Craik, on Flickr
I'm not sure that the floor is flat, which isn't helping with the mitre joins lining up. Should the bottom of the skirting be on the floor? Or should we be leaving a couple of mm anyway to allow for this sort of thing?
On a more positive note the skirting for the office has been glossed & will be fitted this afternoon when the gloss has dried.
Quite often skirting has a slight gap between the bottom edge and the floor boards. I think the carpet gets tucked into it after going over the gripper.
You ideally want the skirting level and to fill any slight gaps from an undulating floor with decorators corking if you haven't a floor covering going on top of the floor boards. But if the floor is miles out then you'll have to go with it a bit.
You ideally want the skirting level and to fill any slight gaps from an undulating floor with decorators corking if you haven't a floor covering going on top of the floor boards. But if the floor is miles out then you'll have to go with it a bit.
Had another few productive days on the house - all the skirting boards are now cut and primed. The ones for my office have also had a coat of gloss and have been fitted, unfortunately neither the skirting boards or the walls were straight, so we've had to nail them to the walls to keep them flat while the grip fill dries, the moment of truth will be when I pull the nails out tomorrow! If that is successful, we'll use the same method in the back bedroom, if not I'm not too sure how we'll attach them!
We've also sugar soaped and sanded the radiators ready for painting tomorrow, so hopefully the weather holds out, the MIL dug the veg patch for us and finished the non skirting glossing in the two rooms, so we should have the rooms ready for carpet next weekend. Which is good as we bought carpets today and they're getting fitted on the 26th!
We'd tried the local places recommended on a PH thread, but in the end Carpet Right seemed to be significantly cheaper (even with charging for grippers etc) with their 70% off sale - I certainly wouldn't pay full price though!
We've also sugar soaped and sanded the radiators ready for painting tomorrow, so hopefully the weather holds out, the MIL dug the veg patch for us and finished the non skirting glossing in the two rooms, so we should have the rooms ready for carpet next weekend. Which is good as we bought carpets today and they're getting fitted on the 26th!
We'd tried the local places recommended on a PH thread, but in the end Carpet Right seemed to be significantly cheaper (even with charging for grippers etc) with their 70% off sale - I certainly wouldn't pay full price though!
Gingerbread Man said:
Quite often skirting has a slight gap between the bottom edge and the floor boards. I think the carpet gets tucked into it after going over the gripper.
You ideally want the skirting level and to fill any slight gaps from an undulating floor with decorators corking if you haven't a floor covering going on top of the floor boards. But if the floor is miles out then you'll have to go with it a bit.
Thanks, that's what we ended up doing in the end, the floorboards aren't actually out by much, if was just a bit of a panic yesterday when we were cutting skirting and it wasn't fitting together.You ideally want the skirting level and to fill any slight gaps from an undulating floor with decorators corking if you haven't a floor covering going on top of the floor boards. But if the floor is miles out then you'll have to go with it a bit.
) to fit the radiators and curtain rails anyway.On to plan B (or is it C now?) skirting boards weren't stuck on when we arrived this morning, removing the nails made it worse. So will borrow the FIL's hammer drill and go down the drill, plug & screw route.
On a more positive note, I've painted one of the radiators and it looks a lot better.
On a more positive note, I've painted one of the radiators and it looks a lot better.
a little tip when plugging and screwing skirting, drill through the wood with a 7mm sds drill bit on hammer mode and all the way through into the wall, then put a plug in the wood and then a screw into that until you cant turn the screw by hand anymore then whack the whole lot through with a hammer until the plug is well into the wall then just tighten the screw until tight. It will mean you can bury the screw beneath the surface of the wood and then just fill and sand.
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