Full House Refurb log - Work in Progress - Dark to Light
Discussion
Next day was far too nice weather to be mucking about in the house so decided to finally tackle the first cut of the grass in the garden and give it a bit of a tidy up. Shifted the old garden furniture round to the back, and moved the cast iron stuff that came with the house out of the way. Made a wee trip to B&Q to pick up some new toys as well!
Grass at the front wasn't too bad, grass at the back was starting to get a bit long. Just did a quick mulching cut to see how long it would take (3 hours by the way).
At some point the previous owners must have had a water feature or something at the back of the garden. There's an old water supply at the back of the garden sunken into the grass and hidden underneath a slab.
Also a little more than concerned with the boundry wall. It's not moving if you push it but the roots have obviously shifted it over the year. Once I've planned out the garden upgrades a bit better I'll get some better ideas on what to do with it.
Also found time to do a quick construction project
And the handy little helper that it will house. Uhmed and Ahed over mower choice. Decided to go for the McCulloch and havn't had any issues with it yet. Ran the boundry wire and the guide wire and had plenty spare at the end. Only issue being the power supply that came with it. Not only an integrated plug but EU two pin. Ordered an adaptor cable but had to give it some creative engineering until it arrived. Once it did I housed it in a waterproof enclosure just to be safe.
Grass at the front wasn't too bad, grass at the back was starting to get a bit long. Just did a quick mulching cut to see how long it would take (3 hours by the way).
At some point the previous owners must have had a water feature or something at the back of the garden. There's an old water supply at the back of the garden sunken into the grass and hidden underneath a slab.
Also a little more than concerned with the boundry wall. It's not moving if you push it but the roots have obviously shifted it over the year. Once I've planned out the garden upgrades a bit better I'll get some better ideas on what to do with it.
Also found time to do a quick construction project
And the handy little helper that it will house. Uhmed and Ahed over mower choice. Decided to go for the McCulloch and havn't had any issues with it yet. Ran the boundry wire and the guide wire and had plenty spare at the end. Only issue being the power supply that came with it. Not only an integrated plug but EU two pin. Ordered an adaptor cable but had to give it some creative engineering until it arrived. Once it did I housed it in a waterproof enclosure just to be safe.
Schmeeky said:
Lovely stuff!
Love the Hue gear - I'm a sucker for coloured, ambient light.
The first time you get google to turn on a light just by asking is a properly cool moment. I remember watching Tomorrow's World years ago when they'd do a house of the future spot - this is where we are today, living in that future, and it's great!
Thanks mate, must admit I'm a sucker for it as well. More to come!Love the Hue gear - I'm a sucker for coloured, ambient light.
The first time you get google to turn on a light just by asking is a properly cool moment. I remember watching Tomorrow's World years ago when they'd do a house of the future spot - this is where we are today, living in that future, and it's great!
Antony Moxey said:
Looks utterly fabulous. Any reason for not upgrading from Sky HD to Sky Q, and with the wiring you currently have in place would it be a problem to upgrade?
No, would be no issue at all. I actually had to get a Sky engineer out to troubleshoot signal issues, turned out it was the 2 way faceplate at the back of the media cabinet causing issues. Just bypassed it. Also had to get the dish re-aligned. I was offered SkyQ but at the distance I'm viewing currently 4k isn't going to be much different to HD. In addition to that our internet speed is only 4.7 mb/s download so it's not like I'm going to be able to take advantage of any 4k content via streaming or downloading any time soon. As it is an HD episode takes a few hours to download at minimum. Until that increases I don't see the advantage.
wow mega update i love it! If you get any time have a look at Home Assistant on a pi! I've just started making my house automated and it's great! i've currently got lights to come on with sensors & a dog to bark from my bose when the cctv triggers motion 
.
Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
. Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
richatnort said:
wow mega update i love it! If you get any time have a look at Home Assistant on a pi! I've just started making my house automated and it's great! i've currently got lights to come on with sensors & a dog to bark from my bose when the cctv triggers motion .
Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
Thanks mate, I'll have a nosy at that. The Hue stuff integrates pretty well with Google Assistant. I'll go into the sensors and things in a wee bit. Still sorting through photos as I have a months worth of updates to dump on here. . Also as for your Arc issue have you turned it on in the settings, i had to do this on my LG too as it's not on as default.
Spoiler alert I did manage to sort the ARC over HDMI, I think the soundbar and telly just needed to update as its working consistently now. I've kept the Optical cable in place just as a safeguard.
Ok, so on with the media / lighting install in the living room (as of course this is a priority!)
All of my cable management stuff arrived. This consisted of some square conduit, cable ties and sticky pads for tidying everything up.
I had a spare Hue LED strip and decided that I wanted some ambient lighting behind the TV itself. I knew it was going to be slightly compromised due to the wall bracket and that it would be slightly lighter at the bottom. Generally it's OK, it's no ambilight but it will do.
I found out that the Soundbar isn't true Chromecast in the same way that a separate dongle is. It will allow audio to be cast to it but doesn't have visual capabilities which is a bit naff. I dug out my old Chromecast HD and plugged that into HDMI 2 on the TV, just meant I had to run the power cable for the LED up from the lower power points and through the brush fittings.
These little cable tie holders are great for running and securing cables rather than having them hang loose behind the TV. One thing I did find though is that you have to account for cable stretch when pulling or pushing the TV around on the mount.
First run of the ambient lights behind the TV. I did some more faffing around as you can see the shadow of the HDMI cable from the TV on the bottom of the recess in the TV wall.
I dissassembled the entire media unit again to give me access to the shelf brackets. I mentioned previously (i think) that the joiner had made a single runner all round the edges of the wall which was different to my plans. It meant that I needed to use a multi tool to cut out a small section to allow me to run the cable tray up the wall. Didn't take too long to do this and then start to install everything from the ground up again.
Can also see the two HDMI cables from the cable run under the floor.
I guess I'm pretty chuffed at how well it's all worked out from the planning to the execution. Glad I spent the time obsessing over the layout of everything, and I still had to be flexible in how it came out. For one I was not expecting the HDMI cables to be so thick. This meant that for the time being I only have 2 x HDMI run from the soundbar. I use the XBOX so infrequently that I can swap over the Blu-Ray to the XBOX when I need to.
The missus also decided that she wanted a home phone set up (which I hate) but never mind, so that got added to the set on top of the unit. So here's the room with media install pretty complete. I still have to rig up the IR repeater to use the Blu-ray and the Sky box from the universal remote.
With the living room pretty nicely set up it was time to get crafty on a secret project that I had hinted about to my partner, who was more than a little dubious.
Some minor things. Whilst we were away we had the floor installers come round and finish the porch and the living room. Had family round for Easter Sunday BBQ and managed to get the place looking at least mainly presentable and tidy and clean. Spent the evening opening and putting up some art as well. My old living room furniture is doing fine in the conservatory for the time being.
All of my cable management stuff arrived. This consisted of some square conduit, cable ties and sticky pads for tidying everything up.
I had a spare Hue LED strip and decided that I wanted some ambient lighting behind the TV itself. I knew it was going to be slightly compromised due to the wall bracket and that it would be slightly lighter at the bottom. Generally it's OK, it's no ambilight but it will do.
I found out that the Soundbar isn't true Chromecast in the same way that a separate dongle is. It will allow audio to be cast to it but doesn't have visual capabilities which is a bit naff. I dug out my old Chromecast HD and plugged that into HDMI 2 on the TV, just meant I had to run the power cable for the LED up from the lower power points and through the brush fittings.
These little cable tie holders are great for running and securing cables rather than having them hang loose behind the TV. One thing I did find though is that you have to account for cable stretch when pulling or pushing the TV around on the mount.
First run of the ambient lights behind the TV. I did some more faffing around as you can see the shadow of the HDMI cable from the TV on the bottom of the recess in the TV wall.
I dissassembled the entire media unit again to give me access to the shelf brackets. I mentioned previously (i think) that the joiner had made a single runner all round the edges of the wall which was different to my plans. It meant that I needed to use a multi tool to cut out a small section to allow me to run the cable tray up the wall. Didn't take too long to do this and then start to install everything from the ground up again.
Can also see the two HDMI cables from the cable run under the floor.
I guess I'm pretty chuffed at how well it's all worked out from the planning to the execution. Glad I spent the time obsessing over the layout of everything, and I still had to be flexible in how it came out. For one I was not expecting the HDMI cables to be so thick. This meant that for the time being I only have 2 x HDMI run from the soundbar. I use the XBOX so infrequently that I can swap over the Blu-Ray to the XBOX when I need to.
The missus also decided that she wanted a home phone set up (which I hate) but never mind, so that got added to the set on top of the unit. So here's the room with media install pretty complete. I still have to rig up the IR repeater to use the Blu-ray and the Sky box from the universal remote.
With the living room pretty nicely set up it was time to get crafty on a secret project that I had hinted about to my partner, who was more than a little dubious.
Some minor things. Whilst we were away we had the floor installers come round and finish the porch and the living room. Had family round for Easter Sunday BBQ and managed to get the place looking at least mainly presentable and tidy and clean. Spent the evening opening and putting up some art as well. My old living room furniture is doing fine in the conservatory for the time being.
Neither my wife or my wallet are going to thank you 
Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
morgs_ said:
Neither my wife or my wallet are going to thank you
Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
Hah, yes, I've been told by several friends that I am terrible for temptation. Love what you've done so far in general, but particularly like all the AV/Smart Home stuff. Didn't even realise Google WiFi is a thing and having done a bit of research, it seems to be brilliant. Plus I love the look of it!
Looking forward to further updates.
I figured if we're planning on having the place for 20+ years then setting it up right the first time is worth the short term pain (plus new toys!).
The Google Wifi has been great so far. I've even disconnected my TV and Chromecast from the hard wired network just so I can optimise over Wifi. Only things plugged in directly to the router are Sky and Hue hub with the option for the Xbox on either wifi or hard wired to router.
I've set one up upstairs and the primary one in the living room. No wired connection between the two. Gives regular usage and speed monitoring checks. Allows you to set up guest networks and route or prioritise traffic.
So to continue on with some interior details / lighting.
Following on from this thead: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
And using the following components:
5m of Hue controllable light strip for £37.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GLEDOPTO-ZIGBEE-Le...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-LED-Strip-Light...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-x-AC-100V-240V-t...
I rigged up the lighting behind the headboard in the master bedroom. Obviously a little more fiddly to get going than the Hue stuff, and the power transformer is a lot bigger. But when it's hidden away you don't see it anyway. All Hue and Google Home voice controllable as part of the wider house system. Handy for a nightlight.
Also finally received our corner lamp for the living room and got rid of the little table lamp. Due to this being silly little light fittings can't fit Hue to it, so resorted to a standard remote switching plug in the wall and a little remote control that turns it on / off to avoid having to scrabble about for the floor switch.
Managed to persuade the other half that I of course needed a guitar in the living room....
Following on from this thead: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
And using the following components:
5m of Hue controllable light strip for £37.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GLEDOPTO-ZIGBEE-Le...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-LED-Strip-Light...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-x-AC-100V-240V-t...
I rigged up the lighting behind the headboard in the master bedroom. Obviously a little more fiddly to get going than the Hue stuff, and the power transformer is a lot bigger. But when it's hidden away you don't see it anyway. All Hue and Google Home voice controllable as part of the wider house system. Handy for a nightlight.
Also finally received our corner lamp for the living room and got rid of the little table lamp. Due to this being silly little light fittings can't fit Hue to it, so resorted to a standard remote switching plug in the wall and a little remote control that turns it on / off to avoid having to scrabble about for the floor switch.
Managed to persuade the other half that I of course needed a guitar in the living room....
Now we're on to some really big upgrades!!
Driveway full of vans and skips again as the lads get cracking on the new windows. First day was the 4 x velux and the utility room door. Then on with the remaining upstairs in a single day, then the downstairs split over two days. Unfortunately a few snags. The Velux above the staircase has developed a small ±2" temperature related crack in one of the panes. Velux have accepted responsibility for this and will be replacing it themselves. Then the window fitter managed to crack the large dining room window pane in the lower right hand side of the inside pane of the glazing unit. Both will be replaced with no recourse to ourselves of course.
Fitting went well with no more issues than coping with the sawdust and general disruption to the house. Tried to cover as much as we could with dustsheets.
I hadn't actually realised how bad the utility room door was. The frame on the outside was totally rotten, could just pull the wood away with a finger. However, for being 25 years old, and positioned where it will never get sunlight it's probably held up quite well.
Roofers and fitters getting on with the Velux in the roof.
Of course with the house full of fitters and not a lot for me to do I just pottered about. Rescued a beautiful moth from the rooms above the garage, built a quick bird feeder and said hello to some new neighbours.
Second day the lads cracked on with the 5 remaining windows upstairs. They did a really good job of not damaging too much of the plaster around the old frames. Using a multi tool to cut away before removing (as previously suggested on this thread). There's some small patching to do where they removed one of the old sills that we hadn't, and they managed to not damage any tiles in the bathroom either which was nice.
Massive difference in the facing boards outside on the dormer windows. Luckily all of the wood framing underneath was in good condition, it was just the facing boards that were utterly rotten and falling apart. Here's a quick before and after shot at the back of the house.
And at the front of the house.
A few eagle eyed readers might have noticed that I've not updated on the final parts of the roofline installation. I was waiting on the electrician sorting out some final bits, and he's still got the two cameras installed. But all of the lighting is working now. I had them install a lumens sensor so all the lights now come on as darkness falls and will turn off during daytime.
The NEST security cameras have been run and cabled but due to the length of cable from the camera to the power box we're waiting on 2 x white junction boxes to install and wrap the excess cable up inside. New LED security lights up and installed as well.
Driveway full of vans and skips again as the lads get cracking on the new windows. First day was the 4 x velux and the utility room door. Then on with the remaining upstairs in a single day, then the downstairs split over two days. Unfortunately a few snags. The Velux above the staircase has developed a small ±2" temperature related crack in one of the panes. Velux have accepted responsibility for this and will be replacing it themselves. Then the window fitter managed to crack the large dining room window pane in the lower right hand side of the inside pane of the glazing unit. Both will be replaced with no recourse to ourselves of course.
Fitting went well with no more issues than coping with the sawdust and general disruption to the house. Tried to cover as much as we could with dustsheets.
I hadn't actually realised how bad the utility room door was. The frame on the outside was totally rotten, could just pull the wood away with a finger. However, for being 25 years old, and positioned where it will never get sunlight it's probably held up quite well.
Roofers and fitters getting on with the Velux in the roof.
Of course with the house full of fitters and not a lot for me to do I just pottered about. Rescued a beautiful moth from the rooms above the garage, built a quick bird feeder and said hello to some new neighbours.
Second day the lads cracked on with the 5 remaining windows upstairs. They did a really good job of not damaging too much of the plaster around the old frames. Using a multi tool to cut away before removing (as previously suggested on this thread). There's some small patching to do where they removed one of the old sills that we hadn't, and they managed to not damage any tiles in the bathroom either which was nice.
Massive difference in the facing boards outside on the dormer windows. Luckily all of the wood framing underneath was in good condition, it was just the facing boards that were utterly rotten and falling apart. Here's a quick before and after shot at the back of the house.
And at the front of the house.
A few eagle eyed readers might have noticed that I've not updated on the final parts of the roofline installation. I was waiting on the electrician sorting out some final bits, and he's still got the two cameras installed. But all of the lighting is working now. I had them install a lumens sensor so all the lights now come on as darkness falls and will turn off during daytime.
The NEST security cameras have been run and cabled but due to the length of cable from the camera to the power box we're waiting on 2 x white junction boxes to install and wrap the excess cable up inside. New LED security lights up and installed as well.
dazmanultra said:
What a great transformation you've done so far.
One very minor point, is it worth painting the interior of the TV recess in a darker colour?
I guess, but then it would change the colour of the LED behind it somewhat. The idea of a back light being that with a contrast against the TV the blacks appear 'blacker' and thus the viewing experience is enhanced. Mostly though it's just for show. I have a setting for when the rest of the room is completely dark that is just the tiniest amount of light from behind the TV and the TV wall. It really does help. One very minor point, is it worth painting the interior of the TV recess in a darker colour?
Continuing on with the updates on the windows. Lads managed to get all the upstairs done in 2 days, then tackled the downstairs which took about a day and a half. I left my partner to make the decisions on the windows and glad I did. The dining and kitchen area now both have large picture windows with no obstructions. Makes both parts of the room feel much brighter. Of course getting rid of the dark wood frames helps a lot.
Decided to go for oak sills on all the windows, but without a full picture framing surround on the inside. White sills in the bathrooms and kitchen areas for easy cleaning.
We also managed to start the last of the really big projects. Getting the stairs refurbished was one of the main jobs that we really needed to hold off until a lot of other stuff was complete. We had initially planned for a total replacement with floating stairs, but having see the job the lads have done, and the utility of the cupboards underneath I think it was the right decision to go as we have.
Joiner had previously removed the running board from the bottom step in order to run the flooring underneath. Bottom step was getting fully replaced anyway. Lads wasted no time in getting the old posts and spindles down, then started fitting the new oak posts and capped the old running boards up the wall.
Can't recommend them enough actually, only one snag was that the oak capping for the running board hadn't taken into account a slight variation in width from top to bottom. Fair play to the joiners on the install they weren't happy just installing what had been supplied and decided to contact the head office in order to get it rectified as soon as possible.
And a reminder of before.
Decided to go for oak sills on all the windows, but without a full picture framing surround on the inside. White sills in the bathrooms and kitchen areas for easy cleaning.
We also managed to start the last of the really big projects. Getting the stairs refurbished was one of the main jobs that we really needed to hold off until a lot of other stuff was complete. We had initially planned for a total replacement with floating stairs, but having see the job the lads have done, and the utility of the cupboards underneath I think it was the right decision to go as we have.
Joiner had previously removed the running board from the bottom step in order to run the flooring underneath. Bottom step was getting fully replaced anyway. Lads wasted no time in getting the old posts and spindles down, then started fitting the new oak posts and capped the old running boards up the wall.
Can't recommend them enough actually, only one snag was that the oak capping for the running board hadn't taken into account a slight variation in width from top to bottom. Fair play to the joiners on the install they weren't happy just installing what had been supplied and decided to contact the head office in order to get it rectified as soon as possible.
And a reminder of before.
Schmeeky said:
That is one helluva transformation! Bloody lovely!
Are they going to be carpeted?
Yes mate, we've dubbed it highland hotel carpet >.< As it's an Axminster plaid pattern on it. Trinity Hill is the pattern. Are they going to be carpeted?
https://www.valefurnishers.co.uk/16865/Axminster-C...
Just a small set of updates and this should bring us up to date.
Radiators for the porch and downstairs bathroom finally arrived. Very happy with how these look.
The plumbers also did a few wee jobs, they replaced the kitchen sink for a new stainless unit, installed a sink in the garage and also moved the tap from inside the garage to outside where it's actually useful.
And that's us up to date on the build! Budget is well and truly rinsed and pockets feeling empty. Need to throw my partner back to work soon so we can move forward with the other projects. I'm aiming for tidying up and getting the rooms above the garage sorted with decorating, wiring and flooring before starting on workbenches and storage for the garage itself.
Still have Neville Johnson to come back to fix the wall string cap, decorator to return and tidy up some damage from moving and other installers, window company due back to tidy up some decorating damage round the new sills etc. Of course still the hall and stair carpet to install and my lightbox install in the upstairs hallway to complete.
Radiators for the porch and downstairs bathroom finally arrived. Very happy with how these look.
The plumbers also did a few wee jobs, they replaced the kitchen sink for a new stainless unit, installed a sink in the garage and also moved the tap from inside the garage to outside where it's actually useful.
And that's us up to date on the build! Budget is well and truly rinsed and pockets feeling empty. Need to throw my partner back to work soon so we can move forward with the other projects. I'm aiming for tidying up and getting the rooms above the garage sorted with decorating, wiring and flooring before starting on workbenches and storage for the garage itself.
Still have Neville Johnson to come back to fix the wall string cap, decorator to return and tidy up some damage from moving and other installers, window company due back to tidy up some decorating damage round the new sills etc. Of course still the hall and stair carpet to install and my lightbox install in the upstairs hallway to complete.
Edited by RichTT on Monday 6th May 14:04
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