The ridiculous Edwardian...
Discussion
matrignano said:
Are those Roseview (Ultimate?) windows?
How are you finding them?
Are they also incredibly noisy/"grindy" when you move the sashes up and down?
Genuinely don't know, will see if I can look out the cert later. They don't grind or are particularly noisy though. Our fitter was very conscientious though. It took a week and a half to fit 14 windows with 2 people on the job (3 for the bedroom for safety purposes). They have cut down a lot of ambient noise too.How are you finding them?
Are they also incredibly noisy/"grindy" when you move the sashes up and down?
RC1807 said:
They're very different, in a good way.
I shouldn't have played it safe in our place, as we did.
Next place will be in sunnier climes, so it's gonna be a MUCH brighter interior!
Thanks RC1807, as with the rest of the room, we have not gone with the sensible choice I shouldn't have played it safe in our place, as we did.
Next place will be in sunnier climes, so it's gonna be a MUCH brighter interior!
Looking forward to seeing your new pad, sounds exciting!
Edited by Ace-T on Friday 1st October 16:49
Harry Flashman said:
I love those sofas.
Thanks Harry, the sofas were custom made locally and cost 4.5k all in. The gold velvet was designed by a pair of designers in the Peak District and the 2 seater cost about the same as the Chesterfield as a result 
This is now lifetime furniture and we are extremely happy about the effect as it has lifted the design and created a warmth that is really fabulous to be in. Heroin chic said:
Loving that table, where's it from? Sofas look great as well. Rug is hideous though and I'm going to burn it out the back next time I pop round for a fix.
Not quite sure how to respond to the last point, but thank you. The coffee table is actually 4 small tables that we bought in Belper. Put together they make a coffee table that we can separate into occasional tables for popping guests drinks etc on.
Gomez on the new sofa already
Edited by Ace-T on Friday 1st October 22:36
cptsideways said:
Interesting thread. We have recently bought a Scottish Victorian 5 bed villa. It's s mix of 70's decor and lovely original features. Not dissimilar to this one, with an equally hideous front door!
The views are stunning, The Waverly passes every day in the summer
We've started on the project, thankfully it's had a new roof, Central heating, double glazing and joists with little or no damp. But there's not a straight wall anywhere and far too much wood chip.
It'll be getting the gentleman's lounge, feature bathroom with a Thomas Crapper theme, along with some brave decor.
New thread and pictures coming soon
Looking forward to that! The views are stunning, The Waverly passes every day in the summer
We've started on the project, thankfully it's had a new roof, Central heating, double glazing and joists with little or no damp. But there's not a straight wall anywhere and far too much wood chip.
It'll be getting the gentleman's lounge, feature bathroom with a Thomas Crapper theme, along with some brave decor.
New thread and pictures coming soon
dbdb said:
You are doing a lovely job of this.
Thank you We are now starting to think about what we do with the kitchen. Unfortunately the conclusion we have come to is that all the work on the dining room will have to go
as the only way to remove the things that drive us crazy about the kitchen is to knock the wall down between the 2 rooms, remove the chimney, relocate the downstairs loo into the dining room, block up the back door and put a door to the garden where the kitchen window currently is.Biggest challenge is going to be able to find a builder to do it at all, and at a manageable price. So if anyone has any recommendations for builders in the East Mids, please do let me know. Luckily we have a good plumber, plasterer, window guy and electrician.
Any advice for a nooby starting out on a project like this will be gratefully received too!
Edited by Ace-T on Saturday 29th January 13:12
Good news everyone!
We have found a builder (someone Judas has known through his business for about 10 years, and didn't connect the dots immediately). We have also found a local kitchen supplier (not DIY, though they have come a close second). We are now in the throes of finalising the kitchen design and second guessing ourselves at every turn 
We are knocking down the old downstairs loo, moving it into the dining room to create a loo/laundry room, knocking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room, removing the chimney and old cupboard, and having a kitchen diner with new doors out to the garden/catio.
We have been through tens of permutations and combinations on this (feels more like hundreds though) and I think we are getting there. I have mocked up the design on the DIY designer app and popped the pics below if anyone is interested.
Layout Old and new
View from the door.
From above from the kitchen guy, the cabinets on the bottom left will be going.
The cabinets (as mentioned above) under the right hand window will go as it gives a little more space into the loo/laundry
We are going for a solid wood shaker style door in a dark blue teal. That way we can paint the doors if we get bored/need to refresh to sell. Worktops in white marble effect quartz. Dunno about backsplashes yet, need suggestions/advice on that if anyone cares to weigh in. Flooring likely to be a wood effect porcelain tile with underfloor heating.
The sink opposite the peninsula is deliberate because of having to fit other stuff in such as integrated bins and dishwasher. The big cupboards from left to right are 1. boiler/broom/vacuum storage. 2/3 big pantry cupboard. Flat prep space around the cooker was a must, do we debated on cooker type. Ended up keeping it as a range cooker (that we have already, so a bit of a saving, but we were prepared to sell it). Crittal style doors out to the catio and some bonkers wallpaper in the loo/laundry.
We need to get a move on with decisions as they are starting in a month with a 6 week build time.
Oh and here is the door design.
We have found a builder (someone Judas has known through his business for about 10 years, and didn't connect the dots immediately
). We have also found a local kitchen supplier (not DIY, though they have come a close second). We are now in the throes of finalising the kitchen design and second guessing ourselves at every turn We are knocking down the old downstairs loo, moving it into the dining room to create a loo/laundry room, knocking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room, removing the chimney and old cupboard, and having a kitchen diner with new doors out to the garden/catio.
We have been through tens of permutations and combinations on this (feels more like hundreds though
) and I think we are getting there. I have mocked up the design on the DIY designer app and popped the pics below if anyone is interested. Layout Old and new
View from the door.
From above from the kitchen guy, the cabinets on the bottom left will be going.
The cabinets (as mentioned above) under the right hand window will go as it gives a little more space into the loo/laundry
We are going for a solid wood shaker style door in a dark blue teal. That way we can paint the doors if we get bored/need to refresh to sell. Worktops in white marble effect quartz. Dunno about backsplashes yet, need suggestions/advice on that if anyone cares to weigh in. Flooring likely to be a wood effect porcelain tile with underfloor heating.
The sink opposite the peninsula is deliberate because of having to fit other stuff in such as integrated bins and dishwasher. The big cupboards from left to right are 1. boiler/broom/vacuum storage. 2/3 big pantry cupboard. Flat prep space around the cooker was a must, do we debated on cooker type. Ended up keeping it as a range cooker (that we have already, so a bit of a saving, but we were prepared to sell it). Crittal style doors out to the catio and some bonkers wallpaper in the loo/laundry.
We need to get a move on with decisions as they are starting in a month with a 6 week build time.
Oh and here is the door design.
Edited by Ace-T on Friday 15th April 18:09
dobly said:
Is your underfloor heating extending into the new toilet? If so, and you are having a wall-mounted pan, make sure that the heating element goes all the way underneath, so that there isn't a cold spot under the pan.
We are doing ufh. Thank you for the top tip. Harry Flashman said:
May I humbly suggest a French point pattern parquet layout for the floor if in wood effect? And go for zero grout lines as that's a dead giveaway of artificial wood pattern floor coverings!
Given that yiu guys clearly have the stones to try cool stuff, how about demarcation areas with differing floor finishes? A funky tile selection around islands and in dining areas, for example?
One of the rooms in our old house was all teal blue, copper accents and parquet oak floor. I miss that room.
Thank for the input Harry. After several parquet tile tryouts, it just wasn't working for us. The split idea is a good one but again, we couldn't make it work with the layout.Given that yiu guys clearly have the stones to try cool stuff, how about demarcation areas with differing floor finishes? A funky tile selection around islands and in dining areas, for example?
One of the rooms in our old house was all teal blue, copper accents and parquet oak floor. I miss that room.
However, we are going for something a bit odd.
We found these tiles which have a really lovely aged encaustic look about them. Yes we are committing to the blue, but we are not doing this to sell but for us to live in. https://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/products/her...
It would look like the pic below except with a white marble top. The walls will be painted F&B Old White (by way of Johnstones
), same as the hall. This will warm the look and create continuity with the rest of the house.
Apparently they are by some swanky Spanish interior designer. Their website description of the range is particularly hilarious. The normal interior design pretentiousness dialled up to eleven with the added delightfully terrible translation.
https://www.franciscosegarra.com/en/decoration-til...
We are looking at this kind of door out to the catio too.
https://www.expressdoorsdirect.co.uk/patio-doors/f...
Just need to decide if black or anthracite f
king grey will look better. 
Mood board with all the stuff together in the hall. Big tile is the cooker back splash. It's the weird looking 'old house plaster worn away' thing. The backdrop is the Old White in the hall and we found some really nice gunmetal handles.
Work starts in 2 weeks. Officially terrified.
Edited by Ace-T on Sunday 1st May 12:25
^^ Many thanks for the suggestions and replies folks.
One technical question though. What JCT should we expect the builder to bring to sign? I have had a look but it's not clear if it's the Homeowner one or the next one up.
For clarity. One wall and one chimney breast coming down. One new steel, one replacement steel, new roof with veluxes and original slates, new floor with ufh, new kitchen.
Any thoughts?
One technical question though. What JCT should we expect the builder to bring to sign? I have had a look but it's not clear if it's the Homeowner one or the next one up.
For clarity. One wall and one chimney breast coming down. One new steel, one replacement steel, new roof with veluxes and original slates, new floor with ufh, new kitchen.
Any thoughts?
Hi folks, long time, no update.
After the not good times with the proposed kitchen build, we decided to focus elsewhere. We decided to knock down the 50s concrete garage and get a new one sorted so we could have somewhere to keep the cars.
With funds not going as far as they used to, a compromise had to be made, so a brick built one was pretty out of the question. We decided on a concrete sectional one. It's really not pretty (it will make your teeth ache!) but is functional and pretty spacious so I am not unhappy with the end result.
We had to start with clearing the site. We had removed the 40ft leylandii last winter, but stuff had started to grow back. Also we had not realised the tree surgeons had not taken out the 2ft thick roots.
You will notice there is a tree next to the space. This is a very old magnolia that I wanted to keep. It is a stunning tree and is in the most stupidly inconvenient place, but we are keeping it so worked around it.
Even the digger sent in to flatten the site couldn't pull the roots out so we resorted to hiring an industrial stump grinder and operator who made pretty short work of it!
Demolition of old garage
Getting the site ready
Site ready
Slab laid (with obligatory paw prints)
New garage going up
Yes, we know the door is offset and looks weird. However it gives us a better space inside.
Garage up and TVR in.
Next steps were getting power to the garage and sorting the gates.
After the not good times with the proposed kitchen build, we decided to focus elsewhere. We decided to knock down the 50s concrete garage and get a new one sorted so we could have somewhere to keep the cars.
With funds not going as far as they used to, a compromise had to be made, so a brick built one was pretty out of the question. We decided on a concrete sectional one. It's really not pretty (it will make your teeth ache!) but is functional and pretty spacious so I am not unhappy with the end result.
We had to start with clearing the site. We had removed the 40ft leylandii last winter, but stuff had started to grow back. Also we had not realised the tree surgeons had not taken out the 2ft thick roots.
You will notice there is a tree next to the space. This is a very old magnolia that I wanted to keep. It is a stunning tree and is in the most stupidly inconvenient place, but we are keeping it so worked around it.
Even the digger sent in to flatten the site couldn't pull the roots out so we resorted to hiring an industrial stump grinder and operator who made pretty short work of it!
Demolition of old garage
Getting the site ready
Site ready
Slab laid (with obligatory paw prints)
New garage going up
Yes, we know the door is offset and looks weird.
However it gives us a better space inside. Garage up and TVR in.
Next steps were getting power to the garage and sorting the gates.
To get into our drive we have to reverse along a narrow shared drive and dogleg into our driveway. This has been very challenging, especially at night in the cold and wet when a banksman is required to make sure the gates are open and we don't scrape the car corners!
To solve this, we have treated ourselves to a set of widened electric gates! They are awesome!
We had to remove the old fence panel and wall to widen the opening back to where the neighbours garage is. Luckily we have fabulous neighbours and they gave us written permission to do this.
Once removed we then had to reprofile the drive into a weird slope. A mix on site concrete lorry turned up and the buliders did their thing.
To be honest, there were problems with the mix and it is not going to win any awards for concrete perfection. But it works and it's not slippery.
Now for the exciting bit. Gate installation! They took our original gates, refurbished them, added a bit extra on, then brought them back and installed them.
To solve this, we have treated ourselves to a set of widened electric gates! They are awesome!
We had to remove the old fence panel and wall to widen the opening back to where the neighbours garage is. Luckily we have fabulous neighbours and they gave us written permission to do this.
Once removed we then had to reprofile the drive into a weird slope. A mix on site concrete lorry turned up and the buliders did their thing.
To be honest, there were problems with the mix and it is not going to win any awards for concrete perfection. But it works and it's not slippery.
Now for the exciting bit. Gate installation! They took our original gates, refurbished them, added a bit extra on, then brought them back and installed them.
Next job, garage electrics and flooring.
Who knew that you can't drill into concrete garage panels? We didn't In order to not miss the electrician slot we had to figure out a way of putting something on the walls for sockets to me mounted on.
OSB panels glued to the walls seems to work well!
Concrete floors, as you will know, are very dusty, so we needed a floor down. Painting was an option but one that would need more time than we had. Floor tiles were a better option for us.
Delivered. There's a lot there!
Pretty easy to put down once the floor was swept, vacuumed, swept again and vacuumed again. Then figuring out the pattern
We need to finish the sides and back. That involves cutting the remaining tiles. Will do that when it gets a bit warmer.
Who knew that you can't drill into concrete garage panels? We didn't
In order to not miss the electrician slot we had to figure out a way of putting something on the walls for sockets to me mounted on.OSB panels glued to the walls seems to work well!
Concrete floors, as you will know, are very dusty, so we needed a floor down. Painting was an option but one that would need more time than we had. Floor tiles were a better option for us.
Delivered. There's a lot there!
Pretty easy to put down once the floor was swept, vacuumed, swept again and vacuumed again. Then figuring out the pattern
We need to finish the sides and back. That involves cutting the remaining tiles. Will do that when it gets a bit warmer.
Now on to demolishing the en suite.
We wondered why they put a weird full height backsplash behind the sink
Upon removal we discovered why.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/9x5fvawu.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/ASoEdzoN" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/ASoEdzoN.jpg)
Clearly the wall (loadbearing by the way) has been removed. There is even a suspicion of a lintel above, thank goodness. But to patch the wall only halfway up. Absolute fking bodgers. I should be surprised. But I'm not. Just fked off that now I have to fix their bodges again. fkers, hope they choke to death on engineering bricks. Gah!
Any suggestions on what I can fill that with other than the ground up bones of bodgers past?
We wondered why they put a weird full height backsplash behind the sink
Upon removal we discovered why.
Clearly the wall (loadbearing by the way) has been removed. There is even a suspicion of a lintel above, thank goodness. But to patch the wall only halfway up. Absolute f
king bodgers. I should be surprised. But I'm not. Just fked off that now I have to fix their bodges again. fkers, hope they choke to death on engineering bricks. Gah!Any suggestions on what I can fill that with other than the ground up bones of bodgers past?
Edited by Ace-T on Sunday 28th May 16:50
illmonkey said:
Scrunched up newspaper and plaster surely.
Of course, go trad or go bust Anyhoo, time has passed but work became all consuming so no further work was done. Picking it up again now.
Question for the knowledgeable ones on here
, has anyone used TIWI (thin internal wall insulation) before? For example:
https://www.twistfix.co.uk/thin-internal-wall-insu...
or this stuff
https://safeguardstore.co.uk/ultrotherm-internal-i...
There appears to be a move to actually research this stuff so that the millions of solid wall houses can get insulated with less disruption and reduced condensation and cold bridging issues. (Let me be clear, I know nothing about this, other than there are some diverse views on the subject!)
https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/-/media/files/resea...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thin-in...
The en-suite is a small but quite cold room on the corner of the building, solid walls on 2 sides, plastered apart from that bodge. I can't put anything on the walls that will come in the room more than about total 20mm as I need all the space I can get for the shower and loo layout.
If anyone has used this kind of stuff and has thoughts to share, I would be very grateful.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff