Ever closer.....

Big progress! Upstands and splashback in place! What a transformation - although it shows up the missing paint a bit...


And the last bit of worktop is in place. Once all the shelves are in we can start loading the cupbaords and get the other rooms cleared up.

Deadline approaching

Well, next Tuesday is the end of July.... so are we going to get it all?

Well the kitchen is looking better. The breakfast bar went on yesterday and we gave it the first of 3 coats of oil. The wood is Iroko. Before the first oiling it was not much darker than the floor, which looked odd, but it is darkening up nicely and should be a nice contrast when it's had the next 2 coats - plus we got a decent chopping board from the offcut! Just for scale, the breakfast bar is 3.6m x 62cm, so it's pretty big. And now we shouldn't keep banging our heads on the lights!

The bathroom has been tiled, but still needs grouting. More worrying, we still have a leak from the flat roof at the back - it tends to come in to the rear hall and run down to the thermostat. The granite has been ordered for the kitchen - the missing bit of worktop, the upstands and the splashback. The last handles have been ordered, but we are still missing the dishwasher door.

Phil has been busy finishing up everywhere, but we still have some work to do outside. The extractor for the bathroom has been capped, but the ensuite fan has not been sorted, there is still just a hole in the wall, plus there are still some bricks to finish the eaves - lets hope the birds have gone! We do have window beads everywhere now I think, all the doors and on and fit with handles.

Martin is up tonight to check on the UFH manifold and refit it once the gauge has been (re)moved - plus a beer to say thank you! We still haven't had Eric back to do the final flush of the heating before we get the boiler company in to comission it all - plus the upstairs thermostat is not connected....

Still not finished.... but

Well,

met with Geoff last night and asked 'how long would it normally take to finish from here?' 'About a week' was the answer, so on the basis of weekend working, we've agreed he'll have done by the end of the month. For things he can't directly control - how long for the worktops to be delivered, I've accepted seeing the order note, but all being well we'll be done soon.

The bathroom should be done today - the radiator on and the tiles above the sink being the main things in there. Plus the step should be sorted ready for being re-covered. Phil the joiner is in so the remaining doors should get sorted. Geoff is ordering the remaining worktop and doors for the kitchen so I'm hopeful they'll be delivered soon - the big worktops took less than a week.

Nervy today though - the valuer is coming and I'm hoping it'll be good news so we can refresh the very depleted coffers.... Fingers crossed they can see past what isn't done the the intrinsic value.

Outside

Before and After:



The garden hasn't improved much..... but the house has certainly changed!


The front is pretty much there too - The guys spent the weekend putting the plastic trims around the doors and windows, fitting the leading to the front and painting. Most of the guttering is on - just the end and the downpipe needed now. Plus we have the arched trim above the bedroom window. They need to do the same at the back now.



The front door is almost done - a bit of tidying below the sill to do.

The bathroom tiles arrived on friday - I still haven't seen those for the surround, so that'll be a surprise! They're going on starting tomorrow. Geoff is working on the kitchen from tomorrow (maybe today?) and we painted the kids' playroom cupboard doors last night - one green and one metallic purple!

Post Easter Update

Well, not enough has happened....

We have a plastered and skimmed upstairs hallway, and the big cupboard on the landing (which forms one side of the bath alcove) has been built and boarded ready for skimming; the washing machine is finally plumbed in - no more trips to the launderette.... - but that's it. No kitchen, still a room full of tools and still a huge list of little things to 'finish off' everywhere.

We have booked the flooring contractor for the 7th April to lay the Amtico downstairs. The only issue is really the cupboard in front of the UFH manifold, but we can allow for that if we have to. There are still a couple of holes in the floor where the old electric meter was and some little gaps near the walls in a couple of places but they won't take long.

What is annoying is the pace - we are so close now, but it is taking forever. The fridge got unpacked yesterday and the the gap was plasterboarded so once that is skimmed the fridge can go in - but the plug might not be live so we still may not be able to use it.

On the good news, the bathroom tiles should be in today or tomorrow so they should start tiling next week with a bit of luck.....

BbbbbIiiiiGggggg bath....

Well, it's here, and they got it upstairs!

It's 2000mm x 1250mm and it is now a Bath Room, not a bathroom! The big silver blob on the side is a combined overflow and filler, and you turn it to open/close the waste underneath:


The bath is an Airspa, so it's not a jacuzzi, it blows hot or cold air into the bath so there are no jets for little fingers or toes to poke, just watering can style rose holes on the bath base. Here is all the compressors and gubbins:




We have bought some tap heads to go with it but they look so small, we're putting them on the box surround, not on the bath itself, they are about 1 inch square:

Completely Plastered.....

The rear porch is the only major bit of build left to do. We're going for a flat roof to save some money, but the top half is conservatory style - just waiting for it to come from the window company and be fitted.


Here is the cupboard at the top of the stairs. It's a bit smaller than we hoped because the landing needed cutting down to give us clearance up the stairs for building regs, but the cupboard in the bathroom is pretty big which will make up for it.


The ensuite. It looks a bit cramped on the photo, but it isn't in the flesh - the gap into the cubicle is 800mm wide.


This is the secret door at the bottom of the stairs so we can get things up without going round corners.


The main room - not my best photo, but it's all plastered now.


The new front door - it's brown on the outside to match the windows.


All those wires..... New consumer unit is huge to accommodate them all.



The new drain outside. Inspected and passed yesterday so ready to be finished off.



All of this is (almost) just in time. The fridge comes tomorrow, the appliances Monday and the bath on Tuesday. Flooring is booked in for 16th feb - we've found a really good deal on Amtico at T J Flooring (via eBay)

Honey Oak - Ground floor (except snug):



Ceramic dark tiles - bathroom floor:

January update - visible progress

These pictures were taken on 12th december last year. You can see how much cable has gone into the main room...

Some plasterboard was up, but not a lot.

The woodwork is the false ceiling to level the main room and hide all the beams.

This is the vaulted ceiling. We have 2 lights going on this vertical wall so we can put up some pictures.... gonna need a long feather duster!



On the 19th december it looked like this before we went away.



By the 10th jan it looked like this:
This is the re-instated snug wall with a new doorway.

The doors to the front hall and the kids room.

The guys working in the main room - you can see all the plasterboarding on the ceiling. This is the the only light in the room!

The vaulted ceiling and Velux look really good now.

This is the new door from the rear hall into the main room. Going through here is pretty risky at the moment as there is almost no floor whilst the soil pipes for the downstairs loo are re-laid - they used to block as they join another pipe - urgh....

Recycling in action - the door from the kid's bedroom does duty as a temporary back door. At least we're warm now. Thanks to Joe and Eric from Churchtown plumbing and heating for getting the new boiler and tank up and running last week. Upstairs was warm straight away even running the rads at the 50 degrees the UFH uses, but after 3 or 4 days the UFH has really started to work and downstairs is comfortable in a t-shirt most of the time now. Considering the state of the back door and that the front door hasn't been fitted completely, and we have no internal doors, that's really good news.

Update 4/1/08

Well, what has happened since december 6th.... A lot and not a lot.

The sparky installed the majority of the cables in the lounge, including runs to the rear hall and bedrooms for new sockets etc. He reckons he's installed about 1km of cable - a typical houses worth in one room. We have 7 lighting circuits in there, 3 TV points and 10 sockets, plus controls for some of the outside lights and the thermostat for the UFH.

The ceiling has been insulated and most of the room is plasterboarded, as is most of the kids play room and some of the front hall.

The oil ran out in the middle of december leaving us with no heating again.... bloody cold. So we arranged for a delivery but since it was only a day before we were going away we asked the guys to switch the heating on a few days before the new year to give it all time to warm up......

When we got back on new years day, we had no heating and no power. We fiddled with the fuses and got the lights on but no cooker. It turns out that the boiler had sprung a leak all over the electronics box that controls it... Geoff tried to get it going with no luck. The following day he tried to bypass the controls since we just want the boiler on all day, but it gave up completely so we have no heating at all now - just 3 fan heaters, and with no internal doors, they have no chance.

Yesterday we moved into a Travellodge.... and today Geoff found someone to get the new boiler going on weds so we'll stay in the hotel until then - fingers crossed all will come good.

The rear porch is now down ready for measuring by the window firm to put the door, windows and roof line together. Hopefully that won't take for ever as it's a gap in the outside of the building and in this weather it makes the heating seem to struggle. Oh, and the new drain for the cloakroom is coming so the back of the house can be tackled soon. Now the boiler is dead, we may as well get that and the little wooden stove behind it taken out so the utility is a bit clearer. Would be good to get a washing machine again...... and there are connection points already under the sink in there.

We have ordered the bath and taps (Thanks Dean!!!) Thats coming later in january, as is the new bed. Sarah has been painting the skirting boards in the bedroom and dressing room and the ensuite walls. Apart from the towel radiator, the ensuite is ready for the new boiler (the old tank had too little hot water pressure for the mixer taps). We have a loo in the bathroom (waiting a cold feed, but plumbed to the soil pipe).

Apart from the heating, we are over the worst of it, but the heating really put a dampner on things and I lost my rag with Geoff a bit....... Once the new heating and electrics are in place, things should start to improve rapidly. The landing has been trimmed to give us the clearance up the stairs for building regs and the door casings are going in downstairs.

The plasterboard makes a big difference - when it's not freezing it is actually starting to feel like a house..

I would strongly recommend getting a caravan if you are doing anything this big. Although Geoff has tried to keep the place habitable, keeping the services up has been a struggle, and unless you like roughing it (and have no kids) it's not worth the hassle - plus it slows the building down. Had I really known what was coming, I would have bought a cheap caravan, stuck it in the back garden and skipped it at the end of the job, but there we go - hindsight is great.

Photos when I can get new batteries in the camera and a computer to load them onto!

More Photos

The UFH - not much to show for over 3 grand! A bit of swirly red piping and the manifold from the previous post. This was the 23rd November.

The screed company let us down on the saturday. The driver didn't turn in so no delivery but no-one told our guys so everyone was hanging around waiting. Eventually we found out and after some argy bargy, Martin's screed guy got onto Tarmac for a delivery monday afternoon... and here it is. Monday 26th.


Luverly and smooth - trouble is a dog got in chasing our cat overnight and got footprints right across here!! Geoff got rid fo the worst of them near the front door but we'll have some sanding and filling to do when it's done. This stuff is Tarmac Truflo.

Now the floor cost another £2K. We were going to use normal sand and cement screed but a few things swayed us. Firstly, we can turn the heating on after 3 days with this stuff - it's 3 WEEKS with the sand and cement - and we have no other heating downstairs. Secondly, we want Karndean flooring on top and that needs a smooth surface - so hopefully we'll save a few quid not needing the floor levelling (well - apart from the dog prints that is!). Lastly, this is the recommended screed for UFH as being liquid it runs round the pipes and you're not supposed to get cold spots. Unfortunately, what is not supposed to happen is the floor to get very wet.... then we had 80mph winds and torrential rain all weekend, the temporary roofing got blown off and we had 1/2inch of standing water. Geoff made temporary repairs on sunday and on monday finished most of the roof so Sarah and Stephen mopped up and it's been virtually dry since - we still have a bit of a leak around the Velux so a bit more work to do but it's coming.

By the friday Geoff had got us some stairs and on the saturday we moved back in.... hmm..
Here is a slightly dark picture of the main room. The shuttering is where the new doorway will be, but until the uPVC company and Geoff agree which order the rear porch roof is getting done in, we have no doorway as such....

Piccies

Well, finally managed to hook up the big PC and transfer the photos from the camera. We don't have a wide angle lens so it's hard to photograph the big room, but when I get a chance in daylight I'll try and do a panorama shot again.


18th november 9am



18th November 4pm20th November (yes the fridge has been moved!):

All the insulation ready to go in on top of the new slab - 150mm of the stuff!!! (20th November)

Concrete! 20th November

A hole for the pipes into the island.
Tanking on top of the insulation ready for the UFH pipework (23rd November)
The UFH manifold. Water comes in top left (the valves are the wrong colour on this picture!) and goes back to the boiler bottom left and is distributed to the heating zones from all the verticals.

Catch up....

Blimey, no posts for 3 weeks.....

The last time I posted, the floor had been ripped up in the old lounge and the stairs had gone. Well it took the best part of that week to clear and level the soil ready for the new slab. The following week, the kitchen came out and the floor came up. Few words but a massive upheaval. The rest of that week was getting ready and laying the concrete slab - which went in tuesday afternoon - very late, and a big concern to Martin in case it wasn't set in time to lay the UFH.

Anyway, come wednesday PM and although the concrete wasn't the flattest ever, Martin declares it OK. They measure up and find the floor is 50mm too low. My fault for 20mm as I changed to Anhydrite Screed which is thinner (but mainly, because we can turn the heating on after 3 days instead of 21 for sand and cement and because it leaves a level surface for the Karndean....) not sure where the other 20mm came from, but there we go... So Martin rushes off to the local builder's merchants and orders a load of 50mm thick polystyrene sheets, so we'll have 150mm of insulation under the UFH! Very eco.

So thursday and the insulation goes down, but.... Martin is again concerned that the floor is not stable enough for the screed, which can crack, so friday morning he arranges for the screed expert to come and check - if it's no good either the insulation will have to come up and the floor raised and levelled, or we go to sand and cement...

Friday morning and the screed expert tells Martin to stop being a pansy! The floor is fine - all go for the screed saturday morning.

Saturday morning - no screed. Later saturday morning - no screed. the driver hasn't turned up to collect it from the depot. Cue many phone calls to Lafarge (the supplier) with the end result being that Martin arranges for Tarmac to deliver on monday afternoon.

Now bear in mind we've been away for two weeks, I am due back with the kids monday pm and we'll have a liquid floor and no stairs, so we agree with Martin to go into a hotel at Lafarge's expense until at least weds when the stairs can be installed.

Monday pm and the screed is laid and everyone goes home (apart from Sarah who goes to the hotel to meet us) and we're all fairly happy.

Tuesday morning, Sarah goes to the house to find the floor is still completely liquid and a dog has got in, chasing a cat. We trace the cat prints to Holly, our moggy, and we suspect next door's dog is the culprit - so our expensive, very smooth floor, has a load of footprints across it - FANTASTIC.

Anyway, Geoff manages to float some of the worst out as the floor is still very wet. We wait until Wednesday.

Come Wednesday (28th), the floor is now drying out so Geoff starts to install the stairs. We now have
no bathroom
no kitchen
1 electrical socket
no indoor access to the toilet (we have to go outside to get to it)

So we stay in the hotel and book through to friday night!

Thursday - and we turn the heating on after a few conversations between Geoff and Martin finally sorts out how to connect them initially (despite the complicated manifold, for now it's just a flow and return!)

By friday, we have most of the stairs in (although we still have the sub-landing as there was not enough head room under the landing, it will still need raising but not much now - the stairs look great, Geoff is doing a good job putting them together).

Saturday afternoon and we return to the house..... and the lounge is 1/2 inch deep in water. It has rained all day and the temporary cover on the rear roof has been blown off and water has peed into the lounge - all over the expensive new floor....... So we mop as much of it as we can, hide in the snug - which is dry and closed off (the guys built most of the dividing wall during the week and blocked the gaps with insulation and polystyrene)

Saturday night and the one electrical socket cries enough at being expected to power everything and we lose power - and the boiler! So I clamber downstairs in the dark (the torch has got lost), disconnect everything, turn the power back on to get lights, and plug things back in one at a time until we discover the dodgy extension - another cold night for the fish in the bedroom!

We pester Geoff to come out on Sunday and make good the temporary roof - which he does. So we mop a bit more and turn the fan heater in the snug up to full. We have some of the polystyrene down on the floor, and the UFH is starting to work, so the snug is almost... well, snug! Sunday evening - and we run out of heating oil! I think someone dislikes me......

Monday morning and full tilt. Geoff gets the guttering up on the main roof so the rear roof only has it's own rain to deal with and not the run off, Pip has grouted some of the en-suite and got the cabinet for the sink in - wow, it's starting to look the biz now. We got some more oil and the UFH is starting to do it's thing now - the floor is warming up and drying out nicely now.

Came downstairs this morning and it wasn't ice cold - the UFH is starting to have an effect - pretty good at 35-40 degrees instead of the 55 it will run at eventually. Still having to put shoes on to go to the loo or clean my teeth - oh, and take a torch! The lead flashing on the rear roof should go in today so we'll be just about watertight there. the front bay window is ready to go in, as is the front door glass, so we may be almost watertight by the end of the week! And by friday we should have full temperature to the UFH. Still on the old boiler which is disappointing but pip is concentrating on getting us a loo and sink in the en-suite.

Photos to come but no way to get them from the camera to the laptop which is the only way I have net access at the moment....

Over the worst of it now so things 'can only get better' to borrow a phrase - bout bloody time too!

Bit chilly...

Firstly we gained a new door into the bathroom! This will be a cupboard, but it looks like it was the old doorway.

Here is the boiler and the tank - not much to show for the money, but looking like the most important purchase given the cold!


All the lights......


But here it is - our new, eco-friendly flooring in the lounge......


But at least Pip has started on the tiling - should look nice when they're cleaned! the funny knot at the bottom of the picture is part of the electrical-spaghetti for the bathroom.


Here is our new open-plan landing... I'm sure we were getting shallower stairs, not steeper ones...


Even Holly finds them a challenge!


I don't think we'll keep this layout