Heating controls

Been a mixed week. The bath surround has almost been completed - just waiting for the tiles to be delivered now. Some plastering in the snug - once that's been skimmed, it will be ready for decorating. The kids room is still the tool store so no chance to decorate yet. The rear hall now has skirting boards so a few bits of plastic trim around the windows and the radiator and that's done (plus another coat of paint!). The light is up and (I think) it just needs the circuit breaking closing to make it work. The utility needs the door panel fitting, the radiator and the tiling round the sink then it's time for the washing machine, drier and fridge and the units.

The big thing this weekend was the thermostats came on-line! We now have control of the heating downstairs, and even after one day it's better. With UFH you don't turn it on and off, you 'set it back' - ie. turn it down - overnight. So we are running the main room at 22 degrees from 6am to 10.30pm and 16 degrees overnight. The thermostats take care of warming up and cooling down so the room should be at the chosen temp at the chosen time. This morning it was 20 degrees at 6am so tomorrow it will switch on earlier!

The controls come from Heatmiser in Darwen, Lancs.... very swish they are too!


Parlo ripped the landing apart yesterday taking out the old bathroom doorway to keep the ceiling level throughout the landing. He started plasterboarding as well so that should be boarded and ready for skimming today (?). Hopefully they will get on with the raidators today but the plumber has gone AWOL at the moment. And, yet again, we are waiting for the sparky's next visit...... Still plenty to do, but nothing that should hold the build up now.... apart from the isolator switch bank for the appliances, which all have their own fused spur anyway, it's mainly fittings now - switches, lights, etc.....

Ah.... the ensuite. Although we had success with one lot of UFH, the en-suite Walkwarm system failed to start. We are waiting to find out what's wrong. Worst case is the ribbon of wire was damaged, in which case the tiles will have to come up..... so we're going to wait until the bathroom is ready before we even think about that.

Painting... at last

It's been a busy weekend. The main room plaster has dried so we have been painting - the first time I have wished we didn't have the vaulted ceiling with the Velux!

Anyway, the electrics are progressing - although not fast enough!! This is the current meter and fuse board.....


Soon to be replaced by this monster!!!

We've started stripping the stairwell since it was a mixture of fresh plaster and textured wall-paper.

Here is the main room in it's new white livery - I need a wide angle lens !!!!


Some of the kitchen units are here, ready and waiting


And on Saturday this arrived. We were worried that it woudl look huge in the house, but it looks quite small - maybe we should have bought a bigger one ;-)


Yes - this was that much fun to paint.



Parlo has been putting skirting boards and architrave on - what a difference it makes. Now it's starting to look like a room.

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: