Today saw the woodburner installed! It was a little disappointing that the hearth wasn't polished a promised but we'll survive...
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
Picture Progress Report
It's late so this is going to be another picture based blog only, but... we've got paint on the walls, we've started putting some of the final touches into the bathroom and are close to having fully working electrics in the house! It's getting close to being habitable!!
The other major news is that the planning permission has been accepted! We're no where near ready to have it all done straight away, but it's the first step along the path to our dream house!
The other major news is that the planning permission has been accepted! We're no where near ready to have it all done straight away, but it's the first step along the path to our dream house!
Friday, 15 June 2012
Progress
It's not been too long since my last post but as always there is progress to report:
We now have paint on the walls! Albeit a 50:50 mix of matt white paint and water, but still it's almost looking homely!
Our bedroom is now plastered and is in the process of drying out so that it can get the paint treatment too!
The bathroom has been fully silicon sealed now (providing I haven't missed and spots), the bath panels are fully tiled and ready for grout and the radiator is on the bathroom wall ready for plumbing into the central heating system.
I'll call the electrician later to see if he's free next week and if all is well and good, we're looking at moving in next weekend!! (Let's just hope I didn't speak too soon!)
We now have paint on the walls! Albeit a 50:50 mix of matt white paint and water, but still it's almost looking homely!
Our bedroom is now plastered and is in the process of drying out so that it can get the paint treatment too!
The bathroom has been fully silicon sealed now (providing I haven't missed and spots), the bath panels are fully tiled and ready for grout and the radiator is on the bathroom wall ready for plumbing into the central heating system.
I'll call the electrician later to see if he's free next week and if all is well and good, we're looking at moving in next weekend!! (Let's just hope I didn't speak too soon!)
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Tiling
So only 8 days on from the last post and I'm pleased to say that the last tile went onto the bathroom wall tonight! It seems to have taken an age... There was only really one major (and highly disheartening) experience and that was when the tiles I'd stuck to the top of the window (upside down) fell off and cracked one of the tiles on the freshly laid sill. Still it could have been a lot worse than a single cracked tile (Such as a punctured bath!). I learned from my mistakes however and found that putting adhesive on the wall as well as the tiles was the secret (with plenty of force to stick it on there and create plenty of suction from the extra thick smothering of adhesive!).
We've already got the majority of the room grouted and so tomorrow once the adhesive on tonights tiles have dried we should be able to finish it off! At that point the whole room will need an extremely good clean before laying the laminate floor and then installing the rest of the bathroom suite!
Not only is the bathroom taking shape, but Alex the plasterer has been working mightly hard (up to 20:30 one night!!) to give us our living room! He's got three out of the four walls done now and has done a mighty fine job on the fireplace.
He's also re-boarded and skimmed the wall in the study where the fireplace was - what a difference it makes to that room! We spent an afternoon plasterboarding the study ceiling, so once he's finished in the lounge he's likely to carry on in there. Once those two rooms are done that'll be the downstairs complete!!
We've already got the majority of the room grouted and so tomorrow once the adhesive on tonights tiles have dried we should be able to finish it off! At that point the whole room will need an extremely good clean before laying the laminate floor and then installing the rest of the bathroom suite!
Not only is the bathroom taking shape, but Alex the plasterer has been working mightly hard (up to 20:30 one night!!) to give us our living room! He's got three out of the four walls done now and has done a mighty fine job on the fireplace.
He's also re-boarded and skimmed the wall in the study where the fireplace was - what a difference it makes to that room! We spent an afternoon plasterboarding the study ceiling, so once he's finished in the lounge he's likely to carry on in there. Once those two rooms are done that'll be the downstairs complete!!
It's all starting to take shape, but I just wish it would take shape sooner! I just hope theres some truth in the age old saying of: "Good things come to those who wait"!
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Milestones!
I was probably a little optimistic hoping that the bathroom tiling would be done by now, but we're getting there. I think today was my day to "hit the wall"; It's the first day since we got the keys to the house that I've felt physically knackered since I woke up this morning. It didn't stop us going to the house tonight to carry on with the bathroom tiling, but it did mean we didn't stop as long as I have been doing recently.
Despite not having a fully tiled bathroom, I thought it was worth posting as we've achieved two milestones in the last two days:
1) We have a fully working central heating system which means we have hot water!! It seems like such a small thing but it's amazing how excited we both were. It makes it feel like we're that one step closer to being able to move into our new house!
2) The first lot of plaster has started going on the walls! Alex started today in the lounge and managed to get the ceiling done and both of the sound-proofed alcoves. It's amazing at how much difference it makes. It all just feels so much cleaner and habitable.
Tomorrow more plaster will go onto the walls as well as the chimney flue and hearth.
That's it for now, but here's some of the progress pictures:
Despite not having a fully tiled bathroom, I thought it was worth posting as we've achieved two milestones in the last two days:
1) We have a fully working central heating system which means we have hot water!! It seems like such a small thing but it's amazing how excited we both were. It makes it feel like we're that one step closer to being able to move into our new house!
2) The first lot of plaster has started going on the walls! Alex started today in the lounge and managed to get the ceiling done and both of the sound-proofed alcoves. It's amazing at how much difference it makes. It all just feels so much cleaner and habitable.
Tomorrow more plaster will go onto the walls as well as the chimney flue and hearth.
That's it for now, but here's some of the progress pictures:
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Short and sweet
It's late and I'm tired so this is going to be a short one, mainly filled with pictures.
The chimney has completely gone now and although it was a lot of money we hadn't really budgeted for, we're very happy with the amount of room that it's given us. Upstairs it means we'll easily fit a double bed and downstairs we'll be able to have our extension lounge door where we want it in the future.
We've started plasterboarding yet another ceiling (Our bedroom this time) but it means that once this is done we'll have half of the house ready for plastering!
We've started on the bathroom in anger now:
The first fix waste and plumbing was put in by a professional.
Trying to remove the old wooden windowsills nearly brought the wall under the window down (literally!). A bucket load of mortar later and the windowsill and wall was patched up and looking good.
Once that was patched up it was time to fit the suite.
And finally onto the tiling.
The chimney has completely gone now and although it was a lot of money we hadn't really budgeted for, we're very happy with the amount of room that it's given us. Upstairs it means we'll easily fit a double bed and downstairs we'll be able to have our extension lounge door where we want it in the future.
We've started plasterboarding yet another ceiling (Our bedroom this time) but it means that once this is done we'll have half of the house ready for plastering!
We've started on the bathroom in anger now:
The first fix waste and plumbing was put in by a professional.
Trying to remove the old wooden windowsills nearly brought the wall under the window down (literally!). A bucket load of mortar later and the windowsill and wall was patched up and looking good.
Once that was patched up it was time to fit the suite.
It was fun trying to fit the massive shower base, but a little chiselling into the wall and some brute force soon helped it into it's space.
And finally onto the tiling.
In the next post we'll hopefully have a fully tiled and fitted bathroom! Fingers crossed that will be sooner rather that later, but as I've got a beer festival to attend this weekend I'm not holding my breath...
Paul
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Chimney Removal Day 2
Another day and another visible difference! The whole of the upstairs chimney is now clear and they've made a good start at demolishing downstairs. Tomorrows plan is apparently to finish the demolition downstairs, fill the hole between the floors and put a waterproof cover on the top of the chimney. Building control were around at the house this afternoon and are happy with the work that they've done so are ready to sign that off. Phil kindly showed the building control officer around the bathroom too and there are no reported problems there either!
If that weren't enough, I had a small success of my own today: Ever since the first time I'd been up in the roof, I had decided I was going to try and replace the missing roof tile on the front of the house from the inside! Most people had said it wouldn't work because of the way that roof tiles are fixed to the roof and overlap, but I thought I'd have a go anyway. The tile that was missing was behind a roof timber which meant I couldn't directly drop a tile into the gap. What I could do however was to carefully slide the next tile along, sideways to fill the gap. That meant that with a little bit of teasing I managed to slot a spare tile into the newly formed gap! The only minor defect on the front of the roof now is a solitary slipped tile. Sadly that is down towards the eaves, so unless I want to get a face-full of insulation to fix it, it's going to have to be done externally.
If that weren't enough, I had a small success of my own today: Ever since the first time I'd been up in the roof, I had decided I was going to try and replace the missing roof tile on the front of the house from the inside! Most people had said it wouldn't work because of the way that roof tiles are fixed to the roof and overlap, but I thought I'd have a go anyway. The tile that was missing was behind a roof timber which meant I couldn't directly drop a tile into the gap. What I could do however was to carefully slide the next tile along, sideways to fill the gap. That meant that with a little bit of teasing I managed to slot a spare tile into the newly formed gap! The only minor defect on the front of the roof now is a solitary slipped tile. Sadly that is down towards the eaves, so unless I want to get a face-full of insulation to fix it, it's going to have to be done externally.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)