The House Projects Thread

V8Granite
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by V8Granite »

Pirelli calendar, games room, pot noodles in the fridge and breeze block shelving, job jobbed.

Dave!
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

V8Granite wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:12 am Pirelli calendar, games room, pot noodles in the fridge and breeze block shelving, job jobbed.

Dave!
It's a house of 4 boys. Every room is a games room!

And there's no room for pot noodles in the fridge. That's where the beer lives!
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Gavin
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Gavin »

I did once make a pot noodle with cold water when "tired and emotional" but it was rank, but I never kept Pot Noodles in the fridge?
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240PP
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by 240PP »

Good on you Jimmy 😎
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Beany
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Beany »

Good work Jimmy - sounds like a bit of faffing aboot but I can't imagine it being that tricky to sort!
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

Beany wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:17 pm Good work Jimmy - sounds like a bit of faffing aboot but I can't imagine it being that tricky to sort!
Yeah, it "should" be straightforward. I'm really looking forward to having a workshop and space off the road where I can jack up a car. Fixing cars on the road isn't much fun.
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Beany
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Beany »

Jimmy Choo wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:29 pm
Beany wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:17 pm Good work Jimmy - sounds like a bit of faffing aboot but I can't imagine it being that tricky to sort!
Yeah, it "should" be straightforward. I'm really looking forward to having a workshop and space off the road where I can jack up a car. Fixing cars on the road isn't much fun.
Oh, I'm very much familiar with that.

The next time I move house, a driveway - at a minimum - is a requirement, not a nice to have.
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Delphi »

Nice one Jimmy!

Your requirements tend to creep. Despite having a single garage that has a decent-sized loft and a drive, I now want a double garage and more land. Sadly, neither of these are possible without moving which is off the table.
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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

Delphi wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 am Nice one Jimmy!

Your requirements tend to creep. Despite having a single garage that has a decent-sized loft and a drive, I now want a double garage and more land. Sadly, neither of these are possible without moving which is off the table.
I don't even have the garage proper (yet) and I'm now wanting at least a double and more land! :lol: Moving won't be happening any time soon though.
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integrale_evo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by integrale_evo »

That’s exactly why we won’t be moving any time soon. It would be nice to have a bigger house, but anything in our price range has little to no parking, or is surrounded by houses on all sides.

At least at the moment I’m only annoying our direct neighbours when working on cars, there’s no one in front, the houses behind are about 100m away, and the cars I’m working on are approx 20-25m away from the back of our house.

I’d want a decent size garage and parking for four cars as an absolute minimum.
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Ascender
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Ascender »

We’ve been talking about extending the driveway for a while as its got more than enough room for the camper van + one other car but not quite enough room for all three. So the weekend was spent digging out both sides, the toughest bit of which was getting the bloody grass off. Borrowed a mini-tiller from our neighbour which meant getting the top soil sorted was a breeze.

Edging is in - picked up an angle grinder which is another tool I’m amazed I’ve lasted this long without, its the mutts nuts. Skip is here so just need to finish off and get some pebbles ordered.

Then back to the painting and door handles *sigh*
Cheers,

Mike.
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DeskJockey
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

Spent the weekend sorting out the youngest's room. We've moved her out of the cot and into a child's bed. This then have us the opportunity to rearrange things and give her more space for clothes, toys, etc.

Room definitely needs painting but that's for later. I assembled the bed, bookcase and wardrobes and anchored them in the walls (not the bed).

Things I learnt:
* Working in a 2x2.5x2.1m room sucks. No space to do anything, so end up wasting time moving things in and out
* The stud walls facing the original house (room is in the extension) are very shallow. The 65mm cavity wall anchors were barely going 2/3rds in. Luckily I had some shorter ones that just fit.
* Floors are so uneven that I needed to use spacers on the wall anchors to get things level, 12mm at the worst point.
* I don't like assembling drawers.

But, munchkin loves her new bed and owl lamp, so it is all worth it.
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Mito Man
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Mito Man »

The first time you fit wood flooring or tile a floor and you realise how unbelievably wonky your house is in all dimensions 😂
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Ascender
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Ascender »

Mito Man wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:53 pm The first time you fit wood flooring or tile a floor and you realise how unbelievably wonky your house is in all dimensions 😂
This * 100...

When we moved in here I really didn’t have a clue about diy and wasn’t practical, but over the years have improved. At the start, the fact the house is a bit wonkaloid just confused me further as I was trying to do the right thing and follow instructions, only to still end up with stuff squint, sloping etc.
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Mike.
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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

I've been in the loft, trying to understand how the gable roof above the bay window is constructed. I hate roofs, as I just do not understand how some of the older ones work. Modern trusses look absurdly OTT and give you feck all practical space, but older houses seemingly have rafters supported on thin air with barely anything to tie them horizontally either. Even the structural engineer we had out a couple of weeks ago said roof design is a thing of witchcraft.
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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Swervin_Mervin »

Ascender wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:57 pm
Mito Man wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:53 pm The first time you fit wood flooring or tile a floor and you realise how unbelievably wonky your house is in all dimensions 😂
This * 100...

When we moved in here I really didn’t have a clue about diy and wasn’t practical, but over the years have improved. At the start, the fact the house is a bit wonkaloid just confused me further as I was trying to do the right thing and follow instructions, only to still end up with stuff squint, sloping etc.
On this - first mistake I made in our last house (a new build and we were 1st owners) was when putting up a curtain rail. I put it up level, went and got the wife, and the first thing she said when she walked in was "why the fvck have you put it up so wonky". It wasn't - it was dead level. The window wasn't though. Looked fine with the curtains shut :lol:
V8Granite
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by V8Granite »

Swervin_Mervin wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:04 pm
Ascender wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:57 pm
Mito Man wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:53 pm The first time you fit wood flooring or tile a floor and you realise how unbelievably wonky your house is in all dimensions 😂
This * 100...

When we moved in here I really didn’t have a clue about diy and wasn’t practical, but over the years have improved. At the start, the fact the house is a bit wonkaloid just confused me further as I was trying to do the right thing and follow instructions, only to still end up with stuff squint, sloping etc.
On this - first mistake I made in our last house (a new build and we were 1st owners) was when putting up a curtain rail. I put it up level, went and got the wife, and the first thing she said when she walked in was "why the fvck have you put it up so wonky". It wasn't - it was dead level. The window wasn't though. Looked fine with the curtains shut :lol:
It took a day when we tiled the bathroom about 10 years ago. Just planning the offset on each tile so they looked ok to the eye by the arch, window, bath etc. I put an acoustic wall up on the wall by our bedroom so it didn’t feel like those showering were in the bedroom with you. I offset that 75mm :lol:

Now I mark up with a level, then do the first or centre fixing and then go by eye, nothing looks wonky but everything definitely is.

Dave!
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Jobbo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jobbo »

Swervin_Mervin wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:04 pm On this - first mistake I made in our last house (a new build and we were 1st owners) was when putting up a curtain rail. I put it up level, went and got the wife, and the first thing she said when she walked in was "why the fvck have you put it up so wonky". It wasn't - it was dead level. The window wasn't though. Looked fine with the curtains shut :lol:
I put up all the curtain rails in our house when moving in 3 years ago; it had originally had old curtain rails from when it was built 50+ years before but I'd taken down the few remaining ones before the whole house was painted.

Unwittingly I seem to have put them up the right way because they look straight. I just measured from the window reveal and created a cardboard template to repeat the offset for each window. I'm glad I did it that way because if I'd used a spirit level I'd have no doubt been very disappointed :lol:
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

I'm aware how bad things are. Not a straight, even, plumb or even surface anywhere. When we had the floors done last year they smoothed out the worst of the dips and level differences, but even so there's still lots of flex. The extension is far worse than the original house which says something about how bad a builder the previous owner was/is.
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Ascender »

Should finish the driveway extension today - was something we’d been talking about for years but instead of mono block we’ve just extended both sides and put some pebbles down - that gives us more than enough room to get the 2 cars and the camper on our own drive. The ground they built this small development on is shocking - it used to be a breaker’s yard so its full of meta, boulders and glass - thankfully our neighbour has a Honda mini tiller which was a life saver. Also picked up an angle grinder for the edging paving which was a great purchase.

Mrs Mike has nearly finished painting the interior... doors done too and skirtings - at which point you realise just how badly they needed done.

Door handles sorted and new locks on the bathrooms which was so much easier with the hole saws as recommended here.

Nest up I’m going to put a shelf in the study to act as a standing desk to get a bit more room and get me away from slouching in a chair all day. Just getting some timber to stick together and fire up as well as a load for the outdoor office/workshop to act as a workbench for DIY and also some home brewing.

And a set of ladders for the attic, must get that sorted next week.

Amazing what you can get done in lockdown.
Cheers,

Mike.
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