The House Projects Thread

[Jimmy Choo]

Is that a Ryobi One+ nail gun.... (mentally spending B&Q vouchers)...

Looks like you’re doing a nice job with the old features - the handrail looks great.

Thanks. The handrail is fiddly as hell and I'm glad I had a dremel but is so satisfying.

It is indeed the Ryobi One+ nail gun. I'm happy with it. I've got such a mismash of tools that I decided that it's time to start again with a single cordless brand. I've also picked up a detail sander. The one thing I'll say is that the 2.0mAh battery that came with it ran out surprisingly quickly. I also got a 2.5mAh (that has a built in charge indicator) which seems to last much better. There's some compatable 6mAh batteries on Amazon that are £33 that I'll probably get next.

[Rich B]

Is that a Ryobi One+ nail gun.... (mentally spending B&Q vouchers)...

Looks like you’re doing a nice job with the old features - the handrail looks great.

Thanks. The handrail is fiddly as hell and I'm glad I had a dremel but is so satisfying.

It is indeed the Ryobi One+ nail gun. I'm happy with it. I've got such a mismash of tools that I decided that it's time to start again with a single cordless brand. I've also picked up a detail sander. The one thing I'll say is that the 2.0mAh battery that came with it ran out surprisingly quickly. I also got a 2.5mAh (that has a built in charge indicator) which seems to last much better. There's some compatable 6mAh batteries on Amazon that are £33 that I'll probably get next.

Yeah, the standard battery is fine for the drill, but not much use on bigger kit. I've got quite a few smaller bits now (drills, jigsaw, recip saw, strimmer) and a 5aH battery which improves everything (plus a quick charger).

I had a circular saw too but quickly found that it was just annoying on battery, because it ate through it too quickly so you were left with a non-working tool - do I bought a wired one.

It’s a good concept though, it’s good always being able to swap to another tools battery if one dies.

[Jimmy Choo]

Totally agree with all that.

It seems that our place is the house that bodge built. From memory, the list is:

Patchwork floor in the lounge
the hallway tile floor being ripped up and concreted
All the white goods in the family bathroom being different designs and shades of white
the shower cubicle having a hole cut in the side of it for the water pipe to enter
A terrified sparky when the electrics attempted to kill him
The kitchen worktop mounted backwards so they could put ugly trim on it and leave a radius on the rear edge to catch crap.
running radiator pipework down the wall from upstairs rather than under the floor.
A window that wasn't actually attached to the wall and the frame visibly moved when you pushed it
A bedroom ceiling that varied in height by 18 inches from one side of the room to the other.
A steel beam that wasn't actually attached to anything and floated on one side.

At the moment Kathryn and I say that our hobby is "an old house".

Oh, and the armoured Cat5 cable I had left over is actually Cat 6.

[Carlos]

The bannister looks great, mini Choo did well

[Jimmy Choo]

The bannister looks great, mini Choo did well

I'm glad he's so generous with his time, teaching me how to do it properly.

[Carlos]

Slow progress over the last week and now one of the Quartz tops is wrong I'm not sure if it's bad luck but I've had lots of faulty, wrong or damaged items. 2 sinks, 2 taps, an extra sets of tap rails to match the length of the original plumbing, 2 ovens and various wrong or damaged kitchens parts

The builder doesn't seem phased by it so I assume it's an occupational hazards lol.

[Rich B]

That’s annoying, but at least it’s moving on - the end is in sight?!

We’ve had to turn up the speed to hit my programme, my builder has been doing 7 days a week to give him full credit.

The steels are all in position fully in the ceiling (that was my biggest “awkward client” request. The big one is 7.6m long and 32x32cm in profile - and the ceiling “void” is 20cm... some clever use of the small lean to roof behind and it’s in. its so tall that it currently sits behind the skirting in the bedroom above it!



Believe it or not (I’m going with the believe option) this will be boarded, plastered and the underfloor heating all in by next Monday ahead of the sliding doors going in.



Lots to do...!

[ste]

Good luck!

The steels are all in position fully in the ceiling (that was my biggest “awkward client” request. The big one is 7.6m long and 32x32cm in profile - and the ceiling “void” is 20cm... some clever use of the small lean to roof behind and it’s in. its so tall that it currently sits behind the skirting in the bedroom above it!

That's been one of my 'awkward client' requests.

[Rich B]

Oh, and I decided to take everyone’s advice and slung a cat 6 cable under the floor from the router position (front room) to the tv location (and sky box/WiFi repeater) in the back. I also put a sky cable in so that I can have a second box in the front room in the future.

That was a fucking job...

[Rich B]

Good luck!

The steels are all in position fully in the ceiling (that was my biggest “awkward client” request. The big one is 7.6m long and 32x32cm in profile - and the ceiling “void” is 20cm... some clever use of the small lean to roof behind and it’s in. its so tall that it currently sits behind the skirting in the bedroom above it!

That's been one of my 'awkward client' requests.

No doubt its added to the cost (££££) and timescale - but i would have ended up with a really weird layout of boxing that would have spoilt it all. Plus I HATE external corners and any sort of boxing in.

[Carlos]

Thats going to be a good weeks work

Good work on the flush ceilings its the "look" my wife wanted but we were always going to be stuck with the nib on the right where the old corner of the house was and therefore it was always going to look like an extension.

[Rich B]

Thats going to be a good weeks work

Good work on the flush ceilings its the "look" my wife wanted but we were always going to be stuck with the nib on the right where the old corner of the house was and therefore it was always going to look like an extension.

If it was just one like yours I’d probably be ok, but I would have had a huge off centre box running the whole length of mine!

[Swervin_Mervin]

Nice idea with the flush ceilings. Would have liked that in our extension, but we are stuck with what we have I guess.

We've just started looking at kitchens as it's the last big* job left for us to do. I'm struggling to get my head around how we can make better use of the space at the moment though. Can you guys recommend and decent online design tools, or even places to visit where we can get someone's input (for £0 obvs).

I might just CAD it up myself - see if the wife notices me stealing an extra 1' to make the garage longer


*not even slightly big compared to what you guys are doing!

[Rich B]

Ikea have a decent 3D kitchen planner, Then places like Howdens/Wren/etc will do a plan for you.

I just did mine on CAD, it’s a pretty simple design With just one wall and an island.

[Carlos]

Nice idea with the flush ceilings. Would have liked that in our extension, but we are stuck with what we have I guess.

We've just started looking at kitchens as it's the last big* job left for us to do. I'm struggling to get my head around how we can make better use of the space at the moment though. Can you guys recommend and decent online design tools, or even places to visit where we can get someone's input (for £0 obvs).

I might just CAD it up myself - see if the wife notices me stealing an extra 1' to make the garage longer


*not even slightly big compared to what you guys are doing!

If you measure the room(s), openings etc you can take the dimensions over to B&Q for a 3d plan and they play about with ideas with you.

Howdens do it as well but they'll ring you every week after

[Swervin_Mervin]

Cheers chaps. And v. useful to know Carlos, especially as it's the Howden's stuff we're currently looking at - I hate being hounded.

[scotta]

Slow progress over the last week and now one of the Quartz tops is wrong I'm not sure if it's bad luck but I've had lots of faulty, wrong or damaged items. 2 sinks, 2 taps, an extra sets of tap rails to match the length of the original plumbing, 2 ovens and various wrong or damaged kitchens parts

The builder doesn't seem phased by it so I assume it's an occupational hazards lol.

Thats the same microwave and cooker we have. Are your units white gloss without handles?

[Carlos]

Yes , similar if not the same.

[Rich B]

Believe it or not (I’m going with the believe option) this will be boarded, plastered and the underfloor heating all in by next Monday ahead of the sliding doors going in.



Lots to do...!

Maybe a day or so out with the under floor heating, but nothing that affects the critical path - they’ve done well!

[Rich B]

My day got significantly harder after posting that.

1. my flooring supplier emailed to say their supplier had discontinued the product I ordered (over 2 months ago) and the new product was a slightly different colour and size (I’ve got them to courier out a box tomorrow for me to approve - i fucking hope it’s ok...)

2. I rang to check a detail with my sliding door company who are due to install on Monday. I was told that they had nothing booked in.... several angry calls later (and fwding the email where I had approved the install date (in bold)) and it’s booked for Tuesday.

Who the fuck would choose to do this for a living?! (Oh yeah, me.)