OV9

Ooh herringbone flooring

Nasty laminate in our kitchen/bottom part of hall is one of the jobs on the "I can't stand looking at that any more" list. Will be interested to see the finished photos.

Flooring looks fab

It's nice to see bits going back in

Shutters went in last week - fitted amazingly quickly. They seem to make a huge difference to how much heat the room retains given it is the original single glazed sashes, which is a great result. Just the carpet and a light fitting and we can move on to the next room...

Great progress Rich and GG.

Mine’s driving me fucking mad. Not sure I’ll ever get started before I die of stress.

I know that feeling Ste...

Best laid plans just didn’t work out today. We had the nipper booked in for an extra day at nursery so we could have all hands on deck to move and clean our rented house and move into our (still in progress) own house. Of course he has a fever and can’t go, so the whole day was far more stressful than it had to be! He’s much better now and we’re moved, so all is ok!

The kitchen is being finished (worktops, doors/drawers, splash back Monday/Tuesday and stuff like the utility room will be going on into next week. I lifted all the protection today to see how the floor has faired, aside from very dusty (correct cleaning product should arrive tomorrow!), it’s looking good - though I need to have a fiddle to get rid of some creaks before I put the skirting on. Then there’s a few areas of decs once the plaster round the door has dried fully.





And more importantly, the little chap liked his new room!

That looks fab!

We're still waiting for the new floor to arrive, latest is that it should be with the fitter middle of next week.

In the meantime we've repainted the hall, finished the kitchen/diner (paint and wallpaper), removed wallpaper from the upstairs landing and I'll be stripping paint from the stairs next week.

I might have found a joiner that is able to do what we need. First job is to repair the stairs. Who knew that joiners that can quote and do work and remember to show up are like rocking horse poo?

Outside is done with the exception of the porch and bay. Work on them should finish by Wednesday.

And finally we've appointed someone to do the family bathroom. Meeting next week to start planning.

That does look great, well done.

Out of interest, how will you tackle creaks? It's not like you can just lift the odd bit off wood individually...?

That really does look fucking awesome doesn't it.

Simon wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:20 am That does look great, well done.

Out of interest, how will you tackle creaks? It's not like you can just lift the odd bit off wood individually...?

I’m pretty sure they’re from where the zigzag joins have opened a little when knocking the opposite side, so I’ll carefully try and knock it back in line. If all else fails I will take up the last section back to the creaky bit and relay. It’s a click system so wouldn’t take too long with all the cuts already done. I’m not going to put the skirting on until I’m happy though!

Looks great Rich, well done. Will all be done ready for Xmas dinner by the looks of it.


In your boy’s room, is that painted or a vinyl?

It’s a wallpaper - from a company called Graham and Brown - only about £60 for 3x2.4m and went on pretty easily.

Kitchen area pretty much finished so hopefully we can get everything back in the weekend. We're a good week behind due to supply issues which is really down to my project management skills

I've accepted that we're not going to finish the project before Xmas but hoping to agree with the builder tomorrow a list of things to finish before he goes away on the 21st Dec which would complete the downstairs.

I've spent the 25k budget anyway and sick of seeing the builder every morning at 7.45am so I'll look to get them back in the spring to finish upstairs

How people cope with self builds or complete renovation and live in the property/caravan is beyond me .



Any recommendations for rubber tiles for the garage, I'm looking at the Bigdug stuff so far ?

Looking good Carlo, it’ll be good to get in and use it even if there is some outstanding bit’s and pieces!

I’ve had a few more spec issues to deal with - my kitchen Corian worktops turned up completely the wrong colour! The company were very reasonable (it was their suppliers fuck up and not theirs) and have installed them anyway with the option to switch them out when the correct colour comes in.

It has however led me to another path. I’m not totally thrilled with my choice of doors now I’ve seen them installed next to other finishes, and I actually really like the “wrong” worktops, so instead of changing it, I’m getting them to change the doors instead!

My flooring “creaking” issue is definitely the subfloor not being good enough, so I’m going to lift the floor back to the offending area and my builder is going to do some latexing early next week.

Elsewhere, the utility room and downstairs wc are nearly ready for final finishes, the front room and hallway need flooring/skirting. The end is in sight, I just need the time to do stuff...

...sorted in time for Xmas dinner?

Ish. I have a working kitchen mostly, and my kitchen guys are right now, but there’s still some issues - nowt major, but annoying bits that should really be right.

I’m having a big DIY weekend to get other stuff finished - skirting/ downstairs wc, tv on the wall and sofas back in, etc...

Cool, good luck with it all.

Rich B wrote: Fri Dec 21, 2018 1:54 pm Ish. I have a working kitchen mostly, and my kitchen guys are right now, but there’s still some issues - nowt major, but annoying bits that should really be right.

I’m having a big DIY weekend to get other stuff finished - skirting/ downstairs wc, tv on the wall and sofas back in, etc...

Hows the underfloor heating ?

Random question but do you accept minor faults that you'll never notice again if you weren't looking for them ?

The underfloor heating has been excellent so far - we messed up the programming at first and it went a bit crazy heating the room to 25+ which was uncomfortably hot when it’s such an even source of heat! (Good to know it could do it though).

We’re still experimenting with it, but it seems to work best just left in a fairly lowish temp - it’s not like a radiator where you can quickly change the heat though, it takes some time. I don’t think this room would work as well with normal rads though.

We are close - just a load of annoying little bits... I like the new grey doors though, so that’s good!





The floor should come up a little darker, it’s still very dusty - there’s still some creaks but I can’t fucking sort them!