Jerry's renovation blog

[nomadpete]

If you put Jan..Feb..Mar, etc across the top you can reuse the chart every year.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Would that not create an eternal (and in the ase of this place, and infernal) loop?

 

 

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Would that not create an eternal (and in the ase of this place, and infernal) loop?

 

 

Home renovations ARE unending.

The closest to completion I ever achieved, was the dayI put the house on the market.

[old man emu]

On 10/03/2024 at 9:08 AM, nomadpete said:

Come clean OME.

That's not yours for the bathroom.

Your top line would read....

2023... 2024...2025...

Haste makes waste!

[Jerry_Atrick]

Things are starting to move on the reno front. 

 

Have just ordered a large skip for 4 weeks. It arrives on Friday and we start work ripping out kitchen and other fixtures which are to go, as well as damaged plaster and general junk. We have foudn asbestos on the property in sheets; Have moved it to a safe place and will get the council in to dispose of it.  

 

 

The kitchen looks OK in the above shot, but it is old, hardly any drawers work, it ha marks all over it; The bean in the foreground will be replaced with a wider and shallow bean and will extend to beyond the doorway you can see in the left foreground. We may be able to get the steel level with the ceiling. The ceiling is shot, but rather than rip it out and re=plaster, it will be battened, plaster boarded and skimmed. 

 

Am just ordering the flooring (engineered oak) and carpets for up stairs. Have ordered built in wardrobes and storage shelves.

 

Today, all the central (hydronic) heating radiators have been removed by the plumbers.. just as the weather cooled a bit, too.. So we are again without heating, but I am pretty happy about that. We have to get some remedial work on the walls done and then paint the areas of the radiators as we managed to scoop buy three-column neutral cast iron radiators at a good discount (partner had been researching and found someone doing a closing down sale) The walls themselves have a bit of work to be done, and as it is lime plaster, we are looking at brining in a specialist: 

 

 

Skip arrives on Friday for 4 weeks.. Lots will be happening between from then.

 

When we are done, we are going to sell the place. It is too big for us. We will buy something back in London and look for something in Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

Gobsmacked.

 

Betcha won't be looking for a dooerupper next time.

 

But you will feel great when you see the finished article when all this is done.

[old man emu]

6 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

plaster boarded

Is that what we call gyprock sheeting, and the Yanks call drywall? I always makes me wonder when I watch the English DIY Rescue shows with Nick Knowles that they sheet walls then come in with plaster. Here, gyprock simply needs a primer coat then you put on your desired sealant (paint. tile, wallpaper).

 

Are we likely to see your place as a choice in Escape to the Country?

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 15/04/2024 at 9:36 PM, nomadpete said:

Betcha won't be looking for a dooerupper next time.

Certainly not a listed (or in Aus, Heritage listed) building. Way too much bureaucracy to deal with. Also, wouldn't mind it when I don't have so much else on teh go, as I don't mind doing some of the work myself. But, I would like the next place to not have anything but the carpets replaced and a lick of paint.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 15/04/2024 at 10:23 PM, old man emu said:

s that what we call gyprock sheeting, and the Yanks call drywall?

I would guess so..

 

Plumbers took a bit longer than they expcted to do the pipework, but they are done. I was relegated to the AirBnB on Tuesday. so packed up my workstation and motored it to the cottage (a whole 20 or so metres down the driveway... And set it up on the kitchn table. I have for monitors on a single monitor stand. Went to work Wednesday and Thursday this week (normally Tuesday and Wednesday).. Friday morning, I thought the plumbers had finished, so retrieved my git. There are three steps down from the kitchen to the libing room and front door of the cottage (no hall). I thought I had stepped down them, but missed by one. I went A over T hilding the monitor stand with 4 monitors, and with about 25kgs, managed to save all but one.

 

So a new monitor was ordered - second hand of course.. Managed to find the same as one of the ones I have, so that was good.

 

Skip arrived yesterday (Friday) and the first thing to be thrown into it is the old monitor. On Monday, confirm when the builders are putting in a new steel, and then will commence the demoliaton of the kitchen and the partition walls, as well as killing the circuits to the oven, etc.

 

Things are moving and they are going to get mightly quick.

[old man emu]

When the time comes to sell up, why don't you contact Escape to the Country and let them take a look at your place for a possible choice for an episode?

[Jerry_Atrick]

When we were doing up our place in London, we were approached by some TV show, but politely declined. It wasn't grand designs - what we were doing would not have made that grade.

 

We have a couple of friends who are local real estate agents and one a buyers' agent, so we will simply spread the word through them. Anyone who is actively buying will register with the agents, anyway.

 

Yeah, if it goes onto escape to the Country, it may entice someone not thinking about moving to look at it, but to be honest, I think it is a long shot and they would likely be tyre kickers.

 

I was thhinking about including it in a raffle, but it can be too risky..

 

With the house comes a fully self-contained 2br cottage, a coachouse (with vehicle nspection pit), a share of the local community pub, and for a little more, as many of the garden implements as they want.

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

With the house comes a fully self-contained 2br cottage, a coachouse (with vehicle nspection pit), a share of the local community pub, and for a little more, as many of the garden implements as they want.

Wow! The perfect Escape to the Country fodder. House with holiday let; outbuildings and close to the local pub. All it needs is for the village to have a Norman church dedicated to an eccentric Saxon hermit. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Er, the church is next door... and we have our own gate to access it.

 

Well, we started pulling the kitchen apart today... Packing is a pain.. but here are some photos:

The above is where a kitchen dresser/cabinet was. Note the black paint on the floor is bitumen to handle damp. The floor is coming completely up

 

All the cupboard doors and draws out... ashing all f the dishes as we managed to get a load of dust on them..

 

The lower and upper side of the kitchen cabinet in the dining room.. that room will be our kitchen going forward.

 

All the radiators have been taken down. The white box in the background is the  ceramic (I think) butchers sink that will go into the kitchen.

 

I managed to get a decent splinter in my finger, so will see how it goes before going to get it cut out.

 

[nomadpete]

Fantastic progress!

Nothing beats the satisfaction of clearing everything out and arriving at a clean slate to build from. Pity that the floor has to come up, was it rotten or eaten?

[facthunter]

The more you look, the more you'll find.  I used to help my cousin rewire OLD houses.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

19 hours ago, nomadpete said:

Fantastic progress!

Nothing beats the satisfaction of clearing everything out and arriving at a clean slate to build from. Pity that the floor has to come up, was it rotten or eaten?

Yes, though threw my back out moving that large kitchen cabinet, so not much today... just cleared some more dishes into the room where the cabinet is..  We aren't replacing the flooring in the bottom two photos - they are elm boards and you can't get them anymore (not new, anyway and second hand they are a king's ransom). The top two photos are the kitchen flooring - it is very old pine and rotted in some places. We are ripping it up and puttinng engineered oak in - which will make it look amazing, one hopes.

 

The elm will be sanded.. There is some pine finishing, but we will use a light oil seal to try and keep the colours similar and hopefully not look too different.

 

Sparky, whios is a mate, was in today, and happily, there is very little earth leakage; We will have to bring it up to spec with the boards and breakers (I have to look up what we are getting)..

22222222

[Jerry_Atrick]

https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/country-studies/india/

 

Back to the reno... in which I feel a bit of a slave.. Not really; terrible joke when you consider those that do live in such conditions.

 

OK.. as usual, there are going to be setbacks and we have had our first.. Delay in the flooring. Darn it,

 

Also a week delay in teh builder coming to do the steels in the kitchen, so we delayed destroying the kitchen by a week. Into it today, but it has been more packing. Tomorrow is the destroying.

 

But, we have to put Acrow props through the kitchen floor and the basement ceiling to the basement floor. And, right where we needed to put the acrows are where all of our rads are stored. So I had to move 20 rads of roughly 45kgs each )some more, some less) to the other side of the basement without a trolley. F! Well, I did it, and I am poopered. Am still sweating.

 

Steels are in next week... when done, I will take some photos...

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

This was as of Monday

Builders hopefully will have a steel beam up this week

 

Then the rest comes out including the two walls in the picture which will open up a 70sqm space which will become the open plan kitchen informal dining and living room.

[Jerry_Atrick]

It's been a busy week for me at work - just when I didn't need it. But, here is a quick update on progress.

 

First, we have had a lot of builders in and the dog is thoroughly p155ed off:

He is barking a bit more than normal at the moment.

 

We have had cabinet makers in this week as well as builders working on putting in a new steel to be able to remove a nob on the wall. It has been an intrusion - the missus is going potty at the moment, and it is completely understandable.

 

The photo here is the existing steel exposed:

 

The post to the right of the door is dry brick - no mortar at all.. The builders remarked it all could have come down with a good enough bump. To the left and hidden behind the door is the nib we want to get rid of. We also want to get rid of the brick work to the right of the door, thought to be structural before the plaster came off, but turns out to be just to hold the steel up.

 

Below, the builders are leaving the sink and diswasher until the floors have to come up.

 

The below photo shows the two partition walls (one exposed to the left and the other to the right) that are coming out. to open up an already substantial space.

 

The below shows the previous installers "handiwork" in supporting the above wall.

 

I took this photo to try to give some feel for the dimension of the open plan room we will have. Note the piano to the left will be dismantled and thrown away.. You can't give them away these days.. we have tried numerous times.

 

 

This shot shows the steel exposed with holes taken out of the brick work to insert the supporting Acrows:

 

 

And here are the Acrows initially supporting the brickwork

   

 

 

And the bricks and the 8-yard Skip

 

 

To give you an idea of the size of the two steels (that is one of the builders):

 

This is them being held up  note that are braced together to provide the necessary support (last one photographed upside down for some reason).

 

Buggers put a hole in the wall right the way through to the make shift kitches, so all of our stuff was covered in dust.. Spent ages cleaning it, but still some around:

 

Acrows in the basement (on both sides of the wall) helping to hold things up (not sure why that went in upside down - looked OK in the email I sent myself):

 

The smaller wardrobe the joiners put in in one of the bedrooms upstairs:

 

 

The shelving units another Joiner put in the study:

       

 

And finally, the bathroom and shower room that will also get a revamp in the next few weeks... You can see we have made a start to the flooring on the bathroom:

 

 

 

I have no idea why some photos  have gone in upside down

 

There are hiccups, of course. Our vanity unit for the bathroom that was supposed to have a lead time of two days has a wait of 6 weeks as they are out of stock. And the flooring we have selected is also out of stock and not expected until July. We take delivery of the kitchen on Tuesday (without appliances). But the next bit of work is the following:

• Building inspections on the steels - Wednesday
• Ceiling replacement and light fitting in the kitchen and bathrooms - By Friday week.
• I'll be taking two weeks off work soon and it will be for the benefit of working on the house.
• All the windows are being replaced - drawings to the council for listed building approval. That will take about 6 weeks. Then the windows go in. That will make a huge difference.
• Have to order a burglar alarm.

 

That is about it for now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

Wow, you are really steaming ahead now.

Thanks for the update.

[Jerry_Atrick]

No worries.

 

I forgot to mention that we do have this (https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/53425871?search_mode=regular_search&check_in=2024-09-09&check_out=2024-09-12&source_impression_id=p3_1716822347_ByFnaugHCmIiBowk&previous_page_section_name=1000&federated_search_id=8a887a79-a4e9-4a46-b094-991e62d661ae), which is the converted stables. My daughter stays in there and I have my computer in there, except we have to vacate for guests. Thankfully it is quiet this year and we have taken it off the market for most of the summer. However, it is still a pain as someone is in tomorrow until Friday, and then  a week later, another couple are in for the weekend. So, we can't move all our food down and use it properly. Apart from the kitchen that was in there, that was a complete refurb we did over lockdown.

 

The rains exposed a broken cast iron downpipe which will have to be replaced, and also another blocked drain. Never ending story this place is.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Things have moved a bit more:

 

I have no idea why these are coming in upside down.. But you can see the left wall hhas been removed. and then (this is right side up):

All walls removed and this will be the open plan kitchen/diner/family room..

 

News on the flooring. It is cheap pine, and I did suggest to partner that we sand and stain it, then a matt hiqgh quality laquer to protect the floor and stop the stain from discolouring. It was dismissed out of hand. Builder suggests it, and suddenly, it is a good idea and will save us about £8K to boot! So, @nomadpete, apart from the boards that are unsalvageable, we are keeping the flooring.

 

Amazing how much influence I have over SWMBO!

 

Steels have to stay exposed until the council building insepctor takes a look and signds it off. Just beyond the white door leaning on the left and in front of partner (after a hard morning's work), is a nib that the steel is supposed to be able to remove. The builder says it is not integrated into the wall that it is adjoined to, but the building inspector may require it stay and require another on the other side of the room.. It is apparently totally discretionary with no requirement for the inspector to give an engineering reason why.

 

Builder, who is a couple of years younger than me remarked that was the steel he is ever going to install.. It was a doosy, apparently.

 

Next week, the ceilings are going to be dropped 100ml to allow the fitting of spotlights (the ceiling height is a tad under 3m and it will be a lot cheaper than re-doing the existing ceiling and putting all the light battening in as well). Also, the bathrooms start being worked on.

 

We are going to have to delay putting up the radiators throughout the house, though. The plaster on most of the walls are too buggered and getting a plasterer is more difficult than catching a great white on 3lb line.

 

 

 

 

[old man emu]

Just looking at that lathe and plaster wall, I'm so glad for plasterboard sheets.

[nomadpete]

Starting to look a lot less like a demolition site, Jerry

[facthunter]

It's a money vanishing disaster site.  Things in England are upside down to here. That's why "heavens Above" makes no  sense. at all. Nev