Progress on the Kitchen

Progress on the kitchen is good. The cooker is in and the units are in, but without doors. We are using it now. The underfloor heating is great, you come down in the morning and the tiles are warm. Its going to be fantastic.

House Rennovations: Kitchen Fitting

I have finally got round to fitting the kitchen. The base units are in and the wall units are up. I got a joiner to come and mitre the worktops so that it looks good. The joiner came almost straight away (Monday last week) and said he would be back tomorrow after lunch. I rang him Tuesday evening and then again Wednesday morning, evening and Thursday morning and evening and left a message. On Friday morning I said that I would be most obliged if he could tell me if he was intending coming back, so that I could make plans. He was back on Friday afternoon! I have started tiling the floor, a friend came over to help me yesterday evening (Trac). The tiling is made harder by the fact that the floor is not level, but I started at the highest part of the floor and have worked from there. It looks OK at the moment, I should finish tonight. We cooked the first meal on the cooker last night. Hooray, no more traipsing out to the caravan to make the kids porridge first thing in the morning!

House Rennovations: Wiring

I have split the basement into two halves for the wiring. The kitchen
and dining room on one ring main and one lighting circuit and the
Playroom, Utility and entrance on another ring main and lighting circuit.

All the lighting for the wiring was put into junction boxes screwed to a
joist before the new plasterboard ceiling was put up. I was just hoping
that I had wired the lights correctly, because while the junction boxes
were easy to access from the basement when there was no ceiling, they
need floorboards removing to gain access from the ground floor above.

Neil came round last night and helped me with some lighting wiring. We
finished off the down lighters in the kitchen and dining room (all 24 of
them), then wired the circuit into the consumer unit. When we turned it
on all the lights worked, except a run of three in the dining area. I
remembered running two wires from the junction box, so one of those
wires must be wired incorrectly. In short that means that I have to
pull up the carpet in the study and pull up the floor boards in order to
find the junction box.

At least I have some light in the meantime!

House Rennovations: Kitchen Units

We have finally got round to fitting the kitchen units, which we bought
through Howdens, at the trade price from our friendly plumber.

The difficulty is fitting the worktops. I want a nice mitred finish not
those metal strips that collect the dirt behind them. At Howdens
recommendation I have got a joiner called Kevin Wilson to come and to
the join. They have been working today. It is good to see it all
coming together at last.

I have finished wiring the kitchen ring main and am working on
installing the down lighters. There are 41 of them all together and 24
of those are in the kitchen/ dining area. I have done 14 of them so far
so only have 10 left. but they take for ages to do.

http://www.howdens.com/

House Rennovations: The Return of the builders

A week last Saturday my Father in law and two of my brothers in law came and we worked all day screeding the floor. It was shocking hard work and the finish wasn't as good as I had hoped. But at least the floor is down, nothing some leveling compound can't sort!

I will be able to test the underfloor heating once the screed has cured properly. I suspect it will be about two weeks before it is fully done.

The builders returned yesterday, I could have kissed them! They are framing and dry lining. The two chaps are quite good with the wood. They seem to be working much faster than when they were putting up the damp proof membrane.

The kitchen is being remeasured on Monday. We have ordered the cooker. Finally it seems to be coming back together.

It's great!

House Rennovations: Screeding

I have set the levels for the screed, although it is a bit difficult because the membrane on the floor will be held down by the weight of the screed. So it is difficult to set an exact level to work to because the moment you put the screed on it changes!

I have my father in law and a couple of brother in laws coming on Saturday to get it done.....I hope. Having had advice from lots of people I am using a mix of 5 parts sand to 1 part concrete with some plasticizer to make the mix more workable. It seems that you have to add just enough water to make it hold together.

Everyone with any experience has been telling me I shouldn't do the screeding but the problem is that I can't get any one to do it so I have to it myself. I had a go at a little corner this week to see how difficult it is. Only just having enough water is obviously the key, I drew a piece of wood over it to level it and then used the float to polish it off. It seemed far easier than everyone told me, but I suspect that by the time I have finished I'll have changed my tune.

House Rennovations: Central Heating Wiring.

House Rennovations: Central Heating

House Rennovations: Coming Together

The builder have been in for a week now. They have put the membrane on the walls and this week are going to start on the drain and pump.

I have nearly finished the wiring. Though what possessed me to install 41 downlighters, I'll never know. So far I have installed:

200 meters of cable for the ring mains.
200 meters of cable for the lights.
25 meters of coax.
25 meters of network cable.
75 meters of four core for the thermostats and two way lights.

I only have two lighting circuits left.

The next major project is putting the central heating back together. I have fixed the boiler to the wall but I have little or no idea how pressurised systems go back together. Hopefully I will be able to make something of the jigsaw of pipes that are in the yard. I would ask Norman for advice, but he is in Grease.

The underfloor heating man from John Guest is coming today to explain how it all goes together. I have a pile of questions for him.

House Rennovations: Frustraiting

We have got stuck in and the list of jobs completed so far is:

1. Patio Door replaced with a window. Window replaced with a door.
2. Internal patio's removed (They were built on to the wooden floor, which was slowly rotting beneath them.
3. Ceilings removed.
4. Playroom and Utility room knocked into one.
5. Dining Area floor dug out.

The house feels a mess. There is dust everywhere. It feels like it will never get done.

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