1970 House Renovation - 3 floor townhouse build log

Brutal comment, but the pipework going to the radiator isn't brilliant.

Compression fittings under the floor are an instant no for me, chromed pipe is quite prone to leaks at fittings as the chrome layer starts to fail, PTFE on the threads (no need)

The job would have been much nicer if you had chased the pipework into the wall and used solder fittings, also less prone to damage.
 
CrispyWombat said:
Brutal comment, but the pipework going to the radiator isn't brilliant.

Compression fittings under the floor are an instant no for me, chromed pipe is quite prone to leaks at fittings as the chrome layer starts to fail, PTFE on the threads (no need)

The job would have been much nicer if you had chased the pipework into the wall and used solder fittings, also less prone to damage.
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Cheers did want to put into the wall but decided against it as you still have to lag the pipes or the plaster will corrode away the pipe?

I didn't use PTFE on the threads themselves for compression, just a single turn around the olive itself.

Risk wise if there is a leak it's above a cavity to garage, was a bit worried about soldering onto chrome as is a wide range of opinions from plumbers whether you can or cannot, as well as using compressions on chrome and abrading or not the chrome plating prior.
 
On the radiators in my own home I wrapped the pipes in felt lagging before plastering them back in, I used faux chrome pipe covers on the stubs of the pipework on show.

The chromed pipe does look better but all my dealings with it have been repairing leaks so am instantly wary of it, as you say though, it's in a low risk area and you could sort it from underneath if you ever needed to.
 
good progress, I like that radiator and the room will look great with the floor down, keep it up!
 
I really like the blue colour in your room, what brand/type? (I've got nowhere else to decorate but may remember in future)

Radiators look good to me. Is the heat output not reduced on the tall/stylish ones tho?
 
The Craig said:
I really like the blue colour in your room, what brand/type? (I've got nowhere else to decorate but may remember in future)

Radiators look good to me. Is the heat output not reduced on the tall/stylish ones tho?
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Many thanks, it looks nice in person as it has a really mild sheen to it.

It's dulux trade diamond Matt, was a custom colour 78gg 21/381 still have a 5l unopened tub I'm trying to shift!

In terms of radiator it kicks out a fair bit of heat, around 8000 BTU as it's double panel.
 
Been quiet for a while... Kind of changed the heating system a bit. By a bit I mean ditched gravity fed and gone to the new age!

- Finalised ground floor ring in house (rewire has officially FINISHED)
- New 22mm cold feed
- Re-routed all ground buried water/gas





 
Driveway Redone

Went for Marshall's Tegula, few unexpected things along the way...

- Drain rebuilt
- Rerouted storm drain into soakaway



Finished product (bit dirty cause someone ran heating water over it!!!)

 
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New toy arrived, should be interesting to setup the manual looks fun!



There will be a lot of updates over the next few weeks as some pretty major bits happening!

- Reinforcing an internal structural wall as it has a fair bit of lateral movement (I could push it over if I want)
- Building new bathroom downstairs requiring all new stud work / concrete removal
- New window and doors going into kitchen (2x2 Picture and set of french doors)
- Deposit down on kitchen so will share the designs
- Fitting curtains in front room, new sofa and new tv stand coming (Room will be 100% completed)
 
Structural Wall Repair

A few weeks ago when removing plaster, we noticed the ground floor wall had a significant amount of movement.

After speaking to a builder they suggested to tie the wall to the joists. So I've came up with this as a solution to the problem, rather than rebuilding the wall entirely (which would be a huge undertaking).

1. Decided to use anchor bolts as the wall is made out of breeze block.



2. Drilled the wall using a heavy galvanised strip as template



3. Anchors all in



4. I then attached the strips to the wall, and onto battens I had attached already



5. Closeup of the battens (this was my first one and I ideally should have put 2 bolts in the top)



I've eliminated pretty much all the lateral movement in the wall, can no longer visibly see the wall wobbling. I'm going to re-point the wall (probably overkill), and ensure the wall makes 100% contact with the joist along the full span (some areas have a 1 inch gap), then we should be good.

While I have the mortar mixed, going to take the opportunity to make good all of the joists in the house while we have ceilings down, some of these have holes on side you can put your fist in from shoddy mortar work!
 
Kitchen Refit

So, officially kicking off the refit, have started to take up the floor and remove old plumbing and heating. First time working with a pressurised system... so was a bit worried about flooding the house!

Plumbing to remove, moving to other side of room


Beginning to remove the flooring



View from underneath


Plumbing removed


Needed to cap off the heating feed/return and also the hot/cold water feeds for the kitchen as not ready to fix these yet. Opted for some push fit end stops (don't worry, I was wary too).

Actually happy with how they are to use, for a short term fix or emergencies these seem great. I was sure to debur the inside/outside of pipe and also cleaned it, just to prevent the oring failing.




Next steps, is levelling the sub floor, and doing all the new fix plumbing and electrics. Will also be getting plumber in to do the gas fixing for a combination gas/induction.
 
Looks good! I assume you're adding pipe fixings so the pipes are firmly fixed?

Must be knackering if you're doing it all yourself! (especially if replacing sub floors etc!)
 
The Craig said:
Looks good! I assume you're adding pipe fixings so the pipes are firmly fixed?

Must be knackering if you're doing it all yourself! (especially if replacing sub floors etc!)
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Yeah for sure, can't do much with pipe they've laid though as it's all center mass. The kitchen waste was held up on two nails for a 4 meter span, the quality of workmanship is just crap.

Pulling up the floor yesterday, one or two of the joists were pulling upwards out of their holes, so going to mortar in and l bracket them to the wall.

It is pretty hard work, but in the next month or two it will all hopefully seem worth it.
 
Levelling the kitchen

With the floors up, began to assess the job in hand. Firstly by laying some line to see any deviation between both ends of the kitchen (as harder to change the levels of those joists - so have to be my finish level).

Setup my planer to begin taking down a high joist (only a few mm)


Got it nice and level so began thinking about the rest of the floor


Now, I had three choices at this point in eyes...

1. Screw wood to sister the joist
2. Bolt long new joists to existing joists to level them (proper way to sister)
3. Add strips to the joists to bring the level perfect / plane any differences

Because we're sticking porcelain tiles down, and a very heavy kitchen with quartz worktops, I ruled out #1 right away... which would be fine for maybe 1 joist in my eyes.

Unfortunately it turned out there are 5 joists with big drop in relation to my main level (outside ends). I didn't fancy ordering and manoeuvring massive joists on my own and bolting them in.

I had already ordered a load of 3X2 and few other cuts of wood, so decided to opt for option 3... Next problem, how/where do I source the strips I need?

After some discussions with my timber merchants, they don't really do ripping and I really didn't want to plaster my joists with plastic spacers as it just didn't seem right. The drop in each joist seemed to be fairly consistent across each joist throughout the span, so just needed a way to get the thicknesses needed.

Enter... the best tool I think I've bought



Got a nice featherboard to assist in accurate ripping too


 
Levelling the floor (Continued)

Bad shot of the lines setup (into room)


Some of the drop was excessive towards the external wall end, around 15mm which makes for some pretty thick "rips", more like adding back some joist.

I used a combination square off my line to work out the drop for each joist, and setup the saw to rip 1.2M 3x2 down. I decided to work from the external walls, joist by joist, back into the room to the other side (may mean I end up with slightly raised floor).

Laying the first line joist with strips
Fixed these down firmly as they will be planed, using gorilla glue on the strip, and wetting the joists prior to fixing. Secured temporarily with panel pins to hold it to the joist.



I decided to choose a point where the strip made the outer joist/itself level. I could then trust the line running over that point, and move straight onto the next joist, rather than laying/planing continually.





Close up of the worst offending joist



Ripped the wood for the next joist


Now the plan is to finish doing this to all the offending joists, and then going back and checking continuous level / planing where needed.

I have around 9 days to complete the work, before we have all new doors/windows going in the kitchen!
 
So, got the floor down roughly, not quite level yet so it will come back up after the work. Having an electric planer is a god send, although definitely think I've over-engineered it all - Don't think many would go through this trouble and detail!





Next, time to get the trades in to change the back of the house dramatically!

Some before photos, of how it was





Then destruction!





And... we're done



 
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