Bungalow build log

[Buffman]

New door, carpenter said it was the hardest door to fit he's had in a while! Glad i didn't do it myself.

What would you guys recommend for finishing it? I've heard osmo oil is good? Would it keep the door colour similar?

 

[Buffman]

I've since finished the door in osmo oil and it came up very nicely!

Tried to tidy up my tools today.. A lot of which are relatively new! (Inc long loppers, shovel and rake...)


Looks like I have more room for toys in the top left!

Got to start the kitchen in September, had an ikea quote in today and it looks like the units will cost circa £3.5k. Anyone had any bad experiences with ikea? I've fitted one previously and they seem to have some quite smart storage solutions.

 

[Buffman]

Ikea use really weird standard dimensions. Just incase you try to get anything to fit with them.

Thanks. Yes I've heard the dimensions/ depth of units are slightly deeper.

The only thing putting me off really is they have basically no service gap (about 12mm) compared to the usual 40mm. This means it will be a pain fitting the gas and water pipes for the boiler and sink.

Speaking of which, anyone got an ikea sink? I think I might get a branded Frankie one instead of there's..

 

[Buffman]

I've got an IKEA kitchen, absolutely easy to install, all you need to do is plan your services correctly and it's no problem. The sink units come with a cut out panel at the back so there's plenty room for the plumbing.
I did get a worktop from elsewhere as it was a longer run than could be bought off the shelf, but didn't have any issues with the cabinet dimensions or sinks etc.
Ours was cheaper for the style than anywhere else we could find because we have pan drawers throughout rather than cupboards

Did you install the worktop? I think you need a router to do that properly unless you use jointing strips?

I've previously put one in a family property and yeah they were easy but took a fair while!

 

[Buffman]

Quite a few people rave about DIY kitchens.
And also shop around for things like the worktops and appliances.
Friends did this and managed to save a small fortune vs the all in one price of the 'trade only' Howdens.

From a comparison, DIYkitchens seem to be cheaper than ikea . It also allows me to get a curved kitchen worktop which hopefully looks nice! put some plans below..

yeah, did the worktop myself, it was a single piece of timber worktop (5m long!) we got in the end, so no joints at all, just cut out the sink/hob with a jigsaw

Thanks, I think there will be a join in the corner of the worktop, and I'm having a builder round early next week to also quote to do the kitchen as well.

Can you guys give me some thoughts on the below?(page 1 for whole house plan)
My concerns are:
Opening void into the kitchen. There appears to be a lot of free space as you walk in, will this be an issue? I plan to put an area for hanging coats/possibly a bench for putting shoes down or similar. I've alternatively considered making the new entrance beside the existing radiator and window but that seems like a lot of cost, and some people like porches?

Got a render from Ikea below, but having a look on DIY kitchens I've got an alternative idea shown in my plan (curved island, and tempted by graphite units + oak worktop on the island, and white units/black worktop on the wall units)

Ikea render (plan not same as my plan below!)


My plan using DIY kitchens (and kitchen island). Generally there and thereabouts all to scale, entrance porch just added in however!



And potentially longer kitchen island:


I was thinking of having the kitchen island cantilevered on 3 corners, and only the corner nearest the kitchen having a curved unit under it, this will allow seating and save me a massive cost on curved units (circa £500 a unit!)

 

[Buffman]

Also, can anyone recommend me where to buy some external doors?

Front door and back door I'm gonna replace them in the kitchen.. Are pvcU any good? Or cheap/nasty? If I had a budget of say up to £300 a door is that gonna go far?

 

[Buffman]

I was considering putting a kitchen unit near the top left radiator purely to store a hoover as we have no good understairs cupboard for obvious reasons... Will that look odd? I think we'll just put some storage near the entrance door.

I've also now updated the photos previous to imgur.com as I realised they may not be viewable in photo bucket (Dat lack of responses)

Also, what are peoples thoughts on laminate vs tiles?

And Ive seen some pretty decent priced external wood doors for circa £200, seem ok?

Here's a "before" photo for your time :X (both walls to be removed). Will it be odd if the entrance hall windows remain at a lower level?




Can a mod change this thread title to "Bungalow build log and kitchen design ideas" to hopefully get some more help!

 

[Buffman]

Suppose the question is whether the heat from the radiator would cause issues with the cupboard above. Then again a lot of cupboards get a lot of heat from kettles/ovens so should be ok. Might look odd though.

I've no idea but at a guess i'd have said £200 for external wood doors is pretty decent.


My mother in law has just bought a bungalow which needs a fair bit of work doing to it. Hers has a converted upstairs though. I've got the nice job of pulling off a whole house worth of artex wallpaper tomorrow which has more layers of paint than i care to guess on!

I meant I would put the units adjacent to the radiator, but I think I'll leave it for now and see if I require it in future to try keep a minimilast look.

I thought artex was a substance rather than a wallpaper and difficult to take off?/requires replastering? Also sometimes has asbestos in it?
Im lucky in that I had no artex in the house.

Does anyone have any preference in terms of flooring for a kitchen, from the below ?
Tiles
Karndean
Laminate
Spatia/amtico

 

[Buffman]

You're right. I always call that textured wallpaper artex wallpaper for some reason :/

as for the floor, I guess it depends on the room/feel you want. I've always had laminate but my mother in law used to have quartz tiles and they were excellent.

I have (/had) the same textured wallpaper everywhere! Luckily it wasn't woodchip wallpaper/too hard to get off.

The builder/multi trades fella I had round recommended karndean, which I've seen I cba get for circa £20/sqm+fitting which seems reasonable. Unfortunately he's taken over 2 weeks to send quote back so either he's busy or not interested! (I'm hoping the former rather than latter as he has very good feedback on my builder).

Im also thinking of going handle less "luca" units from diykitchens, anyone got any Thought on them?

Unfortunately photobucket has killed my first pictures...

 

[Buffman]

Got an Alexa to link in with the hive, nice being able to tell it to turn lights off/on!

 

[Buffman]

Had a quote to do the kitchen... £18k (not even Inc the kitchen or flooring!!!) ridiculous amount lol.

Gonna get seperate tradesmen in for all the different parts..

 

[Buffman]

Sorry that was 18k labour, yeah parts will be about £4k for the kitchen (on top of labour!) lol.

 

[Buffman]

Jesus that sounds excessive. Who is installing it? The king of Dubai?

I'm clearly in the wrong job for a few days work!

..

9k for units does seem a lot.

I knew I wasn't doing well when he drove up in his s line Audi a7...

To be fair there's a fair amount to do (see plan pictures above..)

Flooring - relevel all floors and fit karndean flooring, I'm thinking this will be around £25/sqm at 28m2 (just labour). The 4m2 section of hardwood subfloor with loads of holes in will need removed/replaced with plywood also..
Electrics-complete rewire in kitchen section
Plumbing - move gas pipes and move stop tap
Builders- remove two structural walls and install RSJ's
Replaster/skim and line RSJs
Fit new front door
New back door
New lounge door

I was hoping to get it in for ~9k labour and building materials... So I'm getting a lot of tradesmen in for seperate quotes

 

[Buffman]

Got some quotes in from other tradesmen
3.2k builder,
1.7k flooring,
£900 plumbing
All I need on top of that is
Carpenter (+potentially doing kitchen)
Plasterer
Electricians

Think I've decided on the following:

Units will be gloss white/handless and oak worktops

This colour on kitchen side
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homeba...t-pepper-red-matt-emulsion-paint---25l-352928

then a more mattt white for other walls
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/dulux-kitchen-plus-frosted-steel---matt-paint---25l-856933

Also these lights over the island
http://www.iconiclights.co.uk/over-table-capitol-pendant-light-with-coloured-shades.html

http://www.iconiclights.co.uk/retro-style-civic-metal-pendant-shade.html

 

[Buffman]

Had a couple quotes of:
1.4k electrics (no new electric board)
1.4k kitchen fitting (units and routeing only)

Both seem a bit expensive to me! So getting more quotes in..

Is it common to get carpenters who can come in just to router kitchen worktops? (no fitting etc?) I can do the rest myself.

 

[Buffman]

The builders start in Thursday (and supposedly finish Friday!) to knock out two structural walls and put in RSJs

Ive stripped the kitchen walls to look like below. Also had plumber in to move back gas pipes (he spotted British gas had left me with a gas leak and hadn't tightened up the boiler properly!!)




Wall on left to be removed


Wall to be removed

 

[Buffman]

Didn't really bother getting other quotes. All my appliances are freestanding so I figured it would be easy enough to install myself, plus I only have 1/tall unit. I'll get someone in to router the worktops but that will only cost circa £300

 

[Buffman]

Walls are now knocked in, RSJ's to go in! My builder thinks the structural engineer has really overspecced the steels, but theyre already bought so that's a bit of money and ceiling height down the drain...

Overall not too bad in terms of dust, builder managed to do all this in half a day

 

[Buffman]

Timbers to be added above the smaller steel to actually prop up the roof but it's supported on each end of the walls anyways

Somehow they've managed not to hit any cables! Or the pipe which was fixed into the plaster. Got 3plasterers to quote this weekend (all called Dave..)

Got builders Monday (to do trenches for gas/water, and some external works)
electrician mon/Tue
Plumber Wednesday
Plastering next week

 

[Buffman]

Fixed some points of flooring that had very poor temp fixes on them (where hidden under carpet when I bought the house!!). I've used plywood, are there any issues with this? Seems to be squeeking slightly but I've not screwed them down yet (need some better screws!)

Before (when plumber was putting in gas pipe)


After;