Bungalow build log

Buffman · 1 Aug 2017 at 20:20

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

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

Marvt74 said:
..

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

booyaka · 1 Aug 2017 at 22:43

Lol £18k labour!!

That's just ridiculous. Even with all the various trades!!

I had 25m2 of Kardean flooring and it was a case of ply wood down to level and then tiles ontop. Took them 2 days to do the full thing, just 2 guys.

Even 4 guys working @ £200 a day, £18k labour is like 23 days worth!!! No way.

Buffman · 16 Aug 2017 at 21:34

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 · 23 Aug 2017 at 19:14

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 · 5 Sep 2017 at 08:27

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

Martynt74 · 5 Sep 2017 at 08:35

I think that time frame probably isn't too bad. I remember when we had a similar project the first few days saw huge changes as it's quite quick work. It's all the finishing that feels like it takes forever.

Not sure if you got other others for the above stuff but my mother in law has had a few quotes for kitchen fitting and most were around £1500. Although that also fitting included appliances (oven, hob, big larder fridge/freezer, built in dishwasher and washing machine)

Buffman · 5 Sep 2017 at 08:38

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

Martynt74 · 5 Sep 2017 at 08:41

Or you could buy a router and kitchen jig. Would be around £150 if you don't go excessive. Given you're using a jig i don't see there being too much skill involved (Coming from someone who hasn't fitted kitchen worktops!)

Buffman · 7 Sep 2017 at 21:27

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 · 9 Sep 2017 at 18:40

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

task · 10 Sep 2017 at 08:58

That's looking like a decent sized space now, coming along well.

Buffman · 10 Sep 2017 at 20:26

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;

planty · 10 Sep 2017 at 21:15

Looking good.

I've used plywood to fix some of my floorboards, haven't had any issues so far.

rexehuk · 11 Sep 2017 at 18:21

planty said:
Looking good.

I've used plywood to fix some of my floorboards, haven't had any issues so far.

Every subfloor in my house will be 18mm ply by time I'm finished! If anything it's better.

On that bit shown open, I'd probably put a few cross battens if it was myself... not a lot of support there bar very thin edges!

You really want all 4 corners to be supported well so there is no flex.

Buffman · 11 Sep 2017 at 22:51

rexehuk said:
Every subfloor in my house will be 18mm ply by time I'm finished! If anything it's better.

On that bit shown open, I'd probably put a few cross battens if it was myself... not a lot of support there bar very thin edges!

You really want all 4 corners to be supported well so there is no flex.

Yeah I put a cross batton between the beams actually but is that not likely to cause squeeking itself by shrinking/expanding?

Also, did you just drive in your ply with screws? I've got to get better screws as i broke two heads on my impact driver as they didn't get on well with the ply!

Any preference for type of screws?

rexehuk · 12 Sep 2017 at 07:21

The Craig said:
Yeah I put a cross batton between the beams actually but is that not likely to cause squeeking itself by shrinking/expanding?

Also, did you just drive in your ply with screws? I've got to get better screws as i broke two heads on my impact driver as they didn't get on well with the ply!

Any preference for type of screws?

I'm using these but probably overkill for a few patch bits!

http://www.screwfix.com/p/spax-flooring-screws-4-5-x-60mm-300-pack/88716

Not too sure on squeaks, I was using 8x4 for my battens fixed with 50mm screws through joists into batten and also expanding gorilla glue... I can't see there being any issues.

Where I had issues was with previous construction, their battens were 25mm thick and like 200mm high fixed with 4 nails... Those squeaked like crazy!

Buffman · 17 Sep 2017 at 14:27

First fixes done (electrics, plumbing, gas in the trenches).

Electrician needs to come back Tuesday as he missed a switch! Doh. Thus I've not put all the celotex in the ceiling. Does anyone know if you need a vapour barrier under the celotex if it's in the joists? I've left a 80mm air gap but their tech team recommended a vapor barrier.

Had the first fix of flooring screeded in the old hall section with latex. I kept asking, but they assured me it won't mess with the radiator pipes!

Just sugar soaped and washed today ready for a skim. (and fibreboard ingredients steels etc)

bobbarley · 17 Sep 2017 at 16:55

Nice work, great finish on the rooms

R.C.Anderson · 18 Sep 2017 at 09:46

Some great work here.

Where abouts in Warwickshire are you? I'm in the process of buying a house in Rugby that needs a lot of work doing. Do you have any tradesmen you would recommend from good work & reasonable cost?

How did you go about getting the steels done? Did you get someone in to sort it out from beginning to end (including calculations, drawings, submitting to BR, installation etc), or did you organise any separate bits yourself, or do any of the work yourself? Would you do the same again? How much did it cost?
I'm asking as I need a similar bit of work done, and trying to decide on the best way to do it!

Buffman · 18 Sep 2017 at 13:12

R.C.Anderson said:
Some great work here.

Where abouts in Warwickshire are you? I'm in the process of buying a house in Rugby that needs a lot of work doing. Do you have any tradesmen you would recommend from good work & reasonable cost?

How did you go about getting the steels done? Did you get someone in to sort it out from beginning to end (including calculations, drawings, submitting to BR, installation etc), or did you organise any separate bits yourself, or do any of the work yourself? Would you do the same again? How much did it cost?
I'm asking as I need a similar bit of work done, and trying to decide on the best way to do it!

I got a structural engineer to come look and do steel design
Builder to build
Building inspector to sign off.

In retrospect I would get the builder to open up the reveals of the building and show what's there then get the steels specified (if I had/knew a good builder). This would potentially save getting overspecced steel work. On the long length of larger steels there is two tied together but only one is taking weight.

My only slight concern with the steels is they don't look prestressed to take the weight of one section of roof, which potentially could cause sagging at a later stage if weight is applied . (sub 10mm, might cause a crack in plaster say). Building control spent all of 2 minutes looking at it and thought it was OK.

In terms of locality I'm about 10mins away from Warwick centre but a lot of the work I've had done is from tradesmen in redditch, Halesowen, Coventry.

For cost
£300 structural engineer
£2.7k builder steel work
£216 building control

Also going to cost a further £850 to get the rest of the large open room plastered/skimmed and a section of ceiling reboarded (I also had quotes of 1.1k and 1.8k for plastering).

Edit: if you want some tradesmen ping me an email and I can send some (probably best after it's all done to check they are kosher!) . I generally use ocuk on my phone. Cheers.
One I would recommend to avoid is British gas!!