First Home - Renovation Project

koolpc · 6 Jan 2016 at 18:56

LeeUK said:
If someone did that to me I'd go round and smash their back door in and I wouldn't wait for the cover of darkness either.

With your keyboard?

LeeUK · 6 Jan 2016 at 23:24

koolpc said:
With your keyboard?

No with my fist.

loltim · 6 Jan 2016 at 23:43

Scum. Sub-human scum.

loltim · 7 Jan 2016 at 12:32

robfosters said:
Are your works noisy?

If so, 2 and a half years is a bloody long time. I would be very annoyed if I was a neighbour. Doesn't give them the right to do what they did though. But as I said, if it is a noisy and bothersome job, I would push to get it wrapped up ASAP. Not fair on the neighbours.

Not all work is loud though. It appears to be a jealous attack

randal · 8 Jan 2016 at 23:03

I'm hoping that the OP's radio silence means there's an ongoing investigation.

Brozart · 13 Jan 2016 at 16:48

Yeah the CCTV really proved their worth, they caught the scumbag climbing over the back fence by the shed, walking down the garden and casually throwing a couple of patio slabs through my windows and door. The police said he was forensically aware because he wore a scarf past his nose and wore thick glove but he did **** up and reveal something on tape (but I can’t go into details yet as the case is still open). It’s a shame I didn’t setup set up the motion detection to alert me remotely, I just didn’t think I’d have to go to those extremes as it’s a nice area. I have since enabled line cross detection on each camera to send me an email if someone jumps over the wall, and configured remote access via Ezviz so we have live feeds online + motion alerts through the mobile app.

Right now I'm focused on progressing with the house and finishing it.

Mickie · 13 Jan 2016 at 22:55

asking for trouble saying its a public road unless you're in front of your own house..

Brozart · 14 Jan 2016 at 08:44

Removed

Brozart · 14 Jan 2016 at 09:14

George Hincapie said:
Amazing journal, really enjoyed reading that.

koolpc said:
Superb work you have done on your house. Great attention to detail and craftsmanship.

timmymeuk1 said:
Thats one mammoth renovation! I thought mine was a doer uper

Good job!

Valo said:
Hope the CCTV caught something. The work is looking great though

Thanks a lot

Glad you're enjoying the progress

Mark A said:
Must be gutting for things like this to happen after putting so much effort into it.

I was going to say replace the glass with laminated to make it safer, but it would then cost more to replace if they do it again.

I ended up buying Pilkington Optilam glass (laminated), so it's now impact resistance and will take a lot more effort to smash. The laminated glass is so much heavier, it was really awkward getting them up the steps by myself!

Also bought a new back door with a decent multipoint lock and reinforced panel, we even went with a two panel glass design because its stronger and also harder for someone to get through. All coming together again...

Gilly · 14 Jan 2016 at 10:00

We went with shower panels over tiles for the same reason you give. I'd gone with a saloon car over the estate I'd had previously and couldn't move the panel sizes we needed so got them delivered at almost the cost of one of the panels, so the pressure on getting the cuts right for the pipes was hard to bear

Other than that they've been great

[edit]I thought I'd got to the end of the thread, but just seen the latest updates. Scum :mad:

Brozart · 15 Jan 2016 at 13:02

Gilly said:
We went with shower panels over tiles for the same reason you give. I'd gone with a saloon car over the estate I'd had previously and couldn't move the panel sizes we needed so got them delivered at almost the cost of one of the panels, so the pressure on getting the cuts right for the pipes was hard to bear

Other than that they've been great

[edit]I thought I'd got to the end of the thread, but just seen the latest updates. Scum

Yeah I feel your pain! I ended up going with ipsluk for the panels; they weren't the cheapest but great customer service and they packaged the panels really well. I'll provide more details on this tomorrow once we've started installing them

White washed the walls in preparation

and these are the tiles we want, gf is pushing for the rectangular version but I'm liking the squares

Brozart · 15 Jan 2016 at 13:28

The outside vent has been fitted

Also some toys have arrived:

I wanted to improve the night vision quality of my cameras and reduce the amount of false positives from rain and insects - I'm actually really impressed with the difference from them. I bought a diffuser for the middle one to spread the light better and prevent IR saturation/spotlight effect.

850nm IR Illuminators

and these for decoration

roadie · 15 Jan 2016 at 13:35

Looks to me like you are going to be in your own little prison.

Brozart · 15 Jan 2016 at 14:02

roadie said:
Looks to me like you are going to be in your own little prison.

The wall spikes are just for the back of the property which is secluded and backs onto an overgrown lane, I don't want it to become Fort Knox but I don't want a welcoming opportunity for more intruders. These are a temporary fix until we move in...

koolpc · 15 Jan 2016 at 17:09

You are going a Grand job there. Lots of thought have gone into it. Lets hope you have no more hassle and that you can enjoy all your hard work and effort.

George Hincapie · 17 Jan 2016 at 00:00

Brozart said:
The wall spikes are just for the back of the property which is secluded and backs onto an overgrown lane, I don't want it to become Fort Knox but I don't want a welcoming opportunity for more intruders. These are a temporary fix until we move in...

I'd have machine gun nests and killer attack dogs if I thought I could get away with it. My house is Fort Knox - take no chances where your family are concerned. People can be such *****.

Keep your head up fella.

Brozart · 25 Jan 2016 at 09:27

Some updates on the bathroom,

We fitted the mirror this weekend, I was impressed with the quality of the demister function and on/off sensor at the bottom - its well worth paying a little extra for one of these!

Also started fitting the shower panels:

I managed to source single part white aluminium corner and trim which is harder to get but much better quality, most shops were trying to sell me the weaker two part plastic ones:

Here's a close up of the corner to give you an idea on how good the seal is (it will also have a bead of silicone in front for another layer of protection)

Gilly · 25 Jan 2016 at 11:49

Good work matey. Our bathroom mirror has an IR switch to turn it on too, but the mirror itself is an infinity one where the LEDs look like they're providing a load of depth. The offset to this is the fact that it's next to useless as a mirror, but the wife wants what the wife wants.

Rexxar · 25 Jan 2016 at 13:48

Looking really good, have enjoyed reading this, apart from the bit about the scumbags who did the damage! Have you got a link to the electronic vent? I'm looking for something similar.

Brozart · 25 Jan 2016 at 15:02

Squidger said:
Looking really good, have enjoyed reading this, apart from the bit about the scumbags who did the damage! Have you got a link to the electronic vent? I'm looking for something similar.

I used I-Sells for all the extractor fan parts, their tagline sounds like a dodgy corner shop but their pricing and customer service has been really good. I bought a Greenwood Elite 150MM kitchen fan and a Manrose MF125S Mixflow fan with a separate Manrose MAN1361 humidistat for the bathroom.

Gilly said:
Good work matey. Our bathroom mirror has an IR switch to turn it on too, but the mirror itself is an infinity one where the LEDs look like they're providing a load of depth. The offset to this is the fact that it's next to useless as a mirror, but the wife wants what the wife wants.

Don't worry I can relate to this, mine wants glass stair railings which are completely overpriced and don't go with the age of the house... imagine all the hand prints after a few months!