My House - The Slow Progress

[Traffic_Warden]

Well thought id show you guys some of my progress on the "major" refurbishment of my first house. I bought the house originally in May 2012, which basically i spent a year doing very little. But ill try an order the progress from the start to the present.

Plans - So the house is originally a 2 Bedroom, 1 Bath house, i plan to increase this to 3 bed, 2 bath. The house has a old 'barn' attached to it which we have got planning to knock through and increase the living area, both increasing the downs stairs kitchen to include a utility and store (which will house the UFH pump station/consumer unit/and new Combi boiler. It will also increase the bedroom 2 upstairs which will then become the master and have an en-suite added. Now as the kitchen is larger, im hoping to make it a kitchen/Dining room, and free up the old dinging room to create a 3rd down stairs bedroom.

24/6/2012 So this this is how it all started ,an amazing feeling when i got the keys for the first time. Being my first house it will be one big adventure haha. Heres some pictures of how it was, and bear in mind the people who owned it previously had been in there 55 years !!.
Kitchen-

Dining Room-

View of kitchen from Dining room-

Hallway-

Stairway-

Bedroom 1-

Bedroom 2-

Outside-

22/7/2012 Work started outside, to create a bit of privacy and gain some much needed space.

23/7/2012-25/7/2012 Further progress outside and removal of the horrid carpets in the bedrooms haha

21/2/2013 After a long break due to work, started work on the hallway and stairs. DEMOLITION has begun!

17/3/2013 So the planning came through and change of use, so commenced demolitions of the partition wall between the ' former stable' and house.

Much dust ????

LOL

30/3/2013 Ceiling height in the Stable heightened slightly, and the rotten timber joists removed.

Okay maybe i need a skip......

4/5/2013 Major work started forming the space for the new Bifold door , creating an entrance to the Kitchen. Not my most favourite time haha basically holding your house up with acro props.....

Oh god i hate stone walls , they just keep falling apart!!

While the foundation for the supporting wall was drying, increased the boundary wall to 6ft.

I beams installed.

Really happy with how it finished off... and 1 major job ticked off the big list of things to do.

17-19/5/2013 Time for a new floor !

7x3 joists, 5mm Steel wall plates, M24 SS Threaded rod. The outside still needs finishing of and pointing in.

1/3/2014 to 8/3/2014 - Started preparing the Kitchen/Utility ready for UFH to be layed. Screed is getting poured the following week.

What ill do is add the previous progress as i go along in the OP so more to come in the next few days, and all new progress in new posts in this thread.

 

[Participant]

What are your options if something breaks under the levelling compound? Rip it all up with a jackhammer or put up with it not working? Really fancy ufh but slightly nervous about this aspect of it.

And what about those that already have a concrete floor and can't afford the extra floor height of another layer of floor?

 

[Traffic_Warden]

Nothing should in theory break, as there are no joins in the system. There are 3 zones , Kitchen/Dining/Utility all of which have 80m runs each of pert-al-pert pipe.

If there was an issue then, your pretty ****ed....Like i say the chances are pretty slim if its all pressure tested and kept pressurized and monitored at 3-4Bar (40-50psi) during the screed pour. I think it will be fine.

You can get insulation boards which overlay on your concrete so you can have a water UFH system. or the other option is the electric matting, this option you would have less floor height loss.

I will post up tomorrow the progress of before the concrete sub-floor was poured.

 

[Traffic_Warden]

Added some pictures from when i first got hold of the house, and the plans for it.

 

[Buffman]

Good lord they have some incredibly awful carpets! Looks like a nice size home however.

 

[LeeUK]

Why were carpets like that ever in fashion!

 

[ndaar]

LOL I was just looking at the carpets. Interesting mix

Looking forward to some more pictures of the renovation.

 

[Kimi]

That carpet up the stairs is awesome!

I think our under floor heating came with a 25 year leak guarantee

 

[Traffic_Warden]

Mine will only be come with parts guarantee, as im doing all the work myself apart from pouring the screed. Which is by coincedance is getting poured as i type! Woot Woot!

 

[Traffic_Warden]

14/3/2014 Screed being poured into the kitchen/Utility seems the final biggest messy job to get done... its awesome how it sets as if you touch it after a few hours its like rubber haha and got complemented by the screeders at how good the UFH had been layed . So that made my day.

So impressed with it, costs lots of ££££ compared to standard sand and cement. But god damn its good stuff. Oh well now the 4 days of not walking on it , its so tempting haha.

 

[SDK^]

Loving those original carpets !!!

Nice underfloor heating, i'm planning the same in our garage conversion. Did you get specialists to fit it?

 

[Traffic_Warden]

No , I did all the planning and fitting of the underfloor heating myself including testing.

Carpets are lovely aren't they haha.

 

[Traffic_Warden]

Further updates added to the OP.

more to follow.

 

[Mark A]

It reminds me of the goo in Portal 2 .

 

[£15]

No , I did all the planning and fitting of the underfloor heating myself including testing.

Carpets are lovely aren't they haha.

It was mentioned above about a 25 year leak guarantee; presumably one only gets that with a professional installation?

 

[Traffic_Warden]

I've never heard of getting a 25 year guarantee before , I know a lot offer a 10 year guarantee. But that would only be necessary if there where joins under the screed, as i have no joins and 1 pipe run for each port. There will be no issues, as long as the system has been pressure tested and screed poured, whiled under pressure to observe pressure dropped with damage caused during the pour.
I am more then competent to install , and as you can see the job has been completed to a good standard. Please search the internet at some installs......
All that matters in the end is that i am happy with it, and im ecstatic.

 

[Voices]

Lovely thread!

Would be interesting to see the budget you have for all this

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[bushmins]

There was a range of emotions as I looked down the photos. Started off with ' that's a nice kitchen, doesn't look like it needs a lot of work'. Then I saw some carpet and started things 'ok'... then the angles under and around the stairs, then the wood cladding and more carpet, then, omg, the shapely doors!

What did the neighbours think of your breeze block wall right outside their window? They should paint it white, it might bring in more light.

 

[LeeUK]

What did the neighbours think of your breeze block wall right outside their window? They should paint it white, it might bring in more light.

I would hate to live in that bungalow in the first place purely on the fact that the OP's house looks down onto it. Even before the breeze block wall.

 

[slick rick]

Is that an Akita I see?