Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

[JhnBssll]

I finished work at 12.30 and cracked on in the kitchen. The main aim is to get the final few bits of new kitchen out of the living room asap

First job was boxing in the end of the wall cupboards and putting a blue panel on the front to match the doors...

With that done it allowed me to start on the pelmet and cornice - the pelmet was just one length to cut and screw and went in pretty quickly...

The cornice was a bit more tricky with several 45deg cuts to do and was a bit of a bugger 😄 I got there eventually though...

Then the final job for the units, the plinths. A couple of 45deg corners here too but these were a bit more simple... I also had to cut around the heater and screw its grilel to the new plinth but again pretty straightforward, just time consuming

Nice bit of progress today then! Here it is in all its current glory...

The next kitchen job is to get the washer/dryer cupboard finished but I need to buy some bits for that - I'll start planning it later 😄

 

[JhnBssll]

Heres the kitchen in daylight 😊

I've sent an enquiry off to a company that CNC machines melamine board to build a carcass for the remaining doors to cover the washer/dryer cupboard. I'll wait until I've heard back from them before I do much more in the kitchen so have diverted my attention back to the hallway and new downstairs loo

This is the area I'm working with...

First job was to uncover the floor boards so I whizzed along the laminate with the circsaw and pulled it up...

Its a bit grim around one of the radiator risers but it's all coming up anyway as I need to run the pipes under the floor from below the stairs With that in mind I readjusted the depth stop on the circsaw and took another pass at it...

As I'd found elsewhere the vapour barrier is not much use - presumably the whole ground floor is like this. I'll make the best of it but it's not going to be perfect without ripping the entire floor out which I'm just not prepared to do

I really need to finalise the wall layout before I go much further One bit of potentially good news is that it seems only minimal effort will be needed to re-route the two heating pipes to supply their new radiator but time will tell

 

[bikingdad90]

Give yourself a porch @JhnBssll or at least a door between your front door as it will do wonders at keeping the cold out.

While you at it rip off the MDF under the stairs and build one of these,https://clevercloset.co.uk/under-stairs/ we built one and it’s brill.

 

[JhnBssll]

Give yourself a porch @JhnBssll or at least a door between your front door as it will do wonders at keeping the cold out.

While you at it rip off the MDF under the stairs and build one of these,https://clevercloset.co.uk/under-stairs/ we built one and it’s brill.

I'll be building a couple of new internal walls and taking one down, the result will be a new small hallway/porch area as well as the new downstairs loo. The rest of the old 'big' hallway will become part of the living room

I love the understair storage drawers, it's something I'm considering for sure

 

[Gunk]

Is the 1980’s Artex ceiling in the kitchen staying John?

 

[JhnBssll]

Is the 1980’s Artex ceiling in the kitchen staying John?

It's throughout the whole house Short answer no, it's not staying. Longer answer, I would have loved to have skimmed it before I put the kitchen in but it's still a long way down the jobs list

 

[jowwy]

Come on john, just cause its xmas it doesnt mean you can slack on the jobs….we want, sorry we demand updates and pictures

 

[JhnBssll]

Apologies for slacking guys, you'll be pleased to know I was back at it today The last few evenings havent been wasted though, I've been sketching layouts and now have one approved by the boss so wall construction could begin this morning

I printed out the winning layout and taped it to the wall for reference, or rather proof, when the inevitable "that room looks too small" complaints start coming in

I had some pipes to move first - the old gas main came out fairly easily but it's still scary sawing through a gas pipe even when you know its been decomissioned for a decade With that out of the way I put some new bends in the heating pipework and ran it to its new location...

With that done I could start the walls, starting with the floorplates...

With those in I then measured up and marked out on the ceiling where the ceiling plates would need to be so I could cut out the plasterboard...

Things started moving a little more quickly at this point and I didn't take many photos, but I've got the beginnings of the first stud wall taking shape now

I'm getting through timber pretty rapidly so have just ordered some more to collect in the morning then I'll carry on building the walls

 

[MontyVeda]

Looking good as usual.... but it looks rather tight... the access to the stairs.

 

[JhnBssll]

Yeah, I've left 900mm which is wider than the stairs themselves but it will restrict moving big stuff up and down them without removing the bannisters. Should be OK 99.9% of the time 🤞

 

[MontyVeda]

Yeah, I've left 900mm which is wider than the stairs themselves but it will restrict moving big stuff up and down them without removing the bannisters. Should be OK 99.9% of the time 🤞

so long as a double or KS mattress can get up and down

 

[jowwy]

Apologies for slacking guys, you'll be pleased to know I was back at it today The last few evenings havent been wasted though, I've been sketching layouts and now have one approved by the boss so wall construction could begin this morning

I printed out the winning layout and taped it to the wall for reference, or rather proof, when the inevitable "that room looks too small" complaints start coming in

View attachment 623808

I had some pipes to move first - the old gas main came out fairly easily but it's still scary sawing through a gas pipe even when you know its been decomissioned for a decade With that out of the way I put some new bends in the heating pipework and ran it to its new location...

View attachment 623804

With that done I could start the walls, starting with the floorplates...

View attachment 623809

With those in I then measured up and marked out on the ceiling where the ceiling plates would need to be so I could cut out the plasterboard...

View attachment 623805

View attachment 623806

Things started moving a little more quickly at this point and I didn't take many photos, but I've got the beginnings of the first stud wall taking shape now

View attachment 623807

I'm getting through timber pretty rapidly so have just ordered some more to collect in the morning then I'll carry on building the walls

I bet its good to be back john…….

 

[irw]

@JhnBssll It may be too late, but how about a sliding ‘pocket’ door for the loo? That’s what I did when I rejigged ours, and it looks like you’ve got the length in the wall to accommodate it.

 

[JhnBssll]

@JhnBssll It may be too late, but how about a sliding ‘pocket’ door for the loo? That’s what I did when I rejigged ours, and it looks like you’ve got the length in the wall to accommodate it.

I did consider it but we seemed to have enough space for a conventional door.

I've got two of the three door frames installed now and have almost run out of timber again, I can't believe how much has gone in to it so far Here's the first frame fitted earlier this afternoon...

And here's the toilet door frame fitted in the background...

Seems to be going OK so far

 

[Kingfisher101]

Looks amazing all of this. Are you a tradesperson? because your doing very well if not. I couldn't do all this by myself.