Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Looks really good, it’s a nice big space

Thanks, it's surprising how much bigger it looks with only a meter added to the length of the room! It was always quite a big hallway relative to the rest of the house but not quite big enough to divide up, the extra meter is a game changer in that respect.

I had a few hours spare today so cut some mortar out of the wall next to the post and fitted some tek screws to the post through the slots.

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The slots and screws were then backfilled with resin to tie the post to the blockwork.

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With this done I fixed up the insulation behind the post making sure there were no gaps then marked and screwed the other side of the post to tie it to the new blockwork. I had some time left so mixed a barrow load of mortar, sorted the damp membrane at floor level and laid a few blocks.

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Nice to be progressing on this project again 😊
 
My victorian terraced house is suffering from old age. We spent last week removing plaster from the downstairs passage external wall to uncover some serious cracking. 10 helibars later it is OK. We fitted 10mm insulated board and a local plasteter finished it nicely together with the cracked, now repaired ceilling
It looks neat and should insulate OK without the walls being any thicker than before.
 
My victorian terraced house is suffering from old age. We spent last week removing plaster from the downstairs passage external wall to uncover some serious cracking. 10 helibars later it is OK. We fitted 10mm insulated board and a local plasteter finished it nicely together with the cracked, now repaired ceilling
It looks neat and should insulate OK without the walls being any thicker than before.
The wall was an external wall but insulated on the inside. You can't make the shared access passage 4" thinner with external insulation.
The usual internal insulation is either batons, insulation and plastetboard total 4" thick, or insulated plasterboard total 2" min thickness.
We needed to retain the internal wall position so used 10mm Marmox Multiboard applied to brickwork then skimmed for total thickness about 1" or just a fraction thicker than original wall.
I used 20mm multiboard in my bathroom and the insulation is really good. This should be good enough.
 

Hicky

Guru
I thought all steel work had top sit on padstones, or it could just be our councils inspectors being overly arsy, either way the progress looks good!
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I thought all steel work had top sit on padstones, or it could just be our councils inspectors being overly arsy, either way the progress looks good!

Yeah you're absolutely right. In this case the padstone on one end was specified to be constructed from engineering bricks stacked 3 high as their compressive strength was sufficient. The post at the other end has a concrete padstone cast directly on top of the concrete foundation :okay: This was all detailed by the structural engineer based on the site survey and calculated loads.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Thanks, it's surprising how much bigger it looks with only a meter added to the length of the room! It was always quite a big hallway relative to the rest of the house but not quite big enough to divide up, the extra meter is a game changer in that respect.

I had a few hours spare today so cut some mortar out of the wall next to the post and fitted some tek screws to the post through the slots.

View attachment 584424

The slots and screws were then backfilled with resin to tie the post to the blockwork.

View attachment 584426

With this done I fixed up the insulation behind the post making sure there were no gaps then marked and screwed the other side of the post to tie it to the new blockwork. I had some time left so mixed a barrow load of mortar, sorted the damp membrane at floor level and laid a few blocks.

View attachment 584423

Nice to be progressing on this project again 😊

If there is a loo going in below that window should you not have put in a soil pipe?
 

Hicky

Guru
Yeah you're absolutely right. In this case the padstone on one end was specified to be constructed from engineering bricks stacked 3 high as their compressive strength was sufficient. The post at the other end has a concrete padstone cast directly on top of the concrete foundation :okay: This was all detailed by the structural engineer based on the site survey and calculated loads.

Brucey bonus, I love it when things are made easier.
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
Super busy at work at the moment so progress has been slow, but I've put a few hours in today and got some small jobs done :okay:

The blockwork wall at one end is now finished - a fiddly job with all the cuts and ties but I got there in the end :laugh:

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Next job I wanted to get right was the damp course. I'd left plenty of spare membrane when pouring the new slab but didn't really know how to actually connect the two bits at the time. Once the wall was out it allowed me to work out which bits of wall and floor were 'dry' and which were 'wet' and therefore where the damp course has to be. It didn't help that someone had previously cut chunks of the damp course out so I wasn't starting from a good place :laugh: The end result meant I had to smash out some old brick and concrete that had been bridging the old cavity below the floor in the doorway. I then pulled the membrane over the cavity and flush up to the old block and beam floor, patched it in the few places I'd put a trowel through it (oops) and filled it with sand and cement screed up to just below the current slab level in the new bit. There's another 40mm or so of screed to go on top to bring it to the same level as the blocks in the old bit so I'll level it all at that point :okay:

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While I had the lump hammer out I cleaned up the end of the wall on the other side ready to tie in the last of the blockwork. I had to knock a few whole bricks out and replace with half bricks while fixing the damp course to prevent bridging, might get a chance to stack some blocks on top of it tomorrow afternoon, if not one evening in the week 😊

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Note my sparkly building shoes in that last photo :okay: :laugh:
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
This afternoon I spent a few hours building up the blockwork on the other wall and tidying up the electrics.

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As you can see I'd left plenty of spare cable when connecting the porch lights which was now in the way. Since the steel is now in I had the opportunity to tidy it all up...

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Little bit neater now! The weatherproof junction boxes were temporary before the roof was watertight but figured I may as well leave them in. As such I screwed them to the wall and shortened all the cables to suit their new permanent location. The coiled cables to the right are all the spares I ran before the steel went in - these will likely all be used for lighting circuits but they're tucked out of the way for now :okay:

This allowed me to get the blockwork a little higher before I stopped for the day, hope to get more done over the weekend.

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I've got some more sand arriving Tuesday to allow me to do the screed along with some timber to start putting the stud walls up 😊 I should really finalise the internal layout soon :whistle::laugh: It feels good to have that mess of cables out of the way 😊
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I've had a productive afternoon 😊 Finished off the blockwork wall and then mixed and laid the screed :okay:

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Wickes called me last weekend to apologise that the sand I'd ordered didn't exist. Since then they've somehow managed to send me 10 lengths of free timber, I'm not going to complain :laugh: Unfortunately I had ordered some anyway, so I now have twice as much as I need :laugh:
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I've just drained the rad and taken it off the wall. First time I've done it and I'm pleased to say it was easier than I antipated 😄 I opened the bleed valve then cracked the first Union open a quarter turn....

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I drained it pretty slowly but once the water stopped coming I was able to move the valve far enough away from the rad to fit the cap and seal. Same again on the other side, I tipped the rad slightly to get a little more water out then put a cap on the valve. The rad then lifted off easily and is now in the front garden. I wonder how long it will stay there :laugh:

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There used to be a decorative cover over this rad, I suspect the previous owner had put it there to cover their awful attempt at skirting :rolleyes:

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Oh well, should be nice when it's finished :laugh:
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
This afternoon I spent a few hours building up the blockwork on the other wall and tidying up the electrics.

View attachment 586550

As you can see I'd left plenty of spare cable when connecting the porch lights which was now in the way. Since the steel is now in I had the opportunity to tidy it all up...

View attachment 586552

Little bit neater now! The weatherproof junction boxes were temporary before the roof was watertight but figured I may as well leave them in. As such I screwed them to the wall and shortened all the cables to suit their new permanent location. The coiled cables to the right are all the spares I ran before the steel went in - these will likely all be used for lighting circuits but they're tucked out of the way for now :okay:

This allowed me to get the blockwork a little higher before I stopped for the day, hope to get more done over the weekend.

View attachment 586553

I've got some more sand arriving Tuesday to allow me to do the screed along with some timber to start putting the stud walls up 😊 I should really finalise the internal layout soon :whistle::laugh: It feels good to have that mess of cables out of the way 😊

just noticed your Gucci loafers, you are clearly a man of sartorial elegance!
 
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