Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
The ceiling repairs weren't dry yesterday so I've had to wait to plaster it. This evening I got my chance, first painting it with a coat of diluted PVA then a first rough coat of plaster...

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Then after half an hour or so I put on a second coat... (its pretty humid today so it was taking a while for the plaster to start going off)

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Then after another wait for the second coat to start going off I polished it up as best I could...

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As with my other attempts at plastering its not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with the results regardless :becool: There's a little more filling and sanding required to the walls but once thats done and the plaster is dry in a week or so it'll get painted :becool:

Next job is the shelf in the laundry cupboard :okay:
 

Colin Grigson

Bass guitarist - Bad News
Location
Slovakia
What’s your ‘mates rate’ per m2 please John ? ^_^
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
I had a delivery during the week- Whilst I'm waiting for the plaster in the kitchen to dry out (which to be fair it probably has by now) I decided to make some progress with the heating system since the weather seems to be turning...

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First job, drain down... This was easy with the old redundant pipework still connected so I just opened the rad valve over a bucket :laugh:

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That got rid of most of the water and the rest came out when I cut that pipe off below floor level. It didnt take long to pipe up the first rad under the aircon unit (seems a strange place to have a radiator but I don't intend to run them simultaneously! haha) as the wall behind in the cupboard isn't yet boarded, for this very reason :smile:

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Whilst I was in this area I also cut out a section of another pipe and replaced it because it had been crushed, I suspect by a step ladder. For the second rad I had to take the carpet up in the corner and work out what to do as it involved moving existing pipework. As I lifted the carpet I was slightly alarmed to see someone had been there before me and I recognised the handiwork from other bodges I've fixed throughout the house :laugh:

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It actually looked like they might have moved the pipework from where I want it now to the new radiator under the window, so I was intrigued to find out if I was really just going to undo what they'd done and put the house back to original intent yet again :laugh: Only one way to find out, and that was to remove the gaffer tape, screws and silicon that they'd used to patch the floor :rolleyes::laugh:

Just before I show you what I found underneath, check out this for professional level work... I remember now why we hid this behind a sofa :laugh:

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Anyway, beneath the bodgery was yet more bodgery, as we've come to expect in this house. They had indeed modified the original pipework to move the radiator around on to another wall, I just can't quite understand why they wouldn't do it properly and hide the pipes all the way around - if you're going to go to the effort of chopping the floor out in one area why not finish the job? :wacko: Just check out the insulation too, incredible work :laugh:

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I decided to do it properly this time so chased out the blockwork wall to bury the pipes...

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Then modified the pipework again (its the triggers broom of heating systems!) to serve the new rad position...

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I've just put the bodged floor back together and thrown the carpet back over the top for now - I'll have to fix it properly before we lay the new flooring but thats a job for another day :laugh: There is a third radiator to install (another 6 panel one like the second) at the other end of the living room but it was getting a bit late in the day and I wanted a hot shower so had to refill the system. Instead of push my luck I decided to give myself plenty of time in case something went awry...

Which was pretty lucky really, because when I refilled the system I had the mother of all leaks on the first radiator :laugh: I gradually filled and kept checking for leaks but all was fine until it suddenly wasn't, and water was spraying on my consumer unit in the cupboard :laugh::ohmy: I had to dump the water out quickly to stop the leak by undoing one of the rad plugs and emptying it into a big bucket - it drained much quicker this way but wasn't quite so easy to control :laugh: Anyway an inspection of the leaking fitting found the joint just pulled apart by hand - a closer look showed there was no solder ring in one side of the fitting and I hadn't clocked it :rolleyes: I guess the flux was enough to hold water until the pressure overcame it and all hell broke loose :laugh: An easy fix, I cut that section of pipe out and replaced it, refilled it and hoped for the best. When nothing else seemed to be leaking I turned the boiler back on and everything got hot - great success :okay:

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I'll have to drain down again to modify the pipework and fit the 3rd vertical rad, and they'll all have to come down yet again when it's time to decorate that area of the living room :laugh: No rest for the wicked...
 
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When fitting that 6 panel one make sure you bond it to the concrete wall, it’ll be over a ton when filled and the supplies fittings are likely to give way, just not heavy duty enough. Just ask me how I know that?!!
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
I'll have to drain down again to modify the pipework and fit the 3rd vertical rad, and they'll all have to come down yet again when it's time to decorate that area of the living room :laugh: No rest for the wicked...
Just curious, but why the vertical rad in the living room?
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
Just curious, but why the vertical rad in the living room?

All 3 vertical rads will be in the same room so we thought it would be nice if they matched. They seem to suit the planned room layout better too. I've made sure the heat output is suitable (it's actually about 50% more than necessary) so I can't really see a downside to them. Might as well make a feature out of them :smile:

That underfloor insulation :wacko::laugh::laugh:

It's ridiculous isn't it... To think whoever put the floor down took one last look at that insulation and thought "yup, that'll do"... hahaha
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
All 3 vertical rads will be in the same room so we thought it would be nice if they matched. They seem to suit the planned room layout better too. I've made sure the heat output is suitable (it's actually about 50% more than necessary) so I can't really see a downside to them. Might as well make a feature out of them :smile:
Oh that makes sense. The picture just makes it look like you have a random vertical radiator in the middle of the living room!
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
Yeah it's an L shaped room which will have 3 vertical rads vaguely in the corners so should spread the heat out nicely :smile:
 
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
You'll never believe it, but I've found some time to work on the house :ohmy::laugh:

I've spent god knows how many hours fixing the walls in the kitchen and prepping for paint over the last few days and today I finally managed to get a mist coat on the walls and ceiling and have just finished putting the first coat of white on the ceiling 😄

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The laundry cupboard is beginning to look more finished now; I've sanded all the filler flat and will give it a coat of white tomorrow along with the other walls as a nice base coat for the light grey I'll be painting them.

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Last but not least I've moved one of the lights in the living room to suit the new room layout and put a nice new light fitting up. Eventually I'll get round to skimming the ceiling to get rid of the artex but I'll try and finish a few other areas first :laugh: I've got a new fitting for the kitchen too but I'll wait for the ceiling paint to be dry before I try and put that up...

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Hoping to crack on with it first thing tomorrow :okay:
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
Some of the downstairs doors have these posh-but-nasty ceramic knobs. I have managed to snap the spindle bar on one. From the sintered appearance of the break I deduce that it wasn't made of mild steel.
(I resisted the temptation to announce that I'd pulled my knob off, though that's pretty much what happened).
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JhnBssll

JhnBssll

Guru
Location
Suffolk
I've got the ceiling finished and new light up, plus the first coat of colour on the walls :okay: Hopefully it'll only need one more colour coat but I've plenty of paint so no biggy if not.

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I need to paint the pipes in the corner and get the skirting sorted, then I need to think about finishing the small strip of wall next to the back door. Not sure what to do there yet :laugh: Skirting is a priority as I have a new american style fridge freezer arriving a week tomorrow and I don't want to have to move it around too much :laugh:
 
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