Plumbing completed: Kitchen, Utility Rooms & Bathrooms

An essential step forward! When we move into our home, we'll be able to use the bath, showers, w.c. and Quooker! Another significant moment was walking into a warm house when we visited it last weekend. The house is beginning to take shape and almost feels like a home. 

We have the upstairs window blinds ready to go up as soon as the decorating is finished (it's starting next week) and the downstairs blinds should be delivered within the next two weeks.

The sliding doors to hide the utilities are now installed and we are looking to purchase fittings for the built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms. Also, we are now able to put in our order for the tambour doors for the kitchen.

We are currently trying to arrange installation of the log burner, which we purchased such a long time ago. Unfortunately, there is an issue with the granite hearth where one side is 1cm higher than the other side, then it needs some finishing-off between the hearth and the floor. This will either be granite strips, floor wood cuts or a smooth coating of filler, painted black, under the black granite hearth.

Here are some photographs from our recent visit, starting with the sliding wall to hide the utilities:

The glass is in the stairs now: 

Two showers:

Note that the skirting boards have been added now. More images to follow in future posts, in a few weeks. Hopefully, the hard landscaping will be starting soon, as the materials are all stacked in the garden. It is essential to have the disabled access in place (a requirement by the local planning authority) before the house can be signed off - and the driveway must be porous. Signing-off is necessary as soon as possible so that we can have an official address because the post office and telecoms services won't act until it's done. However, our house is now visible using Google maps!

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave your relevant comments.

Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters & more...

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A quick check-list of what's been happening in the house over the past month:

• the flooring is down (see above)
• the doors are (mostly) in place
• the wardrobe doors have been fitted
• the bathroom units have been installed
• the skirtings have been delivered and are being installed
• the gas has been connected (finally)
• there are lights in every room
• the kitchen worktops are on order
• the window blinds for the bedrooms and bathrooms have been ordered
• the bathroom and shower wall panelling is being installed

The carpenters had to cut off a corner at the top of one of the wardrobe doors to enable it to fit in the eaves bedroom, therefore we had to source a solid wood door. The same guys have also been hanging the room doors, fitting the skirtings, installing the fitted units in the bathroom and putting up the shower panelling. They were working long hours and needed to be able to see what they were doing so the electrician was called in. 

 

Wardrobe Doors: cut to shape and size by the carpenters

Still to do: install the log burner and fnish off the hearth; order some more window blinds (for the ground floor rooms) and order a set of sliding doors to hide the boiler and hot water tank from the rest of the utility room. The hob, taps and showers need to be installed by the electrican and plumbers, once the worktops and walls are completed. Then we need to thoroughly clean throughout the house and bring in the decorator to give all the walls and ceilings a one (or twice) over. 

We won't be in for Christmas, unfortunately, as the covid situation has cost us about 12 weeks' delay. 

** Wishing you a Happy Christmas ** 
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We'll keep you posted!
P.S. This is a useful blog for crafty DIYers: catalogue of home ideas 

Current Building Project Update (pre-lockdown2)

The new stairs are in! It's so much easier than using a wobbly old ladder. 

Prior to the stairs being installed, the plumbers managed (I don't know how) to take the slipper bath to the first floor - it took them the best part of two hours! They've positioned the bath and basin taps and their next job will be to fit the Quooker and Belfast sink in the kitchen plus the tap and sink in the utility, as these have all been delivered.

Slipper Bath - Image from Supplier's Website

Showers

We are still unable to install the showers, for two reasons. We have the shower units but they can't go on the wall until the shower wall panels have been delivered. One shower tray has been on order for weeks and we have had the date moved back two or three times - they are now saying December. We can't trust this company not to delay it further so we are cancelling the order and choosing a new shower which we hope to have sometime next week.

The other shower tray has been on site for weeks. Unfortunately, when the plumbers began to install this one, the drain in the shower tray made it unuseable, as it was sited on two load-bearing joists. We have ordered a replacement tray but, unfortunately, the supplier does not arrange collections. Trying to send this back is proving costly as it is over 50% of the refundable amount so... would anyone like to buy a shower tray?

Kitchen worktop

We decided to use a local company that we have used before. Cawdor Stone in Knebworth is a family business, situated next to Lessiters (chocolatiers). Making a choice that complemented the white hob and mid-grey units was difficult but Graeme at Cawdor was very helpful (as well as knowledgeable), letting us take a few samples away to try out. It's only a few minutes from their showroom to the site so swapping samples was relatively painless. Their prices were reasonable too. We have booked a date for the templating and installation will be a week later.

Round-up of other items - our tasks

• We are meeting with the 'sparks' this week to finalise the lights and light-switches, a pop-up socket in the island plus any other visible electrical bits and bobs.
  
  
• There are no bathroom units, even though we have the basin and taps. We need to measure up tomorrow before the next lockdown so that we can get them on order. We'll probably use Howdens again.

• The built-in wardrobe frame is in place but we need to buy some doors - one of which has to be cut on a slant because of the sloping ceiling - we're seeking advice from the 'chippies'.

• We need to buy sliding doors to hide the works in the utility room - boiler, water softener, water tank, etc. We started with Magnet trade but have found similar doors for half that price elsewhere - we are currently looking further into this prior to ordering.
  
  
• The company who will be installing the log burner has already installed the granite hearth but we want the edges rounded, which we hope they can do without too much difficulty.
  
  
• We've started to look at aggregates/slabs/whatever for the driveway and patio. These must be porous in accordance with building regs/planning permission and must also enable people with mobility issues to easily access the house from a car (e.g. high piles of loose gravel is not suitable for wheelchair users).

In hand: Flooring is scheduled for the week commencing 17th November. The worktop is to be installed the following week. The internal doors - about 15 of them - will be hung after the flooring is completed.

Still to be addressed: As listed above plus chasing up other orders as supplies are getting tighter plus the company who were supposed to connect the gas didn't turn up, so we're trying to resolve this as urgently as possible.

 

There are probably quite a few more things that will come up on a daily basis. 

Next instalment scheduled for the end of the month!

Delays and a Few Snags :(

In-house Progress

The kitchen and utility units are being fitted by Bill and Daren. This is going very well so far - hooray! The same guys will also be creating a unit to conceal the wc cistern and a built-in wardrobe in a very tricky place - where two roofs come together in an eaves bedroom. 

Today, the kitchen appliances have been delivered: ovens, hob and 'fridge. The sinks and taps are on order - fingers crossed that there is no further delay because:

1. the taps need to be fitted first;
2. then the sinks;
3. then the template for the worktop can be finalised;
4. then the hob can be inserted.

Other good news is that the internal doors and frame kits have been delivered (even though we don't seem to have the handles and locks - only the hinges). The doors are a very nice colour, a sort of grey-oak veneer.

Snags

The Stairs! When the fitters came to install the stairs, they discovered that the main electric consumer unit had been placed on the wall where the under-side of the stairs needed to run. A few days were lost while the unit was moved and then the fitters returned.

Having installed the top half of the stairs and the mid-way platform, they put the lower half of the staircase where it needed to be - only to discover that it protruded too far into a corridor. Measurements had not been taken accurately. The staircase has to be completely re-constucted! Luckily, the company are treating this as a high priority and expect the new one to be ready in 2-3 weeks.

A couple of items seem to be wrong or missing from the kitchen delivery, mainly doors, but they are local so we do not anticipate major delays.

The flooring company are scheduled to lay the boards as soon as the stairs, kitchen/utility units and shower trays (see 'Delays') are in place. 

Delays

Well, it may be a coincidence but the "second wave" of Covid seems to have had a negative effect on supplies. Some ordered items have had their delivery date pushed back and some items that have yet to be ordered are projecting a long lead-time.

For example, several suppliers of wooden plantation shutters are quoting 12 weeks instead of 2-4 as most sustainable wood is imported and in short supply - could this be because climate change (and stupidity, in some cases) caused several forest fires, creating demand for timber? I don't know, just wondering... so, for the time being, we will order some roller blinds for most of the windows.

Other timber-based items are also in short supply, as are other building materials. We've also found that some retail items (probably imports) are becoming scarce, such as taps and shower trays.

Pictures!

The utility room almost looks like this illustration:

The kitchen: the first image below is from the wall where the sink will be, looking towards the dining room. The second image is an illustration of the kitchen units to the left of the patio doors and the drinks station to the right, in the dining area.

More to report soon! Feel free to view our 2020 progress.

May - August 2007

This is a picture of the lean-to (with plan on the table) taken from the lounge.
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Meanwhile:
Having chosen to use the same builders who had worked on our previous four projects - honest, reliable, reasonable (but definitely not cheap) cost, we turned our attentions to details.
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We saw the kitchen we liked in B&Q, spent some time designing the layout then ordered an identical one from Wickes with their promise of delivery any time within six months and pay for it sometime after that. We decided to leave the choice of appliances till nearer the time as, for one thing, we couldn't decide on a gas or ceramic hob. We didn't order the worktops, either, as Wickes don't sell granite and it needed to be measured and fitted after the base units were in place.
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As we had the B&Q brochures, we priced up the bathroom suite, shower, taps and the lovely marble sit-on basin - then were subsequently lured inside our local Bathstore by the swish modern suites in the window - and ended up putting in a whopping great order for the downstairs shower room and the upstairs cloakroom. There was some mention of a provisional delivery date for their records but this could be changed when they call to arrange delivery, as we were not sure when the work could be sheduled in.
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Whilst wandering around a local tile showroom, we ordered the tiles for the downstairs shower room, full height walls plus floor. When the price was divulged, we rather hastily removed a number of decorative border tiles from the order to reduce the cost by about 25%!
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July/August ... we went on holiday, came back and the following day Bathstore turned up with our stuff - we are so not ready!!! The builders arrived the following week and I ordered the first of many skips. Work began at the end of August 2007 ...