Oh and before I forget:
Thanks to the guys over at Meon Gas who came out and fixed out cooker! The only bit that's now not working fully (and we're not fussed about this) is the middle ring won't light from the built in ignition system.
Turns out the oven thermostat had died - probably from all the grease etc all over it, and the heating element for the fan oven had died too. At a cost of £170 we now have a fully functional cooker, which would probably have cost us well over £600 to replace. To add to that, we'd pretty much built the kitchen round the cooker. It's a weird 700mm size - so we'd have ended up buying one that was only 600mm and had a big, very odd looking gap down the sides of the cooker. Good result
Showing posts with label kitchens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchens. Show all posts
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Kitchens - revisited
With the screed now dry, it has become obvious that the pipes are leaking because the screed doesn't look dry under the pipes. They are also too close to the wall for the new units, which means when we finish installing the new units, the pipework will be behind the units. So I'm going to have to learn how to do soldering too. We're also going to have to do a little work in the electrics, move one of the points further up the wall so the fridge freezer can be powered, and a spur hanging off one of the other points so we can power the washing machine and dishwasher.
The units are coming along nicely. The plans Wickes gave us aren't quite right - they've sold us too many units. There's an annoying pillar in one corner of the kitchen. Wickes suggested a 800mm unit for that corner, and then cutting the corner out of the unit. On reflection, there are two better alternatives. It's a 600mm gap or there abouts. So you could put in a 600mm unit and have it flush with the wall, and hang a 400mm door off it. Or you can put a 400mm unit in the corner. As we don't have a spare 600mm unit with a 400mm door, but we do have 400mm unit - we're doing that. We're hoping we can return the 800mm unit Wickes sold us, and get some money back. They aren't cheap!
We've also noticed Wickes have sold us a larder door, which we think is supposed to go in the corner covering the electricity meter. But the door is clearly designed to go floor to ceiling. Does that mean we're going to have to cut the door in half? I don't think so.
We're going to have to put the kitchen on the back burner for a day though as we've still got the floor sander, but it's got to go back on Monday.
The units are coming along nicely. The plans Wickes gave us aren't quite right - they've sold us too many units. There's an annoying pillar in one corner of the kitchen. Wickes suggested a 800mm unit for that corner, and then cutting the corner out of the unit. On reflection, there are two better alternatives. It's a 600mm gap or there abouts. So you could put in a 600mm unit and have it flush with the wall, and hang a 400mm door off it. Or you can put a 400mm unit in the corner. As we don't have a spare 600mm unit with a 400mm door, but we do have 400mm unit - we're doing that. We're hoping we can return the 800mm unit Wickes sold us, and get some money back. They aren't cheap!
We've also noticed Wickes have sold us a larder door, which we think is supposed to go in the corner covering the electricity meter. But the door is clearly designed to go floor to ceiling. Does that mean we're going to have to cut the door in half? I don't think so.
We're going to have to put the kitchen on the back burner for a day though as we've still got the floor sander, but it's got to go back on Monday.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Screed, carpets and more helping hands
Thanks to my Father, who came down last night and helped out some more today. My parents have given us a carpet to go in one of the rooms.
With the kitchen floor now bare, there is a lot of dust and it's not at all level. There's still remnants of the old adhesive, and there are quite a lot of different levels to the floor. So last night we bought some screed/leveling compound to put on the floor. It's kinda like very liquid concrete. It's a non-newtonian liquid though so it's liquid until you put pressure on it, which makes spreading it more difficult but it will still flow into the nooks and crannies. I didn't buy enough though so my Father and Melody will have to add some more today. I wasn't sure how much to buy and at £7ish per bag, it's rather expensive. The second bag does mean we'll be able to finish the floor, and apply some more in one corner in particular. Hopefully by tomorrow we can lay the floor tiles. When it says on the bag to lay a small amount it really means it. I put far too much down and had trouble reaching to the back of the patch I was applying. And it was rather hard work on the wrist, as it is a non-newtonian liquid it becomes stiffer when you apply pressure on it. Hopefully we'll have some photos showing the finished product. Should look good and the finished product will make it easier to lay the tiles because it should be flatter!
My Father also laid the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We've already had to move boxes from one room to another. I think I'm going got have to finish the bedroom off just so we can move house. Lucky all I really need to do is plane/sand the floor and put three coats of varnish on it.
Today, my Father and Melody took delivery of the kitchen. The bathroom turned up seperately. I got a phone call around 7.45 this morning from a delivery man from Wickes. Turns out it was the bathroom, but as we've not moved in yet we weren't there to sign for it! At the time of writing, Melody has only unwrapped the sink as it's ceramic and easily damaged in transit. The rest of the units are awaiting unpacking and putting in place. With the carpet now fitted in the small bedroom, that leaves it available to put things in to clear the way for the new bathroom. That's going to be a major undertaking in of itself. I don't have any idea how to fit a bathroom. I've got some basic plumbing skills, but I've never even soldered a pipe joint before - limiting myself to the easy to fit and use, but expensive compression joints.
Compression joints are great! You measure up the pipe and get it in position. Put the nut over the pipe, followed by a 'olive' - a brass ring with a slight bulge. Then fit the rest of the threaded joint on and tighten the nut up. Water tight in minutes! This was very useful when I was taking the sink off the wall in the kitchen. I was able to usefully put a tap in under the sink - meaning I can turn off the water to the sink without having to drain the whole system.
(Oops - forgot to publish this. Should have gone out on the 13/11/08!)
With the kitchen floor now bare, there is a lot of dust and it's not at all level. There's still remnants of the old adhesive, and there are quite a lot of different levels to the floor. So last night we bought some screed/leveling compound to put on the floor. It's kinda like very liquid concrete. It's a non-newtonian liquid though so it's liquid until you put pressure on it, which makes spreading it more difficult but it will still flow into the nooks and crannies. I didn't buy enough though so my Father and Melody will have to add some more today. I wasn't sure how much to buy and at £7ish per bag, it's rather expensive. The second bag does mean we'll be able to finish the floor, and apply some more in one corner in particular. Hopefully by tomorrow we can lay the floor tiles. When it says on the bag to lay a small amount it really means it. I put far too much down and had trouble reaching to the back of the patch I was applying. And it was rather hard work on the wrist, as it is a non-newtonian liquid it becomes stiffer when you apply pressure on it. Hopefully we'll have some photos showing the finished product. Should look good and the finished product will make it easier to lay the tiles because it should be flatter!
My Father also laid the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We've already had to move boxes from one room to another. I think I'm going got have to finish the bedroom off just so we can move house. Lucky all I really need to do is plane/sand the floor and put three coats of varnish on it.
Today, my Father and Melody took delivery of the kitchen. The bathroom turned up seperately. I got a phone call around 7.45 this morning from a delivery man from Wickes. Turns out it was the bathroom, but as we've not moved in yet we weren't there to sign for it! At the time of writing, Melody has only unwrapped the sink as it's ceramic and easily damaged in transit. The rest of the units are awaiting unpacking and putting in place. With the carpet now fitted in the small bedroom, that leaves it available to put things in to clear the way for the new bathroom. That's going to be a major undertaking in of itself. I don't have any idea how to fit a bathroom. I've got some basic plumbing skills, but I've never even soldered a pipe joint before - limiting myself to the easy to fit and use, but expensive compression joints.
Compression joints are great! You measure up the pipe and get it in position. Put the nut over the pipe, followed by a 'olive' - a brass ring with a slight bulge. Then fit the rest of the threaded joint on and tighten the nut up. Water tight in minutes! This was very useful when I was taking the sink off the wall in the kitchen. I was able to usefully put a tap in under the sink - meaning I can turn off the water to the sink without having to drain the whole system.
(Oops - forgot to publish this. Should have gone out on the 13/11/08!)
Monday, November 3, 2008
Shocking news!
We had a very productive day - and on occasions rather frustrating when I realised I didn't have all the parts to all my tools :( The router has a width gauge which seems to have gone walkies. It's in one of the boxes - I just don't know which one. I'm sure it's a clear-ish plastic one. But we have quite a few of them!
Where we were taking the tiles off the walls in the kitchen and stairs, the plaster underneath isn't too sound and was coming off in chunks right back to the brickwork. Looks like we're going to have to learn how to plaster:
I did manage to electrocute myself a little bit. I was re-hanging one of the light switches, had isolated the power but didn't drill the holes for the box in the right place. So I had to put the power back on to drill the holes and then forgot to isolate the power. I got a bit of a shock through my hand when my palm touched the live and neutral wires. That'll teach me to mess with the electrics when I'm tired!
A few victories yesterday:
| New exterior light as the old one was HORRIBLE: |  |
Some minor disasters.
Where we were taking the tiles off the walls in the kitchen and stairs, the plaster underneath isn't too sound and was coming off in chunks right back to the brickwork. Looks like we're going to have to learn how to plaster:
 |  |
| When I got a drill bit set for Christmas, I didn't think I'd be using some of the items. For example the foot long masonry drill bit: |  |
| Why did the previous owners think that the above light switch was safe? It's got CHUNKS missing! |  |
I did manage to electrocute myself a little bit. I was re-hanging one of the light switches, had isolated the power but didn't drill the holes for the box in the right place. So I had to put the power back on to drill the holes and then forgot to isolate the power. I got a bit of a shock through my hand when my palm touched the live and neutral wires. That'll teach me to mess with the electrics when I'm tired!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Plaster
Took a closer look at the plaster in the kitchen. Imagine taking a bucket of fine sand, and pouring another bucket of water into it, mix in some hair - and that's what it feels like is what's on our walls. You can wipe your finger across it, and loose sand comes off! And the more tiles we take off, the more 'plaster' we take off. Melody wants the tiles from the staircase (why are there tiles on the staircase?) for the kitchen. They are rather cool green and cream tiles (and some red ones too).
So today we have:
So today we have:
- Ordered the worktop for the kitchen - should turn up on the same day as the rest of the kitchen
- Bought green paint for the kitchen and living room
- Bought parts for the TV unit
- Bought a new motion sensing light for the front of the house. The one at the back lights the garden up like it's daylight!
Making omlettes
... can't be done without breaking a few eggs. I'm clearly going to have to learn how to plaster! And this from taking a few tiles off the wall.
At least we're making head way. In about an hour we'd stripped most of the tiles off the wall, we'd got the old cupboards off - and Melody had sliced her finger open.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More on kitchens :)
Some more scary steps today. The solicitors have confirmed they've got the money - which is good cos I was rather worried about that. And we've paid just over £2700 on a new kitchen, for a house we don't own yet! We met with the design consultant who went through all the options with us. And there were a lot of options too! They did produce some very nice pictures for us:
These are rather cool. There are some complicated points about the kitchen.
In other news: The solicitors have said they will probably be able to exchange this week, and complete next week. So I might be able to pick up the keys for the new house tomorrow!
We are going to end up spending even more money at Wickes.
These are rather cool. There are some complicated points about the kitchen.
In other news: The solicitors have said they will probably be able to exchange this week, and complete next week. So I might be able to pick up the keys for the new house tomorrow!
We are going to end up spending even more money at Wickes.
- The back door desperately needs replacing.
- We're getting the bathroom there - the suite, tiles, adhesive etc.
- We'll probably get the paint there
- Some of the windows need replacing - the one in the kitchen is cracked
- etc etc etc
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Kitchens....
So we had a very nice consultant over from Wickes yesterday to measure up the kitchen. My boss has given me a half day tomorrow so we can go to the store and look over the designs and order it. We really need to order tomorrow as their sale ends then!
We also had a chap over to look at moving the cooker. He's a gas man, and isn't qualified to do the electrics on the cooker. *sigh* The cooker will need to be moved before we can install the kitchen, but we've got a three to four week lead time on the kitchen units, which gives us more than enough time to rip out the old kitchen and move the cooker. Can't believe I'm going to say this - but yay for lead times.
We've also had a bit of a think about the kitchen. Currently the bathroom is off the kitchen, and we want to move it upstairs. There is a toilet in the bathroom at the moment. So here's a thought:
We can create a much bigger kitchen by knocking through to the bathroom as it stands. But what do we do with the toilet?
We don't want to get rid of the toilet - we're about to start a family and we're not too keen on having to take a toddler upstairs just to go to the loo.
So we have a choice - do we leave the toilet where it is? This might have building regulation implications if we get rid of the wall round what is currently the bathroom.
Or - can we move the toilet into the cupboard under the stairs. I'm not sure about this one - there are shall we say - privacy implications!
This demonstrates one of the problems we're facing at the moment. Can we find a copy of the current building regs online? Can we 'eck! So if anyone knows where we can find building regs online - particularly ones relating to this kind of problem - please leave a comment.
Update: sent the money and all the paperwork to the solicitor. Wow that's a scary amount of money. Lets hope the solicitor gave me the right details for their account!
We also had a chap over to look at moving the cooker. He's a gas man, and isn't qualified to do the electrics on the cooker. *sigh* The cooker will need to be moved before we can install the kitchen, but we've got a three to four week lead time on the kitchen units, which gives us more than enough time to rip out the old kitchen and move the cooker. Can't believe I'm going to say this - but yay for lead times.
We've also had a bit of a think about the kitchen. Currently the bathroom is off the kitchen, and we want to move it upstairs. There is a toilet in the bathroom at the moment. So here's a thought:
We can create a much bigger kitchen by knocking through to the bathroom as it stands. But what do we do with the toilet?
We don't want to get rid of the toilet - we're about to start a family and we're not too keen on having to take a toddler upstairs just to go to the loo.
So we have a choice - do we leave the toilet where it is? This might have building regulation implications if we get rid of the wall round what is currently the bathroom.
Or - can we move the toilet into the cupboard under the stairs. I'm not sure about this one - there are shall we say - privacy implications!
This demonstrates one of the problems we're facing at the moment. Can we find a copy of the current building regs online? Can we 'eck! So if anyone knows where we can find building regs online - particularly ones relating to this kind of problem - please leave a comment.
Update: sent the money and all the paperwork to the solicitor. Wow that's a scary amount of money. Lets hope the solicitor gave me the right details for their account!
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