Blog Off

It's Christmas tomorrow and quite rightly the builders are not doing any more work until the New Year and I have already finished for the holidays.

As a result this blog will be on holiday now (for new posts anyway) until 2^nd January. You can comment as much as you like. This is as much to prove to Mrs APD that I can go more than a day without posting anything!

If you are reading this shortly after it is published then I am probably in the pub / having a curry and taking full advantage of blogger's ability to delay publication to a time of my choosing.

Happy Christmas

Decorem

Watts = Volts x Amps

I went round to the house today to take some more pictures; all the plastering in the upstairs bedrooms is finished as you can see from these pictures. The problem is, in this weather, it is taking a long time to dry out especially as there is no heating in the house at the moment.

In effort to speed the natural process up a bit the builder invested in a couple of cheap convection heaters. A first class idea except they were being run off an extension cable rated to a maximum of 10 amps.

The heaters (according to the box) are rated at 2Kw each. If I remember from my school days Watts = Volts x Amps so 4000 watts of heat from a 240 volts supply requires 16.6amps. That will probably account for why the heaters kept switching off!

Just as well we have RCD circuits everywhere.

A Slight Diversion

Sarah has posted an end of year update on her blog.

I am not sure I agree with her that house price falls are largely down to money supply – I am sure greed was a significant factor in sellers expectations of what their properties were worth as well.

I remain convinced that there is money to be made out of property development provided you can buy cheap enough in the first place. Let's face it, if you could buy a three bed house for a £1.00 and you would make money provided all the other houses in the road were valued at £5.00!

Is Sarah right to wait with her property rented out until there is a recovery? Perhaps, but don't forget that it always takes longer for a price to recover than it takes to fall. £100.00 to £80 is a 20% decrease but £80.00 to £100.00 is 25% increase!

Personally I will sell out if I can make a reasonable profit and then look to do another one straight away. Whilst I won't view a profitable rent as a failure, it isn't what I set out to do so is very much the second best option. There is a limit to the amount of debt I feel comfortable with (always assuming you can raise the money of course).

Kitchen Delivery

I have to say I am impressed with Homebase.

Just two days after ordering the kitchen they are on the telephone to find out when we would like it delivered. It could have been as soon as the 8th January but with Christmas between now and then I don't think we will be quite ready. You don't want a kitchen hanging about in the house getting damaged so I think it is better to delay delivery until we are ready to start fitting. The 13^th January it is.

The insane optimist in me say that if we can get it done in 3 days we will hit the project deadline. That isn't going to happen so I think this revised date of the end of January is ever more likely.

I shall go round on Monday to take some more pictures.

Project Update

I am told that the upstairs will be finished by tomorrow evening ready for decorating, skirting boards, door fixing and bathroom installation etc much of which will start on Monday.

I am still hopeful that we will come in slightly under budget although I think the deadline of the middle of January may be a challenge.

Disappointingly will will need a least one more skip (that will be the 6th). I hadn't anticipated spending around a thousand pounds on skips - and this is not a huge job in comparison to some. If I ever do another project like this I will work out how many skips I need and double it!!

Kitchen Design (Again)

The kitchen has been bought and paid for but we will have to wait four weeks (maybe longer) for delivery. Here is the final version. The floor tiles and wall colours are just here for effect and probably won't be what we will actually use.

We ended up spending a little more than I had wanted as all of this cost just over £1200 including the sink and taps but excluding any appliances. The worktop looks like granite and I have bought the splash back to go with it as that adds a nice finishing touch.

In order to deliver a kitchen within the initial budget (£1500) we will need to buy an oven (we already have a hob) and a dishwasher for less than £300.00. That might be a challenge. I think it will be nearer £600.00 as the oven will need a grill as well. We could elect to go for a free standing dishwasher which will reduce the costs.

I don't intend to buy the appliances yet. It is possible that we will have enough room for a full size dishwasher rather than a slimline one but it depends on how thick the plaster is!

Kitchen Design

Here is my first attempt at a kitchen design now I know how big the kitchen will be. The cupboards on the right hand wall are wall cupboards placed on the floor but I couldn't persuade the design software that I didn't want them on the wall. The 3D picture looks a bit strange as a result but I am sure you get the idea

The final choice of finish and flooring will not be as shown but it looks nicer if your pick something.

I think the cost of this will be something like £600 plus the appliances which means we are just about in budget. I hope to place the order for this lot next week when I have finalised everything.

A Fellow Traveller

I was talking to a work colleague the other day (about management reporting for solicitors since you ask!) and it turns out that she has also brought a property in a recession to do up and sell on / rent out. Not only that but she blogged the experience as well. You can read about it here. I would put a live link in but it appears her blog may have come to an end with the end of the project but I'll put a link up if that changes.

Funny what you find out about your work colleagues. Maybe we should have compared notes a few months ago.

Kitchen Designs

It has become abundantly clear that the current kitchen design won't work. The (I thought) very clever idea to build a staggered stud wall between the kitchen and cloakroom looked really good on the plans (see here) but on the ground it doesn't work as well.

This is mainly to do with the toilet and the amount of space you need in front of it to errrr do your business! I remember having a similar problem before when we installed a small cloakroom under the stairs in our last house. The conversations that follow are quite formulaic in their style.

It involves a succession of people (always seems to be blokes) who stand in front of (or sit on) a real or pretend toilet and work out if there is enough headroom if fitting under the stairs or leg room if you are trying to position door as close to the toilet as you can get away with. Nearly everyone get's involved in the discussion even if they are somebody unknown who has just delivered a load of plasterboard to the house. After plenty of sitting and standing the usual toilet humour (sic) starts along the lines of

"Well mate I am sure it is ok for you but as a larger gentlemen I would stand further away"

and

"Have you considered where to put the newspaper rack"?

……and so on. I am sure you get the idea!

Anyway the long and short of this analysis is that the door needs to be further away from the toilet and slightly wider. This means that the "kink" shown in the plans on the stud wall ends up being a reasonably deep recess which in a kitchen of this size just doesn't work at all as the space is completely wasted. As a result it compromises the rest of the kitchen.

The only thing to do is to have a straight stud wall and design the kitchen to that. I shall go back round the house this morning to measure yet again (how many times have I done this?) and then I can do another kitchen design. Whilst the kitchen will be one of the last things to be completed I suspect I need to order it before Christmas to stand any chance at all of hitting the deadlines.

Oh Look - A Garden

Here are two photographs of the garden and they both go to show how much of it has been cleared. I am not sure if the pick was actually used or whether it was just left lying around for the benefit of the pictures.

We don't want to clear too much more as it is providing some good screening. Another couple of days should see the rest of the rubbish cleared and most of the remaining ground cover.

And a nice pose from the best qualified garden clearer ever (probably!).

Shower head position

I have been asked where I want the thermostat and taps to be placed in relation to the shower head. It is pretty obvious (to me anyway) that the shower head should be in the middle of the bath which means the taps should be to the right. Assuming that it cannot be connected from either side.

I don't really understand the point of this design. Why isn't the connector to the shower head on top of the unit and why it is not in the middle. There must be some clever design factor that is beyond me.

Windows Invoice

The invoices, bills and demands for payment are coming in a little faster now and I have just received the final invoice for the new windows and doors; a total of £3470.00. This is £261.00 below the revised budget and £30.00 less than the original estimate and included more windows than original anticipated. They have done a fantastic job and I am very pleased with the whole effect.

If you need some double glazing contact Geoff at Warmlite and tell him you read about them on this blog. I don't get anything as a result but you never know – it may just assist in the negotiations next time.

The reduction in VAT has made a small but very welcome reduction to the bill.

Thank you Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling but I really must tell you that I would have spent the money anyway.

Bathroom Order

I have finally ordered what I think will be everything not purchased so far for the new upstairs bathroom and the cloakroom. This order includes all the waste, wall hangers, panels, taps and so on. Everything. Everything that is until I am told what I have forgotten! Doubtless the plumber will take great delight in telling me.

The total amount spent on all of these bits and pieces is £683.66 which is considerably less than £3000 in the budget. This seems like good news but the budget also included estimates for the stud work, plastering and fitting etc which has now been moved to another line item. As I mentioned in an earlier post it is difficult to truly know how the budget is doing line by line but overall I think we are just about there.

Yet more pictures

Now the bathroom window is in the light in the new upstairs bathroom is fantastic. This first picture is taken from the landing into the bathroom. The only part of the bathroom that has not had plasterboard (suitable for bathrooms of course) is the bit you can see. The ceiling is up and I am really pleased with how good it all looks.

These next two pictures are of the front bedroom. The ceiling is up in here as well and all the thermaboard and plasterboard has been attached to the walls.

My daughter (who visited the house this morning with me) accepts that whilst everywhere else is still "horrible" the bedroom looks pretty good. High praise indeed.

Bathroom Window

The ultra thin render based wall has been replaced with a bright and shiny new window. I think it's look pretty good but it is even better from the inside.

More pictures to come and then it's time for kitchen design. I have the exact measurements now the stud work is in so design and ordering is next weeks priority.

New bathroom

Much of the plasterboard for the new bathroom and landing has been attached to the stud work and the results are really good. These pictures are taken from inside the front bedroom and you can see the new door frame out to the landing and the next door to the stairs.

This next photograph is taken from the landing into the bedroom. You can just see the bathroom door to the right. It is coming together nicely.

I have been away for a couple of days and I am looking forward to seeing what has been done in meantime.

More Windows (and Doors)

Here are some more pictures of the new windows and the back door. You can't see it too clearly in this picture as it is obscured by thermaboard and I couldn't be bothered to move it all fo the sake of a picture. It brings so much more light into this room.

These are the upstairs windows. The one with the bars is the front bedroom and obvioulsy the one without is the back. The flash didn't go off for the first of these!

Window in the front room.

The new windows are in and the house looks great. This first photograph shows the new Georgian style windows and the front door which look really good.

This picure shows the outside of the house with it's two new windows. If you think the top window isn't straight you would be right. Well strictly you wouldn't be right. The window is straight - the house isn't.

More pictures coming soon.

The Public View of the Thin Wall

I meant to put this photograph up with the last post. This is the outside of the "thin wall". It is remarkable that it stays there really. By the time you read this it should have been replaced by a new frosted window.

How thin can you make a wall?

The new windows are being installed and they look fabulous. It makes such a difference. I'll put some pictures up when they have finished. I love this picture though. We are having a new window put upstairs in what will become the bathroom. In readiness for installation the builder prepared the hole over the weekend and installed the lintels etc all ready to go (as usual you can click on the picture for a better quality image). He rightly had a concern about security so moved the bricks from the inside leaving just the thickness of the render to protect the house. You can see a small hole in the top left hand side which is straight out to the outside world, you can all see the outline made by the angle grinder when the bricks were cut. Of course it was bound to happen that the windows installers didn't have this particular window with them which will now be installed on Wednesday!

I am not too bothered about squatters taking advantage of this. To get in they would have to climb up a ladder and knock out the render. This wouldn't be too hard but once they got in they may be a little disappointed. No heating, almost no electricity, no hot water and no toilets.

Whilst I wouldn't risk it there is no real danger in leaving the front door open except that some tools might be stolen.

The Importance of a Tape Measure

The space where the bath is supposed to fit does not look very big and in truth does not look big enough. Everyone has commented on this including the builder who put the stud work up in the first place. We have usually satisfied ourselves with comments such as :-

"well is just looks deceptive"
"it will look fine when the plaster is on"
"it must be right it has been checked several times"

You can guess what is coming next.

We decided to re-measure the space and it is too small by about 7cm. We either have to buy a 1500mm bath or move the stud work.

The plasterboard is being delivered tomorrow so hopefully the stud work will have been moved by then. it was tempting to switch to a 1500mm bath but I think that 1700mm will make a lot of difference and it is what we wanted.

Large mea culpas all round.

November Statistics

I cannot believe that another month has gone by which gives me another excuse to see how many people are reading this blog.

In November I had 390 visits from 49 different visitors.

Obviously most were from the UK but I have had visitors from America, Canada (see the "Steve Austin" search earlier in the month) and Sweden.

Thank you for continuing to read my assorted ramblings – I think it is fair to say I don't know who you all are anymore.