Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

[MontyVeda]

I did some more digging today, my mound of earth and rubble is getting mighty impressive

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I can't see the mound of earth & rubble you mention... is it behind Skiddaw?

 

[JhnBssll]

Skiddaw has been removed The grab lorry made short work of it, 8 tons removed this time Well over 20 tons has been taken away to date and all dug out by hand; no wonder I ache With the spoil gone and no rain forecast until later tomorrow I took the opportunity to paint some more brickwork down the side wall this evening 😊 I really ought to finish the flashing and gutters...

 

[JhnBssll]

The weather has been unpredictable for the last few days so I've resisted doing any outdoors work, instead choosing to make some headway in the kitchen. The insurance has agreed to pay out so I'll be ordering a new kitchen in the next few days, looks like it should be about a 6 week wait. Before then the floor needs to come up and be replaced and there are some plumbing and electrical works to be done to prep for the new layout 😊 This is complicated massively by the fact we want to keep the kitchen usable for as long as possible

Today I planned to remove the floor and see what it was like beneath so started by making some circsaw cuts through the chipboard. I set the cutting depth carefully as there are various copper pipes just below

With the chipboard up I was confronted with a real mess of insulation and pipes This was clearly not a professional job

With that mess out of the way the next job was to move the washing machine and tumble drier in to the larder cupboard, their new home. This meant both mains water pipework and waste pipework needed extending, my first foray in to plumbing I did the waste pipework first and built a platform to sit the tumble drier on.

Next job was the bit I hadn't been looking forward to, but it did mean I got to play with my new blow torch My friend had replaced the stopcock and left a blanked off valve for me to connect in to, so thats just what I did, after improving access by butchering the remains of the sink unit 😊

The new bit of pipe going off to the right is currently blanked - I'll extend it round the room to replace the current cold feed to upstairs and also to feed the new fridge freezer as it will have an ice dispenser and water cooler

I made some new legs for the worktop - I'll continue to do this all the way round, replacing the units for legs and adding some cross bracing to hold the worktop up. This way I can keep the hob and sink useable, but have access underneath. I'll put lots of legs in so I can temporarily remove some while I fit the new floor, shorten them and put them back as I go. Here's the washing machine now plumbed in to its new home 😊

And here's the current state of affairs... Mrs Bssll is not going to be best pleased when she comes home later

I'm a little concerned I might be fighting on too many fronts at the moment

 

[Gunk]

I can sympathise, this was ours a couple of years ago.

 

[Gunk]

Worth it though!

 

[JhnBssll]

If I can mine half as nice as that I'll count it as a win

I'll be buying some extra unit doors to hide the washing machine and drier. I will have to modify the size of the opening to suit but the area above the current opening is plasterboard so should be straightforward

 

[JhnBssll]

A few more hours were spent smashing up the kitchen this evening

I'm actually really pleased with progress; I've now managed to remove all but one of the units and the entire floor, leaving the worktops in place along with the sink, oven and hob. It's not pretty, but technically it's fully functional

I've also started levelling and screwing down the battens - the number of spacers I'm having to use is varying wildly, between 0 and 12mm so far it's pretty important I get this bit level though otherwise the other bits are going to prove tricky

I'm hoping to get some insulation and ply arrive over the next few days so hope to have a floor back down by the end of the week all being well

 

[JhnBssll]

This evening proved expensive - we've ordered the new kitchen units Due for delivery week commencing 20th September - a way off as yet but at least a date in the diary to aim for

I screwed a few more battens down after work and cut a load more, currently laid out but will need packing and screwing down so several hours of drilling and screwing for another day

The insulation and tile backer board arrived today, waiting on some more batten and the ply before I can put the floor down Once that's done it'll be time to think about buying some floor tiles

Once its tiled I'll plumb the new dishwasher in temporarily, we should be fairly tidy then until the new kitchen arrives in about 7 weeks time so I can switch back to the driveway

 

[JhnBssll]

More progress with the battening this evening, the end is in sight now The ply is due on Monday so I should be ready for it by then 😊

 

[JhnBssll]

Another drilling and sawing session this evening 😄 I'll be glad when its done, hopefully should finish the battening tomorrow I've got about 70% of it down now and have started cutting insulation to fit so steady progress again. I've also taken the oven and the last unit out, the worktops look quite precarious now

 

[JhnBssll]

I've done about as much as I need to before the ply arrives now - to finish off the battens I'll need to take the washing machine and fridge out again but I'll leave that until everything has arrived so it can go straight back in again

At some point I also need to remove the radiator in there and move the pipes as I'll be installing a plinth heater to save some space. Besides, the fridge being right next to a radiator isn't really a long term solution Hopefully the subfloor will be done within the next week or so, then I can tidy up in there and think about the next jobs... If the weather improves a bit I need to get back on to the driveway

 

[JhnBssll]

Frustration today. The ply finally arrived just before lunch, so once I was done with work for the day I moved the fridge freezer out and took up the last corner of insulation and damp membrane. Underneath I found a damp, mouldy patch We've been losing pressure in the heating system for a while with the odd top-up needed so I knew it was going *somewhere* so its a relief to find out where, just unfortunate that it now means I have to wait for the kitchen floor to dry a second time The leak itself was due to a very loose compression nut on the rad valve, god knows how long it's been leaking Anyway, here's my damp patch 😄

As mentoned before that rad will not be going back in, so with the leak fixed I decided now was as good a time as any to move the pipework.

I've now started putting some timber battens down in this corner, I'll carry on tomorrow 😊

I'm not overly keen with where the valves have ended up above a socket, but they're definitely not leaking now and I've capped them off so even if the valves fail there'll be no water lost. I'll drain the heating system down at some point soon, at which point I'll cut these two pipes off above floor level and fit a couple of lockshield valves ready to plumb in this little beauty...

Its a Smith's plinth heater. The cheapest one they do as its only a small space, but still fully automatic. It senses the temperature increase when the heating comes on and turns the blower on automatically, and off again once it cools again. There are two fan speeds to select and theres also a cooling option which just circulates air when the heating is off 😊 I've got a couple of flexi hoses on the way to connect it so it can be slid out from the plinth if needed for any reason I havent decided how to wire it in yet, I'll probably have to put in a switched spur somewhere but I'm sure I'll work it out

I'm now just willing the floor to dry quickly, I can't put anything over it until then

 

[JhnBssll]

I had the afternoon off today so spent some time in the kitchen. I focussed on the end opposite the damp spot and will work towards it to keep it uncovered until it's fully dried out. I worked in strips preparing to put the ply down. First I had to finish the battening where it was incomplete, then cutting and fitting the last squares of insulation board before making it vapour tight with foil tape.

It was then ready to board so I cut the first bits of ply to shape, then marked up where the pipes were on the right hand side. They are raised above the battens in a few places, so I had to mark the board up and get the router out to make clearance slots in the underside of the ply. I forgot to take a photo of it, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it took a long time Previously the floor sat high in the corner and the pipes are all showing signs of flattening where they had been squished by the old floor, that shouldn't happen anymore

With the first strip of ply down I repeated the previous steps, finishing off the battens and insulation...

Then down went the second strip of ply 😄

I'll get another chance to play tomorrow afternoon, hoping to get most of the floor covered by the end of the weekend and get the new dishwasher plumbed in temporarily

The corner block is still visibly wet

It will be nice to get the kitchen to a point where we can use it again without having to tread carefully and worry about walking mess through the rest of the house I'll be able to get back on to other bits of the build then too

 

[jowwy]

I had the afternoon off today so spent some time in the kitchen. I focussed on the end opposite the damp spot and will work towards it to keep it uncovered until it's fully dried out. I worked in strips preparing to put the ply down. First I had to finish the battening where it was incomplete, then cutting and fitting the last squares of insulation board before making it vapour tight with foil tape.

View attachment 603875

It was then ready to board so I cut the first bits of ply to shape, then marked up where the pipes were on the right hand side. They are raised above the battens in a few places, so I had to mark the board up and get the router out to make clearance slots in the underside of the ply. I forgot to take a photo of it, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it took a long time Previously the floor sat high in the corner and the pipes are all showing signs of flattening where they had been squished by the old floor, that shouldn't happen anymore

View attachment 603876

With the first strip of ply down I repeated the previous steps, finishing off the battens and insulation...

View attachment 603877

Then down went the second strip of ply 😄

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I'll get another chance to play tomorrow afternoon, hoping to get most of the floor covered by the end of the weekend and get the new dishwasher plumbed in temporarily

The corner block is still visibly wet

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It will be nice to get the kitchen to a point where we can use it again without having to tread carefully and worry about walking mess through the rest of the house I'll be able to get back on to other bits of the build then too

is it wet john or is it just very stained from the constant water leak??

nice job again by the way

 

[bikingdad90]

@JhnBssll how come you went down the batten route as opposed to self levelling scree and then insulation? I need to do something similar in mine when the kitchen is renewed.

It might be worth puttting some sealing oil based paint over the damp patches to stop any residual damp from rising up and rotting your ply and where the wet appliances will go putting water resistance treated timber down instead of normal ply so it’s a bit more resistant.