Home improvements - time the house had some TLC!

[MontyVeda]

couple of rag rugs and it'll look fine!

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I'm reading this having put off changing the pull switch in the bathroom for about a month after realising I could simply chock the door open and use the landing light.

Given that, I guess it's not really appropriate for me to ask you why, given your very obvious DIY skill set, you chose to have someone else fit the carpet?

 

[JhnBssll]

I'm reading this having put off changing the pull switch in the bathroom for about a month after realising I could simply chock the door open and use the landing light.

Given that, I guess it's not really appropriate for me to ask you why, given your very obvious DIY skill set, you chose to have someone else fit the carpet?

Good question, and with a simple answer. Carpets are expensive, so if I cocked it up it would not be a cheap fix 😅 I'm quite happy to work with cheaper materials where the financial risks are significantly lower, but I'd rather give a pro the opportunity to ruin the expensive stuff 😊

 

[MrGrumpy]

So had the carpet fitters round today as planned... Unfortunately it didnt quite go to plan

I've used Carpet Right since they're just down the road from me and I didnt have much time to go round and get quotes. All went very well with my first visit to the shop, the salesman was knowledgeable and recommended me some ranges for my needs, even steered me away from a more expensive option I was considering. I had taken all the measurements myself and drawn a fairly detailed plan which they used to price it up and after I had accepted the quotation they arranged to come and measure up themselves to confirm the price. When the measuring lady arrived she spent about 40 minutes going round with her tape and putting dimensions in to her tablet before confidently telling me the quote was out by 'a little bit' and that it would actually be an additional £600 on top of the £1700 they had quoted... I calmly explained that I didn't consider a 30% increase 'a little bit' and wanted to discuss this with the shop before I went any further. Cue late evening telephone discussion with original salesman, who had the measurements she'd taken to hand. We went through them one by one as I walked around the living room with my tape measure and found 2 critical dimensions were wrong, which changed where the seam was due to sit and ergo the total amount of carpet required. He thought it would be best, given the errors, to send measuring lady around again to do it again. After her second visit the original price was reinstated and I went ahead.

This morning the unfortunate fitters arrived to fit the carpet. They did all the prep, gripper rods down and new underlay cut and fitted, then removed the carpet from the van and rolled it out. It was a meter short After investigating what had gone wrong it seems they'd somehow used the measuring ladies first set of (incorrect) measurements to cut the carpet in the warehouse so whilst the overall quantity was correct, it was never going to fit unless I accepted a second seam. Which I didn't So they have taken it away again and I'm now waiting to hear when a new piece, hopefully cut to the right size this time, will be available...

On the plus side whilst it was rolled out it did look rather nice

View attachment 682756

On the down side the sofa is arriving tomorrow morning so when they return to fit the carpet they'll have to work around it

This is what I'm left with for now...

View attachment 682757

Wouldn’t give carpet right the time of day . However that’s my experience of crap stair carpet install . Was never right and we think they coked up the sizes or the real reason could have been the need a decent size of cut for another job !

 

[Jenkins]

So had the carpet fitters round today as planned... Unfortunately it didnt quite go to plan

I've used Carpet Right since they're just down the road from me and I didnt have much time to go round and get quotes. All went very well with my first visit to the shop, the salesman was knowledgeable and recommended me some ranges for my needs, even steered me away from a more expensive option I was considering. I had taken all the measurements myself and drawn a fairly detailed plan which they used to price it up and after I had accepted the quotation they arranged to come and measure up themselves to confirm the price. When the measuring lady arrived she spent about 40 minutes going round with her tape and putting dimensions in to her tablet before confidently telling me the quote was out by 'a little bit' and that it would actually be an additional £600 on top of the £1700 they had quoted... I calmly explained that I didn't consider a 30% increase 'a little bit' and wanted to discuss this with the shop before I went any further. Cue late evening telephone discussion with original salesman, who had the measurements she'd taken to hand. We went through them one by one as I walked around the living room with my tape measure and found 2 critical dimensions were wrong, which changed where the seam was due to sit and ergo the total amount of carpet required. He thought it would be best, given the errors, to send measuring lady around again to do it again. After her second visit the original price was reinstated and I went ahead.

This morning the unfortunate fitters arrived to fit the carpet. They did all the prep, gripper rods down and new underlay cut and fitted, then removed the carpet from the van and rolled it out. It was a meter short After investigating what had gone wrong it seems they'd somehow used the measuring ladies first set of (incorrect) measurements to cut the carpet in the warehouse so whilst the overall quantity was correct, it was never going to fit unless I accepted a second seam. Which I didn't So they have taken it away again and I'm now waiting to hear when a new piece, hopefully cut to the right size this time, will be available...

On the plus side whilst it was rolled out it did look rather nice

View attachment 682756

On the down side the sofa is arriving tomorrow morning so when they return to fit the carpet they'll have to work around it

This is what I'm left with for now...

View attachment 682757

Thanks for the Carpet Right non-recommendation - I think I'll stick with one of the two local companies in Walton when I get round to having my carpets replaced later in the year.

 

[JhnBssll]

I've got the carpet fitters coming back tomorrow, fingers crossed they'll leave the carpet here this time I've managed to get almost all of the prep done now so the skirting and architrave is all caulked and painted ready and I've spent a bit of time over the last few evenings plastering the upper window reveal where the old stuff had all come away from the lintel.

First job was a couple of coats of PVA to help it stick...

Once that was fully dry I put up the bonding coat. It's about 10mm thick so I left it for about 36hrs to dry out a bit...

I checked it this evening and it was dry to the touch so I've put the finish coat on now. Once that's dry I'll mist coat it then paint it and the decorating will be done in the living room!

I'm very much looking forward to getting the carpet in and having some sense of normality back in the living room, it'll be nice having somewhere to unwind again. Then of course I'll fill it with bicycles...

 

[JhnBssll]

Just realised I haven't shown off my super comfy new corner sofa yet... Or even mentioned my bargain of the week... lets start with that

I've been hankering after an electric recliner for a while. The plan was to let the sofar arrive then have a hunt around the local sofa shops so thats exactly what I did. Unfortunately nothing really jumped out at me apart from the prices; they seem to start from about £900 I came home empty handed and was wondering where to look next when I realised I'd given my old sofa's away for nowt just to get them moved and that other people must be doing the same. Long story short I found myself on facebook marketplace contacting a lady from a town 7 miles up the road and within half an hour was home with this little beauty in the van...

They'd just moved house and it had picked up a big stain down the side so only wanted £50 for it. 3 years old, originally from DFS, with the scotchguard protection and even a USB charging socket on the side Here's the stain pictured in the advert...

Anyway I figured since it had been scotchguarded from new there was at least half a chance it would come out so after a few goes with some stain remover it now looks like this...

Very pleased with that, and here it is alongside the new corner sofa, soon to be living on top a nice new carpet...

 

[Jenkins]

You're not taking on DIY roadworks as well are you judging by the view from your window?

 

[JhnBssll]

You're not taking on DIY roadworks as well are you judging by the view from your window?

View attachment 684301

No but I am a little concerned as they've painted a blue line leading up to my new driveway... I think they're installing fibre so perhaps my Internet is about to get super speedy 😆

 

[JhnBssll]

I'm all prepped for the carpet - disassembled and moved the sofa and recliner down to the far end where the second bit of carpet will go so they can lay the big end first then shift the stuff across to do the other bit

Then I heard some rumbling out the front and found this had happened...

So I may or may not be getting a carpet today

 

[JhnBssll]

Its in Very pleased with it, the seam is barely visible - if you didnt know it was there you would struggle to find it.

Might tile the floor in the hall and downstairs loo next...

 

[JhnBssll]

Did a bit of decorating in the living room today. Looks much better now with the feature wall finished hehe

 

[bikingdad90]

Never mind the feature wall… is that a tasty Cervelo TT build you have going on there?

 

[Jameshow]

Never mind the feature wall… is that a tasty Cervelo TT build you have going on there?

Should be on the wall not the fs MTB!!

 

[JhnBssll]

Ha yeah it's a Cervelo TT bike but not mine, doing some tinkering for a friend 😊 Think she'd be a bit confused if it was hanging on the living room wall when she came to collect it 😅