Show us yer house and house-related meddlings

[Epona]

You can get an asbestos survey for about £100 and then know for sure.

If I was going to do it I'd buy a kit to send off - I think it's about £30 for 1 sample and £45 for 2. The kits usually come with PPE and a marked bag to correctly dispose of them.

The thing is, if it *is* asbestos, the advice would be to seal it in rather than remove, which is what I am planning to do anyway. Fucked if I am going to steam off artex. I can do the floor myself with screed/leveling compound.

EDIT: I should add the floor is not artex, which is what I made that sound like - it's old vinyl tiles on concrete. If I were going to remove them I'd get them tested too, then I'd have to level the concrete once they'd been removed anyway...

 

[Epona]

My current issue is that when I am working I have lots of ideas (a lot of paint colours I see go on the "definite no" list) and motivation but no time. When I am not working, I have ample time but don't want to spend money on materials due to a gap in income...

 

[RubyToogood]

My current issue is that when I am working I have lots of ideas (a lot of paint colours I see go on the "definite no" list) and motivation but no time. When I am not working, I have ample time but don't want to spend money on materials due to a gap in income...

I think this is normal. You either have time or money, never both.

 

[Epona]

I think this is normal. You either have time or money, never both.

I stupidly started on my toilet which is only a tiny room but has a load of knotty pine tongue and groove all the way round the lower part of the walls. The walls aren't properly plastered under it, so I can't afford to rip it out right now. Even so, buying just knotting solution, primer, and caulk to deal with just prepping the wood panels and skirting will cost a fair bit.

 

[RubyToogood]

I stupidly started on my toilet which is only a tiny room but has a load of knotty pine tongue and groove all the way round the lower part of the walls. The walls aren't properly plastered under it, so I can't afford to rip it out right now. Even so, buying just knotting solution, primer, and caulk to deal with just prepping the wood panels and skirting will cost a fair bit.

This is mostly what's happened to my garden projects in the past. Hopefully I've saved enough to buy materials this time.

 

[kabbes]

I think this is normal. You either have time or money, never both.

And then there’s the third part — motivation/energy

 

[danski]

I think this is normal. You either have time or money, never both.

And then there’s the third part — motivation/energy

Good to see I’m not the only one suffering this!

 

[equationgirl]

I've made a start on clearing out the spare bedroom. I have to get rid of furniture and the bed including mattress before I can decorate it. So I'm asking a local charity shop to collect the furniture and some other donations, then I will call the people I called before to take the mattress away, it's not brand new so the charity shop won't take it.

Then I will have to choose a colour to paint it, but first things first, get rid of the crap.

 

[Tankus]

In the middle of a wimpy 1980's micro bathroom refurb .... 1.5m by 2.5m.... piccies to come on competition this week .

partition walls have been a revelation

'kin cardboard

 

[Tankus]

That 80's look.
I never bath ....and getting out of that shower I've had at least two close call's

Bit depressing

 

[Tankus]

The plan

 

[Tankus]

Lighting and towel rail controlled by Google assistant

 

[Tankus]

Had to lose half a window to get the biggest shower tray that would fit (stone resin, not plastic) but the lighting is funky

Disco moves on the crapper

 

[Tankus]

Vanity bottom foot light and mirror light is also voice command

Condenser boiler door is hidden by the mirror ...I just need to sort out a magnetic catch to get it to close flush and paint the edge

 

[bimble]

Pretty much done with new trendy kitchen.

 

[ash]

View attachment 189122 Pretty much done with new trendy kitchen.

I love that - great colours, tiles and floor and the windows really make it

 

[mauvais]

That looks superb - quite jealous!

 

[Saffy]

View attachment 189122 Pretty much done with new trendy kitchen.

Beautiful! I love your red teapot, is it enamel? I've been after one for ages.

 

[bimble]

Thank you folks . Am chuffed with it, definitely light enough in here for the dark colour to feel good.
Eta yep & it has 6 tiny red enamel cups too : )

 

[equationgirl]

bimble your kitchen looks lovely, well worth the hassle of no straight edges. Looks amazing.

 

[equationgirl]

Here's what I've got ready for the British Heart Foundation tomorrow:



3 boxes of books, 7 bags of clothes, bed linen and shoes, 2 bedside tables, 1 shoe cupboard, 1 medium shelf unit and 4 bookcases.

I thought about letting them have the bedframe too but the slats fell apart when I was disassembling it and the frame is not in great shape.

 

[equationgirl]

And hurrah - the council finally emptied the recycle bins today so I can put some cardboard out for recycling too.

The council recently changed the bins schedule to every right days, but the usual bins and the recycle bins get emptied on different days, so now I have no idea when the bins actually get emptied.

 

[Epona]

View attachment 189122 Pretty much done with new trendy kitchen.

That is gorgeous, you have made a great job of a space with unusual shape and dimensions and turned it into something both practical and beautiful.

 

[Leafster]

No exciting photos but after five years of living here I've finally sorted out the water supply issues. The house had the original small bore lead pipework from the road to the stopcock inside. 90 years of chalk laden water made things worse so the low flow rate made it impossible to use the shower as the boiler kept cutting out. Running the bath took an eternity and only one tap could be run at a time.

What made replacing the pipework particularly tricky was the terracing and hard landscaping in the front garden. A trench would have meant digging up paths, steps and garage floor and tunnelling under retaining walls over a total distance of around 25 metres. Instead I discovered moling! It's a mini boring machine which uses compressed air to drill an underground channel and then the new pipe is pulled through. In all, I needed seven small access holes dug including the start and end and it was all done in just over a day!

So after five years I can now use the shower!

 

[UnderOpenSky]

We are decorating the front room only 3 years after moving in. Just discounted paying from homebase, but figured something is better then nothing.

More depressing is damp coming in the bedroom. I'd hoped it was a blocked drain, borrowed a ladder and scared myself going up there. Drains are empty. Don't really know what to do now, but suspect it might be expensive.

 

[Cloo]

View attachment 189122 Pretty much done with new trendy kitchen.

That's a lovely corner space, bimble - was where you live originally built as housing or something else?

 

[mauvais]

What made replacing the pipework particularly tricky was the terracing and hard landscaping in the front garden. A trench would have meant digging up paths, steps and garage floor and tunnelling under retaining walls over a total distance of around 25 metres. Instead I discovered moling! It's a mini boring machine which uses compressed air to drill an underground channel and then the new pipe is pulled through. In all, I needed seven small access holes dug including the start and end and it was all done in just over a day!

So after five years I can now use the shower!

We did that last year. Cost a fortune but no mess, and kind of cool.

 

[Leafster]

We did that last year. Cost a fortune but no mess, and kind of cool.

My neighbour and I looked into it together as both his and mine needed doing. One of the quotes we got was eye-wateringly expensive. The way I looked at it was that if I'd have had a trench dug, I'd need to have at least one long flight of steps rebuilt, probably two paths relaid, the garage floor redone as well as replanting large chunks of the garden so it was worth it.

It was fun watching the machine disappear down one access hole, descend underground beneath a flight of nine stone steps, cross under a path, continue on down under a retaining wall and reappear a metre down in the next access hole, all in the space of about 20 minutes.

 

[ignatious]

More depressing is damp coming in the bedroom. I'd hoped it was a blocked drain, borrowed a ladder and scared myself going up there. Drains are empty. Don't really know what to do now, but suspect it might be expensive.

If the guttering and roof tiles are ok it’s probably a condensation issue.

Have you insulated the loft? If so it’s possible that the Rockwool or whatever was pushed too far into the eaves and is preventing air from circulating (a building of that age was designed to have a cold loft; we insulate them now but that means they are much colder than was intended and means they are prone to condensation unless properly vented). So, check the airflow from the eaves is not blocked by insulation in the first instance. If the insulation is properly installed but airflow is restricted install some soffit vents (cheap, and available from builders merchants and DIY sheds although you’ll need a head for heights).

 

[bimble]

Cloo
It was a pub i and am the worst gentrifier.