Loft joists ? dry rot
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One piece of advice you wish you'd known before buying a house?
Comments (103)Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day.. Neither the house you want to make a home... If the house feels right. With your Head and your heart, location. Then if it's the house for you it will work.. Move in and adjust each day... Yes you can put your Mark on the house, yes it will be your HOME... But live with it for at least a short while.. Don't be hasty to paint.. See where the sunshine..shines...See where it makes dull on a dark day...So you Can add a mirror maybe to reflect the daylight.. Don't make the pennies stretch any further than they are.. Remember that sadly the bills have to come first..!!!.... Improvise pieces to fit and...if you have to save for the right item....Then save..!!! it will be more practical in the end , rather than buying for the sake of it and having to buy another a few months down the line... Don't fill every room with furniture.... My biggest mistake... Use a piece like a sideboard and think practically the uses.... Is it big enough.. One more draw or cupboard would have better than two smaller ones...don't be afraid to add old stuff that we all now reuse..paint it ...add your own art work... It's a long journey.. To find the destination of all your dreams... And when you feel you have achieved what you have done...then sit back and enjoy all your hard work. And live in your HOME... Enjoy. Relax.. And above all have fun......See MoreLive Chat Series with George Clarke - January 19, at 3pm
Comments (100)Dear @judibutler I assume you are referring to a wall which is wholly above ground and that you have completely ruled out damp tracking into the wall from above. A lot depends on the size and thickness of the wall and other factors, such as if the building is listed. Damp penetration (driving rain) through granite walls has been an ongoing problem in church towers in the southwest of England for some time. Ironically the problem often seems to get worse after re-pointing in lime. Granite is fairly impervious and was often in laid in large blocks meaning trapped water has little chance of getting out through thin mortar joints. Historic England held an excellent conference on the subject in 2013; the transcript of proceedings can be found at: http://content.historicengland.org.uk/content/docs/research/damp-towers-conf2013-programme-transcripts.pdf A roughcast lime render coat may help, but there could equally be voids in the wall which are holding damp and may need grouting. However, grouting is a very tricky and expensive technique which should not be undertaken lightly, and only works if one knows exactly where the voids are. Over-cladding the whole wall with semi-sacrificial weather boarding may be a last resort. This and rendering are likely to require planning consent. Depending on where you are located, a company like ArchiMetric (www.archimetrics.co.uk) could insert some interstitial moisture monitors into the wall to try and find out exactly where and when the damp is getting in and how it is moving through the wall, but this may be expensive. Some localised investigation by dismantling pockets of stone may be useful. The Society of Ancient Buildings helpline (mornings only on 020 7456 0916) may be able to help with specialists in your area. Most importantly try to get an understanding of how water is getting into and moving through your wall before you embark on anything. If your problems relate to below-ground damp then a different response will be needed....See MoreIt’s go, Go ....... GO !!! – Kitchen / Diner project.
Comments (81)Well, the chippies van was up the drive when I got home from work - a little unexpected. At first I thought that he was sleeping with the Mrs, but then I remembered that he needed to finish the skirting boards. He's done a cracking job - quite a few tricky internal/external corners, plus the corners not being exactly 90 degrees he was back and forth to his saw all the time. He really did a stirling job. It was 13 meters of skirting in total - which took him 4.5 hours in total (over 2 evenings) and it cost me £90. Considering I was origionally going to do it, it could well be the best £90 I've spent on this whole kitchen. I need to get a lick of paint inside the alcove that's pictured. Our little fishtank will be returning in there, but as it's out I may as well do it. When we get the bar stools, and dining room table & chairs I will update again. So: What would I change/add/remove ADD - Somewhere to hang the tea-towels. We have some on the inside of a cuboard, but they keep falling off. Maybe I need some slightly more expensive 'hangers'. The space where they could have gone we put a spice rack/draw thingie - that's probably better though. ADD - We forgot about the bin! Now we have our pedal-bin basically kicking around the kitchen. The Mrs has already filled the cupboards to maximum capacity so I'm having trouble getting an internal cupboard one past her. I think I may just fit one then deal with her later. The bin has gravitated to a semi-perminant place, but with the kids trying to be *cough* helpfull the wall is already beginning to get the odd splatter of 'stuff' where they just throw their food in the general direction of it. Last night I said 'Well, why don't we just put it in the utility room' - She shot that idea down instantly as she obviously isn't happy about the extra 4 steps that it would take to walk all-that-way into another room. Poor thing! Typical woman lol. ADD - At the start of the project I would have got the electricians to chase in another mains wire from the fusebox so that it comes out of the kitchen wall centrally to the back garden, then I would put a PIR Security Light in. I know that it's not a big job by any means, and I could, and probably will, do it myself over the coming weeks but if I could have had it without a wire on the outside of the house then that'd would have been perfect. Also, thinking about it, I would have actually got him to do it at the front of the house as well as he re-wired the whole downstairs with new fusebox etc....See MoreTell us: Do you have any home renovation regrets?
Comments (32)Whilst I recognise there's a few tradespeople on here bemoaning fussy clients I have to say my biggest regrets when renovating my house was not being specific enough with trades! We had an electrician put in an extra light switch in the hall to control both the downstairs and upstairs lighting. He put it in a good 10-15cm lower than the other switch further along the same wall which looked completely ridiculous. Made him move it in line with the other one much to his annoyance. Another similar incident was with a vertical column rad for the kitchen - whilst I was specific enough this time to ask it be centered to the wall it was on, he installed it much higher than needed with about 30cm of pipe sticking out the bottom! It would have looked much better in line with the doorframe adjacent. Had to learn to live with that one. We had engineered wood floors put in upstairs - the fitter used the shortest wall in the smallest room to take a plumbline from. When it came into the hall it was obviously on a complete wonk. By this point I'd gotten a bit better at speaking up and ensuring we actually got what was needed (and paid for!). He had to take it up and re-lay using the hall as the plumbline. Looked so much better but he was extremely annoyed! After all this I learned to use masking tape to direct exactly where pipes/light switches/trim should be fitted so there was no room for 'interpretation'. I also forced myself to speak up more and advocate for what I really wanted. That said I'm a designer by trade so I generally know what I want and how to make it look good but was definitely a bit too shy to contradict trades in the beginning!...See MoreHU-768402840
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