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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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sean
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16005
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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 Posted: Sun Sep 03, 17 4:54 pm Post subject: |
 
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4 chimneys will be ventilated and either in use or ready to use at short notice 
tis the ex scullery one that is in the way, once i have had a poke about in the area and above it i can establish and price the options for the new kitchen.
just for fun i will tell you a chimney story, are you sitting comfortably , outside might be best 
once upon a time in the late 80's i was doing some admin when the phone rang ,after a few tentative preliminaries from the other end he said " there is a builder in my sitting room taking out the chimney from the bottom, is that right ? "
after a gulp i said "where are you? " he was very local so i said "tell him to stop and both of you wait for me in the street"
anyway ten mins later i have sent the bloke in a pair of wellies and a very old suit back to the man who sent him, i even gave him his hammer and chisel back as he promised to never use them again, and sent the householder off to the caff while i ordered and installed a dozen acrows and lots of scaff planks.
that done i told him to pay the hire shop and thanked him for the excitement and told him to call a structural engineer before finding somebody other than me who was willing to start to defuse it from the top 
i couldn't invoice him even though he offered as if i had i would have felt that obliged me to fix it which i wanted no part in and perhaps made me liable if it fell in while awaiting removal safely but mostly i felt rather sorry for both of them.
the old boy in a suit was treated appallingly by whoever sent him there and had been rather scared for the half hour he was there removing most of the bottom 6 feet of it and the householder had been scammed.
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fixing cowboy jobs after the fact is everyday stuff in the building game but that sort of extreme nonsense is fortunately fairly rare as it gave me a rather scary hour or so .
compared to that trying to fix damp and chill but causing them to get far worse than it, probably, was or just chopping out part of the supports for the stairs as the sole plate and lower end had rotted off ( best guess as to the "thinking" ) and/or it was in the way of a "door" cut through the rather nice side panelling is fairly tame
on the theme of the cowboy/amateur, tis best we never turned the leccy on (never mind we will have 240v and 30a fairly soon ), the person who failed to put all the screws back in the gas fire having changed the pots and whoever installed it so as it was not flue gas tight in a room without enough ventilation for a gas fire in perfect working order should all be made to do the walk of shame before being formally stripped of their tools and sent for re-education with safe tings like plasticine or straws. |
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16005
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16005
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16005
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 17 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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a little time has passed and things are progressing.
although these reports are specific to this job i hope they serve as an example of a "how to" for the right ways to go about major refurb projects that can be applied to those undertaken by any of us.
my spark chums are well into first fix and should have most of that done by next weekend. layout for leccy established with the necessary bells and whistles such as heat/smoke detectors ,extractors etc .
note do you want a electric shower , if so we need to add a supply for it.
the windows are ordered from a firm who know how to measure and put in a very good price of £4.2k for 8 decent windows.
note put date on timetable as we need wet trades finished first.
the roofing chap is coming this week to sort chimney caps for 4 ,gable pointing,chimney pointing flashings and gullies along with a few slates and any odds n ends that need fixing on high such as gutter joints and popping the tv aerial/phone wires into the roof void.
note take rods and sweep em tomorrow.
the gas man will be quoting for new CH rather than just a new boiler. the existing was horrible in both layout and installation quality. he can also quote for all domestic plumbing 
most of the floorboards are up for leccy and woodworm and inspection of timberwork ,structure etc, all is well with joists and etcs.
there will be a fair bit of 2nd/3rd fix carpentry ( woorms ate my skirtings etc ) but that sort of stuff is easy.
note i will get the rest of the boards up this week and drill a few holes for the sparks
note dont worry about the holes in the joists ,i will plate them as required once 1st fix wires and pipes are in , we can reuse quite a few pipe notches and wont need many new ones as the new pipe runs will go in sensible directions ( unlike the abomination of plumbing under the floors and up the walls )
the pantry walls are in the yard along with most of the plaster/render that needs to be off for the damp proofing, the old CH system is mostly out but there are a few more bits to dump.
most of the wormy wood is ready to go ,the rest will follow as it gets found and ripped out
the chimney in the kitchen is coming down this week ,note need to hire angle grinder with diamond disc to make a tidy job. as it is relatively simple and i will just do it getting the extra space in the kitchen will only cost £60 for an extra week on the breaker and a grinder + about half a big skip to lose the rubble.
this gives a rectangular kitchen about 16 ft by 9 ft which is a pretty useful size and shape
note we need to chase up bricky re front elevation and remedials to bomb damage as we need them in asap ie before damp man and wet trades.
we need to extract the staircase before damp man and reinstall either during or very soon after he finishes. spare man available but needs booking we also need materials for stairs/new support system on site
understairs floor needs examination with a distinct possibility we need to rag it out and do a proper concrete job
note ask if damp man's wet trades chaps will do a few extras and perhaps do whole house skim plaster. if not we need a spread, i could do it but i would rather not if i can avoid it.
note i need to remember to cut concrete in yard while i have grinder and breaker ready to dig a bit and fit snorkel air bricks and gully system whenever we get chance
note we have at least a 8 cu m skip's worth outside at the mo and i will add about another 4 cu m this week so a skip on friday aft/sat am is needed before we run out of space.
overall things are going well but we need to :
chase bricky so as we can get the forms for building control submitted ( note i can do the bomb damage stuff but i don't lay pretty bricks )
we need to put dates for wet trades and windows on calender so as to coordinate other tasks.
you need to decide on bathroom layout with gassy man
note in the morning first task is order grinder and find out when my hatchet saw is back from hospital ( it made a very nasty noise and stopped reciprocating but they recon they can mend it asap )
i have probably missed a few things off this report but we will get to them as and when. |
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Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6614
Location: New England (In the US of A)
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
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