JB's house renovation: a slightly different reality than I anticipated.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > JB's house renovation: a slightly different reality than I anticipated.

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cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Fire your builder OP. While you still have a house. Or you might come back to a pile of rubble that you apparently agreed to.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 06:27

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 05:08

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I know 1 really good builder, he's done work for my in-laws for years and only does word of mouth. Watch diy SOS for a more typical view of the average UK builder.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 10:31

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Your new layout is really confusing to me, I know you've explained your thinking and reasons but:

Only an ensuite upstairs for 2 bedrooms, cinema room and an office, downstairs shower room as small "main" and 3rd bedroom.

How about:
Cinema room downstairs with space for a WC, swap office and back bedroom - if it's only for guests give them the smaller room and have a massive office.
Are you committed to a void over the stairwell? Is there space there for a compact shower room as an ensuite to the master, leaving a main bathroom as convention?

# ¿ Jul 4, 2017 10:18

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Cool okay. I guess that means you're always filling skips?

# ¿ Jul 4, 2017 11:04

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I re-read your first few posts and yes I see you may be slightly committed now :v:

Fascinated by the previous Escher house, I've lived in student houses that seem to grow steps with every modification so I think I know what you're talking about.

Good luck.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2017 14:35

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Any civil engineering work I tender at my job comes back with those line items, there are pre agreed maximum percentages and it should allow us to see what exactly we're being charged. Sometimes that means we go with a particular contractor but we supply hardware, because we get a better discount with that manufacture than they do.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2017 08:01

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Deliberately flooding your house will never not be slightly unsettling.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2017 18:04

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

45 thousand pounds.

What the gently caress are you planning?

# ¿ Oct 6, 2017 21:58

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I've not used performance/project tracking software that beat a well designed excel sheet.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2017 16:47

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Leng posted:

In theory, I agree with you. In practice however, Excel sheets are riddled with errors (most minor, but once in a while, one will be mission critical) - I mean I know non-Excel software has bugs as well but the way Excel works makes it just so drat easy to mess things up. And I say non-Excel software because an Excel spreadsheet basically IS software. It's just usually developed by people who aren't software developers...

Hence the "well designed" sadly. Though I've written things at work that saved literal man/days of work, if you comment all the macros and hide an explanation tab and lock down all modifications, then you end up administrating it forever.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2017 14:30

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

The lamp may well be plugged into a 60A circuit but remember the plug for the lamp is appropriately fused at anywhere from 13A down to 1A depending.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2017 10:34

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Glad you got back on track, I really like the velux blinds. Good luck with the rest.

# ¿ May 12, 2018 21:40

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I have a growing list of projects I can't do until I either buy a roof rack for the car or stump up ridiculous values for delivered plywood. I can get 12mm BB ply for £20 a sheet if I can collect it, or it's nearly £70 delivered.

# ¿ May 21, 2018 12:46

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Personally I'd be wary of doing it even if I had a roof rack, you gotta get some lift from those boards at speed.

Local collection means nothing over 30mph, strap the boards together and to a couple of 2x4s above and below the boards, I think my local bloke is 3 miles away.

wooger posted:

Can’t you get the shop to cut it down for you? Wickes & B&Q used to do this I’m sure.

Failing that, you can probably hire a van for half a day for less than that delivery charge.

Yes, if it's not an awkward non-straight cut. If I hired the van twice I'd have paid for the roof rack too.

# ¿ May 21, 2018 20:36

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

No I did that with the people carrier, 2 ratchet straps and 3 sheets of ply.
E: rolled up dust sheets underneath

# ¿ May 21, 2018 23:35

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

I should clarify, this is a very common pattern with big projects:

- Single big invoice with a large deposit for materials and weekly payments towards the total
- Builder underestimates the time it'll take or the project extends for unexpected reasons
- Therefore the weekly payments end before the project is finished
- Builder no longer has cash flow to cover his staff and has to take on other jobs
- Eventually all his staff are on the other jobs and you're lucky if you can get someone in a couple of days a month

Make sure you have a VERY significant completion payment, i.e. an amount of the total which is not paid on a schedule but held over until the final stone is laid. That is your only leverage to get them to come back and finish the job once the weeklies end, and your only recourse (short of a lawsuit) to cover payments to a replacement builder if you need to cut ties. In my case it was 5%, if I did it the same now I'd make it 20% and pay it out as major milestones were completed.

This reminded me of various snippets collected over the years from friends and co workers:

Being charged for a topping out ceremony without prior agreement that only the builders could possibly have been at.

Laying the"final stone" and harassing (with lawyers) for the final payment before the work was 75% done because the "final stone" was symbolic and laid whenever.

Charged £500 for a special final stone that looked exactly like the 99 billion other bricks on site.

Receiving an invoice for the time taken to quote when said quote was rejected.

And a personal favourite: after reluctantly agreeing the builders could leave an old but not embarrassing caravan on site as a restroom, finding three of them living in it.

# ¿ May 22, 2018 13:40

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Nah, sounds like you're past most of those stages.

# ¿ May 22, 2018 18:40

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Oh nice, what cunts.

Yeah, unless something gets started up like the housing bond scheme those guarantees are pretty useless in an unforeseeable number of cases.

# ¿ May 27, 2018 21:39

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Is the house pretty much livable in the mean time?

# ¿ May 28, 2018 10:37

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Sounds like expanding foam. You probably want the general diy questions thread.

# ¿ May 28, 2018 21:51

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Unfortunately it sounds like you just have to remain positive until you've money again. Start freecycling plants for the garden?

# ¿ Jun 18, 2018 12:46

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Any work like that on your own is a parade of going back and forth, up and down dozens of times. Not surprised you're knackered.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2018 19:46

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

I've just discovered that the roofer, who I'm on slightly uneasy terms with, fitted one of the soffits in such a way that it blocks the opening of a window. Sigh.

So, wrongly? Are you casually pointing this out or hammering his head against it until the window opens?

# ¿ Jun 27, 2018 20:56

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Ughhhhhhh gently caress. You just can't catch a break can you?

# ¿ Jun 27, 2018 21:29

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Also slaughtering bits of garden can be a great de-stressing activity.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2018 14:06

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Worth the effort, you won't regret taking extra time on this later.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2018 18:54

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Any opinion on nails vs screws for this application?

Speaking of procrastination, I did recently notice in myself a thing where I would feel like I'm procrastinating, that I couldn't be bothered to tackle something, when in fact I'm just scared to try. Not scared of messing up so much, just that it's a known unknown and tackling it could result in distress, and so as a defence mechanism my mind tells me I can't be bothered.

After having noticed this I can now usually override it, but today I just don't want to (or it's managed to step up a layer).

Screws every time.

Also aren't brains great, traitorous bastards.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2018 18:05

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

My parents have it (electric underfloor heating) in their conservatory. In winter it isn't enough to heat the room, they have a radiator for that but a warm floor somehow makes a room that's 5-10° too cold perfectly comfortable and inviting.

My only problem with it is I'd want it through the whole ground floor and that's just too expensive.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2018 07:42

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

If I tripped over a pile of money, how much extra depth/height would I need to redo the ground floor (currently laminate on concrete slab) with liquid underfloor heating?

# ¿ Jul 5, 2018 08:46

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

If I didn't have 7'8” ceilings that would be worth considering, thanks.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2018 13:54

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

tetrapyloctomy posted:

Anyway, with your relatively low ceilings, you could probably get away with putting down a thin layer of insulation and then something like Ecowarm board. It's low-profile (Warmboard is thicker and I believe is meant to replace subfloor completely, which you wouldn't need on slab) and the aluminum top layer would allow for a nice evenly-distributed heat.

Interesting thanks, I read the manual. Looks like I could bond directly to the slab, as there's a moisture barrier underneath it. Then it's either pad and new laminate or engineered hardwood directly over that. So I'd get away with only a 3/4" rise I floor level.

Didn't Kastein make his own version of this? Just the plywood part anyway, I wonder what difference the aluminium actually makes.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2018 19:14

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

You know I hadn't given a moment's thought to actually connecting this to my current heating, I think I naively assumed I'd plug it into the current radiator pipes. I guess that doesn't work...

# ¿ Jul 7, 2018 13:26

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

What's your plan today? Y'know, looking forward rather than back etc.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2018 09:59

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Tomarse posted:

Just wait. You will now find that you need to buy a few different types of disc to get everything done and before you know it you own 3 angle grinders because they are cheap and it is easier to have them all ready for use than having to keep changing disks. Then you need a 9" one too....

I am assuming that you have also purchased or already own the relevant PPE and will use it with the grinder (Getting stuff in your eyes sucks and getting it taken out sucks even more)

Ha, I had a 125mm grinder and a massive load of discs, the grinder motor exploded one day and when I replaced it with something I found on offer I didn't look closely and ended up with a 115mm grinder. Hmm, use it without the guard, buy all new discs or return it for a 125? Yeah I ended up with 2 grinders. When you can pick them up for £20 and treat then as disposable why not.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2018 08:29

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Darchangel posted:

It's more of a null statement. All I hear is white noise when someone attempts to use the phrase.

I hear "not enough tool boxes"

# ¿ Sep 27, 2018 19:53

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

If you need partial depth cuts a router should fulfill your needs.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2018 09:55

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Is 3mm thin enough? A table saw blade is about that thick isn't it?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2018 10:09

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Starting to feel a little like this

I bet everyone can relate to this some days. Good job on small victories over your brains, gently caress 'em, unhelpful bastards.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2018 13:16

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

£1200 seems very excessive, what platform height do you need? 6m?

# ¿ Oct 8, 2018 08:01

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 05:08

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Nah he's got a point, putting it up single-handed inside a house is a bitch, those kits aren't easy to put up by yourself and I guess are just too big.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2018 12:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > JB's house renovation: a slightly different reality than I anticipated.

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