lizzie

Budget.........I can just about remember all the talk of budgets in the heady days we were starting out, 2 years later its how can we juggle the finances to get it finished and still keep some pension funds. Being in our 60’s that is very close to our hearts. The mantra now is just get it finished so we can get in and save the rent. Months of heartache later lights are showing in tunnels (as well as in the house) and smiles are appearing. No kids to leave it to so plan B get it finished take some equity out and have a good retirement in the new house. Ask me in 6 months or so was it worth it!

If you want a traditional style mullion but with modern advantages Munster do one that is just like an original sash and the mullions are stick on strips so you have one big pane underneath much better for u values etc A couple of years ago Munster did the glazing on an Edwardian school conversion I have part of, it is one of the best parts of the whole job, superb windows. It is conservation area listed building and the windows pased all the regs. Have look at their website...www.Munsterjoinery.ie and look at projects and commercial there you will see Henley in Arden school conversion. Only problem with Munster is getting a quote out of them. Their Uk base is in Wellesbourne near Stratford upon Avon but everything has to go via Ireland. Great windows, brilliant price if they work for you.

After much negotiation our internorm fitting was circa 5k ex vat. Presumably your quote is inc vat as not new build? I dont know if the calculate on sq m of windows or per opening. We had lots of big glass area and you have lots more smaller windows so maybe a fiddle factor on the pricing? Rationel, Ideal combi, Velfac etc are all supply only not supply and fit package like Internorm. You then get your fitting via recommended companies, I would look at other Rationel suppliers within a reasonable distance you may find they offer a better price on the fit.......or you can buy windows and get your builder to fit. We had quoted from Rationel et al but went for Internorm as they couldnt do the sizes we wanted but I do recall that we had variations on fitting price with the other suppliers. If you can get Munster to quote their prices are really good, Kloeber good too, if you are 2g not 3g lots of choice in a much more competitive market.

Big bonfire maybe.......accidentally of course

As I am only doing about 8k a year now, dont need such a big car anymore and we have a Porsche for the petrol head think I'm going for the Kia Niro, good for shopping and the dog.

Good to know.....there goes the render in favour of masonry paint and a new sofa LOL

Good idea. Our ground level will come up but I think the bottom will still be darker as its got the earth behind it the other side of the cavity. I do a ‘skirt’ like the house!

Thanks Guys you are all brilliant lots to go at. No windows so no light issue. The paint store is my oyster!

Wow now that is a great idea...I have been flirting with some sort of masonry paint but only looking at white. The slate grey idea would be better at hiding the blocks and I think could look quite stylish....will explore and thank you!

Powder coated aluminium made by local fabrication company...bespoke because the overhangs on the eps were not uniform all around. Works well.

I have about 120sq m of block retaining wall I neded to finish in some cosmetic way without breaking the bank. Its in two separate runs one is approx 25m long x 3m high and is at the back of the house - its a metre off my back house wall and thats the ‘alley’ that we have used for all our manholes and pipes etc, not an area of beauty but a good services area. I have a back door from my utility room opening into the alley, I dont envisage that getting a lot of use. The two runs of wall are in fact continuous but the garage is built into to wall and so separates them. The other pice of wall is more visible it forms the side wall of our driveway and is approx 13 m long x 3 m high, this needs some decent finish as it is a ‘public’ area and will be on view to everyone. The retaining wall is a huge engineered construction 450 wide topped with a coping stone and with a cavity full of steel and concrete and tanking membrane on the neighbours side below ground section (its holding up circa 1.5m of neighbours garden) the remaining metre above ground on that side forms the boundary wall with neighbour. We did his side with brick above so that side is finished and done. Ours is full 3m height in block. Render of some sort seems the obvious solution but I am not sure how it will do on this wall plus there is the cost. We have to spend on the public bit and save a bit where we can in the alley I think. Any suggestions?

My former neighbours had two beautiful handmade knole sofas from www.whiteheaddesigns.com in Nottingham. Again not cheap but will last a lifetime.

There is a company in Preston Lancs doing bespoke sofas (not cheap) and I have been hankering after one for ages. If I have any loot left at the end i will be going to Preston to try them www.jamesandrose.co.uk

I have a rainfall shower head going in (had one before so I know what they are like) but I am having mine on an arm as it makes it very much easier for cleaning and maintenance. I am also having an adustable head fitting on a rail on the wall all worked from the same shower valve. I would never have just the rain head its not adequate on its own and you try cleaning the shower with just that you will find it impossible to rinse off tiles screens etc. As to lighting we are not lighting directly overhead we are lighting the wall and the niches in the wet area with other lighting in the rest of the room as normal. We have used a professional lighting design company and this is their design. Lights are in and we are first fixed and already I can see how it will look. Try looking at your lighting a different way, I have learnt loads from working with the professionals and it is money well spent. Here is a pic of wet room first fix and lighting in.

My friend has recently got one of these, impressive vehicle she is very pleased. Lots of girl envy here. I have a friend in usa who worked on the development of these with Tesla, he was poached by apple last year for an unamed project..... Mere mortal with an empty bank account as we near the end of the build I am looking at hybrids. Any views on Kia Nero, had a test drive today not speedy but might suit my needs. I dont need fast OH drives a Porsche that does for the speed in our house.LOL

Wow well done I’m impressed with what you have acheived. Looks great. Welcome to the forum.

Russel I am not clear on your roof but ours is 3 sections flat middle and sloping up quite steeply at the end on the sections either side. We have very large fascias and overhangs. It was a challenge due to our windy location. MBC provided us with a flat deck and we effectively built another roof on top. No architect involvement but had SE input because of te loading on the MBC frame and the wind factor. Our trusses were made by Wykham Blackwell in Hampton in arden near Birmingham Airport. The improved on SE design. They are brilliant. If it helps any I can send you some of our drawings so you get the idea.

oh dear

Mmm trying it on with me then.....thanks guys, will see if I can talk them into it?

Thanks but they all seem reluctant to do anything like this as its very, very close to the door threshold and edge of slab.

http://www.theglassfabriccompany.co.uk/ http://www.systexx.com/en/products/downloads.html

We counter battened our entire ceiling - the 25mm service void provided by frame suppliers was not enough for our lighting so we had to increase it by counter battening. Still got a few ceiling cracks.

Some of you may recall my slab was out by quite a lot and we had to level it...well floor layer said levelling was impossible he could just do his best to make it flat! That all worked out eventually without too many major traumas - there were a few - we used over 140 bags of levelling compound in the end and god knows how much extra tile adhesive. That was selective too not just pouring leveller over the whole (180sqm) floor. Whole floor is now done (except bathrooms) and one problem area remains, that has only now become apparent when we have started tiling the utility room floor. We have Internorm low threshold back door. There is not enough space to get a tile up to the threshold and be able to open the door. It would appear we have a slightly raised bit of floor slab around there, just a few mm but thats enough to cause the problem and trying to level this down now after having to hack out the slab to re site all our drainage and level up the dips its just too much we have lost the will to live with this wretched floor. Suggestion from tiler is a matwell. I need something that will sit lower than the tiles otherwise the door won't open but I dont want a trip hazzard with trim. Any suggestion for smart solutions?

No drying very slowly and not a sun problem. Its timber frame, I am told it is inevitable with timber frame as the timber frame does have a degree of movement. We were immensely careful with the skimming and the joints on the boarding but I still have some cracks. One on the ceiling in my kitchen and one or two on walls. I guess its not that bad its just that I hate cracks and I notice every little one. We looked at using a German wall covering product (as used in the high end German prefabs) instead of skim but every decorator I approached to put it up started the sucking through teeth thing and shaking the head whilst £ signs were floating in the air. In the end it was easier to go the conventional route with skim. If you want details of the wall covering product let me know.

As its all drying out mine is cracking....going to drive me nuts!