canalsiderenovation

Ooh it looks nice I may have to plant some.

I moved every plant and bulb by had that was going to be disrupted by the building work. Some others such as foxgloves have just appeared. A lot of the trees are self setting. The area where it steps up we will just grass as there is no need for it to be a path - paving all 90 metres isn't necessary and would be costly. The rest of it will be some form of aggregate and porcelain paving to match the patio.

So the latest on the crash barriers. We have continued and encountered a few issues such as old concrete, water pipes and not to mention the fact the embankment isnt straight so we couldn't just continue in a line. As many of you know we are also in a split level bungalow so we also had to deal with varying heights too. Much to dad's annoyance we had to curve slightly and dad being dad also had another idea to put in a woodstore opposite our back door for our logburner (it will have anthracite corrugated roofing).

Yep in roof solar, something which is great - with the excess solar doing the hot water we haven't had the ASHP heating the hot water for months.

Haha there's a thought! Just one panel on the boat which feeds the batteries as it's all 12v.

Yes we do too, no regrets there.

I'm pleased to say finally we are insulated and have render. Credit to our plasterer who has been brilliant and done an amazing job. The colour is Ecorend marble white so is a very clean white looking colour rather than the yellow/grey looking off whites we saw but we like it. The plasterer came in the early hours before the sun as it was blinding trying to apply it in direct sun over the past couple of weeks. Once we have the aggregate round the house and plants etc I don't think it will look too crazy. Waiting for the anthracite guttering to be fixed on and some of the plastic work and roof edging needs some TLC and if I hear the word 'mastic' again - which seems to be the answer to everything cladding and plastic related I'll strangle the builder. Also need fan covers attaching and our lights putting on which should be next week. Thought I'd share these pics. We have started to apply Bitumen paint on the bricks below DPC and this has smartened up the area where the bedroom/dressing room is where it is the split level inside with steps and rooms are higher than the rest of the house. We haven't finished all the way around yet. Loving the front door now with the render. Despite it being black in a silver frame and the anthracite windows we think it looks fine. This is the back of the house into our utility with the stable door. The hose pipe isn't on the render it's fixed onto a galvanised post. Of course we still have lots of garden work to do, no double garage and no dressing room etc but prices so high we have shelved things for now. Probably the most exciting non-house related news is we bought a boat which took a chunk out of the house budget!

I planted some bulbs earlier this year called Tigridia and the first one has flowered. There is a old man that fishes on the canal that kindly keeps bringing me plants and the small dahlias he gave me months ago have also flowered. Lettuces are doing well but I'm off lettuce for life after picking some and rinsing it to find this. If anyone is close by and wants lots of lettuce feel free to come and get it.

Too late!

The delivery cost from EWI is more than the cost of the item and I needed to make my Toolstation order up to £25. That said I'd rather get the right thing.

Perfect thank you. Would you be so kind and let me know if there is something similar on Toolstation (I'm about to place an order). I saw these not sure if they are the same https://www.toolstation.com/dewalt-aerated-concrete-anchors/p80640?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&mkwid=s_dm&pcrid=513183106262&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0K-HBhDDARIsAFJ6UGjYtIhFHvBBLhqOkF4gm7PzZaeKnYXH3Ksf4x7sdvbLfRQlbuE3qPIaAhWkEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Likely to be our builders problem not ours for when he comes to fitting the downspouts back on but what sort of fixings should he be using to attach things like the downspouts and meter box cover (he has another over box thing here as the old one got damaged) and the extractor fan covers in the bathroom/utility (I known fans are better out of the roof but the rooms are have a flat roof and I didn't want it in the GRP roof). Our rendered walls have 50mm of EPS and then the mesh stuff, base coat and silicone Ecorend render. Also have things like outdoor wall lights to go up and obviously want to make sure they don't fall down either. And yes before anyone says that it would have made sense to put some ply etc or have prepared this before rendering I did mention it and asked these questions before hand but they know better ......

We are the opposite. We have had the hot water programmed off for the past couple.od months as the solar is heating it. I've got the heating on on the heat pump but have got it controlled by the thermostats though I've only two rooms programmed on with the stats the rest are off and the heating has only tripped in a couple of times recently. Should we actually turn the heat pump heating off as well as the hot water then? Especially as we are expecting a big heatwave it seems silly to have the heating on if the thermostats won't be putting any heat on because it's too hot!

Yep we have a price from them and Core Edge too which is similar. Core Edge is cheaper as their packs are larger as they account for the overlap of joining where Everedge doesn't so you need more packs.

I don't either. I prefer the shiny type galvanised stuff but spending £1000 on edging is crazy.

@joe90 what is your edging? Eye watering to spend £1000 on galvanised edging (Everedge or Core Edge) but my dad isn't up to cutting all sheets down and welding 150m worth. We really need something that bends for curves.

The price of steel is making this sort of edging quite expensive. Everedge will cost well over £1000 for around 130m of it. Dad looked into getting sheets, then cutting them and sending them to be galvanized but it's quite a lot of work for him and I'm trying to reduce the work for him as he is shattered having done quite a bit of work on the retaining wall for us (in fairness he's almost 70)! He has seen something like this - has anyone used it https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flexible-Edging-Border-Wall-Plastic-Garden-Grass-Lawn-Edge-10m-30-STRONG-Pegs-/392023501364?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

We have an Ideal Standard one in the ensuite bathroom that is anti-mist and has bluetooth speakers. Ideal for long soaks in the bath and playing music - I love it! Got it from a bathroom store locally who was selling off stock and merging with another store for around £60 when it was online for about £200. Our other two mirrors are all light up too but don't have the Bluetooth Speakers.

Forward planning worked here we have wires here for lighting so if we wanted to can add in a independent light over a mirror or a similar style to an illuminated bathroom mirror if we wanted. We aren't going for open shelves for the dust issue. We scrapped the initial ideas for all open.

I guess I'm trying to get an idea of prices if anyone has had a custom made dressing room/joiners that may be knowledgeable on pricing. Storage is definitely high up on our list as a priority.

You're kidding me, the wife has already designed the inside and knows exactly what is going where!

No it's on the wall above the wardrobe, or will be! That's my bad sketch.

Could be worse - could have been a mankini!

No underpants here only knickers ?

Ironically I only tend to shop in charity shops ? aside from my hiking gear which isn't but mainly comes from Outlet stores. I love a bargain and plenty of house renovation stuff was ex display or Facebook/eBay finds. Until we started the house work we had never had bedroom furniture, a new sofa, dining room furniture etc as in our previous home we just got by with hand me down items, stuff from Freecycle or made do with what was in there. That's over 25 years in total of living in stacking boxes, friends freebies and Freecycle. When we bought our sofa in December I had never been shopping ever for a sofa! I'd previously never have contemplated spending this sort of money but we both work full time, have no kids and the mortgage will be paid off by time we are 50. That all said I'm still after the best value I can for what we want and if Ikea did something that fit the bill I've nothing against them.....