Smug to Mug

[lizzie]

Our last house (built 30 years ago) we had a pile of spare bricks and a lot of spare blocks from drive.  Never used them for anything on the house but did eventually use most up around the garden one way and another.  Have got a nice pile of spare bricks waiting for me at new house...........always a comfort LOL

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, Hecateh said:

 

Eeerrrrr!    Eeerrrrrr!    Not that any of those are likely to happen but you did say 'could'   

 

That is exactly the point. You don’t know.

 

At the LBB renovation, things that could have used spare bricks have included:

 

- replacing bricks damaged over the years.

- blocking up a gas vent to outside that was for an obsolete wall heater

- replacing air bricks which were no longer needed.

- supporting extended thresholds put in in case I do EWI in the future

 

Other uses I have seen recently

 

- Repairing spalled bricks where someone had not paid attention to  or noticed a leaking gutter.

- Changing the design of a threshold

- Repairing a brick badly damaged by a cable installer

- Repairing What was left behind when an old wall mounted installation was removed

 

It may not be for any of these, but it may well be for something you have not thought about yet. Your esteemed visitor may drive into your house corner by mistake, for example.

 

I invite you to take the risk and prove me wrong .

 

I am just about to block up a couple of gas vents not needed now a bungalow has had a vertical flue installed, using white bricks my dad put aside in 1967 when he build what was then a cowshed he converted into his architectural office. Since then it has been a practice office, rented out office, granny bungalow, and now a rented studio-bungalow.

 

God knows why he used white bricks, but I am glad I still have a dozen or so.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Tennentslager]

Just a thought...you know how a big country house has a gate keepers cottage, often in the exact style of the big house. They often look grand with smashing chimney details and great stone work.

Maybe it was the posh way of laying down a store for the future....move over old boy I'm having you chimney pot... awful storm last night, what what.

So...build a dog kennel or summit!

[Hecateh]

13 minutes ago, Tennentslager said:

Just a thought...you know how a big country house has a gate keepers cottage, often in the exact style of the big house. They often look grand with smashing chimney details and great stone work.

Maybe it was the posh way of laying down a store for the future....move over old boy I'm having you chimney pot... awful storm last night, what what.

So...build a dog kennel or summit!

When I started reading this I thought 'but mine is the Gatekeeper's Lodge'  I read a bit further and realised that you knew that too 

[Hecateh]

On 14/04/2018 at 10:51, PeterW said:

Great !! So fascia comes in 5m lengths so no joins .... Assuming he is putting brick corbels at each end you don’t need any end caps or joiners either. 

 

Taking just one supplier, and there are others, then this is what I get it to. 

 

Fascia board at 225mm (average for a board depth)

http://www.angelplastics.co.uk/Category/25/16mm-White-Maxi-Fascia-Board

 

3 off - £90

 

9mm vented soffit board 

http://www.angelplastics.co.uk/Category/94/9mm-White-Vented-Soffits

 

3 off £60

 

Plastic head pins to fit (60mm)

http://www.angelplastics.co.uk/Category/504/Polytop-Fixings

 

1 off £7.20

 

Guttering (Don’t scrimp and get decent stuff like BM or Terrain..!!)

 

http://www.angelplastics.co.uk/Category/806/Black-Crescent-Gutters

 

4 off gutter 4m

4 off running outlet

18 off bracket

8 off stop ends

 

All in £180

 

Downpipes

 

http://www.angelplastics.co.uk/Category/854/68mm-Black-Pipe

 

4 off downpipe 4m

8 off 112 elbow

4 off shoe

4 off joiner (terrain needs these..)

12 off bracket

 

All in £204

 

That’s a total of £560 inc VAT delivered for all the bits for decent (not top end but not cheap crap) fascia, gutter and downpipes. 

 

Get him to beat that... and it’s a day to fit all that lot too for someone with a labourer and one skilled. 

Well I hope the quality is good

The company 'Just Fascias Ltd in Barnsley have done a fantastic job.  Took them a day and half, with their own scaffold towers. I have just discovered that the quoted price £1050 included VAT so the actual cost is about £850 fitted.  Has a 10 year guarantee.  They use Freefoam

 

So way under half the price that BB wanted to charge

 

Wrong - the quote said VAT included but the order form (that I signed) zero rated it.  The office person had just typed her standard quote - which is usually VAT included.  I do now remember he was one of the few that knew about the zero rating when he came.  so it makes sense.  I half thought as much. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Hecateh
found out I was wrong lol

[Ferdinand]

On 27/04/2018 at 14:34, Hecateh said:

Well I hope the quality is good

The company 'Just Fascias Ltd in Barnsley have done a fantastic job.  Took them a day and half, with their own scaffold towers. I have just discovered that the quoted price £1050 included VAT so the actual cost is about £850 fitted.  Has a 10 year guarantee.  They use Freefoam

 

So way under half the price that BB wanted to charge

 

Wrong - the quote said VAT included but the order form (that I signed) zero rated it.  The office person had just typed her standard quote - which is usually VAT included.  I do now remember he was one of the few that knew about the zero rating when he came.  so it makes sense.  I half thought as much. 

 

I’m sure that Avatar should be Peppermint Patty telling people what to do to represent a Project Manager?? ?

 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Hecateh]

What like this

 

[Nickfromwales]

Ok. With regards to screeds then I think you may get away with just screeding the lower floor ( kitchen / dining / living space iirc ) as there is little room to insulate AND screed. The subfloor is iirc 100mm concrete / B&B and we have about 60-70mm to play with on top. As @Hecateh is retired i'll favour turning that into a big storage heater seeing as the house will be 'lived in' rather than 'visited' eg not empty 9-5, this would be a better approach IMO. A nice comfortable background heat which will lend itself to the entrance level via the open staircase. Tres Bien.

For the entry level floor I'm going to suggest either an 'overlay' UFH system or possibly ( cheaper option but still effective ) to lay battens, UFH aluminium spreader plates ( with 25mm of rock wool sat underneath to make the plates distended for good surface contact with the P5 ), UFH pipes, 18mm P5 flooring and then final covering ( Tile / Vinyl ). No wet stuff and no drying time = flooring down in record time.

For the screed downstairs it'll just have to be left to dry, but we can use a semi-dry S/C ( sand and cement ) screed so drying time is minimised. My screeder is ok to travel so ill pull a favour and drag him out for a day . Not a huge problem as the kitchen will need fitting and finishing after screeding, during which the screed will be drying out naturally.  

If 3 or 4 of us go crazy I recon we could first fix the wiring in a day tbh, so just a team effort for that and job done. 'Start at 8, pub by 8' should be the drill me thinks. What more incentive would one need eh?   

Plumbing will be a doddle as its not exactly Downton Abbey lol.

[Hecateh]

Nick,  you are one amazing man

 

[Nickfromwales]

3 hours ago, Hecateh said:

Nick,  you are one amazing man

 

Theres no I in team M'dam.   

[Ferdinand]

9 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Theres no I in team M'dam.   

 

But there is a MATE.

 

?

 

[SteamyTea]

So tempted to say the real reply to that, so tempted.

[newhome]

2 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

So tempted to say the real reply to that, so tempted.

 

Go on, you know you want to!

 

I'm still thinking of the mug someone has at work about the I in team ......

 

 

[Hecateh]

I am just utterly gobsmacked (for want of a better phrase) for all you are doing for me.  The reaction was purely to that message.

@Ferdinand's "Master of all Trades" is starting tomorrow to get my existing house ready for marketing.

@PeterW & crew and @Nickfromwales and crew are sorting out my internal works - to what extent I am not yet sure as  there seems to be more and more.

 

Never has a disaster (for me) been turned into a positive experience in my life before.  DIY SOS has nothing on this.  There is no free advertising, no tv fame, and (thank god) no Nick Knowles.  These are just people who I have  got to know on buildhub over a brief period of time who have surpassed any expectations of the help I hoped for when I joined this forum.  

 

I am forever in the debt of all you.  

 

And to those who have reached out on an emotional level.  Initially, practical help was the last thing on my mind.  I was utterly, devastated, sick to the stomach, scared and in full panic mode.  Family and friends didn't really understand and were, in general, sympathetic in a condescending way, leading to me feeling even more stupid and pathetic.  Only on here were there people who know what it is like to be in this situation - or similar.  

 

I'm not sure where I'd be if it wasn't for this forum but I wouldn't be where I am now.  Aware that I won't have quite the house I was planning or anything like the pension pot I was counting on.  BUT I will have a house that meets my needs and I won't be bankrupt. 

 

Thank you Buildhub - You are all amazing

[SteamyTea]

Can't, I have had too many posts removed already for very mild infringements on the basis that women are on this site too.  Though you and Hecateh seem to like the laddish behaviour 

 

I worked for a national charity and during a review I was told that I was not much of a team player.

I asked if that was a bad thing.

Then I pointed out that I was the only one ever to get a project finished on time, and within budget even though they had let me down by not supplying me with the two workers they said they would get.

[Nickfromwales]

9 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

I am forever in the debt of all you.  

Bacon heals all wounds  

 

9 minutes ago, Hecateh said:

There is no free advertising, no tv fame, and (thank god) no Nick Knowles

After doing the Swansea DIY SOS about 2 years or so ago, I can vouch for that lot. Outstanding folk who wouldn't accept any gratitude, instead Mr Knowles told me that they did next to nothing other than put flyers in the merchants / media etc and we all just turned up and did all the work. 

And there were plenty of bacon rolls. 

14 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

for very mild infringements

Lol. You broke many, many boundaries. Like Roy Chubby Brown and Bernard Manning had a baby    

[Hecateh]

1 minute ago, Nickfromwales said:

Bacon heals all wounds  

 

After doing the Swansea DIY SOS about 2 years or so ago, I can vouch for that lot. Outstanding folk who wouldn't accept any gratitude, instead Mr Knowles told me that they did next to nothing other than put flyers in the merchants / media etc and we all just turned up and did all the work. 

And there were plenty of bacon rolls. 

 

Certainly not knocking the DIY SOS - I love what they do.  I used to love Nick Knowles but I think fame has gone to his head, ? AND I know that most of the workers don't get any recognition and don't even want it.  It's just that, to me, at this moment, this is even better

[Hecateh]

Oh and bacon rolls, biscuits, pizzas, drinks, etc etc etc all at your disposal - I can't build but I can cook 

[SteamyTea]

As a lecturer I was taught to push boundaries and break pre-conceived idea and taboos.

I am just reading a book about the Dutch.  Nice paragraph explaining about a Gay Pride barge going past with men dressed in pink PVC chaps and spanking each other.  But then getting stopped for crossing a road while the pedestrian light was still red.

Funny bunch the Dutch.  We liked living there.

Edited April 29, 2018 by SteamyTea

[Hecateh]

1 minute ago, SteamyTea said:

Funny bunch the Dutch.  We like living there.

 

Funny bunch earth dwellers.  I like living here 

[newhome]

So here is the i in team. Post ‘approved’ by @Nickfromwales 

 

 

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Hecateh said:

Oh and bacon rolls, biscuits, pizzas, drinks, etc etc etc all at your disposal - I can't build but I can cook 

 

Well hell, you’re a country mile ahead of me. I can’t build or cook 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

14 minutes ago, newhome said:

So here is the i in team

Not quite as blunt as my version that involves 'but there is a 'u' in'.

[newhome]

3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Not quite as blunt as my version that involves 'but there is a 'u' in'.

 

Ha ha - I is a laydee and don't use that word! 

[Hecateh]

33 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Not quite as blunt as my version that involves 'but there is a 'u' in'.

AND that's how to avoid the censor.