My DIY house refurb. Half complete,

[RickyLee53]

Hello,

I'm copying this from my thread on another forum, so updates will appear quicker than they actually are.
In 2012 we decided to have an extension on the house. This has now turned into 3 extensions!

We lived in the house throughout, and other than brickwork I did everything (with the help of a friend at times, that part really helps, even if its just for motivation) We very little/no experience (apart from my garage I built with NO experience the year prior).

Unfortunately my pictures don't go back to the very start.

 

[planenut]

Hi Ricky Lee, your codes are security guarded, so eliminate the "s" after "http" and they will display.......as in ......

Though I'm sure there's a quicker way. That looks like my size of garage though.

 

[RickyLee53]

Still doesn't work, not sure what I'm doing wrong? I did report to a mod, that's why I've not added to it yet.

 

[Ken2k12]

Most of the images show when your post is quoted so perhaps there's something in your board preferences that stops the images showing.

Hello,

I'm copying this from my thread on another forum, so updates will appear quicker than they actually are.
In 2012 we decided to have an extension on the house. This has now turned into 3 extensions!

We lived in the house throughout, and other than brickwork I did everything (with the help of a friend at times, that part really helps, even if its just for motivation) We very little/no experience (apart from my garage I built with NO experience the year prior).

Unfortunately my pictures don't go back to the very start.

The garage

This is where the old flat roof extension had been knocked down

We had to remove 120 tonnes of rubble, the pics don't really show this.

Footings

That was close, (the lead water main was leaking) I decided to later replace this with MDPE

Footings for the second extension,

This shows the boarded up kitchen.

We had to use engineering bricks upto this point. (this is where we installed the damp course!) God knows why, you'd never get damp up at that level in the house anyway.

Taking shape

Where the bifold doors are going

Taking shape.

For some reason I have lost the pictures of all the roof etc going on.
Heres the type of thing you have to put up with. (this was the only way to get a shower) the old shower was fed from a pipe that went 30 meters around the house.

Heres the inside when we first knocked through.

Moving a door location,

I was really nervous at this point

All Acro's removed,
Downstairs toilet studded in.
Most of the cables run.

 

[RickyLee53]

Onto the inside now.

This was me laying out the downstairs toilet.
To get to this stage was a nightmare, I had to smash through nearly 10 meters of concrete floor to lay the 4inch pipe.
I was worried it was going to be too small, from memory its 1400mm x 900mm. Its plenty big enough to be honest.

We lived like this for far too long, without my wife been understanding it wouldn't have happened. At one stage we could see from the kitchen. To the upstairs bedroom, and into the loft, and bathroom. I'll try and find the pictures later.
Here you can see the electric velux windows. Half the wiring. Roof construction. Some speaker cables in the ceiling. (app for this forum)
I'd also started to insulate with 6" kingspan.

Downstairs toilet plastered (by my brother)

Some more boards on, it was winter now, most of my nights were spent doing this.
You'll also notice the old boiler and my temp pipework. I think at this point I had redone all the plumbing in the house to the new boiler location.

Heres a picture of the old upstairs bathroom, knocked through into the small upstairs extension, notice another temp soil pipe. Remember, we were still leaving here at this point. It wasn't a pleasant time.

The view from my youngest daughters bedroom, into the bathroom, and the extension. (she obviously didn't sleep in here at this point. But I did still shower and use that toilet.

I forgot how much steel went into this house. I angled this RSJ so the old and new roof could sit into it.

This bath was VERY heavy, and at this point we decided to have a sunken bath, much larger than this one.

Somewhere around this point I put 4 RSJ's up in the loft to support the roof and tie up the ceilings which sagged in places.

The view into the kitchen, from the bathroom, into the bedroom.
Lets just say we had a lot of takeways and ate out a lot.

Outside it was like this

I decide to fit AC inside, my Mrs wasn't happy at this point, she thanks me now though with all that glass.

 

[planenut]

As advised, drop the "s" from the "https" and they will post.

 

[leeco]

Onto the inside now.

This was me laying out the downstairs toilet.
To get to this stage was a nightmare, I had to smash through nearly 10 meters of concrete floor to lay the 4inch pipe.
I was worried it was going to be too small, from memory its 1400mm x 900mm. Its plenty big enough to be honest.

We lived like this for far too long, without my wife been understanding it wouldn't have happened. At one stage we could see from the kitchen. To the upstairs bedroom, and into the loft, and bathroom. I'll try and find the pictures later.
Here you can see the electric velux windows. Half the wiring. Roof construction. Some speaker cables in the ceiling. (app for this forum)
I'd also started to insulate with 6" kingspan.

Downstairs toilet plastered (by my brother)

Some more boards on, it was winter now, most of my nights were spent doing this.
You'll also notice the old boiler and my temp pipework. I think at this point I had redone all the plumbing in the house to the new boiler location.

Heres a picture of the old upstairs bathroom, knocked through into the small upstairs extension, notice another temp soil pipe. Remember, we were still leaving here at this point. It wasn't a pleasant time.

The view from my youngest daughters bedroom, into the bathroom, and the extension. (she obviously didn't sleep in here at this point. But I did still shower and use that toilet.

I forgot how much steel went into this house. I angled this RSJ so the old and new roof could sit into it.

This bath was VERY heavy, and at this point we decided to have a sunken bath, much larger than this one.

Somewhere around this point I put 4 RSJ's up in the loft to support the roof and tie up the ceilings which sagged in places.

The view into the kitchen, from the bathroom, into the bedroom.
Lets just say we had a lot of takeways and ate out a lot.

Outside it was like this

I decide to fit AC inside, my Mrs wasn't happy at this point, she thanks me now though with all that glass.

Its looking good Lee

 

[RickyLee53]

If I delete the s off the http as i'm posting it doesn't work. If I'm quote my own post it then shows pictures.

 

[ree]

RickyLee53,

Really well done. What a long march it must have been for you and the family.
Some learning curve on what appears to be an awkward site. But you persisted and kept at it when many would have thrown in the towel or divorced or something.

Problem is, you are not likely to be doing this again for some time, if ever. But you & your family did it and succeeded. The kids will show their kids the pics in years to come when you are nodding by the fire thinking of the glory days of self build. Well done.

 

[RickyLee53]

Delete post

 

[RickyLee53]

Hello,

Thanks, we are far past this now, but I couldn't get the links to work so stopped posting.

I'll try and copy paste from another site again the next "stage"Back to the upstairs bathroom, and the bath sat in place. Notice the soilpipe is in now also, a very shallow fall, but touch wood its been ok to date.

We had to instal an RSJ to support the joists, I didn't want any on show. So they were all hidden like this

Lots of insulation went around the bath. Also a boss was installed to accept the shower waste.

WBP ply fitted around the bath

My wife got a little ahead of herself with the plant. At this point, this was how we all washed.

This pained me, I didn't realise I was going to have to rip up the floor boards to install the shower try, you'll see its directly above the only room that was "nearly finished" the downstairs toilet.

More ply down, and cement to bed the shower try

This was heavy on my own, my large theme continues 1400 x 900 tray (sorry it looks like I used a potato for the pic

Downstairs, plastered, burning some old timber outside

The long wait till we could turn on the UFH in the downstairs toilet, it certainly works, burn your feat hot at this temp.

My first stab at door hanging. Daughters bedroom, nearly finished. This was the one that had no joists or floor in the earlier pics.

Floor insulation around the bath

What happens when 2 kids get bubble bath and a jacuzzi!

Or an adult and expanding foam!

Room number 2 done.

 

[RickyLee53]

Downstairs toilet ceiling up

Boarder skirting

Back to the upstairs,
I used a BAL tanking kit, before tiling

I wasn't sure if to go staggered or normal.

I went staggered. But this was MUCH harder due to the wall not been totally flat. (remember this is my first go at wall tiling)

1 wall done.

Obviously this side couldn't be staggered.

I wasn't sure how to attach the trims

Shower screen up, and first shower head. The grout was a nightmare to get off.

This was going to be an issue. Notice the "splash" down the wall. (thats without a person in the shower)
The room was all tanked as if to be a wet room, but we couldn't be dealing with a wet floor, so I bought the large tray and a single screen. Later I added a door as well.

 

[RickyLee53]

Its all about, taking your time, doing prior research and just having a go in my opinion. Just have a go, although electrics and plumbing if you're unsure at all get help!
These type of tiles I dreaded, but they are by far the easiest out of them all. If you have bad walls or don't think you can do it, start with small, or these type of tiles.

I also primed the wall ready to tile behind the bath.

Tiling behind the bath was really difficult as the tiles wanted to slip, but I couldn't put anything behind them.
I couldn't tile down to the top of the bath. As I thought at some point if I ever want to get it out to fix a leak etc I wouldn't be able to. I also used flexible waste pipes on the bath for the same reason. I hope that day never comes.

These are the second lot of tiles we picked for the floor, they are 900mm x 450mm tiles. I layed them 50/50. However I had an issue with some lipping and found it out to be the tiles, they weren't quite flat! I called the manufacturer and they said you cannot lay them 50/50 staggered as this is inevitable.
They cost in the region of £60 per sq meter. After some arguing they swapped me some of the tiles.
I must say, I didn't help by using only a 4mm gap, but me been me and not liking grout lines I ran with it. I'm happy how it came out, and only me would notice the lips.

Every cut was templated in card first. They are porcelain tiles so not easy to cut.

Cutting a curve wasn't easy either. Thankfully, I didn't waste a single tile.

Bath area almost complete

This is the worse of the lips, It is around 2mm. Because they are a square edge tile with a thin grout line it is noticeable. I know I'm not a pro. But I don't think any tiler would have persevered like I did, going through 5-10 tiles to find which fitted where best first.

1 left to go

Vanity cabinet installed.

My youngest playing with the automatic tap

 

[Conspiracy]

Great job! That bathroom looks absolutely beautiful

 

[RickyLee53]

Thankyou,

I haven't update this often.

Back to the outside. Rear of the house now rendered in monocouche. I didn't apply the render. But I did "rub it up". I left it till the next day, on instructions from the manufacturer. What a mistake, I've since learnt an early start and rub up on the same day is the way to go. It took me 12 hours of rubbing to get to this stage!

My "makeshift" scaffold.
And the render just going on the second extension

Don't look down

Looking better

Better for not having that scaffold up!