Which tradesman for which job?

[Live&Learn]

Hi all. I've just bought my first house and I have already had an expensive lesson.

So I have a 3 bed house which had a standard boiler. I purchased a worcester bosch combi boiler installation via the worcester bosch website but I wish I had asked the installer to do the plumbing in the cavity to hide the pipes. Oh well.

Anyway, what type of tradesman do I contact to get the following done, or can I do it myself?
1-kitchen wooden floor is peeling up because it is damp, I want to replace
2-the hob extractor fan (it's new-ish) exhaust goes 2 metres to the outside wall (but doesn't go out, it stops at a vertical cavity which goes to the loft via the bathroom). The cuboid is on a 5 degree UPWARD angle. If I need to get it changed to a downward angle what kind of expert do I need?
3-The vertical cavity referred to above houses the soil pipe. In the upstairs bathroom there is an opening to the cavity which shows the soil pipe capped off and another open pipe going up, is this supposed to take the smells from the soil pipe up to the loft?
4-in the loft I can see a foil-covered flexible tube from the area of the vertical cavity but it ends up on the floor. I can also see another foil covered flexible covered flexible tube attached to the roof. Who can I contact to see if they should be connected?
5-I want to board the loft for storage, get electricity to the loft for lights and (if viable) have a tv. The wooden roof planks restrict space. What kind of tradesperson can I contact to get them to be less restrictive? Can I do it myself?
6-The bathroom has a 80cm x 80cm corner taken out beside the door for the old water tank (now removed). Who can I contact to get this wall removed so I can reclaim the space in the bathroom? At the bottom of the cupboard are what seems to be decommissioned remnants of openings of forced air system (like https://cdn.hswstatic.com/gif/how-to-troubleshoot-a-forced-air-distribution-system-3.jpg). Can someone chop these off or will I have to live with it boarded up in the corner of the bathroom (and have a sink over it for example)
7-I want to redo the bathroom, would a plumber generally also be able to remove the walls referred to in 6?
8-Finally I will paint the walls following the guides here, and then get someone to replace all the carpets with laminate or something else less germ-attractive like carpet (someone told me i'd need a professional to do floorings).

I would appreciate all comments.

 

[johnny2007]

1. Before replacing need to understand why floor is damp.
2. Any builder can do this as no harmful gases are transported in this flue.
3. Take a picture, difficult to say
4. A plumber, but in reality any clued up builder.
5. Need to get a structural engineer to visit, take measurements and make a plan to remove "offending" supports. Unless you want a loft conversion, you won't need steels to remove a couple of supports, so if you're good at following plans you could do it yourself. Most time an A frame is all you need, but a structural engineer needs to confirm it.
6. If you get the structural engineer around ask him. It's a matter of understanding if anything supports something or not. Any competent builder should know.
7. Yes, unless they're the kind who don't like getting dirty.
8. For a professional finish you need a professional. If you don't mind a few imperfections here and there, you could lie the laminate yourself. Plenty of videos on YouTube and plenty of advice here.

 

[sircerebus666]

Op - are you willing to learn how to do most of this yourself or would you prefer to get a pro in?

Any chance of some pics?

 

[Live&Learn]

1. Before replacing need to understand why floor is damp.
2. Any builder can do this as no harmful gases are transported in this flue.
3. Take a picture, difficult to say
4. A plumber, but in reality any clued up builder.
5. Need to get a structural engineer to visit, take measurements and make a plan to remove "offending" supports. Unless you want a loft conversion, you won't need steels to remove a couple of supports, so if you're good at following plans you could do it yourself. Most time an A frame is all you need, but a structural engineer needs to confirm it.
6. If you get the structural engineer around ask him. It's a matter of understanding if anything supports something or not. Any competent builder should know.
7. Yes, unless they're the kind who don't like getting dirty.
8. For a professional finish you need a professional. If you don't mind a few imperfections here and there, you could lie the laminate yourself. Plenty of videos on YouTube and plenty of advice here.

You don't understand how grateful I am for your swift and concise response. It's exactly the kind of direction pointing I was after, thank you so much!

Yes, re 1, I am very much a "treat the cause not the symptom" kind of guy so I am desperate to know the cause of the damp. I will be removing the skirting panel of the kitchen units. Hopefully it' just the waste pipe that is leaking as I assume that is an easy and accessible fix. I do however see some damp on the upstairs bathroom false wall covering the flue, I hope it's just old and no longer an issue.

Op - are you willing to learn how to do most of this yourself or would you prefer to get a pro in?

Any chance of some pics?

100% definitely willing and eager to learn. I'm in my late 30s and quite fit (in case I'm required to move things).

I should have posted pics, I'm so sorry, I did intend to.

Here they are:

 

[sircerebus666]

Haven't got time for a good look as I'm at work but there's some lovely bodges going on there!

Vinyl on top of rotten laminate
Shower door opens on to the toilet
Toilet waste fudged

What do you want to tackle first?

 

[Live&Learn]

Haven't got time for a good look as I'm at work but there's some lovely bodges going on there!

Vinyl on top of rotten laminate
Shower door opens on to the toilet
Toilet waste fudged

What do you want to tackle first?

I want things done properly in the order they should be done.

Ideally, I want the bathroom done first, but I'm happy do do whatever needs to be done first.

Thanks.

 

[sircerebus666]

Personally I would get the kitchen floor sorted first , the bathroom although a bodge is livable for now

What type of flooring would you like?

Just noticed your folding kitchen door appears to have been hung the wrong way around

 

[Live&Learn]

Personally I would get the kitchen floor sorted first , the bathroom although a bodge is livable for now

What type of flooring would you like?

Just noticed your folding kitchen door appears to have been hung the wrong way around

Honestly? I couldn't care less, as long as I can wipe it clean. I'd rather not wood though, kitchens are obviously prone to moisture/liquid spills and I don't want that rotting the floor. I'd pay slightly higher for a longer lasting finish. I know the spongey roll type (is it called laminate?) is more forgiving to dropped utensils but I prefer tiling...what ballpark figure cost am I looking for for both options? room is about 4m x 4m

 

[Live&Learn]

Personally I would get the kitchen floor sorted first

Hi.

I hope you are all keeping safe and well.

I have started major woks on the house and would like to revisit/update this.

So basically I removed all the flooring and it looks like thin laminate planks was used. It was damp all over. There was remnants of what looked like black adhesive (builder said it was bitumen). It looks exactly like the pics in this thread https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/concrete-floor-with-bitumen-paint-more-bitumen-or-seal.486497/.

The floor was very damp when I removed the laminate from it

He said that the dampness in the floor was because it was concrete.

He told me to buy 5 backs of setcrete floor levelling compound, and mixed it and poured it on the floor up to the kitchen counters. He will put LVT tiles on top.

So my questions: I assume I need underlay with DPM under the LVT. Is this enough? or have we made a mistake by laying floor levelling compound over the black stuff?

Thanks.

 

[sircerebus666]

No help to you , but I just noticed your bathroom looks EXACTLY like a bathroom I saw on homes under the hammer the other day!

It had the exact same layout with the exact same shower door in the exact same badly positioned place!

 

[Bodd]

I do feel for you, there are some shocking tradesmen out there.

Id get one thing done at a time, Do your research and look a reviews. Picker first man If he does a good job then you would think he would associate with other good trades and move forward that way.

 

[endecotp]

So my questions: I assume I need underlay with DPM under the LVT. Is this enough? or have we made a mistake by laying floor levelling compound over the black stuff?

You might like to post that in “Floors” with an appropriate subject, where it will get attention.

 

[Live&Learn]

No help to you , but I just noticed your bathroom looks EXACTLY like a bathroom I saw on homes under the hammer the other day!

It had the exact same layout with the exact same shower door in the exact same badly positioned place!

I don't suppose you could give me anything to help me find the episode please?

 

[sircerebus666]

I don't suppose you could give me anything to help me find the episode please?

Wish I could, would love to see if I'm right! But given how they never show those shows in any sort of order it's unlikely I will see it again, what's the area you live in ? So I can keep an eye out do enjoy that show