Awesome house and thread. Random thought: bearing in mind the drainage problems you have shown, how well will a sunken trampoline work?
Jacob this is a great thread ....love your no holds barred approach (Ie ...doing it all at once rather than the others who say let's move in and do a room at a time !?!)
House looks awesome and what you are doing to it is equal to that.....you are doing a great job .....loving 99%mof it !
My only pedantic pet hate is the window arch way in the dressing room ;
No-one in the bedroom wants to see the dressing room
No-one in the dressing room wants to see the bedroom
No real light will be shared with eachother ?
Why ?
Sorry ...just being honest !
Awesome house and thread. Random thought: bearing in mind the drainage problems you have shown, how well will a sunken trampoline work?
Hi Stevie thanks for your lovely comments and honesty. It is not universally popular, the bedroom designer told me it is dated for example... In favour of it, we have an arch just outside the bedroom door off the landing which matches and it will be glazed frosted with just a clear bevel. It will make the end of the dressing room where the seat is located a little less claustrophobic and we could put side table below it in the bedroom with a plant or lamp on it to make that area a little more interesting. I think the consensus is 50:50 for/against so I do see you're point.
Hi and thanks, good point but the trampoline will be right at the back of the garden which has never had an issue with drainage (tree roots will be my biggest problem there!)
Time for an update on this, it has been 4 months and I feel 5 years older...!
Coming right up...
Been waiting for an update on this for a while!! How's the Honeywell evo? I've just moved and am going to install mine next week.
Sorry about the delay chaps, it has been a busy 4 months and I’m still months away from the finish line. It has been steady progress but the sheer quantity of work needed, the decisions, specifying, ordering, lead times etc drag things out somewhat. It has come along really nicely though and I get quite excited every so often when we overcome a hurdle that was giving me concern or we receive a delivery of something that was long awaited. Anyway, enough waffling, here are some additional photographs with commentary:-
Decorations to the roof timbers coming along nicely
Fish tank filled, a little premature but my tank guy wanted paying…!
Decorations complete and scaffold down, hurray!
Here come the windows
And partially fitted
I’m happy with them, they are very expensive but although they are PVC (Bygone Collection Symphony) from 2 paces away all but indistinguishable from timber
And how they look all fitted
Time for guttering, seamless aluminium no less courtesy of JWD in Hyde. No joints to leak, no brackets visible, love these.
The longest section
And fitted
Lots of Cat6, Ducting and HDMI cables and we’re far from finished…
…As we have 400m or Speaker Cable to install
Comms Cabinets
Residence 9 windows partially fitted to the rear, expensive but absolutely love these, we’re going contemporary around the back
Out with the old circular bay, we simply counn’t make it work with the kitchen design
Footing for the new bay
Some internal studwork to bathrooms continuing
Finally finally finally moved this pillar, the drive was 3.2m wide and as we’re on a slight bend, it’s a little awkward getting in, I agonised and strove to find a solution to move this pillar without breaking it. It’s 150 years old and made from quite soft red sandstone. In the end, we excavated it to the base, cast a footing alongside its existing footing and simply rocked it back and forth using scaffoldboards to shimmy it along as it was being rocked. 8 men and 1hr later, we had moved it 800mm and squared and levelled it, result!
Concreted in its new home
Much better…
]
Moving the lintel on the middle window down 2 courses to level all the headers up, I know OCD eh?
Camera with audio for the baby room
Ripped the ceiling down in the kitchen, it was far too low…
Ripping the roof off the outrigger to fit a new skylight
Raising the lintel 1 course and widening the opening significantly
Doorway blocked up
Middle window sorted
Bay build in progress
Looking at granite for the kitchen
A lot of plaster needed just for the upstairs, this is barely half…
More timber repairs
The outrigger wall finished
I went down to Hatfield to talk lighting with Guy from Ecoled, see recommendation above.
Plastering upstairs in earnest
TV dropping out of the ceiling in the master bedroom at the foot of the bed, wish I would NEVER have suggested this to the missus, an engineering nightmare!!
Bay finished as is all the other brickwork, all headers line up, all windows will be the same width across the back ground floor now, phew!
Cornice shopping…
Comms cabinet in and cables tidied
TV sorted, for now… door on sprung hinges still to be fitted
I admitted defeat and engaged the services of a professional garden designer… These are not the final designs but pretty close
Kitchen bay finished and roof light framed out
My daughter’s bedroom in an advanced stage of fitting
More cables, white speaker cable and insulated air con pipework…
Honeywell Evohome up and running, I love this, control of every room to the degree from anywhere!
Final pipwork and manifold layout in utility room
Fibreglassing the flat roofs
Done!
The “Linen Corridor” essentially a corridor with storage and a drawer stack to fold and store linen
We want to replace the mahogany spindles for wroght iron, retaining the mahogany stringers and hand rail, more contemporary and will match the wrought iron skylight, just need to find a firm to do it…
Footing for new retaining wall at the front
And for the terrace
Master bedroom cupboards, this is only furniture in the master bedroom as all robes are in the dressing room
Roof lanterns turn up
And fitted
Aircon installed
Part 1 of the retaining all built
Part 2
Ecoled Zep1 Darklights, beautifully made and great quality light
Dressing room
First lighting in to test, not plastered yet, I just couldn’t wait…
Dry fitting the LED strip diffuser to my custom design concealed lip ;)
Now that the bay has been sorted, the last UFH circuit was installed and screeded
Retaining walls for front terrace and parking head (were the skip is)
Cornice turned up for the bedrooms, looks crap unfitted…
…But amazing fitted!
Framing out the kitchen ceiling
Gratuitous shot of the fish tank
Programming a Raspberry Pi with an API bridge to connect Alexa with my Home Automation software (Fibaro) using a Youtube tutorial, I suck at programming but its working and it freaks people out. “Alexa, dim playroom lights to 50%, turn off playroom lights etc” Alexa says OK and boom!
The enclosures and Galaxy Tab’s to run my Automation, camera, heating etc apps.
The rear garden taking shape
Trying the TV lift for size…
How it looks from the front
Swimming pool, I wish! Just a humble old trampoline going here, it will be flush with the ground once 100 tonnes of hardcore is shovelled around it…!
I like the colour temperature of these Ecoled lights, 2700k
Retractive switch from Click Minigrid
I think we need a cornice in the dressing room too, damn!
Just today, the shower trays turned up after an 8 week wait…
And that’s all folks for now, lots to talk about in terms of the home automation etc but I’ll update with another post as its 1:40am…
Just wow !!!
Spectacular
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Very impressive.
What are your plans for the kitchen? And what flooring have you gone for?
Due to refit my kitchen in the new year. Even that is stressing me out - I think a project on this scale cause me a full on melt down!
Another excellent contribution! Thanks for the update.
Wow. What a project!
You're not wrong there. It's looking great though!Sorry about the delay chaps, it has been a busy 4 months
In the spirit of the forum, when you're ready to move, I'll take it at cost. Thank you.
Just wow. Congrats on taking on such a project and doing the job justice and then some!
Some awesome stuff there, would be keen to know more about Alexa with Pi as think that will be good but a long job
Quite an undertaking!
I've been following this with interest.
Thank you for the update, and such a detailed one, as a person who loves these types of threads, whether it be cars/watches/houses, I just love it when we see the detailed stuff that is often forgotten.
on a side note, as a keeper of fish it wont do any harm to have the aquarium running for a month or two, to let the tank and filter settle in.
Just an amazing house, I am very envious.
Just to echo everyone else's comments, this looks like an amazing project. Thanks for going to the effort of posting all the pictures, it's fascinating to see it take shape. I'm about to move into a house that needs plenty of work, although nothing on this scale, but it's both inspiring and scary to see how much work you've done.
Totally. Magnificent.
I can only envy your ability to agree and action such a large set of undertakings with your other half. I can't get my Mrs to choose material for the re-upholstery of two threadbare armchairs we have in the living room. She is totally paralysed with indecision but at the same time would make my life a misery if I took matters into my own hands. It's beyond frustrating. I'll harry off to the 'Dear Wife" thread I think.
Hi, plans for the kitchen was to use a large German outfit, my budget was £50k and that was pushing it (it is a BIG kitchen though) and we were working within the budget until we added an island and some decorative panel ends and the price shot up to £64k. It was then that I thought, stuff this, and asked my furniture company Rothwell & Thomas to consider making me kitchen units. They don't as a rule do kitchens but as they are doing all the other furniture in the house (a lot!!) they will do it for me as long as I arrange for all the plumbing and electrics, appliances, tops and tiling etc. I will end up saving around £30k doing it this way and we will get anything we want rather than the totally inflexible mass produced (but good quality) German firm.
It will look something like this only with concealed extractors, white and grey not magnolia and truffle, and a drop ceiling over the island for aircon and pendant lighting: -
The floor is wet UFH and I'm not a fan of vinyl or wood in a kitchen so it will probably be a dark grey wood effect tile. In a Chevron pattern like this
Hi Andy, it didnt take me long at all and I followed this tutorial on youtube
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=3&cad=rja &uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjti53or_TQAhUdOsAKHe2FDlAQtwIIK TAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv% 3DNwbiW_-uU1M&usg=AFQjCNGsvfPYF6DKytYHYomX4R-WRGypqw&bvm=bv.141320020,d.ZGg
All you need is a Fibaro Home Centre 2, raspberry pi, an Amazon Echo or in my case Dots and a couple of spare hours...
Just wow you're up so early! Recognise the shower trays? Yours, only anthracite with anti slip
Thank you.
You're welome
Thanks
Thank you
Are you sure about that, you want to see my spreadsheet with every penny itemised? I did get a cracking deal on the house but the work costs are eyewatering, well over budget with at least another 6 figures to go!!
I'll try and update more regularly now.
I also enjoy other people's posts on their house refurbs, so I've tried to do the same, I also ake great pleasure from people recognising the time, effort and attention to detail that I gone at great pains and lenghts to consider and implement, on a number of occassions I have made the contractors redo works not up to scratch. I am trying to do things once and properly, and rather than replace things 3 times over the next 30 years, hopefully spend a bit more and enjoy the quality all through the next few decades.
I'm either incredibly brave or an utter fool! Probably the latter, although I am fairly adept at managing a project being a Chartered Surveyor, doing your own home is 10x more stressful. I try to take it in my stride though, it has been a hell of a lot more work than anticipated, largely due to me adding so much all the way through. I take it bit by bit and don't get too overawed with the amount left to do.
In truth, our fundamental taste is aligned, we both like classic and traditional architecture and style without it being just plain old fashioned. The difference is, she likes pink, and I have more masculine taste. We do have some heated 'discussions' about things but we always compromise and end up happy with what we have chosen. Pretty much how the last 14 years has gone..!
So, just a summary of where we are at and what we still need to do...
1) Windows - my window chap let me down big time, we were supposed to have the ground floor rear windows fitted by the end of Nov, now it will be mid Jan.
2) As a consequence, the downstairs plastering will be delayed until the end of Jan.
3) By that stage, all windows other than the front 4 French doors will be fitted, all will be plastered, cornice will be going up, ceilings painted and lighting installed, walls mist coated and all radiators re-hung.
4) Sparks are finishing off all the lighting upstairs and the kitchen, everywhere else is done.
5) Just the last bits of plumbing to do.
6) Bathrooms are on site, plumber needs to get the bath and trays fitted so the tiler can crack on, if only I had a tiler and we had chosen tiles...
7) Kitchen will be installed early Feb. By then the floor has to be down, ceiling boarded, skimmed and painted, lighting fitted, and walls painted their final colour... It will be a busy January!
8) Carpet, mulling over my options but we know what colours we want its just about getting the right quality and price.
9) My office (Oak with walnut line and pippy oak centre panel) is being fitted in January, I cannot flipping wait! It will have a 65" OLED I bought back in August and a water chiller and tap as i'm always thirsty in the evenings.
10) Stone tops for the bedroom and linen room will be fitted in Jan too.
11) Landscapers are cracking on, don't underestimate the cost of landscaping on this scale, you can easily sink multple 6 figures in to a big garden. I have mine on a very short leash, reasonable day rate (£280 for 3 lads) and I'm buying all the materials. I'm there daily tweaking things, I adore gardens and space and this more than anything is getting me quite excited.
12) The aircon is all installed, wired up and commissioned, I have a wifi interface to control them all from an app, another bloody app for the galaxy pads!
13) 2n door intercoms are going on the main stone pillar and the front door. I have had the pillars acid cleaned (you should not sand blast 150 year old red sandstone!!) and I have a stone mason refurbishing them, chiselling the recess for the intercom and drilling it for the cabling.
14) I need to choose flags! I sold all the Yorkstone for £2.7k as it was a mess and I didn't particularly like it, I may go for a limestone in a steel grey colour.
15) I AM BUILDING AN EXTENSION behind the garage, it will be 11m x 6m narrowing to 4m and will contain a games room and a gym with a glass partion in between. Crazy I know but I want the gym and my wife wants the teenagers games room (and adults playroom) out of the house. I cannot afford to complete it so I am just building the shell for the time being to get rid off all the messy trades to allow me to finish the landscaping. I will then finish it off as and when the funds will permit. I got planning back in June, the piling will commence in Jan and hopefully by mid Feb I will have the roof on.
16) Security lighting is JCC tough flood and is on a dedicated controller. Outdoor lighting will be Elstead Chapel lanterns. Large on the garage and mini lanterns on the house, we need 11 of them ;(
17) Garden lighting, we have wired for uplighting the laurel at the rear of the garden, 3x trees, and a double lamp post on the path at the rear by the trampoline.
18) Extraction - I am planning in-line extractors with rigid piping for all 3 bathrooms. I will need to put vents through the roof, something I should have done initially.
19) Ceiling speakers, it is all cabled up, I have 2 Sonos Connect Amps and a Flexson x4 mount, need 6 more! I also need 21 ceiling speakers!!!!
20) I'm going simple for AV in the office, Sonos Playbar, 2x play 1's and a Sub. It will be plug and play and do my music too. I know its not the same as a dedicated receiver and a full 5.1 or more setup but I barely watch films and I'm an AV novice and the reviews cannot be all wrong. For what I need it for, it should be perfect.
There are probably 1000 other details, like a water feature for the front garden, gates for the drive... cobbles for the rumble strip, loft insulation!! I better stop before I get heart palpatations but I shall keep photographing every stage and hopefully sharing with you.
Au Revoir!
Last edited by JC180; 14th December 2016 at 20:50.
Blimey... you're having a lot fun I'd guess?!!!
Nice heating system too
Ah hah! The Honeywell man!
Maybe you can tell me what's in the pipeline with the API for smartthings, maybe Fibaro??
I already have a galaxy alarm system but I'm being pushed to fit a Texecom, what will I get through the app if I upgrade the Galaxy to a newer Honeywell alarm?
Cheers. JC
Fibaro was something I dismissed, as have been using Energenie with my nest and echo but did look at smartthings and ncube and thought they may be the integration piece needed but will have a watch of the video thanks
It really is looking good,you don't need to spend 64k on a kitchen there's plenty around that could do it for half,if the company that makes the furniture are doing it ,it should be a piece of cake for them
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Wow, absolutley superb stuff, it will all be worth it in the end.
Lovely big kitchen, is there a reason why you have cooker/ovens/sinks on each side of the kitchen? is that so two people can cook in peace at the same time?
sounds like a fab idea if it is, me and the missus cant be in a kitchen together.
House just keeps getting better. Dread to think how much it has cost so far is the kitchen alone could have cost £65k!
Love the updates, very interesting. About the only thing my house has in common with yours are the click switches...
You've reminded me to crack on with moving a pillar on the edge of my drive too :)
Absolutely bloody brilliant !!!
loving everything so far
As Kevin McLeod would say ...."hows the budget doing ??"
Somehow I'd missed this thread up until now, but just spent 30 minutes working my way through it.
It's a wonderful house and job, congratulations. I hope the remaining work goes smoothly with no nasty surprises.
Brilliant thread, really enjoyed reading this. Congratulations, the work looks great.
I am currently in the midst of a renovation project and was thinking of those ecoled zep1s. What are your thoughts on them? Do they emit a warm light? What made you opt for the dark lights vs the standard ones? I would be interested in you opinion, might visit the showroom if work permits.
Thanks
Budget? What budget? I’m approx £50k over budget with a lot still to spend, a lot!
I gave up a while ago with a budget, I don’t want to cut corners with the build or compromise on quality so I’m just doing it bit by bit and keeping the cost down where I can.
One advantage of it taking a while is that it gives me more time to earn the cash!
I love the Zep1’s in fact I love all the Ecoled lights, they just ooze quality and the light output is fantastic. Bright and very warm (if you choose 2700k) and with massive scope for customisation.
I went for darklights as they’re only slightly dearer and they emit no glare when looking across a room. On the small 20mm Zep6 this is even more apparent. They really look the part in the ceiling too. I took a Zep1 apart and from the milled heatsink to the beautifully coated bezel, thick glass and diffuser, you can see where the money is spent. The transformers are all push fit too, no screwed connection which saves the spark A LOT of time.
Here are some more pics of the light
Zep6 Darklights 10w 35deg in the master bedroom
Zep 6 Darklights 5w 15deg in the family bathroom
We live in a conversion .....done 10 years ago to a high spec .
Time has moved on and some of the audio visual stuff you are doing I wish I had.
What I do like is my own water feature in the front garden .....big old stainless steel fountain. Love it .
The renovators also done a a full landscaping job ..Seeing since you are doing the garden ....we've got outside electrics , plugs and lights everywhere ......the thing I wish they had done is water !!!....underground sprinklers to water the garden !!!!.....I so wish I had them for the summer months ...even in Scotland
Nice work. And you've cracking through it at a good pace. Unlike my Grand Designs project- a baroque palazzo restoration that has swallowed 7 years so far with another 1 1/2 to go. This excellent thread is making me think I should post some photos of my building site!
Well as a testament to the personal service I received from Ecoled, my contact told me he has seen this thread and said I have located my lights too far from the wall so that the wash begins too far down, so dutifully I had them all relocated to where they are supposed to be!
lighting in the dressing room, non darklight for best spread of light
Lights in the morning room, Zep 6 Darklight
Framing out the feature ceiling in the kitchen
Landscaping continuing apace, been very lucky with the weather considering we're in Manchester, you can probably tell from this picture that to avoid a step in my lawn and paths, I've used about 100 tonnes of hardcore to raise the levels about 500mm at the back of the garden...
So I had this "great" idea to build a retaining wall at the front of the garden, I had cat back the 30ft of rhododendron to about 10-15ft to reclaim some of the front garden and keep it under control but in doing so had lost all the privacy that I wanted so rather than plant 4m ugly leylandii, I decided to built a 1.5m retaining wall, backfill and plant a formal Yew hedge atop. so the footing was dug and wet in...
Re-bar inserted in to the concrete before it had set, then about 6 pallets of 9" hollow concrete block, filled with concrete, why not throw in a few hundred cavity ties...?
Brickie facing the front terrace
Facing the retaining wall
Mostly done, waiting for the stair treads before building the stairs
Finishing touches and planting 40+ Yew trees...OUCH
Done! I don't even want to thing what this "great idea" cost me, meanwile the wife is moaning I've spent part of her kitchen budget on a bloody wall!...
Now the edging is going in...
Meanwhile at the back
Footings to dig for the extension, it is to be piled, 12m x 6m reducing to 4.5m, money is running low so I'll probably just pile, ring beam, beam and block floor and bricwork to DPC level for now.
Being 'kind' and letting the kids experience the trampoline before the garden is complete
So amidst all this, the stone people turned up to do the bedroom and "linen room"
Linen room has what they told me was Arabescato Corchia (although I have my doubts)
Bedroom has Superwhite granite (its actually a Dolomite I believe)
Bloody heavy!
Then my office turned up to be fitted happy days!
Was NOT happy with this TV surround, they re-made it
The NEW TV surround, completely remade to actually "surround" the TV and it brings the whole unit together
What to display?
My water chiller tap and drained drip tray
My baby with his new toy box
My beloved plumber is now trickle feeding me but things are moving slowly... spot the shower porter in the alcove
Family bath
Guest en-suite
Then miracle of miracles my windows turned up, but the installation was anything but straightforward..
getting there
Finally all fitted
Kitchen ceiling getting pink board
Awaiting plaster
Double pocket doors going between lounge and playroom
And boarded
Pelmet installed to both front rooms to fix cornice to and to hind curtain rails behind
Roof lantern waiting for plaster
Houston, we have a problem, a 3.5" problem, cornice is going to look sh!£% margins in the lantern all to cock..
Dean to the rescue to the suspend the ceiling...
You've got to love fresh plaster
This room was a mess, lots of dabbing
I love these lightwells
A quick mist coat on all the walls and ceilings
then to the cornice
Finishing off the dressing room
Vanity unit in bedroom
Guest room complete
Changing from these mistaken ones
To these, much better
Frosted on the bottom half seeing as its a bathroom
Installing drainage for the front terrace its all being laid on a fall with some concealed ACO's at the edge (I don't like drip staining)
Stoning up out front
Massive Acer transplant x2 to the back of the house, these are very very heavy to move
And today, removing all the glass and templating over the Greek key for new glazing
Getting the commercial distribution board finished off, all RCBO's
Last edited by JC180; 22nd February 2017 at 00:06.
Choosing decor courtesy of John Lewis interiordesign service
vvvv
Speakers going in, all these were suppliedcourtesy of a lovely member on here who shall remain nameless.
First the acoustic hood, then the speaker mount
Then the speaker (Origin Acoustics)
And grille (to be painted)
Switches and sockets
fancy Z Wave programmable switch for the masterbedroom (all on, all off, and lots of other functions, just needs a live anneutral all the rest done via the Fibaro HA system) Although there are 16 coresthere so I could switch all 5 circuits conventionally
Just looks amazing and making great progress thanks for the update
Well. You're not mucking around are you?
Love it. I'm mostly interested in the grounds/earthworks/landscaping personally, but I can see the level of detail and attitude to 'getting it right' first time round. Good stuff :)
The grandest house I have ever seen a build thread on . Amazed every time you post.
Omg, wow, definitely not showing this thread to the missus!
Well done!
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Yes, not too shabby!
Ive just spent a year turning a 2 bed 1 bath into 3 bed 2 bath
Goes on the market Monday morning should give me a profit of 70k
That could pay you landscaping bill😂
Fantastic place attention to detail is everything
Awesome love this thread :-)
Like a labour of love, keep it up finishing line ain't too far away :-)
One of the best Renovation threads around! Can't wait to see the rest of this