[nick w]

Hi,
This is my new home!

I got the keys in the middle of May 2012.
The property was built in 1967, previous owners had lived there 6 years. Money was tight buying the place so i skimped on the survey and went straight for the "Mortgage Valuation Survey"

What i thought was a working hot air boiler, turned out to be a broken hot air boiler, one which was as old as the house! - I know, my fault. This will be investigated down the line!

There will be lots of questions thrown into this post along my turbulent way to renovating my new home! please be patient with me!

The Sales Photos:
Floor Plan:

Lounge

Master Bedroom - NOTE the light!!

Kitchen

Bathroom

A few of the Gems i have found so far!
Downstairs cloakroom, tiled floor doesnt look too bad?

Its tiled on the previous laminate flooring, that was fun removing that! - Angle grinder time!

Stevie Wonder was good enough to tile my bathroom! - It is that bad!

Holes in the mortar? Wall Filler should do the job! - this will be tough to fix!

I do have a few sketchup plane to scale which il upload tonight.

Il try and update every other day with progress. I already have loads of photos on my progress so il post them up later too!

Thanks
N

[nick w]

Cost	Item	From?
£60	Cloak Room Suite BRAND NEW	Ebay
£250	Plumbing	Wicks
£1600	Sofa	Dwell
£250	Pioneer HTP071	RicherSounds

Boiler Quotes - Includes combi Bosh Boiler, fitting, Rads, Fitting
Boiler Man 1 - £5050
Boiler Man 2 - £4800
Boiler Man 3 - £4200
Boiler Man 4 - £3200

[Trollslayer]

What model boiler etc.? There are folks here who might be able to advise better with more information.

[jimbobCUK]

I'm nearly finished a full reno' mate, my boiler, full repipe and rads was about the 3500 mark and that is for what looks to be a larger house than hours. Vailant boiler.
Good luck with it, any questions just ask - I've been there.

[nick w]

Thanks for the replies.

So for the £3200 quote, that was for a Bosh/Worcester boiler, he commented on the vailant said it was very good but the Bosh came in slightly cheaper for much the same.

That price means all the upstairs rooms must be clear and carpet up for him to access the floor boards, downstairs floor is concrete so he has found his run and drop points. The 3 previous other quote had quoted to having the boiler in the airing cupboard, he said that would increase costs (vertical flue, waste exit ect) so he recommended having it in the kitchen

[nick w]

So.

I have removed the small wall in the lounge which has really opened it out, even though it was only 70CM long.

Bricks out

Acros in

So with that gone, skirting, flooring and anything else i could remove im left with this space

An idea of what im working towards

Now some questions.

Do i lay CAT5e cable in the skirting around the room and up to the study?
The study is practically above the TV location

If so how many points and where?

Whats the best layout for a 5.1 surround sound system, ie speaker location?

I dont think i have a long enough HDMI cable from the AV rack to the TV, short by about 30 CM.... So will i notice any quality lose putting a HDMI wall socket in behind the AV rack to enable me to get a smaller HDMI to extend it?

The AV Rack consists of:

Pioneer AV receiver with 1 - 4 HDMI switch.
Media PC running Plex
Sky HD

Sky and PC need Ethernet. so 2 already, another 2 for good luck?

TV can go on lan but i can cable that when im boxing it in


Someone getting bored with all my demolition

Exit for tumble dryer from the small room at the end of the kitchen. This has allowed me to build a shelf to hold the tumble dryer and have the washing machine underneath creating more unit space in the kitchen

Quick shot of the cloakroom suite

Plan this weekend is to box the TV up with a suitable frame
Box the cloackroom toilet up
Box a small area in the spare bedroom

[nick w]

Cat 5 cable
Will this do??
Cat5e Solid UTP Cable 100m Grey PVC REEL 39-3622 | eBay

[nick w]

So the study!

Built in wardrobe which covers the slant for the stairs

Crack in the ceiling near the door

Questions
Whats the best layout for a 5.1 surround sound system, ie speaker location?

I dont think i have a long enough HDMI cable from the AV rack to the TV, short by about 30 CM.... So will i notice any quality lose putting a HDMI wall socket in behind the AV rack to enable me to get a smaller HDMI to extend it?

The AV Rack consists of:

Pioneer AV receiver with 1 - 4 HDMI switch.
Media PC running Plex
Sky HD

[nick w]

So the weekend is is over!
I either spent most of it in Wicks (costing £130) or in the lounge plastering or cutting wood!

Anyway, good progress was made!

TV has now been framed and ready to be plaster boarded!

We lost our first power tool!
Its was my dads too!

Applied the plaster bond to the pillars!

I have now put the finish plaster on and its looking and feeling damn good if i say so.

Hoping to box the RSJ in tonight!

Bought 4 small universal speaker mounts - £14
Bought 200 meters of shielded cat5e - £60
My tap for the cloakroom is on its way - £60

[nick w]

Weekend update:

Ceiling is 26msq, first quote to splaster it was £180.. not bad!


TV Framed and ready!

RSJ was my focus for Saturday! with plenty of Wickes trips!

Hot air vent from the ceiling is removed and plasterboarded up!
[img[https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Cfja2x9mF2M/T_BByB6zl_I/AAAAAAAAE9Y/9-5czFUA1k0/s640/IMG_20120701_132459.jpg[/img]

TV boxed and done!

Tested out my speaker mounts

Ethernet cables in the first box!

2 ethernet sockets by bt socket
2 ethernet sockets behind the TV
4 ethernet sockets next to the AV stand

[Bonesy]

looks great.

are you still looking for advice on your speaker location?

[nick w]

Thanks

Yes I would love any advice you have.
Layout and locations would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
N

[Bonesy]

you've got the most important front three in the right places, so guess youre only asking about the rears?

as rear are more ambient sounds. you have more flexibility. ideally same height as each other, either behind your seating position, facing forwards, or to the sides, facing in (less preferred). ideally, if they're behind you. they're better some way back from you, although that is often hard in small lounges..

for me, head height is best height, although I'm sure opinions vary and people suggest them being higher on the wall...

makes sense?