Kitchen Refurb

[Moh]

Looks lovely Ian - I am a bit of a minimalist and like things in cupboards.

[PanBiker]

Thanks all for your comments, we have more cupboards and drawers than we had previously Moh, the pan drawers are a lot better than the cupboard we had before. The peninsular is a nice large work surface and the butchers rails a convenient place to hang from. We use most of those utensils frequently so easy to hand. Sally prefers more of a "lived in" look and has a lot of stuff that is purely decorative. I like to have the working areas clear and the sink neat and tidy.

[Stanley]

My whole house is 'lived in'......

[plaques]

This posting is nowhere near as in the same league as PanBiker's work, more a case of titivation than refurbishment. To keep up with modern fashion we fitted some splashbacks round the top of the work benches. To keep it simple we used toughened glass painted on the reverse side to give the required colouring. In our case Black with speckles of red, green, blue, silver etc. These speckles only became really visible under sunlight or a strong light. As a DIY project the glass was supplied to my measurements by Padiham Glass through their trade counter. The only words of warning are, make sure your measurements are correct especially if you want any fancy cut outs and make sure your walls are flat to receive them. The attached pictures don't really do the glass justice but convey the idea.

PB010147AC.jpg

PB010148AC.jpg

[Stanley]

In complete contrast!

[PanBiker]

The dining table I varnished has inherited a stain on the surface from the dye in a runner that had a water spill from a vase. The Ronseal varnish I used is supposed to have a "Diamond Hard" finish. The stain is resistant to any cleaners I have tried. I would have expected such a finish to last a bit longer than a week! I have posted a request for advice on their Facebook page, I'll wait and see what they say.

[PanBiker]

Ronseal replied to my query, nothing can be done other than to sand it down and start again, not happy.

Your splash back looks good Plaques a nice way of doing it, I take it the back painting will mask the method of fixing?

[plaques]

Splash backs. Just to expand on them a little. They come as 4mm or 6mm thick toughened glass. The colour 'paint' could be scratched like that on the back of a mirror but is unaffected by the silicone bonding agent that they recommend. The glass can be cut to any size but I think 2 meters long is the maximum. They use modern glass cutting technology so any shape is possible. Overall, its not cheap but nothing is now-a-days. But you have cut out the middle man. Link. By the way, there is a nice little Bistro cafe which you will see on the way into the estate.

[PanBiker]

Not really in the market for any glass but It's nice to know. I do need to find a reasonably colour matched two hole preferably vanity basin for the bathroom. Ours has a crack from a dropped heavy bottled product. The crack goes all the way through and has punched a piece out of the back of the bowl with the impact, amazingly it does not leak. It's a variant in cream in colour, everything seems to be back to white now and I don't fancy replacing the lot. Basin is a flush with the top of the unit type. It's probably like finding rocking horse muck if the truth be known!

[PanBiker]

Following the water ingress we had through our new kitchen cupboards when we had the torrential rain earlier in November. We have had the loss adjuster from the insurance company this morning to assess the damage and agree a resolution. He has agreed that we need to replace three of the cupboard carcasses that are damaged. The problem is only the carcasses but the work required to replace these will involve stripping out all but two of the run of cupboards.

The three that are damaged are in the centre of the run and are laterally fixed to each of their neighbors. The top of the cupboard run has a batten fixed for the bottom fixing of the boxing in for the gas flue pipe. The bottom of the cupboard run is fitted with heat reflective covering and has 2.5m of LED lighting attached. All of this will have to be stripped out in order to release the cupboards. Replacement will impact on the decoration as well the adjacent end wall and the full width of the ceiling when the boxing in panels are removed and refitted.

I have rung my joiner and asked him to come and have a look and provide an estimate for doing the work. We can buy the replacement carcasses if we wish. The adjuster will forward our costings to the insurance company on our behalf and he is not insisting on a second estimate. We have sufficient cover on our policy to effect all repairs and put it back how it should be. A good result really, a bit of a hassle but I'll see how Alan is fixed for sorting us after Christmas.

[Stanley]

I was thinking about you and the leaking roof this morning Ian. This weather will be testing the repair! I hope it stands up to it.....

[PanBiker]

Dry as a bone here Stanley although our little stand up polythene greenhouse has taken a bit of a battering in the backyard, we have laid it down. Alan came for a look see yesterday and I will give him the cost of the replacement units and other bits and bobs from B&Q. He will put them all on the same estimate for the insurance. I ordered the replacements yesterday. He can come some time in the new year and strip out and replace. We have paint etc for touching up. My next jobs are likely to be work in our Jack's first house purchase, he gets the keys next Friday.

[Stanley]

Good! I am glad you were successful. Leaking roofs can be a bugger. I remember that in the late 1940s we had a roof leak at Napier Road and it took weeks to find the cause and repair it. Turned out it was a piece of shrapnel from an AA shell that had punched a hole in the lead flashing in a valley gutter. Thank God we don't have that problem these days!

[PanBiker]

I passed the material costings on to Alan and he brought me the estimate for the insurers. The replacement units are due to turn up tomorrow, I have received a text message to confirm. We'll hang on to them until after Christmas when Alan has time to sort us out.

It never rains but it pours so to speak, the back door has sprung a leak! its a framed UPVC door with 4 locking bars, its getting in at the bottom. Alan had a look and he reckons a deflector strip on the door will help but also noticed a bit of play in the fit before the interlock bolts pull up. He will look at adjusting the plates that the bolts engage with. Normally the drain holes in the bottom rail of the door casing deals with any ingress but we have had so much water and a driving wind these could have been overwhelmed. The deflector on the bottom and a tighter fit should hopefully sort it out.

[Stanley]

My back door is the same type and in driving rain it leaks in at the bottom. Being the shed it isn't too important, I just clean the threshold and ignore it.....

[PanBiker]

My back door is directly into the kitchen and the leak pools on the floor up to the upstand panel for the short worktop, don't want it rotting from the bottom. Anyway, delivery guy brought my replacement cupboards and bits at 8.30am this morning, he was in bit of a rush, he had another 17 drops to do today, it'll keep him warm!

[PanBiker]

I reported in another thread that Alan had rung to say he would come and replace our water damaged cabinets. Bang on time 08.30 on Tuesday he arrived and set to and stripped out the boxing for the flue pipe then set about the cupboards, he had all the three to be replaced out by 10am. Nice time for a brew before fitting the new ones which I had pre-built ready. I had replaced the heat reflective sheet on the bottom of the cupboards before they were refitted which made the job a lot easier. End fill and wine rack were refitted to the 500 unit at one end and the other two cupboards put back where they belonged, leveled, cross screwed and the doors refitted. Flue boxing replaced and the top and bottom pelmets for the units. Another brew while Alan leveled all the doors out and the job was done, 4 hours straight, he did well.

Removing and replacing the flue boxing has had a knock on to the decorating but nothing major. I ran round the edge of the boxing with decorators caulk and am just waiting for that to dry off and then we can retouch the paintwork where necessary. Ceiling and walls are the same colour so a few touch up coats round the edges will sort that out.

The cupboards that came out will be reused in Sally's sewing room, ideal as straight shelf units.

[Stanley]

Glad you're sorted Ian.....

[LizG]

Nice to be back to normal I'll bet.

[PanBiker]

It's not been to traumatic Liz the damage to the cupboards was limited to sligt swelling of the carcasses on the front facing edges, not the kind of damage you want on 5 week old units. Fine for Sally's material storage though. We have used the kitchen throughout after the initial mop up. Not yet fully worked out the best usage for the new cupboard layout yet.

Another change came last week when the dishwasher was found to be the cause of the main trip in the consumer unit firing. Very strange as it did not trip any of the individual circuit breakers. I think it caused the trip during it's cycle whenever it was heating water. Anyway it made it terminal so I am now wrestling with new basket layouts in the replacement I had delivered on Monday. At the moment it seems like every dish we have is the wrong size.

[Stanley]

Those main trips on the power circuits are a splendid safety device but very sensitive. I find it's a good thing to occasionally operate it two or three times to disturb any surface corrosion on the contacts. I think the reason it trips before the individual breakers is because they are designed to be more sensitive.

[Tripps]

I've just had my bathroom refitted. Here's a photo of it half way through. Doesn't look much here, but I'm very happy with the final job.
Bathroom

[PanBiker]

Looking good as a work in progress Tripps.

[Stanley]

My kids occasionally nag me to do the same David but I point out to them that I am perfectly satisfied, don't want the upset and what's the point anyway at my age. Now if they offered to build and extension to the shed and install a big Bridgeport Mill and good Dean Smith and Grace lathe......

[Tripps]

Not sure why I posted that. . . it was very late
Anyway here is the final result - I'm very pleased with it. Just need a mirror over the sink now. He says he'll come and fit it when I make my mind up.

Bathroom