Tag Archives: insulation

Ceiling Price…

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Upstairs, we have compacted everything from the guest room & craft room into the spare room, to allow us to do repairs, floors and decoration.

The first thing to do was pull down the guest room ceiling as though it looked perfect, it had zero insulation, the small cost of a new ceiling will soon be recouped through energy saving. I hate wrecking things in the house that look perfectly ok, but I’ve learned that A. Ceilings are easy to do B. Insulation has an instant & dramatic effect on the warmth of a room. 

This photo makes the task look a little cleaner than it actually was…

This reveals the true chaos of me being let loose with a hammer and a crow bar!


And this one…well, this shows the massive patch of rotten roof we found. Damnit. This is going to cost about £1000 to repair which was totally unbudgeted for but on the positive side it will mean we can insulate externally which offers increased heat retention and if we must have a rotten roof, better now than finding out once the new ceiling is is place.

I’ve started to think about how on earth to dress the windows in this room. It’s so difficult as there’s the short windows either side of the  inward opening doors. My latest thought is ceiling mounted roller blinds, as long as they are thin enough to allow the door to pass under. I’m checking out measurements as I’m thinking, if necessary it would perhaps be possible to create a counter sunk section of the ceiling for the blinds to sit into.

Finally, I’m excited to be part of the Amara Design Awards! If you’d like yo vote for Lansdowne Revisited, pls click the button below…thank you! 

Looooong Weekend…

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So, three whole days working on the house, we’ve made progress, but of the preparatory sort rather than interesting sort so I apologise sincerley for the dullest entry to date!

In no particular order…

1. Painted the lounge windows, three coats and counting! I came across a photo from Christmas 2013 earlier, it looks so different now…and the tree hides the worst of it! 

 2. Painted the cloakroom, white, in preparation for our photos to be put up…maybe next weekend? 

3. Grouted the cloakroom floor. We hope to get it cleaned and sealed during the week.

 4. Masticed (it’s a new word, ok?!) the floorboard gaps in the lounge. We matched the colour to the wood, it needs another sanding, another coat of colour and then we start on the yacht varnish.  The mastic will be invisible after all that and will really help with the insulation of the room, and, it leaves little smiley faces on your fingers!

 

5. Dad and I painted the support under the bay window, after it had insulation added. 

6. Finished painting coving in hall. 

Over and out for this week, hopefully some prettier photos soon!

A mixed bag…

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Where did the week go? We’ve both been off work, and had grand intentions of all that we were going to achieve. A Christmas tree, a birthday, a ‘spot check’ visit from parents and more trades people than I could count coming in to quote, slowed us up a little. We have got some things done though, all totally unrelated and in no particular order:

1. We (he) took the kitchen ceiling down, what started as an ‘investigative hole’ revealed there was no insulation in the 1980’s extension, eek. At least that explains why it’s so damn cold in there! For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, the kitchen, bathroom and lobby ceilings then got taken down. Apparently to make way for insulation, electrician and gas man, due in late January and March, I’d rather have have waited and had a ceiling for Christmas given the choice!

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2. I put up my favourite snowflake garland, it needs extending for the super sized fireplace.

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3. We said a sad goodbye to Flash Gordon, fact is, it was him, or a radiator, super powers alone can’t keep you warm. Most of it came off in full pieces, so we’ll put him somewhere else one of these days.

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4. We stripped the main bedroom. Actually, I mean ‘I’ stripped the bedroom, all by myself AND the steamer didn’t blow up even once!

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I found another epic wall covering, above the picture rail languished this teapot-on-shelf number!

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It had been hung upside down, of all the papers you could get away with hanging wrongly, this is not the one! (But please don’t haunt me past occupant, I’m sure it was cool at the time). There’s now only the last bedroom and the hallway and then the stripping is done – boom!

5. We found this printed Lino under several layers of carpet in the guest bedroom…

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There was a newspaper underneath from 1929, so I’m presuming the Lino is around that era… The pixelated camo could easily be on the high street today, though maybe not as a floor covering… I can confirm nothing of major interest occurred on 8th October 1929 in Birmingham, on the sports page West Bromich Albion managed to beat Aston Villa 6/1, had that have happened this weekend, their manager might still have a job!

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6. The house plants came home, they have been in the expert care of my aunt and uncle during our moves. We also bought back a couple of Belfast sinks I’d squirreld, we inherited two more when we moved in and STILL have two more to come… There is such a thing as too much of a good thing! The garden plants are staying until March, giving us a little time to clear some clutter from the patio area.

7. And finally, in other news, we have reason to believe Dottie cat has got a sideline as a Christmas Card model… So that’s where she’s been disappearing to since the cat flap was installed!

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