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Renovations

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Post  BM Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:30 am

OK, time to vent Evil or Very Mad As most know, we are having about 70% of our house rebuilt. Things have been going swimmingly for the first 7 weeks, then just as we could see the light at the end of the tunnel things started going wrong.

1. About 2 weeks ago, finally after 4 weeks of waiting, our new 4.8 metre set of bi-fold doors with sun block/accoustic glass arrived, I was over the moon seeing the truck pull up. It took 8 of us to lift them 3 metres up over the side of the deck to install. After preparing the house and getting ready to actually install them, I casually asked the builders whether the side I was looking at was the inside or the outside. When they said the inside I told them either they were wrong, or the doors opened the wrong way. Sure enough, they had been built to open the wrong way. So, they have had to be taken away and another set ordered, at the same time the factory is moving so none of their machines are up and running. There is a chance we still might get the new set tomorrow though Smile This plus the new French Doors at the back of the house overlooking the pool didn't have any keys to lock them, and now been almost 2 weeks without keys for the bi-fold windows in the kitchen Sad

2. Cabinet maker decides that he needs to increase the size of the bathroom vanity (depth wise) by 80 mmwhich has a flow on effect to the linen cupboard. I had my measurements down to the millimetre to allow for the switches for the bathroom lights and IXL Tastic to be mounted on the wall between the linen cupboard and the door architrave. We are now down to about 16mm. So, call the electrician and have hom re-rout most of the wiring to relocate the switches for the IXL Tastic etc Sad

3. Now we come to today. Finally we eagerly await the arrival of the 30mm Caesarstone top for the bathroom vanity with undermount basins installed. Strangely they quickly snuck in, installed it, and were almost back to their truck before I had a good look at it. They had stuffed up the measurements, so that the undercounter basins weren't set back underneath the Caesarstone, but protruded out by about 3mm and they had stuffed in a load of white silicon. It looked shocking, and their response was "the basins were a different size to the template. Did you buy cheap ones or something" Evil or Very Mad They als advise they have no more Snow coloured 30mm Caesarstone. What are our options? Go to 20mm thick Caesarstone, move the basins back so the back part looks fine, but the front part even worse, or wait until Feb/March 2010 for more 30mm stone? My solution is to but Countertop basins and cover up their crappy work and suck up the value of the extra 2 basins pale

Anyhoo..just venting Smile

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Post  TriggerFish Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:06 am

And here I was toying with the idea of renovating \ extending......sounds like pure joy....NOT!

I am sure it will work out well in the end, but, the pain to get there....Hope it gets better.
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Post  Will Munney Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:27 pm

<loads gun ready to deliver to BM's house>

Right Locked & Loaded mate........... When do you want me.

If we start killing them off we may have a chance that they might get something right..... Twisted Evil

Now was that a case of Vodka you wanted to take your mind off it....... cheers

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Post  BM Fri Nov 13, 2009 8:32 am

Hehe, don't think it would ever get bad enough for the gun, but the case of Vodka is certainly welcome Willy Laughing

Spent some time this morning getting all of my facts together, including driving halfway across Brisbane to get a copy of the template they were supposed to have used. Took heaps of photos including measurements etc, then sent a nice long email to the cabinet maker bom

Essentialy, the Specifications stated internal measurment of 370mm, installation instructions state 370mm, template drawing is 372mm....SO WHY ARE THEIR HOLES 377MM????? scratch

So far the cabinet maker has to pay for a plumber to fix the hole in our water pipe when the installer put his drill through it (then wondered why there was water coming out of the wall), an electrician to re-rout the wiring when he changed the linen cupboard size without asking us first, and now the price of 2 new vanity basins Smile Anything else and he will end up owing US money Wink

And to think they still have to come and install the new kitchen cabinets and bench tops pale

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Post  Watziznehm Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:34 pm

Ouch. Hope things have improved over the course of the weekend. Any updates BM? Do you have to use them for the kitchen or have you already *paid* for the privilege of them coming back for the kitchen.

We will be heading into renovations sometime next year. Have just started to get the draftsman to draw the plans up. A bit scared about what this will cost but will only know once we have plans and can start getting quotes. The bits being added should be reasonable but it is the moving of internal walls that could cost anything. We can not decide whether to use a kitchen company, cabinet maker or the builder to put the kitchen in. Initial thinking is it should not be overly complex but hey still have plenty of time to up the ante on that.

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Post  BM Wed Nov 25, 2009 11:34 am

Sorry watzi, completely missed that post of yours Embarassed

Things didn't really get much better. I decided to go with the above counter basins, luckily Reece took our other ones back as a straight swap, but we ended up about $250 our of pocket, which we might use as leverage on bigger splashbacks later on Smile So, we picked out our new above counter basins, and by my calculations they needed to be 480mm from front to back to be able to cover the holes and butt up against the tiles behind them. Found a beautiful one which just happened to be advertised at 480mm...poifect Very Happy Got them hom, sat them on top of bench, and thought hmmmmm..seems to be a couple of extra mm short. Got out the tape measure and sure enough they were only 475mm Crying or Very sad Rang Reece a number of times over a 2 week period to keep chasing them up, and finally great news, another store in Brisbane has 2 which are 480. Packed ours into the car, drove all the way to the other store, and the guy briings the basins out. I said "not that I don't trust you, but can I measure them myself?". Sure enough, these were 475 too, to whcih he replied..ooohhh..I didn't measure them that way Shocked

new kitchen cabinets were installed which look fantastic, and new fridge/freezer and wine fridge fit nicely Smile Caesarstone guys did come back to measure up for the kitchen benchtops, which ended up in a heated arguement with them refusing to admit their total and complete stupidity, so i told them i had no desire to talk to them anymore, and let my wife deal with them Smile

Now, back to the bi-fold doors again. the new set finally turn up and are installed tuesday morning, glaziers will be here Wednesday. Sure enough, they turned up today and installed the glass panels, and cracked in in the process. Guess we will come back and replace it when we replace all of your hinges to the cokour you actually ordered Twisted Evil As we don't know when that will be, it could be next year affraid

On a good note though, we finally got keys to open the new bi-fold windows in the kitchen, only 3 weeks after they were installed tongue

We can not decide whether to use a kitchen company, cabinet maker or the builder to put the kitchen in. Initial thinking is it should not be overly complex but hey still have plenty of time to up the ante on that.
Ok, we shopped around all of the above. Went to Kitchen Connection and a couple of similar places, and they were all incredibly expensive. Found a cabinet maker who had been highly recommended, but let's just say his service has been rather dismal and you have read my comments about his Caesarstone guys Wink Just draw up your kitchen plans and go around to a few places to compare prices. They all gave an estimated 4-5 week delivery time, so take that into consideration too. Ours was a reasonably simple kitchen, but came to over $15,000, mainly because of the 30mm Caesarstone and Blum soft close drawers. Those Blum things add about $100 to each drawer Shocked

Anything I can do to help just let me know Watzi.

Edit: forgot to mention, beautiful new internal stairs went in on Saturday, and the installer put a screw through a water pipe and we had the water turned off for most of the day Smile

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Post  Watziznehm Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:05 am

BM I hope that things have settled a bit.

We are at the mere tip of the iceberg but have realised very quickly that when someone says they will have something done by a certain date it will only happen if you continue to chase them up. Draftsman said with in a week we would have a concept drawing so 1.5 weeks phoned up (Wednesday) and he said would copy documents and put them in the post for Friday, well Friday came and the drawings did not so will have to phone on Monday to find out where they have gone.

We are trying to choose between bi-folds and sliding panels (so 6 panels with the middle four that slide outwards). It seems that the bi-folds are much more expensive. BM how did you choose bi-folds? We went and looked at a few door/window places ahhhh so much choice makes it all the more difficult.

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Post  BM Sun Nov 29, 2009 2:52 pm

Hey Watzi, we chose the bi-folds because they all folded back against the deck railing and took up the least room. Also because we have accoustic insulation in all of the walls and ceiling in the lounge/dining area of our house we also wanted to noise proof the doors, and bi-folds provide the better seal when they close, plus we got accoustic glass (with solar block) in them. I really have no idea how much they cost, they were just included in the quote for the renovations. We did get aluminium ones from Vantage (http://www.vantagealuminium.com.au/thermalheart/TH_bifold.html). Wooden ones might be a bit more attractive, but as our are going to face West and cop the QLD sun, wooden ones could end up warping and require more maintenance, plus they don't seal as well (IMHO).

This weekend was taken up finishing off the plastering that was missed by our plasterers Mad The painters are starting tomorrow, so if I didn't do it then it would have held up the painters Smile Also started building a set of 5 metre x 2.4 metre privacy screens for our deck.

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Post  BM Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:51 pm

Well, painters didn't turn up last week, so many excuses Evil or Very Mad They finally did arrive this week though and made a good start on it yesterday and today, hopefully finishing by the end of the week Very Happy Tiler finishes both bathrooms tomorrow and grouts them on Thursday. New frameless shower glass, semi-frameless shower and mirrors go in tomorrow, so a HUGE week Very Happy On the down side, floors won't be sanded and stained until the new year, the painters delay means they can't fit us in Crying or Very sad At least it means Willy can wear his high heals to our place on NYE Razz

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Post  Will Munney Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:11 pm

At least it means Willy can wear his high heals to our place on NYE

Awesome

I have been practicing in them for the Singstar comp while balancing a bucket of popcorn on my head. Laughing

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Post  BM Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:37 am

I will say this only once....NO SINGSTAR WILL BE ALLOWED INTO OUR HOUSE THIS NYE!!! Laughing My ears are still ringing from the flogging some of those songs copped last year Shocked

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Post  Will Munney Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:43 am

So that means the balancing the bucket of coloured popcorn on my head is good to go. cheers

I would not be surprised if the builders actually found some left over from the last adventure...... Razz

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Post  BM Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:16 am

Sorry, "finding popcorn" wasn't included in the original contract and will cost extra Razz That part of the house where the couch was is now a set of internal stairs and bathroom Wink

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Post  ultima Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:37 am

oh well will, if BM wont have singstar guess you will just have to play guitar hero or rockband hehehe Very Happy

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Post  BM Wed Dec 09, 2009 6:44 am

Those ones are banned too Very Happy

I assume a popular young man like yourself will already have a number of invites, but if you are at a loose end Ulti feel free to join us Smile Not sure what Booshy and JJay are up to this year.

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Post  Watziznehm Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:26 pm

Nice work with the reno's seems like progress and you have not had any angry stories lately either that or you are now just resigned to the whole thing and it happens when it happens.

Hope the painting and tiling continues to go well.

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Post  BM Thu Dec 10, 2009 3:48 am

Just resigned myself to things not happening when expected Watzi Neutral Stegbar were meant to beinstalling shower glass, mirrors, semi-frameless shower etc, but didn't turn up or contact us. Have just been told they will be here today though, but we will see. Receive a bill for $2000 of variations over the Electrical budegt which was a surprise. Painters and tilers still here working though Smile

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Post  ultima Fri Dec 11, 2009 7:51 am

BiteMe wrote:Those ones are banned too Very Happy

I assume a popular young man like yourself will already have a number of invites, but if you are at a loose end Ulti feel free to join us Smile Not sure what Booshy and JJay are up to this year.

hehe thanks for the offer BM, at this stage i have no plans or idea's what happening, but i will keep you posted Smile

still looking forward to that poker night too Very Happy

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Post  BM Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:35 am

still looking forward to that poker night too
Ha..don't worry, they are coming. Once these renos are finished and I can clean up the men's room and set the pool table and everything back up I want to buy a good poker table or even build one Smile

Update, I now have managed to book someone in to do the new floorboards, so you might have to bring the slippers instead of the high heals Willy Sad Somehow next week I have to juggle installation of shower glass, installation of air-conditioning, installation of kitchen splashbacks, all the final electrical work and final plumbing work making sure none of them get in ceach others way Shocked

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Post  Watziznehm Sat Dec 19, 2009 10:05 am

So how has the renovation year ended up at BM's house.

I hope that all has been finished so you can enjoy Christmas and the New Year in style, otherwise make the egg nog stronger. drunken

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Post  BM Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:31 pm

Moved back into the main part of house today, IT IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC cheers Bathroom finally finished today except for towel rails etc, but that will happen on Monday. Main air-con installed and new fridge/freezer setup Smile Just about to celebrate with fish and chips and a bottle of Moet drunken (bought 12 bottles to help us celebrate and reward neighbours for their tolerance) A few minor things to finish off in new year mainly by painters, and I have a list of about 20 things for this coming week, but it is definately all worth it. Nobody would recognise the place Very Happy

My one big gripe though is I am sick of finishing off labourers work. Nobody seems to have the good old fashioned values of taking pride in their work these days, always just doing about 98% of the job. I ended up doing a couple of big patchs of plaster work, filling gaps under skirting, attaching architraves correctly, circling all of the painting faults for them to fix, touching up the skirting and architraves, finishing off batheroom grouting, siliconing around mirrors, spa bath and bathroom basins, pointing out the mistakes in the floor sanders/stainers and having to ring them to find out when they are coming back to put the final coat on the stair bannister and to re-install it. I have to re-mount all of our stair lights fix big hole in wall where electrician slipped etc etc etc. Watzi, make sure you put EVERYTHING into an "Inclusions/Exclusions" document attached to the contract. Our cheap a$$ builder advised that installation of window furniture (handles & locks) isn't included in the contract, so either we pay for this as a "variation" or I do it myself. Mind you, I will do a better job.

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Post  Watziznehm Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:48 am

Thanks BM we have started putting together a folder with a section for each room. We are putting everything that we want in the room and then will compile a big list to give to the builder when they quote.

I am a bit concerned about the finish of the place but will have to make sure we are diligent with what the builder does and how they finish things off.

Well done BM and hope that you have enjoyed over the festive season.

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