Well hello there! It has been a little while since I did an update on the work happening at my new house. I posted a finance video as my last instalment on my YouTube channel and blog post which you can view by clicking here. I spoke about the costs involved in the entire purchasing process including legal fees, deposit, mortgage and additional costs. In this update I’ll be walking you through the next stages of work that have happened at the house. This mainly consists of plumbing work, removing the fireplace and remaining kitchen sections as well as checking the heating system and pipes.
The last instalment (before my finance video) showed the fireplace still in place on this tiled area. We couldn’t fully remove it until Del and Jerome had visited to disconnect the gas safely and cap everything off. Now that this is out, we can also remove the remaining stones, tiles and the concrete block that everything is sitting on so that the floor is fully flat.
In the hallway there wasn’t a radiator before however I have noticed that there is quite a lot of moisture in the air with it being so cold. The wallpaper lifted quite easily off these walls and I believe most of this is because of the property not being lived in for so long. It will be useful to keep this area nice and warm as well and it will help with the overall warmth of the ground floor.
The bathroom used to have a radiator behind the door and a towel rail (not full height) connected to the central heating and an immersion heater. I have had the radiator removed and this isn’t going to be replaced. However I am installing a full-height towel rail in place of the old one and this will solely be connected to the central heating. I won’t be using an immersion heater for it at all so the electrics to this area will also be removed.
This is where the radiator sat in the kitchen before, on the same wall as the towel rail the other side in the bathroom. I am going to have a floor-to-ceiling radiator on this wall. This is likely to be the feature wall of the kitchen and where I will paint so I am thinking of a teal-colour for the wall (I’ll provide an update on the exact colour in future) as well as a black/anthracite radiator to really stand out.
The boiler has been removed from this cupboard and all that is in here now is the new copper pipework taking the water from upstairs to the kitchen sink area and through to the bathroom as well. I am looking forward to using this kitchen cupboard as a little pantry opposed to losing that space to the boiler.
This shows the new pipework for the sink area and where the copper connects (under the foam on the right) to the bathroom setup. I will be having an outside tap installed as well directly out from this area so there isn’t any exposed pipework outside leading to the tap which risks freezing during colder months.
This is the new connection of the boiler to the kitchen and bathroom for the plumbing and where all of the electrics will be housed above the ceiling. It is so much better having this coming through the ceiling cavity than the living room as it was before. We are going to have these pipes insulated as well to prevent any freezing and bursting in colder months before installing the new ceiling.
The mains gas connection is now installed in the corner of the living room directly from the meter up to the boiler. This used to cross into the living room about a metre before going straight up the wall into the upstairs bedroom which didn’t make much sense. It will be concealed now and much neater for the rest of the room.
The copper pipes come out of the wall (these will be above the skirting board) so will be very well concealed and only very slightly visible once the radiators are installed. I am looking forward to seeing the finished radiator set-up in each room as it’s going to be excellent.
This shows the new gas connection in the corner of the room coming up and connecting to the existing pipework. This also shows the connections ready for the radiator in the front bedroom.
This is where the radiator used to be in the front bedroom to the right of the door as you entered the room. This is going to be relocated now to underneath the window and will be replaced with a wide and short radiator.
This photo shows where the radiator was on the left hand side in the office. I’ve chosen to put the radiator under the window in this room as well and it will be a far better location for any furniture that will be in the room. The pipes were extended to the window which you can see under the floorboards in this photo.
These are the pipes ready for the radiator under the window in the office. Similar set-up to the ones in the other rooms where they will be concealed as well as possible. They have been adjusted ready for the correct width of the radiator as well.
This is where the radiator will be located in the master bedroom. It is similar to where the last one was but for some reason it used to be about a foot left of the window so this new one will be installed central and inline with the window itself. I believe this is going to be an 800 width radiator in this room next to the boiler.
Again, a neat set-up ready for the copper pipes to enter the room just above the skirting board and to either side of the radiator. This will look nice and neat, concealing the pipes as much as possible. The foam has been used to keep them in place and to fill in the areas of the wall which were channelled out.
I am so happy with the new position of my boiler. It is really well concealed in the cupboard and the flue goes straight out the wall behind it as well which is perfect. I am really surprised it fit there to be honest, a little bit of the doorframe was taken off but it is an ideal location for it. This also means that I can install a rail above the boiler to hang clothes up and still be able to access the boiler when needed.
This shows the pipes of the boiler heading down into the floor to connect to the radiators throughout this floor and the ground floor. The pipes also feed water through the ceiling cavity of the kitchen, through the pantry/cupboard and to where the sink will be located.
So that summarises my latest segment of the house renovation project. It has been great seeing how things are coming along in the house and I look forward to keeping you informed on how everything is going. There has been more progress as well since this was recorded so I will be sure to add another blog post and video as soon as I can for you. Take a look at the video above, let me know what you think!
Thanks very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this next section of the house renovation project. Take care and stay safe – Glen.
Glen Conbeer 