The Morecambe DIY Project

[accykeef]

Tile drilling ....
I have drilled ceramic tiles before with a masonary bit with no problem. I am told that drilling the harder porcelain tiles requires a tungsten carbide drill and these are available from Screwfix in a set of 3. I will be having a trip there on Friday.

[trevnhil]

I love it all Keith, love it to bits.

I must admit that I have not had the trouble that you seem to have regarding drilling tiles. But I must never have come across ones as hard as you are obviously using. I must also admit that one of the MANY jobs I have never tries is welding. I had enough trouble when I tried soldering
I know that you will persevere and succeed in your task.

The worktop (which you covered) looks really well now that it can all be seen.

I am still interested in the worktop ends, particularly how you will waterproof them. And of course you will know how the arch is to be finished off.

Re the barge boards you mentioned, as far as I know you have non, only Fascia boards. Presumably they have been covered with UPVC together with the soffit.

A householders pockets need to be very deep.

I have a few (finished) pictures of the last Kitchen of ours that I did in the UK, and also the bathroom. But I will post them on Trev in Cyprus soon.

Cheers. Trev..

[accykeef]

You are quite right, we do not have barge boards. We could have some but it would involve some serious remodelling of the roof.
The worktop ends have just had the metal plates screwed onto them for now to protect them. I will Silicone them eventually but there is still plenty to do.
I used to do a lot of electrical soldering in a previous life so that holds no mystery, neither does soldering pipework - in fact soldering pipework is much easier. Welding was just another thing that I was able to do as friends had the kit. I did a bit of gas welding but that is a bit more difficult and the resulting fires can be difficult to put out.

The skip has been taken away and I am pretty convinced that not much else could have been put into it.
The scaffolding will be coming down next week.

Strange event yesterday - I was sat in the living room and a familiar van went past the house and pulled up a bit further down. I say familiar because the occupants regularly drive up the road looking for things which are not too heavy to carry. Always suspicious of what can only be described as a couple of theiving scumbags, I went into the kitchen and could see movement outside on the drive. I opened the door and one individual was crouched over the old sink removing the tap. I asked him what he was doing and he boldly said he was collecting some unwanted scrap. I pointed out that if it was unwanted, it would have been in the skip and he quickly apologised and left.
I am just I was in otherwise there is no telling what they might have helped themselves to.

I mentioned I needed the oven gas feed moving, I have arranged for a plumber to come and price the job up but I thought there was a shortage of work in the building trade. The first day they said they could come was Wednesday, when I said I would leave it they agreed to send a man round later today to have a look - I will keep you posted.

OK - must get the garage door wired to the mains before I go into town

[accykeef]

Well as you can see from the picture, plumber turned up, after several sharp intakes of breath and quite a lot of fussing decided that the job was within his skill set and went and got his tools from the van. He was concerned about access under the floor, ripping boards up etc. but I was way ahead of him on that one. The door mat was installed to be completely removed from the well giving access to the gas feed and you may remember I made an access in the corner, under where the cooker is going. I think he was impressed but he didn't show it.
The cooker fits into the gap with about 20mm to spare - PHEW


This flattened pipe, next to the old gas feed, has been a mystery for a long time and the plumber was no help suggesting it could be an old hot water feed to the garage. I solved the mystery with my test meter. In the garage is an old gas tap, and the flattened pipe is connected to that. I will cut that off below the floor boards at some point.


I also removed the blank panel from the window to measure it and now the new glass is on order - glass place reckon about £20, sounds like a bargain to me.

Day off today - well it will be when I get my work done this morning, the rest of the house is still silent - just the way I like it.

[trevnhil]

Here I am at last. So the Gas man has been. Sometimes the sharp intake of breath means it will be dear. However You were well prepared for him and the cooker in position look really good.
From the picture it looks as though you may have a little bother grouting the tiles under the window where they go down the side of the cooker. Of course though I suppose it will pull out again.

The same photo reminds me that you have a larger door coming to go over the wire racks and the tray space. If it is Right hand hung, you will need a small screwdriver to mount the hinge plates.

And what is that I can see on the left. You have got an edging on the worktop... Hooray.

I like the idea of you having a day off...... After you have finished your work.
Here it is now getting quite hot especially around lunchtime. I try really really hard to keep my eyes open when I sit in the easy chair.... I don't always succeed though.

Take care. Trev..

PS, enjoy your BH Monday

[accykeef]

The day off turned out to be a whole weekend and a Bank Holiday off, apart from a few bits of day job but nothing too taxing. Back to work now but first to clear up a hinge mounting problem.
I have found, over the years that small screws into chipboard are not very reliable and tend to pull out. This is especially true when you have visitors who believe that when closing cupboards and drawers, they must be yanked open and slammed shut.

I don't use wood screws on any of the hinges, preferring instead to use threaded spacers and machine screws. The spacer is mounted into the cupboard side and then secured with Araldite (the finest sticky stuff known to man) This method can be used to secure a single hinge or a hinge either side of a single or double panel.


So to today's tasks.
I wanted to raise the level of the oven, get rid of the unused poking up pipe and do a bit more tiling. I also had to make a decision with what to do with the incomplete skirting board under the window. One option was to replace it and the other option, the one I chose, was to make a matching piece to fit in the gap. That was not to be today's job though.


The oven ws always going to be a tight fit but tiling the bottom bit would be a challenge not to make the gap too narrow. I would be a bit narked if the oven didn't fit in the final gap.


So to tiling - I reluctantly set about cutting one of the rock hard tiles with the little table cutter. It takes about 10 mins to cut one of these tiles lengthwise and I just got on with it. It was quite pleasant working in the sunshine but it was getting a bit to warm to stand in it. The cold shower of dirty water from the cutter was a good and bad thing at the same time.


One of the jobs was to work out a way of wheeling the oven in and out. I decided to make some rails out of the old work top but first, the tiling had to be done.


a batten was arranged to support the cut rock tile


Tiling onto a smooth plaster board is really easy and once the half tiles were cut and the adhesive applied, it didn't take long to fill most of the panel under the window. I knew there would be a gap on the left and rather than make an odd overlapping design, chose to fill the gap in with some narrow strips of the tiles which will be in the reveals.


The strips were inserted


and brown tiles used to fill the gap under the window sill, which happens to be a piece of matching work top and yes, I do know that the end isn't finished off - Trevor ;D.


I have made the rails to run the worktop on and they work great but only after a struggle getting the back wheels on them. When I was putting the oven in place, I lifted it with the back of the top plate and the whole lot fell apart. There is a plumbing term for the quality of construction but I won't use it here. I fixed it with a couple of real machine screws rather than the self tappers it came with. It wants a good clean but it is a bit of a tight fit.


It is a tight fit at the other side too


That grey strip of tile between the brown tiles under the window looks wrong but what to do to fix it?

[accykeef]

Almost forgot to mention.

The scaffolding came down today - yippee!!

[trevnhil]

Hi Keith.
I nearly missed your clutch of pictures, thinking that "the scaffold is down " was THE item posted.

I did find the pictures this morning and now have time to scrutinise them a little.

I have never seen a piece of threaded metal for set screws holding the hinges... Good idea.

Re the skirting, I may well have replaced it to save trying to match it up, But each to his own, and you are the man 'on site'.

What a good idea to put the cooker on rolling rails. That will make it much easier to get out if needed.
I like the matching window bottom... But is there not a chance of the gas flame catching it when it billows out around a pan??

Those big tiles are really good and I bet you are glad that you have your electric tile cutter.

I look forward to seeing the flooring, and of course the real ceiling

Trev..

[accykeef]

I have done a few experiments with the heat from the gas ring and all seems OK. The edge of the roktop gets warm but not too hot. I will have to monitor it although I don;t see a problem. The only time we have that jet on full for any length of time is when we are using the chip pan and we never leave that unattended (house rule).

More work today and the fridge freezer had to be moved - why don't they put inset handles on them to make them easier to pull out? I have my own method, 2 lengths of T&E looped round the front feet makes it easy to putt the whole lot out.


It had to be left in the middle of the floor while I plaster board the recess. I am tiling it all and it is as uneven as an uneven thing so plasterboard will straighten up the walls.


There was white plastic on here but that didn't take much removing. The original blue laminate is remaining under the fridge but it needed cutting off straight. A mixture of circular saw, chisel and big hammer made light work of it.


Then move the socket to the other side to make it easier to plug in outside appliances. I keep meaning to put some sockets in the garage but keep forgetting to get a circuit breaker consumer unit.


I met Mrs Keef's enemy as it crawled out of the corner.


The waterproof wallpaper had to come off for the plaster to key to the backing.


and the void where the old window was will be sorted by using some thick mixed bonding plaster


so that is the bottom row of boards in place


and the socket is sunk far enough back to clear the fridge.


and now to the main business of the day, fitting the extractor over the oven. This involves drilling 3 holes in the tiles over the oven, simple enough you might think but how wrong can you be?

A trip to ScrewFix for a set of tlle drills should make this job an absolute doddle. Not sure whether to put it in a drill or put some poison on the tip and fire it an an enemy.


Here we are - all marked out on masking tape, for clarity - how hard can this job be?


Have you ever wondered whether you have the drill bit in the wrong way round. After a few minutes of drilling, the tile was hardly marked.


After much perseverance, I eventually managed to drill 3 holes but it took well over an hour!!!!!


The finished job looks good but what a ball ache that was. By comparison, I drilled one of the ceramic tiles to compare and it took less than 5 seconds!!!!!! to drill through it.

If there is a nuclear attack - I am standing in the kitchen and using those tiles for protection!

If you study the following photo carefully, you will see just how frustrating the day was.

[trevnhil]

On the ball as usual Keith. You have already thought about the heat and the worktop/window bottom. The rule about the chip pan is a good one.
My daughter in Glasgow had a kitchen fire a good few years ago which was caused by a faulty plug or socket behind the fridge.
They got out OK but the kitchen and was a mess and lots of rooms smoke damaged. They did see the smoke in the beginning, and if it was me I think I would have poured water down there, after knocking the mains off.

The wire round the feet of the Tall freezer is a good Idea. I'm not sure here, if it would scratch the surface of the tiled floor at all. All our tiles both wall and floor seem to be softer than the dark wall ones you are using.

The plasterboard in the recess certainly tidies and straightens the walls up for you. You are lucky that you have the spare width to do that. Although I can see that there is the necessity to cut around the socket.

The extractor looks good, I have not seen one like that before. And neither have I seen a drill bit shaped like and arrow head.

I have studied the quiz picture and have come up with Two possible things that frustrated you.

1. There are two bottles of Champagne that you couldn't open.
2 Or more likely, you had problems with your sink waste system yet again, as I see a fitting on the shelf.

Cheers. Trev..

[accykeef]

Jusy a quick response for tonight.
Can of John Smiths on the window sill and 2 bottles of cheap champagne. The champagne was a result of a recent trip in a stretch Limo and that was the lubrication they supplied to counteract dry throats, due to the air conditioning. That was the excuse I suggested to the driver and he thought it was brilliant.
Had a day off from work today although it involved driving 120 miles, walking over 4.5 miles round a reservoir in light rain and eating a large steak and ale pie. Time for bed now as a day of tiling and snagging beckons tomorrow.

[trevnhil]

Wish there was a 'like' button.

Trev..

[accykeef]

Didn't do a lot on Saturday due to having other jobs to do. Sorting out a poorly computer was one of the tasks which took up far too much time.

I did manage to fit the handles to the drawers and cupboards


Decided to put them all horizontal to make it look uniform


We have recycled the handles from the old kitchen as we like them so much


This was a novel solution to the bottom of the pillar. I routed a 'V' out of the back of some kick board and have folded it round to make a really impressive edge. I didn't take any photos of the process - I was concentrating so much I forgot but the results were worth the effort. The top edge is a bit rough but I will take care of that with some filler and paint.


Now it was on with tiling behind the fridge


Big tiles but being a small area - lots of cuts.


A wider view of the kick board corner.


The recessed sockets will look better when they are finished as I have had to allow slots for the cables from the plugs to run. Looks a bit of a mess at the moment but watch this space.


Didn't get as much done today as planned but that's life - back on the job tomorrow.

[trevnhil]

It is continuing to look better and better Keith. The handles certainly look good, in fact the whole kitchen does.
Cutting the V out of the back of the kick board was good. It saved you having a joint at the front, and looks very well.

I realise that you need to keep the double socket back where it is, and the slots for the plug wires is a good idea.

Soon it will be real ceiling and floor time.

Trev..

[accykeef]

I will be glad when this job is over - it has been a long hard slog but quite fun.

More tiling - over the window


and over the fridge - this tiling upside down lark makes me wonder how they stick on but none have fallen off yet.


and now for the application of some black (charcoal) grout


Once mixed it was a fairly easy job filling the gaps between the large tiles at the back of the oven and sink.


I thought the coloured feature thing would have been harder to do although I did wonder if I would ever get it properly clean again.


The black grout is horrible messy stuff and gets everywhere.


but after many buckets of clean water, the glass tiles shine though yet again and the black grout looks great.


After applying some plastic trim it was now time to mix some grey grout and have a go with that. It is a bit grittier than the black but nowhere near as messy.


Underneath the arch has been lined with white faced hardboard.


Still not sure how the underneath of the arch is to be finished off - we have a few ideas but nothing has been set in stone yet.


Should get most of the grouting finished tomorrow although there is still a tile to be fitted round one of the sockets over the work top.