The Morecambe DIY Project

[accykeef]

Been combining DIY, the day job and the TT for the last few days so not had much time for updating the thread.

A bit of painting - this time black


just to finish off the trim


thought grey might look OK but turned out to look like it had only been undercoated. The metal panel needs to be black


no sooner said than done



and now the moment you have all been waiting for - time to fit thr floor.
staple the underfelt first


test fit


and from another angle, this click stuff is not as easy to use as the T&G stuff. It cannot always be lifted up as required


should have removed the skirting instead of trying to be clever


I don't think that piece will go in with the skirting in place.


It is very easily chipped, fortunately it is on an unused piece.


That is test fitted but not joint sealed yet


3 pieces had to be joined together and then slid forward into place


I was realy up against it now as I had to get it down and into position before the glue set


no mean task when the skirting had to be removed before the rest would go into place.


It looks good with a piece of the old skirting board left off but there is a hole in the floor. Time for a bit of invisible mending - Mother - pass the sewing kit. Well it will have to wait till later.


Meanwhile - the extra cupboard doors have arrived - that is the good news, unfortunately one of the doors has a scratch on it. It came wrapped in a lot of cling film so it must have been damaged when it left the factory.


it is quite a deep gouge and the suppliers are happy to replace it.


The service from Homestyle at Wigan has been fantastic.

As an aside, I have encountered some of the worst service imaginable from a combination of Maplin Electronics and Fedex Parcels.

Let me set the scene, we are going to print a load of pictures and make several collages for the kitchen and hallway. Now - for this we need laminating wallets and managed to track some down at what appeared to be the right price. I added a ream of copier paper to the order to save paying postage on the order.
They were ordered on Saturday 25th May on a next day delivery. OK, I know they don't deliver Sunday or the Bank Holiday Monday so expecetd them Tuesday. Tuesday came and went and I pretty much forgot about them as I was busy doing other stuff. It got to Thursday night and I checked with the tracking service to see what had happened to the parcel.

Apparently, they had attempted to deliver it on Tuesday 28th and left a note. That is all very well but I didn't go out that day as I was working around the house and there was no post at all and certainly no card. Contacted Maplin, they said they would check with the carrier and would get back to me, they emailed me back on Friday saying that for some reason, the carrier had not been sent our full address. I expected that the carrier would have contacted Maplin and got the address and delivered the parcel on Wednesday 29th but no.

Several emails were sent to Maplin, each with an increasing level of humour and disbelief on my part that such a simple act of delivering a small parcel could be so monumentally cocked up. I giot an email on the Saturday telling me that the order would be delivered on Monday. Monday came and went so I contacted Maplin, cancelled the order and asked for a refund. Tuesday came and Fedex turned up at the door with the parcel. I asked the driver if he had attempted to deliver it the previous week and he was very evasive. Our full postal address appears on the label, not once but twice so someone was pulling our plonkers over this.
I emailed Maplin to say we had recieved the order and would keep it to save the additional hassle of trying to return the parcel. The package had remained unopened up until now but I was clearing some paper to the bin and thought I would get rid of the padded envelope at the same time.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the pacakage and the paper just fell out like this.


My rather terse email to Maplin resulted in a free ream of paper, I would rather they just operated like they did 30 years ago. I used to deal with them a lot back then for electronic bits and pieces. I will not be dealing with them again any time soon.

[accykeef]

Is it me or is this forum getting a bit unreliable - ie. Page Not Found bla bla!

A few finishing touches still remain. Looking at this shot it is hard to see where the wall ends and the floor begins.


Executive decision - get rid of the extra bit of skirting board trim thingy. Looking better already


Kick boards added but the bit under the oven needs more work.


I had some spare holes in the garage so thought they may look good under the oven to aid ventilation.
Still needs painting black of course


The invisible mending is partly finished but will look better when I paint the grain back in. - No - I am serious - watch this space. There is a bit of filling to be done but it is getting there.


More painting required before the side kick board and the routed edge of the chunky skirting look right. None of this is fixed into place yet

[trevnhil]

Well Keith. I have reviewed all the most recent pictures and it will be really good when it is all finished.
I know the flooring is still to be sorted out, or even maybe it is yet to be decided upon.
No doubt that Mrs Keefy will relish working in there and be only too glad to bring you drinks and snacks upstairs when you tackle the bedroom

Regards. Trev..

[accykeef]

The floor is down but still requires finishing off - I am sure that this weekend will see a big improvement.

[trevnhil]

Weekend !!! It's only Monday.

[accykeef]

A lot of day job work to catch up so not much time for DIY.

[accykeef]

I had run out of excuses so this weekend has been a DIY weekend - the nice clean garage is a pleasure to work in but unfortunately, it is not clean any more - ah well.

First job was to fit the last remaining kitchen door. The delay has been, not knowing how the cupboard was going to work but the design is well under way and it requires a door. We toyed with the idea of having the door made with ribs, to match the others but the ribs would only be about an inch wide and we decided they would look silly. There is a plan to put something on the door but watch this space.


The other job was to make the racks for the pans etc. which, since fitting the new units, have all been piled in that cupboard in an untidy heap.

The racks all need sanding, and gluing and yes Trevor that piece of dowel needs cutting to length. I thought it a good idea to strengthen that corner in case one of us old people need to lever ourselves up.

[trevnhil]

You could have tried to make us of the little up-stand of dowel. A piece of string on the car keys and loop it over the top. No, you have no need to thank me, these inspirations come as standard.

The shelves certainly make all the pans accessible, without having to lift one out of another and so on like a Russian doll.

When you get to my age you do need a little leverage to arise from the kneeling position.

Good luck with the bedroom.

Trev..

[accykeef]

A prototype of the pull out holder for the large utensils today. The side panel has been removed in order to access the screws holding the support shelf.


This is in the closed position


The front part pulled out.


and both sections fully out.


We are going to see how it performs for a few weeks and make any changes in utensil position we see fit. Then I may make it again out of the brushed steel MDF or may just paint it - not sure.

Another job was the small utensil drawer but that is still drying in the dining room - watch this space.

[trevnhil]

It is certainly a good idea Keith. It keeps all the utensils nice and tidy but out of view. And they are certainly handy to get at.

Trev..

[accykeef]

Busy busy at the moment with various things but just time to laminate the labels for the Kilner jars and stick them on. There is evidence of bread baking in the background too. The smell in the kitchen was yummy.


Here they all are in their rightful places. Looking at this picture reminded me that I finally put the digital scales in place last week. The only problem is, they switch on whenever you turn on the main light - very odd.


We have a lodger staying with us for the Winter. It took up residence in our toilet when the weather started to turn colder. Can't blame it for being there as it has chosen one of the warmest rooms in the house.


We will have to see if it survives unscathed but it is well out of the way apart from if Mrs Keef decides to do a big clean. It should be safe, it is a long way off August.

[trevnhil]

Interesting dialogue that I have read, but I can't see the pictures again. When I came to the forum I was logged out. So I have logged in, logged out and logged in again. I still can;t see the pictures.

I will see what happens tomorrow

Trev..

PS, I can see Peter's pictures. I right clicked on the word 'Image' and got 'NOT FOUND ERROR 404'

[accykeef]

Not sure what is happening there Trev - Pics are displaying here OK - perhaps someone else could confirm.

[mpprh]

I can see the pics.

Curiously, last year Trevor could see the pics, but I couldn't ?

[trevnhil]

I have tried again this morning with both Firefox and Chrome. Nothing. If I right click and then try to open image I get Error 404 not found

Trev..