Author name: jenjones

What we thought We understood that it was more complicated to lay and would take ages. What we weren’t aware of was how different entrances could have different requirements and it took some investigating to determine what would be most suitable on each occassion. Lessons learned Often the house or the room isn’t completely straight […]

Electrical refit So we always knew we’d need the whole house refit with up to date specifications and building regs in relation to electrics. What we didn’t know whas how was the regulations changed and what happened when the build work took so long that this creates a whole heap of new problems. What went

What a Victorian staircase should be.. When you first look around a house, there are many things to take in and one of those that might not be at first obvious is how the staircase has been abused over time and how difficult these DIY bodges might be to fix. This is what I wish

Just want you want to know is in your house.. So we’re not entirely sure how they got in in the first place but it’s definitely to do with the building work we were having done and gaps around steel beams that were not filled by the builders.  It’s likely that they crawled up from

Non standard windows Some of these were surprisingly simple, others were a nightmare. Read on for our experience of the various types of window we purchased and the impact it had. There’s almost an endless supply of options for dormer windows, you can do long / short, narrow / wide, eye level only, juliet balconies..

Bifold patio doors Sound the dream don’t they? They can be. But it’s not as simple as just choosing the size and material you want. 1. The walls have it What we didn’t realise and our architect and builder neglected to mention (until it was too late thanks to a diamond edged blade) was that

From the start of our efforts to try and restore the abused Victorian house back to it’s former glory, it was always a non negotiable that we would try and restore the sash windows and that they had to be wooden rather than uPVC. The existing poor quality and clearly cheap windows had been fit

The builders have left Turns out it is currently the worse time in quite some years to be doing house renovations given many traders have left the country due to a combination of Covid and Brexit and those who remain being in incredibly high demand due to everyone under the sun also trying to do

Just wanted to share an update on the house situation and some of the things that we have learned along the way. Deliveries can be a nightmare We ordered the two bathroom suites which were arranged for delivery but when we managed to get to the house to check some time later they were missing.

The build work is moving at a snail’s pace due to various factors, including the rising price of materials and a lack of tradespeople. Our builder said they had lost many of their team which was making progressing any of the builds, including ours, difficult. They have managed to get someone in to further the