How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

So, I'm at risk of derailing two home-related threads but I've never gotten into this level of stuff before so seeking advice.

Kitchen has just been removed (mainly) and in a couple of weeks the new one will be going in. The guy we were getting to fit a Howdens kitchen is a carpenter mainly, and is in fact building us the units etc from scratch for the same cost as the Howdens design. This is relevant as I don't think he's going to be doing anything beyond putting the units he's made in, and while the room is fine there's a whole bunch of unfinished stuff from the previous owner. I did ask the fitter what we should be sorting out and he didnt really have any suggestions but didn't specify that he would be doing anything like filling, etc. Boiler stuff is all getting boxed in so that doesn't have to be pretty, but I don't want it to be awful either I guess.

An electrician is coming in to sort that side of things out, and a plumber is going to tidy up the pipework which is a bit of a mess.

If you lot were doing this, what would you be doing in the period I now have before the new kitchen and floor is supposed to go in?

We're going to strip the wallpaper and paint the areas that will become hard to reach.

Skirting is a bit shit, mainly not attached, some bits are missing.

Should we give a shit about the bit of wall below the removed tiles? New tiles will be going on, slimline dishwasher and sink in front of the window.

Appliances will be integrated if that makes a difference to how people would approach it.

The render I've added here has been deviated from a bit, but is a reasonable impression of the end goal

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Something like this on the skirting board
You get much cheaper which is what I would get.
Or one more like a paper weight - search for door weight on amazon

We’ve just had to replace an engineered Oak kitchen floor because damp and rot and stuff. Annoyingly, the new one is way thinner than the inherited old one because cost of crisis crunch credit crisis living cost crunch etc.

The old one was horribly abused by being steam mopped and bleach cleaned etc. the new one is light in colour and seemingly relatively untreated. It’s. Currently pristine and I’m keen to do everything I can to protect and preserve it.

Googling oak floor polish is giving me option anxiety. Any tips? I’m tired and suggestible and will do what I’m told. Help please kthnksbye.

Think about socket locations, then add a couple more. Light switches and ceiling light positions - double check where they will be in relation to finished cupboards/doorways (which way will the door open?)

Likewise power for appliances (oven is not just a normal socket etc.) and water in/drainage out for dishwasher etc. A fancy fridge with water thing which needs plumbing in...? i.e. just allow for possibilities - this is the absolute best time to put holes and chases in things before floors and walls get finished.

I quite like the Hoppe stuff, I think they are mainly designed for offices and public buildings rather than homes though:

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/search?query=hoppe+paris&page=2

So we've been having trouble with our builder who did the knock through, he said he's been trying to get building control over for about a month now. I was aware we needed to contact them before starting the job but it all happened too quickly. Well we finally got sick of his excuses and got in touch with them ourselves, we're going to have to pay +50% as a fee for not telling them before which is fun. We know the beam will have to be boarded with fire resistant plasterboard but after it's been inspected. My wife made a friend at work who she told the story to and she recommended a builer that she used. He came around yesterday to have a look at the work, give some free advice or quote for a job if there is one. Turns out the beam will need taking out and resetting, it's not on straight and it's packed right, also when doing the knock through they cut a lintle that was holding a beam that goes under the staircase which is now sitting on a small wall instead so that'll need fixing too. Fun all round really, love chucking money down the drain.

A question, our kitchen is half in a small extension. The original floor is suspended with boards over a gap of about 2 foot, enough for pipes and to crawl through. The extension floor seems to be a shallower suspended area with OSB boards some of which have become rotten. We want to put down engineered wood parquet flooring through the whole ground floor with some kind of underlay on the boards then the engineered flooring on top. The new builder guy was saying because the different types of floor will flex different amounts we should pull up the original floor boards and OSB to replace with ply and they can put insulation underneath at the same time. Does this sound right? Would floors flexing different amounts really cause the engineered parquet to not sit correctly or create gaps? I'm thinking we just replace the OSB area with something more stiff like ply to match the original floor boards.

1 = original floor boards
2 = OSB boards in the extension
3 = ply that was on top of the floor which was tiled

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yeah good shout, we've been trying to put our heads together on the sockets. there's no oven circuit at the moment which is a bit mad. The corner sink has allowed a real rats nest of plumbing so that project is going to be fairly significant I think but just gonna ask the plumber to make it as neat and unobtrusive as possible

I guess 'walls get finished' is kind of where my worries are at. Mainly itll be covered by units, but I think I have to assume that any wall finishing will need to be done by me somehow

Lots and lots of sockets. I put in a 6' stretch of worktop and cupboards and thought I'd gone overboard with 3 double sockets including one with 2 usb ports. Now all 6 plus the usb are in use.

I think the suggestion is about right. You want one consistent sub-floor which won't flex or contract differently and it will allow you to improve the thermal efficiency. It would also give you the opportunity to re-route any pipes or services at the same time. Alternative would be to overboard the original floor boards and build things up that way but wouldn't seem the best option.

None of the trades are going to plan the layout of your kitchen for you the way it sounds, so you will need to think about this.
It might be too late but I would consider not having cupboard on both walls as this will make your worktop space less useful and the kitchen feel more claustrophobic. Again it might be too late but I'd also consider not having a U shaped kitchen but two straight runs. corners in kitchen are a bit of a waste of space and you could get a bigger window (or door) at the end which would let light in and likely wouldn't hugely reduce your storage

As others have suggested plan your switches for appliances - draw this out where will micro, toaster, kettle etc go and then ad-hoc items. Think about how easy it will be to get to your services, so shut off valves on pipes which are easy to use. Where is the stopcock and can it be easily accessed. Where will dishwasher go. As you're ripping things out you may as well chase as much stuff into the walls or run it so you're not loosing cupboard space.
Think about what type of lighting you want. I'd suggest under cupboard lighting for your worktop and have that on a separate switch to your main spots, don't go crazy in a room that size.

Sage advice. coz coffee machine innit

Thanks - i was a bit on the fence about chasing in pipework, nothing is hidden away at the moment.

Storage is a major issue for us so any gains are good. This is why the U-shape, the old kitchen didnt have top cupboards on both sides and we have far too many cooking gadgets for that. It's not a big room, we had looked into knocking through to the dining room but it was going to be wayyyy too much project for us.

Luckily there were no major horrors uncovered as the old kitchen came out, although it wasnt attached to the walls. Now I'm scared there was a reason for that and the walls are made of wet cake or something

edit - was @Tenderloin

also interested in this

@sumo my OH is currently having a session a St Albans Dunlem as they are changing over their lighting stock and returns.

Idk if this happens at a similar time at other stores, but if you wanted a lighter hearted job rather than the ordeal above maybe check it out.

Eg a simple hanging black pendant was £3.45.

Thanks everyone for the door stopper suggestions

As someone with no knowledge or experience I’d say 100%. Parquet feels the absolute worst choice for laying on mixed sub floors, as if it was designed to be the worst.

We have quite a similar sized kitchen that we just installed. Actually it's very similar apart from all the colours are reversed! Freestanding fridge freezer is just out of shot on the right.
Yes, corner cupboard are a pain, but our sink was already in this location and I like having a window behind the sink.
We only had one plug socket, so chased in one on the opposite surface before the new units went in. We don't have a microwave, but we still find the odd occasion where a couple of extra sockets at the near end of the long worksurface would be handy.
I don't find the top units annoying, I would if they were over the sink. Under unit lighting is definitely a major plus though.

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Nice! yeah that is remarkably similar. We've actually decided to go with a different colour, dark blue, for the bottom units. Turned out that my understanding of 'sage green' wasn't the same as paint manufacturers, but I am colourblind so this happens with some regularity.

In our old place we had cupboards above the sink and I often broke things while removing them from the sink with too much enthusiasm

Insulation, new subfloor, floor heating, win?

Sorry to hear that, we had to sack our first builder at our last place, it doesn't feel great but if they can't install an RSJ right bin 'em.

I agree with new builder guy. Suspended timber floors are pretty bad at letting cold in, and if you want parquet there's no benefit to keeping the original floorboards, which will be creakier and less solid sub floor than ply. If you don't insulate you'll regret it. Or I would.

Make sure it's done properly though, there's a good guide here:
https://www.ecologicalbuildingsystems.com/post/best-practice-approach-insulating-suspended-timber-floors

Buy the forum approved wooden floor varnish, put on as many coats as budget / partner allows. Then do two more. It's a kitchen floor - high usage, lots of dirt and spills - the varnish will protect the wood from the steam and bleach which you will not be able to avoid using. You don't need to go mad about the rubbing down between coats.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17068236/

We decided to keep and restore the cast iron bath in the end and I'm really glad we did.

Not sure about the colour but time will tell.

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Isn't T&G chipboard the usual goto for subfloor?

Love that

Ply is normally > chipboard if he can afford it, stronger and stiffer for a given thickness. Also less prone to fall apart if it gets damp (see above).

It all depends on the exact usage case though, we're having underfloor everywhere so we're using 18mm T&G cement boards (No More Ply) because they have better thermal and acoustic properties. They're fireproof too. Just more expensive and heavy - I had to unload a half pallet of them yesterday which is half a tonne so that was fun...