How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Done for the weekend.

3 Attachments

I just gave one a gentle rub with a damp rag and it didn't disappear...

I guess my real question is - if they are cracks (and I think they are) is there any good reason they'd have silicone or some thing similar on them, or is it a case that the builders saw the crack and applied the silicone and hoped I wouldn't notice?

Try a solvent. It does look like glue/silicone. It's unlikely to be a filled crack, that would be some shithousery.

If I run a finger nail over it it definitely feels like a crack

Not good. I had some deep scratches on a sheet of glass that was installed, fortunately they did replace it after I pointed it out, hopefully you'll get the same resolution. Pain though.

It's fixed in place behind fresh plaster - the whole window unit will need replaced. Fuck.

They can just replace the glazing surely?

Idk enough about windows. Is replacing a pane in a triple glazed timber unit straight forward enough?

BTW @Soul your bathroom is coming along quick!

Yeah, frame will stay. Glass comes out. At least that was my experience.

As someone who's had to deal with not enough drop on a wastewater pipe in the past, that bit of flexible white pipe terrifies me 🫣

Is it just temporary to keep things watertight?

Depressing situation.
Basement flooded and drywall was wrecked.
Removed rotten drywall and found big crack in foundation. $30,000 repair, and climbing fast. Also water was seeping in and basement has a lot of disgusting mould.
I have filled a big garbage bin with drywall, 2x4 studs and mouldy fibreglass insulation. Should be able to get the remainder to the dump myself.
In August this was a nice finished basement with my home gym, laundry room and huge spare bedroom.
It’s wild how life can drop stuff like this on you out of nowhere.

1 Attachment

It’s from the previous install. Don’t worry, it will change when the cistern arrives.

Seems to be. Let’s see what happens next week.

Oof, that’s rough.
About 30 years ago we had the exterior foundation excavated down to the non existent weeping tiles (surprise!). Tiles were put in, the walls had 2 inches of SM insulation added, the whole thing was waterproofed, and then river rock was added as fill up till just under ground level.
All this to say that our basement is unfinished (we ripped all the sketchy shit out when we moved in) and we have cracks similar to yours that haven’t changed or leaked in all that time.
Make sure the outside pressure from clay is mitigated if it hasn’t already been.

Phew! Otherwise looks like good progress!

Has anyone built a staggered stud wall for soundproofing? Any insight into whether they are compliant with building regs in the UK? I'm also intrigued as to whether they can have noggins.

Ali Dymock of garden room fame added a soundproof layer to one of his rooms.

https://youtu.be/F_brIL4DwDQ

I'll be joining this thread, this lot is going in over the next couple of days. So much stuff!

1 Attachment

Getting there. Pocket door hardware went off n today, boxed out middle section done and everything boarded.

Tiling tomorrow. Floor and most walls in white. Left hand wall behind bath and two shower walls, pink. Grey grout to match ‘marble’ color.

4 Attachments

@Soul bathroom looking good! Is there some sort of tanking/moisture resistant board going on or is that already moisture resistant board around the shower, or is that not even a thing thats needed?!

That's going on tomorrow. I believe it's a painted on waterproofing thing (technical term).

@gillies did you figure out whether that was a crack or not? We had some weird marking on some velux's that I was convinced were cracks, but I carefully ran a stanley blade over the marks and they were silicone/something hard that then scraped off.

Advice please - need to work out how to finish the back of what is now a peninsula (replacing the temporary ply). The original plan was just to fit a matching gloss white panel at the back but builder reckons he can't source one tall enough.

If we did that we were going to later fit some kind of raised breakfast bar to match the depth of the wall we knocked through and to act as a sort of splashback to stop me knocking the fairy liquid onto the floor, as per the second image, but not sure how straightforward that'll be to do.

2 Attachments

it actually was silicone, thankfully! It had hardened which is why I thought it was a crack initially. What a relief!