Weekly update 24.01.2016

Can you believe it... today is exactly one year since we moved in!!

Progress on the house has been limited this week due to a bit of a sore back... not sure how it happened, but I suspect that lifting the dishwasher had something to do with it!!

With last week's plumbing antics out of the way, I was able to get on with putting the flooring back down in bedroom 3.  I've tried, wherever possible, to re-use the existing materials as I only have a few sheets of new chipboard and don't want to have to buy more.  The chipboard panel that I'd temporarily put down by the radiator when it was installed had several oversize cutouts along the wall edge so I set about repairing these rather than cut a whole new board to fit.

By setting the router bit to exactly half the depth of the board, I was able to rout out a ledge around each cutout.  I then cut some pieces from a scrap of chipboard and routed corresponding ledges on these.

Where necessary, these in-fills were then shaped to clear the radiator pipes.

With the main chipboard sheet screwed into place, the infills were glued into position using PVA and sawdust was rubbed into the joins.  Once dry, they were lightly sanded for a neat finish.

I then continued across the room, re-fitting the original boards where they were good enough and replacing with new chipboard where they were not.

The floor of bedroom sits several inches below the half landing and there is a timber doorstep which protrudes into the room. This was getting quite loose and the timber fascia which sat below it had seen better days too.  Previously, this step had been poorly covered with carpet which was tacked down to the floor and looked a bit odd.

I had an old 25mm MDF window board in the shed so decided this would make a nice new step. The old step was a bit stubborn so, in the end, I cut it through using the Sonicrafter and levered out the two sections.

Prising off the fascia board revealed a rather inadequate timber batten.

This was also levered off and the brickwork cleaned up.

A new piece of C24 joist timber was cut to length, planed to height, drilled and countersunk ready for screwing to the joist.  I opted to use four hefty 3.5" number 12 screws as this will need to make a strong support.

The strip of joist timber that I'd previously cut off was just the right size to use as a supporting batten along the top edge. I trimmed this using the electric plane and screwed it in place along the top edge of the joist. This will provide a straight edge up to which to plaster.

The area below was then filled using a piece of 9.5mm plasterboard, cut to size and glued using grab adhesive. Drywall screws were used to pull it into position whilst the adhesive sets.

The MDF window board was then cut to size, holes drilled and countersunk ready for fitting. I have not fitted it at this stage as I will skim the board below with plaster once the adhesive sets.

Jacqui has continued to work on the bathroom blind and has been busy sewing the curtains for the living room and dining room.

So, that's all on the house this week, but the Tuesday evening craft nights are proving productive... should have plenty of gnomes and snowmen ready in time for next Christmas!!

Weekly update 17.01.2016

So, picking up where we left off last week, the new dishwasher element duly arrived from Amazon on Monday. As I'd hoped and expected, although it was advertised as being for a Hoover Candy dishwasher, it's absolutely identical to the one on the Bush machine so was a fairly straightforward swap. Having discarded the single-use pipe clips, I used conventional jubilee clips to secure the rubber hoses.

I ran the washer through the service programme and noticed that the new element was heating the water, but only intermittently. Investigating further, I could hear a microswitch randomly clicking on and off and deduced that it was the heater pressure switch that was cutting in and out. I figured there could be a couple of reasons for this: either the water pump wasn't producing enough pressure to keep the switch closed or the switch itself was faulty. I took a punt on the cheaper option and ordered a replacement pressure switch from eSpares. This is mounted on the back of the same rubber hose assembly as the heater element so a little more difficult to access.

The new pressure switch arrived within a couple of days and was duly fitted, again secured using a standard jubilee clip.

Running the service programme again proved inconclusive, so I ran it through a couple of full wash cycles and initial indications are good. On the strength of this, I've reassembled the washer and re-installed it.

Four more full wash cycles and it's looking promising... fingers crossed!!


Sooooo... back to the day job... plumbing to be precise. The central heating flow and return pipes from the boiler run directly under the floor of bedroom 3 so, before replacing the old floorboards I wanted to install the heated towel rail in the bathroom as this will connect into the circuit at this point. The pipes will run down through the ceiling into the lobby and then through the wall into the bathroom. I therefore thought I might as well install a small radiator in the lobby too as the pipes will be right there and, in any case, this end of the house is currently unheated.

I started by drilling the six fixing holes in the bathroom floor, making good use of the 8mm diamond grit drill bit to get through those rock hard tiles.

The upper mounts were then screwed to the wall and, with the towel rail temporarily in position, the pipe holes were marked and drilled through the skirting.

 Inevitably, there was some damage to the plaster in the lobby where the drill bit burst through.

The damage was quite deep in places so I started by filling it with a bit of cement mortar mix. A couple of pieces of plastic pipe were used to maintain the hole positions.

Skimming plaster was then applied and, whilst it was drying, the radiator brackets were fitted and levelled.

Because the radiators and towel rail are fitted back-to-back, the plumbing took a bit of careful planning. After considering several options, I figured that this layout would produce the neatest solution. I've included a drain cock on the return leg so that it can be drained for maintenance.

 With the radiator temporarily in place on the brackets, the plumbing could commence...

I started by soldering up the lower sections which 'T' off through the wall into the bathroom...

...then the radiator tails.

A quick check for alignment...

I soldered as much of the pipework as possible in-situ in order to maintain alignment. The wall was protected using a double layer of aluminium foil and a fire-proof soldering mat.

I repainted the wall and skirtings before soldering the final joints, taking care not to damage the new decor of course.

...and finally, the new radiator could be fitted and connected up.

The bathroom towel rail was screwed into position and the pipes connected.

The valves which came with the towel rail, whilst traditional in style, were not suited the plumbing configuration so I replaced them with these modern Torino angled valves which allow the copper pipe to fit discretely from the rear.

So, with the towel rail and the lobby radiator now fitted and plumbed in, I turned my attention to making the connections to the existing central heating circuit in bedroom 3. This is run in double wall plastic pipe (22mm and 15mm) with JP Speedfit push-fit connectors. I'd not used this technology before so it was a bit of a learning curve. I'd managed to retrieve a few offcuts of 22mm and 15mm plastic pipe from the bin when the system was originally installed last spring so just needed to equip myself with the necessary assortment of connectors, oh and a tool for cutting plastic pipe. Screwfix to the rescue once again!

At first sight, the JP Speedfit system seems a bit cumbersome - each piece of plastic pipe has to be terminated with a reinforcing insert before being inserted into its respective connector. The connectors themselves are quite bulky, but I have to say it all goes together really quickly and the joints are very secure. After draining down the radiators, I cut into the flow and return pipes at convenient locations and assembled the new pipework onto the two copper pipes which I had previously fed through the ceiling (at the far right of the furthest joist).

Before refilling the system, it had to be treated with a dose of inhibitor. I chose the Screwfix own brand and also bought a filling kit.

The filler simply screws into any of the radiator access holes, either where the blanking plug fits or the air bleed valve. The other end attaches to the bottle and the contents are then squeezed into the empty radiator... simples!

So... with all the valves and connections checked for tightness, I set about filling and pressurising the system. I steadily increased the system pressure to just over 1 bar and there were no signs of leakage. I went round the house and bled the air out of each of the radiators and all was well. On the strength of this, I switched on the boiler and fired up the central heating. I left the heating running for a few minutes and another check revealed no leaks.  However... as soon as I opened the valve on the new radiator, there was a sudden and substantial ejection of hot water and steam from a joint in the copper pipe just below the lobby ceiling!  Quick action was called for, so I switched off the boiler, shoved the hose pipe on the drain cock and released the water out of the system into the bath. Meanwhile, Jacqui held sheets and towels over the pipe to soak up as much as possible until the water level had dropped sufficiently.

A bit of a puzzle this one... the pipe was fine when the system was pressurised. It was only after the heating had been on for a while and the radiator valve opened that the joint failed. My guess was that there must have been a slight weakness in the solder joint which was fine whilst the water was cold, but was disturbed when the hot water flowed through it, expanding the joint. I temporarily capped off the rest of the central heating circuit so we could continue to heat the house, drained down the offending section of the system and left things overnight to dry out.

The following day, I carefully de-soldered and removed the elbow for forensic examination. There was a slight deformity evident at the very end of the pipe and, whilst the solder had flowed round the majority of the pipe, there was a small but clear section by the deformity where it hadn't made contact. It's amazing how much water can escape from such a tiny fracture when it's under a lilttle pressure!!

Rather than risking a repair of the existing assembly, I soldered up a new top section and fitted this to the rest of the pipework. I re-attached the plastic push-fit connectors and re-dosed the system with another bottle of inhibitor. The system was then re-filled, pressurised, bled and tested. There were a few nervous minutes waiting for it to get up to temperature, but pleased to report that (so far) there have been no further leaks!

Weekly update 10.01.2016

And now for something completely different!  With the bathroom nearing completion, I turned my attention to bedroom 2. As with all the rooms, the floor of bedroom 2 needed a bit of work. Firstly, the concrete hearth from the old fireplace was badly crumbling.

I could have dug out all of the old concrete and boarded across, but decided it would be better to just replace the damaged section with fresh concrete...

...so, out with the old...

...and in with the new. I left it a few millimetres lower than the floorboards to allow space for a thin cement screed once the concrete was set.

I then took up all the loose floorboards which had previously been lifted to facilitate the cabling and plumbing.

Sheets of 18mm T&G chipboard were then cut to fit the spaces and screwed down firmly using Spax flooring screws.

On Saturday, the new 18mm MDF floorboards were delivered. At 4.4m long it was a challenge to find somewhere suitable to store them so, for now, they are in bedroom 3 with the excess protruding out onto the top of the staircase!  Health and Safety... what's that?  The bedrooms will be fitted out with the 5" Torus profile and downstairs we will be using the 6" Ogee profile.

So, with the floor complete in bedroom 2, work could start straight away on the skirtings. The mitre saw is invaluable for trimming the boards to length and mitring the external corners. The internal corners have been carefully contoured to fit the profile using the jigsaw.

The plaster has not been well finished at the bottom of the walls so it has proved troublesome to get the skirtings flush and square. I've used screws to secure most lengths in place and grab adhesive for a couple of the more difficult pieces. The section behind the radiator has had to be fitted in two parts and spliced together with adhesive.

Screw holes are filled using a 2 part wood filler and sanded back to a smooth surface.

A little while before Christmas, the dishwasher decided to develop a fault so, now that the festivities are over, I've taken on the role of domestic appliance engineer! First, I carefully extracted the washer from between the units.

The washer wasn't heating the water so I suspected the heating element had gone (it had also tripped out the main switch on the consumer unit!). I managed to track down a service programme for a similar machine via the internet and so was able to put the washer into test mode. This also indicated a probable fault with the heater element. With the side of the washer removed, the heater element could just be seen through the cut-out in the insulation towards the bottom.

The element was secured to the rubber pipework with single-use bands. I carefully removed these so as to avoid damage to the pipework, disconnected the power cables and extracted the element.

...and here is the offending part removed.

Putting an Ohm-meter across the supply terminals indicates that it's open-circuit so I'm fairly confident that this is where the fault lies. Finding a replacement has proved something of a challenge. An extensive search of the internet turned up nothing for a Bush dishwasher. However, I came across an identical looking element which is for a Hoover Candy machine - it has the same dimensions and the same 1800W power rating so have taken a punt and ordered one... hopefully this will arrive in the week... watch this space!