Author: Jackdaw

After quite a bit of shopping around and over & back we finally settled on a supplier for our bedroom wardrobes, hall wardrobe and kitchen cupboard units downstairs.

We’ve opted to go with Limerick-based Slide Glide for a combination of cost and selection.  They were one of the few companies who could supply the door finishes we wanted, custom manufacture for the kitchen shelving units and a range of flexibility that was unmatched elsewhere.

There were a few little niggles with shelves & rails being slightly out of alignment but a few return visits fixed the majority of the problems and the shelves are now complete.  The biggest problem was getting silicone buffers on the sliding doors as we had ordered them but when the doors were delivered they came with a fabric/fur strip.  Apparently the  white door profiles we chose do not come with a silicone buffer.  A bit of DIY was required to remove the strips & backing glue and then trimming standard silicone beading with a stanley knife and glueing it onto the door with clear adhesive.  The finished result is not perfect but close enough.

Now we can empty the last of the boxes, suitcases and hang up all the clothes at last!!

We have to fit the skirting boards (with openings for the kickspace heaters) in the bedrooms and hall wardrobes and a fair bit of paint/plaster touch-up around the edges will also be needed to finish the job.

 

With the completion of the floor and stairs by Tower Carpets we were able to fit the bedroom and bathroom doors which we’ve had in storage for months from (IP&M).

As the Pergo floor is floating on a thin insulating mat and not fixed to the subfloor it requires the fitting of a skirting board to cover the board edges and give a finish to the floor.

The bevelled skirting boards in painted MDF are used throughout the upstairs and are mitred around the openings as the skirtings are about 7mm deeper than the Lebo Door frames.

It took about half a day to fit the 4 doors including some trimming of door frames of the two bathrooms to allow for door sills and height differences between the timber and tile floors.

The skirtings have all the nail holes filled and just need a final few bits of filling & caulking and a coat of paint to complete the landing. Skirtings in the bedrooms are awaiting the installation of the wardrobes.

After two months of a delay we are finally getting the floor fitted upstairs.

The floor is a manufactured laminate board by Pergo in Sweden – http://www.pergo.com/en-gb/Consumer/Home/

We chose a timber oak effect in a pale grey colour called Greige Oak which should compliment the exterior larch timber cladding boards when they weather in a few years.

The Pergo floor system also includes stair nosings in matching colours which allow us to run the timber all the way down the stairs to the ground floor.

The floor is being installed by Tower Carpets in Limerick who also installed the rubber tile flooring in our ensuite bathroom.

With the blinds complete the final part of the Living Room build is now underway.

Using white oak planks supplied by Corell Timber I am building a large ledge along 2 sides of the room under the windows.

The side facing the patio will have a number of sections that open on top to store timber for the stove and the TV.  The west facing shelf will be solid but will have a few open sections underneath to store other bits & pieces.

With all the steel pulleys buried in the walls a few months ago it has taken some time to work through assembling the rest of the system. The plastic-coated steel wires and second timber rail with pulleys have been hanging in the windows for weeks now awaiting the final stage.

With the seven custom blinds supplied by Stella Blinds in Eastlink Business Park in Limerick and about 120 metres of 3mm blind cord bought on eBay and strips of aluminium from James Healy in Eastlink Business Park (www.jameshealy.ie) we were ready to put it all together.

Threaded the blind cord around the pulleys before pulling the timber rail up into the wall opening and fixing the steel wires onto a hook inside the opening. Hopefully I’ll never have to bring that system down again but it is there in an emergency.

I glued the blind fabric to the aluminium strips, drilled holes in either end of the strip and passed the blind cord through the strip. All safely tied off I can now pull the blind right up into the opening. Fixing cleats to the poles with screw & glue means I can tie off the blinds at whatever position is required.

The final phase will be to cut out slots in 12mm ply sheeting which will cover the underside of the window opening which will hide all the insulation, structural timbers etc. and just let the blinds rise & drop.

All the cleats, pulleys, eye-plates etc. were sourced from a great UK website GS Products (www.gsproducts.co.uk)

With 2 pourings .. the foothpaths and ramps are now completed and ready for foot traffic!

Joe McNamara who completed the foundations, rainwater drainage, wastewater and sewage systems was also responsible for the footpaths.

His work is exemplary and the finish on the ramps and path around the house is very good.  He was also able to provide some good suggestions on the detailing and finishing of the path around the steps and storage container we have onsite.

With the ramp in place, we are now wheelchair accessible and had our first visit from mother OSullivan to the house on the weekend.  By all accounts the house meets with her approval – thank goodness!

Just in time for summer the STOVE is finally installed and operational.  We won’t get to really put it through its paces for a while but it looks fantastic in the room.

We purchased a Jotul wood-burning stove and flue kit from Murphy Heating in Kinvara.  It has taken us some time to get the correct adapter to fit the twinwall flue into the top of the stove.  After a couple of false starts where the wrong adapters were sent we finally managed to get a correctly sized adapter. Last week it arrived and we were ready to install it.

We had the expertise of Peter Molony (plumber, gas and stove installer) and his ladder which was essential to assemble and position the 6 metres of flue.  It was a slightly precarious activity to lift the sections of flue into place, clip them together and finally fit the ceiling plate.

A spray of stove paint to cover any exposed chrome and scuffs and scratches and the flue was complete.

Now that we are nearing completion the footpaths and ramps are now ready to be poured around the house.

We’ve a path running around the house with a ramp from the car park up to the porch & hall door for ease of access.  There are also 3 steps which will take you around the front of the house to the patio area in front of the living/dining room area.

We are leaving a 500mm gravel drainage area all around the perimeter of the house to enable drainage of rainwater from the walls and paths to easily soak away.  All the traps and gulleys from the sinks and appliances are located in the gravel area also.

Finally .. after a few partial attempts we have our gas hob working.

We had it fitted by Peter Molony a local certified Gas Installer who fitted the pipework in the kitchen and all the associated regulator, pipes and brackets for the two cylinders outside.

The cooker is made by Steel Cuisine of Italy and is their budget model .. the Party!!
http://www.steelcuisine.co.uk/partycookers.html

Looking forward to cooking our first bit of food  …. just have to decide what it will be.