Neph’s new house…
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Lack of updates here, ironically due to being up to my tits in this.
Firstly we had a mare with out painter who totally fucked a plasterboard ceiling, leading to arguments, compensation claims and delays. In amongst that our main contractor badly underestimated the time needed to finish the build.
The original moving in date was May 1st. That was obviously never going to happen so did the builders a favour and extended it by two weeks. Still no dice. So we are now holding back 80% of their fee until we have negotiated damages while giving them a couple of weeks to sort their shit out.
Meanwhile we are moving the contents of our current house into storage as the new owners move in on Tuesday. It is maniac af. The really bad news is that our temporary digs are just awful. Look at this view… ffs
While being a shitshow, there are positives everytime we visit. Rooms are pointed, ceilings installed, parkett is layed and downlights are in.
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Phew…. As many have gatherd this project has turned into a bit og a nightmare over the last few weeks. We are now two months overdue on end of the first part of the project which entailed drainage of the foundation, the extension of the cellar via a supporting wall under an existing first floor extension, structural and room plan changes to the first and second floors as well as all the attendent decorating, and installing a new bathroom and kitchen.
There have been legitimate delays due to unforseen issues, as well as problems with the contractors. We thought the problems with the contractors had come to a head five weeks ago when we basically fired half of them, but then things got weirder. It turns out that the project manager has been embezzling his own company for a while, and ended up clearing all their accounts and selling off shit that wasn’t his. It turned out that a lot of the slow/poor work we had experienced was largely due to him too.
Before all this was revealed he tried to bill us enormous amounts in the promise that it would be used to finish the job in record speed. We smelt a large stinky rat and two days later he was gone after the bank stopped his attempts to sell leased machinery for about 1 million NOK. He’s in the wind now but when found is facing arrest and jail time. Due to Hot Ingrid being a accounting badass, we haven’t lost money at least.
When they heard this, some of the contractors pitched in together and came up with a plan to help us in. Things got moving again as a result, and hopefully we’ll be watching the Euro final in our new lounge on Sunday evening. Here’s how things are looking:
The foundation wall/cellar extention/drainage process:
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In order to rescue the project I’ve taken responsibility for putting right some fuck ups so our trusted contractors could focus on other stuff. This included taking up 15m2 of floor that someone had tried to level out by using levelling cement on top of the old flooring. There are so many things wrong with that I don’t know where start.
When the wall supporting the area was finished I took up the old flooring (now covered in a 4cm layer of cement), adjusted the level of the beams and installed the floor again. It was a long shit job to do alone, but it went well…
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Looks fantastic! Sorry for all the headaches leading up to it
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@Appfaff @Giles thanks gents. It’s coming along so I’m just trying to take it easy, keep my head down and make a little progress each day.
I have a little side project which entails pimping Ikea furniture into a permanent installation that doesn’t look like it consists of Ikea furniture [emoji1] Strangely it is keeping me sane.
I find that treating myself now and again helps too
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Treats works equally well On adults as they do children and small animals
Well played R…
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Sorry to hear about those troubles with the contracting @neph93 but I’m very impressed with your resourcefulness and grit to pull it all together and end up with such a fine looking end product. That flooring and the bathroom look very nice buddy.
Look forward to pics of the final stages!! -
@neph93 I was wondering why there hadn't been many updates recently. I'm sure that one of the immutable laws of the universe is that any major building project comes with equally major difficulties. (I recall a review of Grand Designs, in which the journalist commented that the participants would always have crazy problems, such as having salmon as vermin in their house!)
Glad it's coming together.
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Looking great @neph93!! Way to push through the B.S. hopefully it's all behind you now Sir!!
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Thanks gents! It has been a struggle. Lots still to come too, but it will all be easier when we are moved in. Late summer/early autumn will see new windows and external doors put in and the entire house will get new weatherboards. All of that has to be done so that it meets the standards for historic authenticity [emoji1]
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sorry to hear about that –-- incompetence is a killer
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Really dig it man. I am struggling to picture you ranting and raving at contractors (being the consummate gentleman here on the forum) but then again I’ve never gone through renovation Hell. And I hope you and Hot Ingrid let em have it when they screw up.
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Really dig it man. I am struggling to picture you ranting and raving at contractors…
Thank you sir. I tend not to rant and rave at them, but when I’m livid I will use very stong language in a very calm tone of voice. They get very quiet.
Anyway, things are progressing again which is nice. We are getting stuff moved in and set up.
Temporary TV solution for the entertainment of the kids, while we wait for out new TV to arrive…
Hot Ingrids lamps are installed and out new dining table is in.
