Skeggsy’s Blog

Appointment with Magnet designer/salesman in Orpington.
Showroom was very slick, lots of plasma screens which is nice- obviously Magnet are doing well. Bit early so browsed around. Almost hit in the head by a piece of wood that flew out of a high cabinet - it did have a sticker on it saying open me so bit sloppy on the health and safety side! Designer/salesman was very pleasant, that is until the end when I said our timescale was 1 year and then he was suddenly very off. That was rather disappointing really. I asked how long they save the quote for and he said they save the quote for one week and that they don’t work to 1 year timescales! He obviously cussed us to one of the other salesmen who meandered round to give us a quick look. Considering how glossy the showroom looks I expected a bit more professionalism but I guess they don’t need our money. Anyway the quote was midway at �5300 after discounts which is ok. They used 20-20 Design software (http://www.2020technologies.com/us-eng/20-20Design/index.aspx) which crashed once and of course he hadn’t saved the design and had to start again.
Started work on the floor, replacing woodwormy joists and laying plywood.
Costs so far:
Joists (3 x 3.6m) �14.59 champion timber
joists (4 x 3.6m) �19.46 champion timber
Plyboard 9 x �9.49 �85.41 wickes
Plywood 3 * 9.99 = 29.97 wickes
screws �2.89

Appointment with MFI Orpington. They used Moben plans to design kitchen.
Process took about an hour. The final price was about �3600. This included about �1000 for fitting.
We thought this rather reasonable especially since MFI are currently outside their sale period but they still offered us half price fitting which would reduce the cost to about �3100. We will wait for the next sale (apparently four weeks in a sale, then four weeks outside sale throughout the year) to get upto 40% off the units - so hopefully final cost will be about �2500 fitted!

Had moben designer in for a quote (http://www.moben.co.uk). He measured up and drew a scale plan of our kitchen. He had some good ideas on the layout of our kitchen which we hadn’t thought of. He even left a copy of the plan. Only concern is the price included a 20% discount which you only get if you take their finance agreement. You can pay the finance company within the first month without incurring any interest charges but this is effectively paying up front before the work is done. Otherwise we really like the red kitchen!
Also visited porcelanosa to get prices for floor tiles.
Considering other options, like idea of importing our own kitchen from Germany!
Dropped into Porcelanosa who supply tiles. They won’t lay floor tiles but suggested Profile Tiling, profile-tiling@blueyonder.co.uk. Apparently they charge approx �25/sq metre.
The tiles we decided on are black and white:
Nova (white) C223102001 �35.37 per square metre inc vat 31.60 x 31.60cm
Turin Antracenta P11122091 �35.37 per square metre inc vat 31.60 x 31.60cm
6 sq metres would cost �212 for the tiles and �150 fitting.
Homebase Art Deco black and white �7.99 for 1m2=�47.94 for 6m2.

Plan of action:
Move hot water plumbing so can knock down larder. Done.
Box in pipes.

Pull up floorboards and replace with 18mm exterior grade plywood. Will need to move ikea cooker unit to complete.
Require 9.5m2 exterior grade plywood minimum 18mm estimate �123.37
Current floorboard thickness is 20mm.
Tile thickness 8mm

Plywood sizes:
1220 x 607 (4 x 2 ft) x 18mm = �9.49 wickes
1827 x 607 (6 x 2 ft(
2440 x 1220 (8 x 4 ft)
Gap between rafters is 33cm/13in.
Strengthen rafters so they can take additional weight of floor tiles. Propose to use bricks placed under rafters.
How many bricks required? Do any rafters need replacing?

Earthbonding
Move dishwasher next to back door.
Knock down larder. Brick up vent.
Remove lead pipes from walls.
Remove old tiles around window.
Get plasterer in.
Paint walls red.