German kitchens, British weather and a patio

Kitchens - Possibly the most painful experience of renovating a property. Most show rooms show you a kitchen with a price "All this for £7999" , However when you spec up your kitchen often with less units it ends up costing three times as much. We went to the usual big chains but the prices were scary The kitchens we liked without worktops or appliances were coming in at tens of thousands.

I found a local independent kitchen company called Uno Kitchens near me that only specialised in German kitchens. Now I am a fan of German engineering which is why I went with Grohe bathroom products . I researched into why German kitchens have such a good reputation. The short of it   is that in Germany when you buy a kitchen - that's your kitchen, when you move house you take the ktichen with you. Houses are commonly sold without a kitchen. The second hand kitchen market in Germany is huge. Due to the installation, dismantling when you move, reinstalling again ( and doing this a few times over) German kitchens are built extremely well to with stand this. When I popped into Uno Kitchens I was extremely impressed with the quality of the Schuller kitchens they stocked. Everyone does soft closing doors and drawers now, however the hinges etc in the units were sold and looked very well made. A lot of the high street kitchen companies, have a hardboard back in the cupboards which are held in place by channels around the side of the cabinets. Over time these can warp and fall out, the Schuller kitchens the hardboard was screwed in place.  The kitchens come completely assembled meaning that the builder was able to install the kitchen in around a day. Tina at Uno Kitchens was a great help , giving her expertise and design to come up with a kitchen design we both liked. It's hard to describe but the units are an anthracite gloss grey with a bronze metallic speckle in them. We decided on a galley kitchen with a large island and breakfast bar in the middle. The island will house the gas hob so that we can cook and entertain at the same time. At the end of the row of units along the wall will be a cupboard that will house the boiler and washing machine.  We went with an american style fridge the rest of the appliances we went for integrated. In keeping with the German theme these were all Siemens. Uno Kitchens supplied all the Siemens appliances and managed to beat all prices including online only prices for them.

Due to having big families and often entertaining the wife wanted two single ovens as well a microwave. This left us with a problem,  three appliances look odd in the oven housing units. We need to get one more appliance. A coffee maker was one option- but both us don't drink coffee. Another option was a steam oven- so that's what we stuck in there. I hope we actually use it. We went for a black glass 90cm 5 burner gas hob in the island. 

The whole ordering process was pretty painless and was done over an hour. Anil from Uno Kitchens conducted a site survey then 6 weeks later our kitchen arrived! With the Schuller kitchens, the ktichens are made exactly to your specification . Unlike a lot of the high Street brands where often you need to get the unit which is the closest specification to the size you may need and then have your fitter cut it. 

My builders already included the price of fitting a kitchen in his quote so I went with a supply only option with Uno Kitchens. I was supplied with detailed plans and drawings from which my builder worked from. It was very reassuring that both my builder and the worktop templater commented on how well built the Kitchens were.

For the worktops I went with Chiltern Marble . They were extremely paitent  I had to delay templating 4 times due to delays on the project (we're currently four weeks behind) and made last minute changes (the wrap over near the pillar). My builders didn't prepare the site to the required levels for fitting due to miscommunication however Julie at Chiltern Marble made sure everything was sorted and arranged for the fitters to go above and beyond what they were supposed to do to make sure it was fitted in time.

I went with a 20mm Quartz top. I prefer 20mm over 30mm as I think it looks more modern. Chiltern came in around 35% lower than the three others quotes I recieved. To say I was pleased is an understatement.

Outside the retaining wall has been rendered and the patio has been laid. Tonnes of sand had to be taken in by hand through the house due to losing the side access to the extension. I bought indian sandstone for the patio. The walls will be painted white once we have a dry day!

Bathrooms have all been tiled and I will updated the blog once the showers , sinks etc are installed.

Flooring, heating and installing the ceiling speakers

Heating system is fully installed , tested and working! We started from scratch and ran new piping throughout for both the heating and water supplies. As explained earlier I went with a conventional condensing boiler and radiator set up , the only change to the plan was installing underfloor heating in the new extension.  I was concerned with having a 6 meter bi fold and a large roof lantern that this could leave this area of the extension colder than the rest of the house.

Finally some of the fun bits I want. A big thank you to Simon at Bartlett's Hifi who came round and installed the ceiling speakers .

The picture above shows the speakers which are evenly spaced across the front of where the projector screen will drop from. The TV itself is off centre but this is due to the position of the chimney breast and we had no other options.

Picture below are the four speakers around the dining and kitchen area.  The bathroom and upstairs bedroom have also had the speakers installed.

I am really pleased with the monitor audio ceiling speakers. Visually very unobtrusive and blend in well.

Simon recommended and supplied a Grandview Cyber Screen. I am pretty excited to see this in action. For the last ten years I have just been using cheap screen I bought for £100 from eBay. I opted for the in-ceiling screen so when the screen is not in use it sits flush within the ceiling and you can't see it. The screen size is 8ft. Compared to other projector screens which can retail for several thousands + the Grandview is cheap with a RRP of £1150 it's much , much cheaper than everyone else . It comes with a remote and 12v trigger.


On to the flooring which has all been laid. This alone took 3 days!

A feature wall opposite the chimney breast. Instead of wallpaper we used tiles here. (please note the tiles had just been grouted so were wet round the edges when I took this picture . Once they dry the borders won't be obvious)

The kitchen has also been installed but will update that shortly.

The final straight. Fireplaces and wardrobes .

It's been a while since I've posted. It's been a busy, busy few weeks. We're running a few weeks behind  so to help thing along I roped in a few friends to help with the easier jobs like painting. Thanks so much Stef , Kate and Asid. The whole bungalow has had the first coat of white paint . The entire lounge has had it's ceiling painted in a white sheen too.

Ceiling of the 3rd bedroom/study.

Moving on to what's been going on. The fireplace was installed today.

I contacted a local fireplace store called www.hertsfireplacegallery.co.uk a few months ago. They conducted a site survey free of charge and explained what fireplaces I could choose from to fit my chimney. They also recommended a chimney sweep to sweep the chimney. 

We had to build out the chimney breast. This was done in concrete block where the fireplace would go and plasterboard above. The area was recessed so I can fit a new TV.  With the TV being recessed heat shouldn't be a problem from the fireplace. The reason we had to do build out the chimney breast was because our hole for the fireplace wasn't central to the chimney breast. To keep the chimney breast from protruding too far the builders of the bungalow made a back to back chimney breast. This meant my chimney breast would extend into the neighbours lounge , on the left of the chimney breast and the neighbour's would come into my lounge on the right. The old fireplace was positioned central to the breast but the flue it self was actually located on the left .  A new one would have have to do dead centre to the hole which would mean it would go to the left of the chimney breast. 

I would have to build out the breast to centralise the fireplace. To keep costs down Neil at Herts Fireplace Gallery recommend I get my builder to build out the breast.

If you look above you can see the old breast which wasn't plastered at the time this picture was taken. The old breast won't be obvious as the wall has been made out for sound proofing.  I sent Neil photos of the build as we were making it and he was pleased with it all.

If you look above the fireplace a recess has been cut out for a in ceiling projector screen.

Neil sent one of his guys round today to fit the fireplace. It took just half a day to install. Finally the finished product. Very pleased. The heat doesn't come directly above so I am not worried about the TV at all. 

The pebbles glow a lovely red when the fire is on.

Really pleased with the end result. A big thank you to Neil at Herts Fire place gallery.

Upstairs I have had built in wardrobes installed. As we have lost the walk in wardrobe I had originally planned for due to lack of space we had to have wardrobes in the bedroom instead. I opted for built in to maximise the space.  I chose a local firm called Spacemaker. They came round conducted a site survey and over a cup of tea we negotiated a good price which wasn't far off Ikea prices.

For the interior I have had two rails behind each door apart from the central door which is full height rails for coats, it also has two shelves here too. I opted for white glass sliding doors.

For the other side of the door I opted for mirror doors. I have also had 2 rails put in here to maximise hanging space.

The quality of the wardrobe is second to none. The rails are reassuringly smooth and have a nice soft close mechanism. The carcass is over 30mm thick and feels very , very solid.

Will update throughout the week with the rest of the build.

Security! British Gas safe and secure, soundproofing and updated pictures of the build.

So the final weeks are upon us! a lot is going on all at once so we can finish in time. This week I have taken delivery of a Home security system. I spent quite a bit of time researching the various options in the market for intruder alarms.

System requirements

1Wanted to be alerted when the alarm was triggered
2 Ability to monitor remotely and set alarm- helps in case I forget to set the alarm.
3 Ability to install additional  motion senors , door sensors etc

Wired or Wireless

Wired tends to be more reliable than wireless, however fitting a wired system is best to do when you're redecorating  , or renovating like I am so you can chase all the cables in the wall. Retro fitting a wired system can often be quite a messy task. Wireless technology has hugely improved over the years , and with improved battery performance I was leaning towards a wireless alarm.

A wireless systems were quoted cheaper due to the little amount of time it takes to install.

I contacted a few companies local to me but the quotes were coming in for around £1000- that was with me getting my builders to run any cables first too.

If I wanted to be alerted that the alarm had gone off I was looking at a around £25-30 a month in monitoring fees- this I thought was pretty expensive. Especially because the police would not be called straight away. Someone phoning me to tell me my alarm had gone is no more useful than a text or email.

I looked at ADT, Yale alarms , alarms on ebay etc.

The monthly fees ruled out ADT, Yale didn't have a remote app to set the alarm or check on it remotely. I didn't trust the quality of the alarms on ebay.

I discovered that British Gas have entered the home security alarm market with  , their alarm is called Safe and Secure.


This ticked all the boxes for.

1) Low monthly fee for Text alerts £8- ( If you don't want the text alerts you can save £8 a month)
2) iphone and android app to remotely monitor the alarm and activate / deactivate the alarm.
3) Easy to set up self install this is due to the fact it is also a wireless system
4) Not expensive

So what do you get?

For £199 you get the starter pack

1 hub- this is connected to your router via a cat5 cable. This can be hidden anywhere
2 two motion sensors (these can be upgraded to pet friendly sensors free of charge)
3 2 remote fobs- to turn the alarm on and off, like a car remote . I preferred this over having a keypad on the wall of the hallway like most alarms.
4 Smart plug- you can plug a light/radio etc to into the smart plug and remotely turn it on and off from the app. Smart plug also acts as a signal booster for all the sensors and home plug.
5 - Decoy box- looks like an external siren but doesn't actually make a noise

Optional accessories

External siren
Internal siren- basically deafens intruders
Carbon Monoxide detector
Gas leak  detector
Water Leak detector
Smoke detector
control / panic button

I didn't want a fully monitored service with police response as I am having IP cameras installed inside and have bought CCTV outside which can be remotely monitored. If the alarm goes off, I can remotely see if the bungalow has been broken into via the cameras and call the police myself. The alarm can also email a second person so I can give a family member access to the CCTV and they can see if anyone has broken in too.

I am awaiting for the walls to be plastered and then will install the alarm and go into more details on the interface.

The side extension has finally been tiled - which is good timing with the torrential rain we have had.

Inside the downstairs has been plasterboarded through out. I have wired the cabling for the 5 speakers in the lounge and HDMI cables throughout the lounge.

I have also run the cabling for the lutron keypads and intercom system.

Downstairs lounge ceiling needs to be plasterboarded and then we're ready for skimming! On the home straight.

Below is the study/3rd bedroom which was hard to picture with my phone.

I wanted to soundproof the room. After installing the best part of 20 speakers in the house the last thing I wanted to do was not be able to use it properly. I wouldn't enjoy cranking up the system if I knew the sound was travelling next door and inconveniencing the neighbours.

We only have one wall we share with next door which is the lounge and front bedroom . The extension wall is independent as is the loft dormer wall. The front bedroom will have have a wardrobe along the party wall which will naturally act as a sound barrier.

The main lounge wall was my concern.

To build and effective sound barrier I had to construct a free standing wall, it would mean I would lose about 120mm of my room but as the room is 5 meters wide I didn't see that being a big problem.

I left a 1inch gap from the wall and then had the builders build the stud frame. The frame had to be completely independent from the front wall to make sure sound didn't travel into the wall. The stud frame was filled with acoustic insulation.

Acoustic plasterboard was laid on top of the stud. Green Glue will be then applied to another layer of plasterboard. and then screwed on top of the first layer of plasterboard. Green Glue is a noise proofing compound that is applied using a silicon gun

This should effectively stop sound going through the wall.

I have also bought Hoody speaker hoods for the ceiling speakers. Not only do they help with meeting the requirements of building regulation as they help prevent the spread of fire, but they also prevent noise leaking from the top of the ceiling speaker. This coupled with insulation in-between the ceiling joists and upstairs floor should hopefully help prevent noise leakage.

That's all for now!

We have stairs! plus floor joists and room for a Node Zero.

It's been a busy week. Building control were happy with the drain work. The damp proof course has been laid throughout and the whole extension has had the new joists laid to raise the floor level to the same height as the rest of the floorboards in the existing bungalow.  The dining area and kitchen area of the extension has had the floor beams raised slightly lower than the rest of the bungalow-28mm lower. This is because this area will have wet under floor heating and insulation panels will go here in which the pipes will be laid - bring it to the same level as the rest of the flooring in the bungalow. You can see the insulation panels in the below pic- they are in blue.

With so much space below the floor joists running services below here should be a breeze.

The stairs I am very pleased with the stairs as they take up a lot less room than I originally had thought they would. The stairs will be painted white once the building work is complete and I will have glass balustrades put in.

The roof light above the staircase does it's job very well and floods the stairs with light. Unfortunately the camera doesn't pick this up very well.

The post you see screwed on to the side of the staircase will be removed and was installed temporarily during the install.

The Node Zero will be placed below the first rung of stairs. A node zero is basically where a small server cabinet will be installed. This will house all the audio/video equipment for the house. I have already had BT install a telephone line here so the modem will go in here too.


The stud work has started to go up to make up the bathroom at the front of the house as well as for the study/3rd bedroom.

Finally the first fix for the lighting throughout the ground floor is in. It's full steam ahead as I have to move out of my current place in 3 weeks!

Structural work all done!

Finally all the major structural work has been completed.The window that used to look out from the kitchen (now part of the lounge) to the side of the garden has been taken out. The lintel has been removed and  two RSJs have been installed above to make the opening bigger. The wall below the window has been removed. The opening is now just shy of six foot.

The pillar has  is now 90cm wide. The edge if the island will butt up to the pillar.

The existing door for the bedroom downstairs at the front of the bungalow is accessible from the lounge. Due to noise coming from the lounge etc I wanted to have the door moved to the side and make  it accessible from the hallway. A new opening has been made from the hallway into the bedroom at the front.

As there were two man holes in the area we have built over these have been sealed and new drainage pipes have been laid. A new man hole will be installed at the rear of the garden.

Upstairs the bedroom has been painted and the skirting and architrave has been fixed.

Outside the front entrance has had five steps built up.

Now that all the structural work has been completed. It should be full steam ahead for the inside. Floor joists will be installed and then the first fix for electrics and plumbing will go on. I am awaiting delivery of roof tiles which were out of stock. Once these arrive and installed the bungalow will be fully water tight.