Category: scrapbook

Scrapbook: Polished concrete floors

January 2, 2013 / stephen

Polished concrete floors tend to be found more industrial and retail settings, but are becoming increasingly popular in residential situations. When you consider their practical nature, you can start to see why. Alternatives such as floor tiles are often very expensive. I have struggled to find information on potential suppliers based here in the UK – let alone try to find someone who is relatively local!

Polished concrete floor

HTC Superfloor – www.lazenby.co.uk

Here’s some example floor finishes below. Unfortunately, from a company in Australia – but it does show the different colours that can be achieved. If only, I could find someone in the UK that can deliver a similar range of finishes.

Scrap book: Windows

December 10, 2012 / stephen

I guess one of the first questions is around wood vs plastic. There is a certain snob value about the windows being wood, but modern plastic (uPVC) windows have come along way especially since they are available in colours other than white!

Coloured uPVC windows. In many of the older properties in this area the windows are increasingly cream or a sort of duck egg blue. Both of which are a vast improvement on white!

Go for Class A – these are the highest rated in terms of energy efficiency. The rating system works the same way as it does for fridges and freezers. Windows like fridges used to be only available in white, but things are changing.

The windows need to be airtight. We know the wind rattles around the property when the weather is bad, particularly at the front of the property. In our current house, the wooden windows and frames (although relatively modern) don’t really fit that well and you can feel a draft inside when the wind gets up.

Since we are planning on using underfloor heating, the insulation of the property is important and making sure that the windows fit is a good starting point!

http://eygwindows.co.uk/

Scrapbook: Ventilation and Heat Recovery

December 4, 2012 / stephen

www.villavent.co.uk
www.thermsaver.co.uk

Scrapbook: Stone flooring tiles

December 4, 2012 / stephen

Here are some examples of flooring tiles. It would have been good to have kept all the original flagstones, but they are probably to rough and ready. Maybe there is a locally sourced alternative that has a finer finish.

Tuscany Travetine tiles – www.quornstone.com

Limestone tiles – www.floorsofstone.com

Scrapbook: Contemporary log stoves

December 4, 2012 / stephen

I have started a set of pages that I am going to label up as “Scrapbook”. These are pages with photos and links to websites where I have been interested in their products. I will update them as I come across new products, but thought these might be useful for others.

So I am going to start with contemporary log stoves – nothing rustic about these – something clean and stylish for the main living space. There will be underfloor heating, so this is really just to top up the temperature a bit on the colder days.