Definitely ethernet everywhere. I also ran some building type string (?) with all cables in case I need to run more another time.
I didn't do the renovation on mine (bought already renovated) so couldn't get network cables everywhere without ruining brand new carpet. Thankfully due to it being rewired homeplugs work very well where needed.
Sockets and light under the stairs, in the meter cupboard if indoors (I've got my satellite receiver and cables coming into there), in the attic. Sockets both sides of the bed. On the chimney breast with cable management if you like TVs there.
Haha, oh dear. Have you plastered some houses down here too? :) Plasterers make it look so easy.
Aye, I'm not bad at most DIY jobs (though I try to avoid anything with live electricity) and plastering's always been something that eluded me. I wonder if I could do a part time course in it on an evening? The cost of that would massively offset what I'd need to pay a plasterer to sort out our house.
I'm sure a course would help, but I'll suspect experience is worth a lot more.
Also don't skimp on the preparation work.
I'd agree with Kos. Do a course then practise on other people's walls and ceilings :)
Heh, not a bad idea. I was having a word with the guy we got in to plaster one of our attic rooms, and he said it takes about a years worth of experience to get good with a trowel (Possibly John).
So you'll have to practise for a year on other people's houses then do your own :)
My brother's got pretty low standards, I'll nip round his.
In the past I've chased cables into walls and patch plastered over the top of those. I'm pretty good at getting a neat finish if the channel/hole is thinner than the width of my tool (NJ).
When we had our extension done, I asked the electrician to do a simple move of a socket away from where a radiator was going.
I got home to find what looked like somebody had pushed porridge by hand into a badly chased trench. The new socket was at least 10 degrees skewed and at the other end was a blanking plate with one corner UNDER the porridge/plaster.
There was a builder working there and he could hardly stop laughing. The 'apprentice' had done it. I had to dig the whole mess apart and do it again properly before it set. I checked all the new wiring after that. There were some interesting choices like chasing a couple of back boxes into blockwork which had the frame for plasterboard fitted instead of surface mounting (i.e. when it was all in place the last sparky in had to use ridiculously long screws to fix the frontplates on) but it mostly looked good (and they signed it off).
:-&
It's bonkers what some people think they can get away with. However, I think the blame can partly lie with the homeowner too. Our kitchen is a cellar conversion that the previous owners had done. When we looked round before buying we'd asked if it was tanked and a pump installed, to which the guy said yeah and the pump's under the sink - we stupidly thought no more about it, getting distracted by the rest of the house. Turns out the kitchen is tanked (though some cupboards are still a tad damp) and the pump is a saniflow unit to get the sink/dishwasher drain water back to ground level. (fail) No idea why he didn't question it when they put it in.
So, we're saving for a new kitchen, those problems not withstanding it's just been poorly put together, skirting boards just butted up to each other at corners (no mitre-ing) backs of cupboards cut out to accomodate gas/electricity meters, wonky cupboards. We got the house in an unseasonally warm September, come the time to turn the heating on we found that the kitchen radiator wasn't getting even a tiny bit warm - it hadn't been balanced properly, so God knows how long he'd not had heating down there for.