First-time house renovation

jimbugalee

Hey all!

Not sure we got as much done this weekend but it's my favourite weekend so far. Got the new garden furniture .... we look uber posh now! (Maybe if you don't look at the radiators in the garden also?!) Also we actually decorated the bedroom! What a rush ... we move in this weekend so I was determined to get one room done. Painted the skirting, windows etc and our parents kindly papered. We've just put lining paper up for now and going to paint it magnolia hahaha but it didn't cost much and it'll make a huge difference. I already have nice bedroom furniture from when I moved into my flat 6 months ago. Blog updated soon but so busy with work. 6 days and counting till move in eeeeeek.

Jamtart - can you not get grants for cavity wall insulation? We have solid brick walls so haven't looked into it.

We've managed without a skip so far and numerous trips to the dump but we got told the other day we're only allowed 4 bags of rubble every 41 days or something precise like that. Maybe we'll get one soon.....

Shimmyhill

We had our cavity filled, i think it made a difference but guess will find out this winter - mind we have changed the windows and loft insulation so will be hard to judge. Was only £200 so i think well worth it.

We have electricity board round tomorrow to quote on moving the meter from the kitchen to outside - expecting a shock (hehehe)

jamtart6

No grants available for us jim your garden furniture sounds really posh!! Sounds like you have been really busy!! We only needed a skip as we are digging footings for the extension, it is all clay and a total nightmare, my OH has been a saint.

Shimmy - it is expensive to get the meter moved isn't it! Which type of cavity did you have done (I saw polystyrene balls once!) and did they make a lot of mess or crack the interior plaster?

Shimmyhill

jamtart6 wrote: »

No grants available for us jim your garden furniture sounds really posh!! Sounds like you have been really busy!! We only needed a skip as we are digging footings for the extension, it is all clay and a total nightmare, my OH has been a saint.

Shimmy - it is expensive to get the meter moved isn't it! Which type of cavity did you have done (I saw polystyrene balls once!) and did they make a lot of mess or crack the interior plaster?

There should be grants for everyone, ours was 200 odd after the grants.

It was some form of fibre, i will check later (chap has worked on Grand Designs so i was sold ) No cracks or mess, all done from the outside and these days they drill small holes in the mortar joints so hard to tell it has been done !

jimbugalee

Blog updated http://seatonroad.blogspot.com/

jamtart6

thanks jim! will take a look at your blog 2moro!

Have posted this elsewhere on forum but wanted to show you my quotes for fascias, gutters and soffitts...

Our four quotes are:
£1900
£1800
£1100
£995

All of these are like for like quotes. Disgraceful. The £1800 woman tried to make it sound like she was doing me a favour!!

BB1984

Hello! How are you all? I'm ashamed to admit that not only have I not posted for a few weeks, I've also not been following all of your progress...I'll try to catch up soon! I started my new job 3 weeks ago and we don't have internet access (I used to do most of my blogging at work, naughty beth), so I'm restricted on when I can read and update. Also my wedding is now only 6.5 weeks away (eeeeek!) so as I'm sure you can imagine, preparations are ramping up now!
I think the last thing I updated you on was the new front door. Well, we have since done a bit of work in the garden (I'm having a BBQ as part of my hen do, so it needs to be a bit more presentable than it was/is!) - we've got rid of loads and loads of the tree (I think we've done about 15 van trips to the tip so far!) and we're going again this weekend to hopefully get rid of the last of it (until we chop more down, anyway). We ordered a 10'x7' shed from https://www.shedstore.com, even though we weren't ready for it, as it was on offer. It's been sitting in our garden, flat-packed on a pallet for the past few weeks - I hope there're no bits missing when we come to build it! Last weekend a couple of our lovely friends came over and helped us in the garden (bribed by the promise of beer and BBQ afterwards!). Between us we removed 3 sizeable tree stumps, from the enormous conifers that we chopped down back in October, double-bagged the asbestos pile(!), cut the grass, raked up all the bits of twigs etc that covered the whole garden, filled in the water main trench (yes, it has not been completely filled since the main was laid in November, as the tree stumps were in the way), levelled out the "lawn", weeded along the front of the house, weeded one of the many beds, and generally tidied up a bit. One day made such a difference - it looks (comparatively) great! We spent a lovely sunny evening sitting on a picnic blanket on the grass, having our very first BBQ (£30 charcoal kettle BBQ from B&Q - bargain, very good quality for the price). Happy days.
And, even more exciting news - we're getting our new fence next week! The guy initially said it'd be 8 weeks before he could do it, but phoned yesterday to say he could come next week, if we were ready? Well, we're definitely not ready, but I couldn't turn the offer down so my dad and his friend are coming round to help us dismantle and remove the falling-down shed, knock down part of a wall, stone-cut a 3' wide section out of a retaining wall, dig out a load of the previously-retained soil, smash up a load of concrete, and clear lots of wood/rubble/junk out of his way - before Monday. Oh, and then there's the tree that we're hoping to take to the tip! I just hope the weather isn't TOO hot this weekend, as I think it's going to be very hard work...!
Incidentally, we're paying £600 for the fence. This includes - 11m total length, some 5' high and some 6' high, close-boarded treated fencing, including a matching gate, I think it was 8no. posts, 4 of which are concreted in (price includes breaking up existing concrete and digging the holes to install posts), and 4 of which are bolted to existing walls. I initially thought it seemed expensive, but thinking about it, it's not a straightforward job, as it's a funny shaped bit of ground that he's fencing around (hence all the posts!), and includes two steps up, so he'll have to graduate the height etc. And the gate he's making for us will be similar to, but probably better quality than, a gate that costs about £80 in B&Q. So I'm reasonably happy with that.
Once we've got rid of the existing shed, and the fence is finished, we'll put up the new shed, and then our garden can start being rebuilt, as it were. By doing what we're doing, we're changing the layout of the garden quite significantly, and making it bigger (as if we needed any more garden!!) by taking some of the driveway. It's hard to envisage what it'll look like when we've done that, so we haven't really been able to plan exactly what we want to do with it - so I can't wait to see it as a "blank canvas" waiting to be filled with exciting plants and garden furniture...! ) I'll try at some point to do a scaled plan of the garden, like I did for the house, and put it up on my blog - it'll give you a better idea of what I'm talking about RE the sheds, fences, driveway etc etc which I'm sure I haven't described very well!
Oh the other thing we did do was to get a desk for the office/spare room, so that room actually looks like a room now as opposed to a store cupboard (although it is still filled with piles of wedding stuff so it's not that much different really!)
A question for you, then ( I might start a new thread on this too) - what shall I do with my driveway? It's currently 2 cars wide and one car long/deep, open straight onto the pavement. It's concrete, and looks horrible! What are my options? I don't like tarmac, and apparently that doesn't sit well onto existing concrete anyway. I don't particularly want to have to smash up the entire driveway and get rid of the concrete, and I don't want a massive step from the pavement up onto the drive. Also we have an existing garage to consider. One person has suggested painting it, as a short-term/cheap measure. Someone else suggested resin-bonded gravel, which I do like the look of, and I think would be suitable, but I suspect it's prohibitively expensive. From the driveway there will be a ramped footpath up to the house, which will also need some sort of surfacing, so I would consider doing that in the same product - but as the path is sloping it would need to be non-slip. All thoughts gratefully received!
Anyway, I hope that you are all well (how's TomsDad, TM?) and I promise I will do my best to catch up soon - and update my blog with some photos, too!
Best,
BB

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

Anyway, I hope that you are all well (how's TomsDad, TM?) and I promise I will do my best to catch up soon - and update my blog with some photos, too!
Best,
BB

I was thinking of you over the weekend Beth, not long to the wedding now and how excited you must be. You've certainly worked hard on your garden. I'm awaiting your blog update with baited breath!

TomsDad not too well at the moment. His latest chemo last week has really knocked him about and he doesn't seem to be getting over this cycle as well as previously. He'll have his second stem cell harvest in a week or so (his first one didn't harvest enough cells as his blood wasn't good enough) and he'll have his bone marrow tested again soon. If it's clear of the lymphoma they'll jump in and do the transplant within 2 months, if not they'll continue chemo until it is. Not a nice thought. We're dearly hoping he's had his last chemo.

I've nothing else to tell you all since my last blog update. The carpet fitter can't make this coming weekend so it will be a week Saturday now. I've found a local carpenter to come and look at the bedroom to see what he can do about fitted wardrobes. He's coming Friday, his work is good as we had him at the last house when we renovated the staircase, he made a lovely job. And gorgeous doesn't begin to describe him (aren't I naughty :rotfl: , I'm old enough to be his mum!)

I am reading your posts and blog updates everyone, just not making much noise at the moment as it's a bit doom and gloomy here with OH so poorly.

jamtart6

Aww TomsMom, so sorry TomsDad isn't so good. He must be fed up but must put up a fight against the dreaded big C. I think you are all doing wonderfully well.

Would you recommend getting a joiner or carpenter in for fitted wardrobes rather than a big company?

We have had some local firms in to measure and design, and also got these guys coming next week http://www.sliderobes.com/master-bedroom-furniture.aspx

I also found a site called Space slide, who supply you with the doors for about £1000 (or less) free delivery in the UK and you get the joiner to do the rest. May work out much cheaper for us in the long run.

Shimmyhill

Hope TD gets over he chemo soon, all the best

We had the electicity board round this morning - to move the meter outside (literally on other side of wall) is £500+vat to have it all underground from the pole is £540+vat (we would have to dig all the trenches etc)

Factoring in all the sparky work and new consumer unit looking at 1k we think - lot of money to move a meter