First-time house renovation

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

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.

Thanks JT.

I don't know about recommending a joiner/carpenter. We're just looking at this option really as we're unsure what to do. I've looked at what's available online. I know what I don't want/what wont suit the room. It's difficult to get the big companies out to us because of where we live, even a "local" firm 1.5 hours drive away (which to us is how far we have to drive to get to any decent shops/supermarket/town) wouldn't come out unless we gave them a firm order. But how can you give a firm order if you haven't seen any samples/examples of their work .

I know what chests/bedside cabinets I'd like so I'm looking forward to seeing if this chap can come up with something for the frame and maybe doors that will complement them. He's worked on house renovations as well and knows a few tricks to stain wood to match original, etc., so if we can decide on some doors maybe he can make a nice frame.

latecomer

Hi everyone :hello:

TM - sorry to hear about TD - hope everything goes better with the harvest this time round

Sorry about the lack of updates but I've been so busy with the new job that I'm not having a lot of time for DIY or the PC. Bathroom is nearly finished :j There is one row of tiles to be round the top of the final wall and one round the bottom but these all need to be cut to fit so will take some time. Then its a case of grouting and fitting the sink. Final act after that will be to replace the wood round the window with the new stuff and hope everything lines up!

We're off on holiday in the caravan for a week but will try and update the blog and post more regularly when I return

typeractive

Hi all,

Great thread, though it would take me an age to get through it all!! :rotfl:

I'm after the 'usual' help of looking at rough costs to rennovate a property. I've been doing some reading on the site and various other sites (homebuilding.co.uk) etc for help also. If anyone could help give rough estimations for the following work it would be super!

4 bed terraced.
New door needed (upvc jobby)
Living room (with bay), needs entire decor inc flooring (probably opt for laminate)
Dining / Back Room, needs decor inc flooring
Kitchen – needs ENTIRE new kitchen, all units, machinery, damp course, plastered, new back door, floor levelled properly, decorated
Hall, stair and landing – decor and wiring where necessary (prob go for carpets upstairs, laminate downstairs)
Front bed – decor throughout
Small front bed – decor throughout
Back bed – decor throughout
Bathroom – entirely refurbed (bath & shower (or combo)) sink, toilet, tiled, doubled galzed window installed.
Small bedroom (study), decor.
Rear yard, floor pulling up and levelled apparently – though this is not essential to me as the rest of the stuff.
Garage, widened at the front with new up and over door (so I can fit ma car in!)

New Central Heating throughout
Wired Completely

There is also an attic, I was thinking of reducing the small front bed (slightly) and leading a new flight of stairs up to here for another room – this could be later developed of course.

It has double glazing in the house – but not the bathroom.

I was hoping that I would be able to do this work for around £20k - or am I dreaming? My best mate is a plasterer and will do all plasterer work for nearly free, which of course helps greatly.

Thanks in advance.

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: Cost will be dependent on where you are in the UK, the standard of the specification and how much work you are able to DIY...one of those 'piece of string' scenarios tbh.

HTH

Canucklehead

typeractive

Cheers Canucklehead - tbh I knew that would be the case. I was just hoping for a few average/ball park figures. Based in the North East England.

thanks

jamtart6

New door needed (upvc jobby) - £600

living room (with bay), needs entire decor inc flooring (probably opt for laminate) - £400 DEPENDING ON SIZE?


Dining / Back Room, needs decor inc flooring AGAIN £400 DEPENDING ON SIZE AND TYPE OF FLOORING

Kitchen – needs ENTIRE new kitchen, all units, machinery, damp course, plastered, new back door, floor levelled properly, decorated - £4000 CHEAP, £10000 EXPENSIVE


Hall, stair and landing – decor and wiring where necessary (prob go for carpets upstairs, laminate downstairs) - £500 - NO IDEA ABOUT WIRING

Front bed – decor throughout -??
Small front bed – decor throughout -??
Back bed – decor throughout -??

Bathroom – entirely refurbed (bath & shower (or combo)) sink, toilet, tiled, doubled galzed window installed. - £1000 + £400 for window

Small bedroom (study), decor.??

Rear yard, floor pulling up and levelled apparently – though this is not essential to me as the rest of the stuff.

Garage, widened at the front with new up and over door (so I can fit ma car in!) -£600?

New Central Heating throughout - £3000
Wired Completely -£3000

There is also an attic, I was thinking of reducing the small front bed (slightly) and leading a new flight of stairs up to here for another room – this could be later developed of course. - no idea, would help if you were pally with a builder!

You might have been better doing it in jobs rather than by room as hard to estimate - not sure if you need furniture too.

Have put guesstimates next to it. Really depends on size to be honest, and quality of finish you want!

typeractive

Hi - thanks for that. Many of those figures are close to my estimates, though I was pleasantly suprised to see a bathroom cost of around 1k..is this correct? Before anyone says - I know it depends on quality of materials, labour and size etc. Indeed a difficult job to estimate for.

I don't have furniture either - I'll bargain buy for that sort of stuff in the future! lol.

4k is what I was hoping for a kitchen really. I'd like something basic really to get me started, with perhaps a couple of nice features to make it feel a bit more luxurious.

Most oft he work 'should' be easier for any labourers as I can prep the rooms / gut them to save them time. As for the decor, I would be moslty looking at the cost of the paint and lighting / flooring - fortunately my mate being a plasterer of course helps.

Would love ot get it all done for around 20k, as that would help me loads with my mortgage deposit etc.

jamtart6

well done Andy!

We did diddly squat this weekend, but will be back on it this week. Hope to finish digging next weekend (need another skip boohoo! so expensive!) and get main house gutters on in the next 3 weeks. Seeing another wardrobe person this week too.

TomsMom

You have been working hard Andy, well done :T . We had clear sealant between the vinyl floor and tiles and it looks lovely (son did it) and is so much nicer than the white sealant the builders used to seal between the floor and vinyl in the en-suite (which is now cracking, son says it was rubbish sealant and will probably replace it for us).

Carpenter came and is going to try and come up with something for our wardrobes. He's here today fitting the last couple of bits of skirting board in the dining area and taking some off the bottom of the door ready for the carpet fitter next weekend. We're lucky he could fit us in for these little jobs as they desperately needed doing and OH has been admitted to hospital again, he was so very poorly last week, caused by effects of chemo and other meds plus he had an infection from his PICC line in his chest. They removed the line, x-rayed his chest which thankfully was clear and they said they caught it in time. He now has dangerously low white cells (caused by chemo), very low red cells which they hope to increase (by transfusions) enough to do his stem cell harvest this week.

Our cat, who has never been a hunter in her 8 years, decided this weekend that mummy needed a present so brought home a baby (wild) rabbit :eek: . I sent her packing! This morning I moved the dining table so the carpenter could get at the skirting board and I found another baby rabbit under the table, quite stiff . Lucky I found it now rather than later as it would probably start to smell at some point. Getting rid of bodies is not my thing but I had no choice but to don rubber gloves and get some newspaper out. There's a massive spider living behind the skirting board in the sun room that peeps out from time to time, lordy he's a big 'un but I can't bring myself to do anything with it other than stamp my foot and scare him back into his hidey hole. Hope he comes out when OH's home so he can deal with it, although it will probably make him shudder too .

Nothing to add to my blog and there's no updates from anyone else either. What have you all been doing? Enjoying the nice weather or watching Wimbledon I bet :rotfl: . Apart from Andy that is, good lad - now where's the photos .

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been a bit slack lately! Been busy with work and the house and my Niece's Christening on Sunday!

Kimmi - Congratulations on the house purchase! Now the fun and games begin!

Jimbugalee - How did the move go? Hope you got moved without too much trouble!

Beth - Blimey you have been busy! Not sure what you could do with the drive. I have a similar drive and dilema! I would like it to be block paved but its very expensive! Maybe one day when we have recovered from the house renovations ha ha!

TomsMom - I really hope TD is feeling much better this week! Bless him! I hope this lovely weather is making him feel better!
I have been very slack with my blog but I promise to update it tonight!!

andrew-b - Well done on getting the tiling finished and the shower fitted!:T We still haven't finished the tiling in our bathroom. That room has got a bit sidelined at the moment!

latecommer - Hope you are having a lovely holiday - you have picked the perfect week!

typeractive - welcome to the gang! I've listed a few prices that might be helpful. Im from North Lincolnshire.

typeractive wrote: »

Hi all,

New door needed (upvc jobby) - £600
Living room (with bay), needs entire decor inc flooring (probably opt for laminate) - We spent about £90 on crown paint that will paint the whole house. It was on offer in B&Q at the time! The flooring we chose (for the whole of downstairs) was engineered oak and cost £900 for 34m2 (http://www.carpentersofyork.com/cgi-bin/carpo.cgi?Command=ShowFloorProduct&db_fpid=2556).
Dining / Back Room, needs decor inc flooring
Kitchen – needs ENTIRE new kitchen, all units, machinery, damp course, plastered, new back door, floor levelled properly, decorated - Just bought an ikea kittchen for £3k including oak worktop (8 base units, 2 floor to ceiling units, 2 wall units). We have had 2 quotes for fitting both coming in at £600.
Hall, stair and landing – decor and wiring where necessary (prob go for carpets upstairs, laminate downstairs)
Front bed – decor throughout
Small front bed – decor throughout
Back bed – decor throughout
Bathroom – entirely refurbed (bath & shower (or combo)) sink, toilet, tiled, doubled galzed window installed. - We spent just over £2k on our bathroom. New p-shaped bath, free standing sink and new loo from Bathstore also moved the waste and plumbing for that price and tiles.
Small bedroom (study), decor.
Rear yard, floor pulling up and levelled apparently – though this is not essential to me as the rest of the stuff.
Garage, widened at the front with new up and over door (so I can fit ma car in!)

New Central Heating throughout
Wired Completely - My Dad did ours but the going rate seems to be about £3k

There is also an attic, I was thinking of reducing the small front bed (slightly) and leading a new flight of stairs up to here for another room – this could be later developed of course.

It has double glazing in the house – but not the bathroom.

I was hoping that I would be able to do this work for around £20k - or am I dreaming? My best mate is a plasterer and will do all plasterer work for nearly free, which of course helps greatly.

Thanks in advance.

Right what have I been upto...

Well we have now got the understairs floorboards down, kitchen decorated and the underfloor heating laid. It was fairly tedious as we had to lay insulation first then the carbon film UF heating then cut tracks in the underlay for the cables then test it all then lay a vapour barrier on top of it all. Its going to be tricky to lay the flooring on top as you have to be careful where you stand now!

Im very excited that the floor will soon be laid. Then we can fit the kitchen and we have a room finished whoo!

In the garden I have been pottering about as its been so lovely! Had my first few strawberries and tomatoes which were lovely and ive got petit pois, potatoes, cabages and lettuce nearly ready! Its so rewarding growing your own! How are your fruit and veggies doing TomsMom?

Right I had better go get some lunch and then get back to work!

I promise to update my blog this evening!

Ta ta for now
Lisa x