First-time house renovation

TomsMom

Oh Andy, poor you! Take it easy now, you don't want anything else going wrong before the big day. I'm getting quite excited, I hope you'll put a photo on your blog (of you and Mrs Andy in all your finery I'm talking about!).

ukmaggie45

Looks like we may not be joining the merry throng for a while yet - just posted on the House Buying, Renting and Selling board if anyone's interested.

Maggie

TomsMom

Oh Maggie, sending you a big hug (and a chunk of chocolate, always helps!).

I've read the other thread and see that you are being encouraged to stick it out. My first thought was "S*d 'em, I'd walk away". But I do know how hard it is when you're convinced it's the right house for you.

We did have awkward vendors - arguing between themselves as Mr Vendor didn't want to move and Mrs Vendor had been advised for health reasons to do so. There was also the fact that neither of them seemed to fully understand the procedure despite having three properties to sell. Their estate agent was thoroughly cheesed off with them and wished they would go elsewhere. They had every profession covered by a relative (oh yeah!) advising them that the house was worth £100,000 more than we offered (yes, that's what we were told) despite advice as to how much it should be on the market for from their EA but them insisting that it went on for £80,000 more. Extensions were built without the necessary permissions, in some cases so badly it would eventually bring the house down (the loft) and Mr Vendor even argued with our structural surveyor about the standard of his construction of the loft. Mr Vendor had even "pinched" common land to build on years ago and when it came to the deeds only the original cottage was on the plan and registered, none of the extensions, nor the garden, were registered. They wouldn't listen to their own EA or their solicitor.

Eventually we told them if they didn't stop dilly dallying we would find something else - actually it was a bluff as there wasn't anything else in the area (as you know where we live you'll appreciate that around the harbour area hardly anything comes up for sale) and we really did want the house. Sense prevailed eventually, they listened to their solicitor after we all sat round the table and talked. Mr Vendor still wasn't happy but it went ahead.

So, dear Maggie, what do you do? Has the drain report not put you off? What about the works the structural survey found - cavity wall ties, remedying the damp, what if you need an electrical re-wire, the boiler could go the very next day after completion (ours did :rolleyes: despite it being serviced regularly by British Gas for the vendors).

What would we do? If we really really wanted the house we would have the gas and electric checked, get quotes for the cavity wall ties, damp work and anything else that has shown up. Add it all up and go back to the vendors to renegotiate. If they refuse to reduce the price on that basis, then depending on how much it comes to I would be saying to include all the stuff they wanted £2,500 for in the first place.

I don't see why you should have to pay £50 to access the property between exchange and completion so if they're insisting then I'd not go to the property during that time. You're not moving out of your other house so no need to rush to measure up, etc.

Are there any other interested parties? If not then you could call their bluff and threaten to walk. You could remind them that you have been patient and considerate potential buyers with cash on the table and in the current market that is virtually a gift - take it or leave it.

I don't envy you having to make a choice here. But I do firmly believe things happen because they are meant to. If your heart AND head agree that it's best to walk away then sure as eggs is eggs there's something waiting for you round the corner.

ukmaggie45

We are thinking we will withdraw from the house we are trying to buy - even our solicitor thinks these people are being unreasonable.

I feel sad as had kind of beginning to think what and how we might do stuff there. (sliding wardrobes in bedroom at back, maybe front one too)

Nevermind - there'll be the next house to dream about...

We're going to see another tomorrow (that needs lotsa work - we are obviously mad)

Grrr, I just want to get to the stage when I can truly join this thread as someone doing the renovation thing... Of course we could try sort (:eek:) our current much loved house instead. Prob the best plan really!

I better just get back to the house selling forum but I DON'T WANT TO! (no offence meant to all the wonderful and helpful people there)

I want to get on with sorting out a home for us, and despite I love our home to bits it's a mess and I don't see how we can sort it out other than moving and decluttering as we do that.

Hugs to all you house improvers - the tiling looks like it's doing well in a number of establishments!

Maggie

jamtart6

argh! i have lost my camera with the pics from our first night in our new home and "before" shots of the first room literally think it has fell into a binsack very sad! sorry havent caught up on the rest!

latecomer

jimbugalee wrote: »

While I am here ... did someone say they bought 'Oslo' bathroom furniture from B&Q? If so, do you have a pic of it in your bathroom. I'm tempted but now not sure if it's too dark.

Next do quite a nice range of bathroom furniture also.

Yup that would be us. And it looks great against our light tiles and a very good match for the border tiles we picked.
I have pictures of it that were intended to be posted on the blog but I had lost the camera download cable once again. Turns out OH had tidied it away in a random drawer despite denying having seen it. So I'll try and get the pictures uploaded along with some of the work on the new extension.

We looked at Next but all the wooden accessories that matched were extremely poor quality with chipped veneer all round. Hence why we went for the B&Q cupboard instead. We also bought the solid walnut accessories which are a good match for the Oslo cupboard but be warned there is quite a variation in colours so its worth opening the boxes to check you can get ones that are a good match (someone had already opened most of the ones in the store we were in so its obviuosly a problem).

latecomer

@TM - sorry to hear abuot TD, sounds like he's has been having a rotten time. Hopefully things will improve once the infection clears up.

@ukmaggie - perhaps the thing to do is give them a deadline of the end of next week to agree to everything or the offer is withdrawn. I guess it depends on how much you want the house. Personally I think we would be tempted to just walk away but then thats because we are both pretty stubborn and dont like getting messed around.

@andyb - take a rest from the DIY until after the wedding. Its far more important to enjoy your big day than to finish a job or two on the house.

Our extension is slowly starting to take shape. The buidlers were only on site for a short while yesterday as they had to rush off to deal with a burst water main on one of their other sites. That said they have made good prorgess this week so I wasn't too concerned. Our new water main pipe has been laid into the trench and then backfilled. Its supposed to be inspected prior to be being filled in but I took lots of photos (the builders camera wasn't working) which apparently should be sufficient for Scottish Water. Hopefully he's right otherwise he'll be digging it back out to show them...

They've also done a lot of work in lowering the ground level for the garage. Its got to come down 380mm from the original level which was already about 15-20 cm below the ground level. And the level of the extension has to be raised to match the house so the total different between the house and the garage is probably going to be 8-900mm I guess. Its definitely going to need significantly more than 3 steps down that the architect put on the plans.

A load of materials were delivered yesterday including lots of blocks and cement for building up the walls. One thing we are wanting to do is get some nice wooden doors for the new kitchen. Screwfix were advertising Jeld-Wen folding doors which I liked the look of but have no idea of the quality. Has anyone seen them or heard anything about them? I'm going to speak to the builder when I get a chance to see who he uses for supplying his doors/windows and then see what brands they stock or deal with.

If anyone has any ideas then feel free to pass them on

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

@TM - sorry to hear abuot TD, sounds like he's has been having a rotten time. Hopefully things will improve once the infection clears up.

Well, TomsDad did come home on Monday with his bag full of meds and he's been OK. He had a phone call at 5.20 yesterday afternoon to say that he is going to Bristol on Monday for a week of chemo followed by the transplant. So, we're shocked and sort of excited. Bit of a panic to get last minute things organised in 4 days and today so far seems to have been wasted on phone calls etc., but we must get stuck in and get some essentials done over the next couple of days. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that nothing happens to cancel it this time and when they start the tests at Bristol that everything is OK to go ahead.

Looking forward to seeing your photos Latecomer and sorry I can't advise on Jeld-Wen doors as I haven't heard of them but they do look lovely.

andrew-b

latecomer wrote: »

Screwfix were advertising Jeld-Wen folding doors which I liked the look of but have no idea of the quality. Has anyone seen them or heard anything about them?

I think they have a fairly decent reputation and are one of the well known door manufactuer's. Got a feeling Homebase/Argos actually sell some of their standard interior doors so you could pop into Homebase and have a look to gauge the quality. Build Centre sell them too.

Good to hear TomsDad is off for his transplant soon. Really hope things go to plan this time! Keep us posted!

Andy

KT1985

I know I haven't been back for ages, but don't know I shared why...

I am 20 weeks pregnant, so the only diy I have been doing recently is the nursery! We found out about the baby on our first day of living in the house, and we are thrilled.

Odd jobs are getting left for hubby to do, but the house was nearly finished anyway.

It is great to hear how everyone is getting on, I spend most of my time on baby forums now