First-time house renovation

helping_hubby

Maggie, just wanted to drop in and say I'm sorry to hear about your house buying experience...I have to admit I've been reading in dribs and drabs as haven't been following this thread as much as before - got used to being DIY free although we've still got those pesky doors to fit before Christmas...

Anyway I just wanted to share our nightmare of buying our first house and how it worked out for the best in the end...

* Had offer on house £178500 accepted, it was a 2 bed semi, with small separate kitchen to rest of house (we are open plan people) with 1 living area that just about and I mean just fit a dining table with not much room for extending or changing layouts. But we fell in love with it and it's only now that we see all it's failings...
* 5 months later the chain falls through and our sellers decide not to sell (lost about £1000 in solicitors fees etc) and we were devastated.
* After that we got a little desperate, and found another house we loved, which was bigger (3 bed, open plan), needed _everything_ doing, including central heating (none installed). We got out bid - the people who got it paid £190000!
* Then we found our house now, £170000 not as much work as house 2, all 3 houses were in the same couple of streets...we completed in 6 weeks from our offer being accepted and have no regrets and feel we would have regretted the other two.

All these things happen for a reason...and there really are loads of other houses, although sometimes it might not feel like it, so hang on in there (hope that didn't sound too patronising...I think you have more experience than me...)

Back to the doors thing...how much would it cost to get someone to hang them for me? And what sort of trades person would I be looking up in the Yellow pages to do this?

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

Been reading through all your posts and it seems everyone is having a bit of a rubbish time at the minute! Hopefully that’s all over now and things/DIY/renovating will get better!

TomsMom - I’m glad TD has got a date! I hope it all goes well, Ill keep everything crossed!

Maggie - I’m so sorry to hear about your house falling through, I think it’s probably for the best. We had a similar experience but it was the EA that messed us about. Fell in love with a house, went for a final viewing before we put in an offer and the EA had arranged for another couple to view at the same time. She did it to try and force us both into a bidding war. I could hear her downstairs telling the other couple that we were really really interested and were going to put an offer in so if they wanted it they should do it quickly!

I was so mad! Then we tried to get hold of the EA to put in an offer and she never returned my calls. Eventually she did and the other couple had put in an offer for full asking price and it had been accepted! I was gutted!

Anyway we went to see a house that Id discounted cos it looked like it would be too much work and I completely fell in love with it. I just knew the minute we walked through the door it was the right house! It just felt so warm and welcoming!

We entered into negotiations with the new house and got a call from the previous EA. The house was back on the market as the couple couldn’t get a mortgage!! How could they even put in an offer without an agreement in principal?! I just laughed down the phone (couldn’t help it!) and told her we were buying another, much nicer, house!

If she hadn’t played games we would have bought the wrong house! So I agree that things happen for a reason!

jamtart6 - I hope your camera turns up! Could do with a few more piccys to nose at!

KT1985 - Congratulations!!:j

latecomer - Your cabinet looks lovely! We’ve been looking at this but I’m not sure since it’s been said that Next bathroom furniture is flimsy and it’s not cheap either. Anyone seen anything similar?

Idgam - Hi, welcome to the thread! I hope everything goes well with the house purchase! I hope you'll do a blog too so we can all be nosey!

helping_hubby - We’ve just had all our doorways finished (needed making wider after the walls were boarded) and doors hung. We got a joiner out of the yellow pages after getting a few quotes. He was excellent and only charged £27 to hang a door and fit the furniture! He was also registered here: http://www.consumerprotectionagency.co.uk which made me a bit more confident in him!

I promise to take some piccys of our doors and staircase this weekend! Haven’t done a blog update since July :rolleyes:

Bye for now
Lisa

lisal0u

Evening,

Just a flying visit to say Ive finally updated my blog as promised!

Hope you all had productive weekends. We spent the weekend caulking round all the woodwork (marvelous stuff) and then sanding over bits we'd filled with wood filler. Stuarts Mum kindly offered to come help us tidy up! She did a brilliant job!

We're almost ready for skirting, decorating then carpets

Night all
Lisa

jamtart6

well done lisa - they look brilliant! love the red in the kitchen too - what shade is it? looks perfect for our living room!!

found the camera people!! yay! photos downloaded and saved! worked soooooo hard today on the master bedroom, painting it magnolia. needs one more coat plus gloss tomorrow then that is 2 rooms painted hurrah!!

looking up on the building regs front too - the report has come back and a few things need changing including structural calculations - so I'll be speaking to the architect tomorrow and won't be paying for any additional work no matter what he says!! he owes us big time for all the messing about. hopefully extension work can resume next weekend *crosses fingers*

good luck everyone!

hope tomsdad is doing ok tomsmom!! X

TomsMom

Great update Lisa. Looking good. Staircase is fantastic, well worth all the effort you put in. OH did ours in the previous house (over 100 years old and banisters/spindles made from pitch pine, lots of that around here, reputedly from shipwrecks) and he made a wonderful job. I love wood, as in it's natural state so that you can see the grain and natural beauty. Have you thought about waxing rather than stain/varnish? Google Osmo Polyx Oil, we have that on our doors and it's so easy to use - brush on, wipe with cloth, job done. Dries to a hard and durable finish. I think you can get it "coloured" too.

Nothing done here really, just done some sorting in the loft so we're almost there. Not had time to go out and look for carpet tiles so that will now have to wait for a few months until OH is back home and able to get around again.

I did a bit of tidying in the garden this afternoon, just took the top layer of soil off underneath the bird feeder as so much seed drops onto it and starts growing, grasses, sunflower, etc. OH laid some thick black polythene and I've put about an inch of soil on top so if any seed starts to grown now I can easily whip it out.

I really need to get to bed. OH is being picked up for his journey to Bristol quite early (about 7.30 - 8am we think) and I want to be around to see him off. I'm going to visit on Friday but will have to come back Saturday as DD is doing a 10K run on Sunday, but the following weekend we'll do Friday-Sunday.

I'm feeling quite sick, but that's the liquorice allsorts I've stuffed myself with tonight .

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

found the camera people!! yay! photos downloaded and saved! worked soooooo hard today on the master bedroom, painting it magnolia. needs one more coat plus gloss tomorrow then that is 2 rooms painted hurrah!!

Looking forward to those photos JT.

so I'll be speaking to the architect tomorrow and won't be paying for any additional work no matter what he says!! he owes us big time for all the messing about.

Too right!!!!!!!!

hope tomsdad is doing ok tomsmom!! X

His bag is packed and he's ready to go tomorrow morning. He's feeling very apprehensive, into the unknown and hoping for a positive outcome. A week of intensive chemo as an inpatient to kill off his immune system before the transplant. We both know if he survives the transplant there is a long road to recovery, the new immune system takes two years to fully mature so to start with even trips to the supermarket will be out of the question. I don't know if I could have done what he's already done, but he's been very stoical throughout his treatment so far and has never complained.

I've got my train ticket for next Friday which takes me to my daughters, we'll leave her place about 5.30 and should be in Bristol within a couple of hours. Visiting is completely open so we'll get to see OH on Friday night, then as much time as we like on Saturday but have to leave by about 4pm to come home. Following weekend we'll be there two days.

Hope everyone is getting on OK. Andy's probably getting a bit nervous now, counting the days!

jamtart6

I'll be thinking of you both tomorrow "when he survives the transplant" - I'll correct you xx

KT1985

All the best to tomsdad- thinking of you all.

I did some diy!!! :T

We have converted the outhouse into an office for hubby, so I spent the afternoon sitting on the floor laying carpet tiles, which was uncomfortable, but fine. I then couldn't stand upbecause my centre of gravity has changed and I kept falling over :cool:

I have my anomally scan today (Monday) and that is why I am wide awake at 3:30am- too excited!

TomsMom

jamtart6 wrote: »

I'll be thinking of you both tomorrow "when he survives the transplant" - I'll correct you xx

Sorry JT , I've slapped my wrist. That was me, he's VERY positive - note to self "Think 70%", I think subconciously I'm feeling just as apprehensive as he is but trying not to show it.

aliasojo

Thoughts are with you TM & TD. Staying positive has beneficial effects imo, I'm a firm believer in that. We'll all be routing for you both.