First-time house renovation

TomsMom

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

OH rang a bit ago to say our sol phoned him at work to say we've exchanged! Completion on 11th December.

Gulp! Not sure whether to feel :j or :eek:

Oh fantastic news Maggie. Go on, feel :j :j.

Good luck with the decluttering, I am soooooooooo glad we're over that!

helping_hubby

wallbash wrote: »

I took nearly 9 hours to hang a front door once ..... never again .

Thanks - you've made me feel much better about caving in to get someone to do it instead of DIY.

Congratulation Maggie! My colleague just exchanged yesterday so it's been a good week house news wise...

jimbugalee - look forward to photos. I can't tell if I'm following your blog. What's it called?

@Stolt - wow love your house. Only had a quick scan cos my lunch hour has ended...but wow love the fire place, love the windows.

jimbugalee

Here's my blog http://seatonroad.blogspot.com/

Just had the surveyor round for the new windows and doors. Wow - I didn't think there would be that many questions. What way windows open, what type of glass in the door, do you want it to match bathroom glass, do you want the threshhold left so we can panel up to it, dummy sashes, trickle vents ... phew, I'm knackered!

wallbash

Thanks - you've made me feel much better about caving in to get someone to do it instead of DIY.

You are not escaping your diy tasks that easy , you must try !

The problem with my front door was the weight , solid hardwood , weighed a ton.

I have tried plastering , made a real mess ..... leave it to the professionals.
Bricklaying .... too slow ...leave it to the professionals.

Gas :eek: leave it to the professionals.

Roofs too high leave it to the professionals.

But urge everyone else to DIY for other work,

wallbash

jimbugalee

didn't think there would be that many questions

More questions equals more info
More likely you will get what suits your needs.

latecomer

stolt wrote: »

With regards to the building firm we are in talks with them at the moment but they have gone into liquidation and they have already told the creditors that there is no money in the company to pay them. Trades have stopped turning up for three weeks now and it seems that even if i get new trades in (the half finished wiring will have to be ripped out and done again and no electrician wants to sign off someone elses half finished job!)

My SIL had this happen to her and she managed to get one or two of the tradesmen back to finish off the job they'd half done. Others were not interested as they felt they were due money from her for the work done rather than the builder who had subcontracted them. Of the ones who did come back they agreed a price between them for the remaining work.

If you have have contact details of the tradesmen it might be worth phoning them.

As for using the "new" firm, if that is basically the same company as before with a different name then I'd avoid like the plague. Maybe I misunderstood what you wer saying though.

latecomer

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

OH rang a bit ago to say our sol phoned him at work to say we've exchanged! Completion on 11th December.

Gulp! Not sure whether to feel :j or :eek:

Maggie

congrats Maggie - great news. Definitely time to celebrate :beer:

latecomer

We're having a bad time of it at the moment. Rain and wind are stopping all work. Nothing happened at all today or for most of yesterday. Builder is getting worried about being able to pay his guys. I've said on a couple of occassions that they could do some of the inside work now instead of later and we could advance any outlay they had as long as I get the receipt and see the materials on site. i've had no interest in this despite them losing days work all over the place due to the weather until this morning. He's trying to use having to move the window cill as leverage but as thats at least partially his fault I'm not having it. He was offsite for a least 2-3 days earlier in the build fixing stuff at another site so he's not got a leg to stand on.

Think things are going to come to a head over the next day or so. There is 4 days of good weather forecast from tomorrow and I'm going suggest they work them all, saturday and sunday included. If they can get the roof over the extension done and the second dormer mostly done then they can then they are no longer at the mercy of the weather for most of the work.

I was meant to get a call today to discuss this but it hasn't happened. Now that really that annoys me more than just about anything else. Watch this space..........

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

Sorry haven't had time to catch up or post lately! Weve basically been going to work, straight to the house, back to the flat for tea then to bed! Its such hard work! Im panicking that we wont be in by Christmas, hence putting in as many hours as we can!

Having a pretty rubbish week as all the flooring is taking ages, work is really stressful and its my Grans funeral on Friday! I think I just need a good cry, let it all out then ill be ok! Cannot wait till Christmas then I can relax a bit and have a lay in!

Stolt - your house is lovely! Love the fireplace too, very similar to mine! Cant wait for Christmas either and to make full use of our fire! Sorry to hear about the trouble youre having with the builders, must be very stressfull and dissapointing! Ill keep my fingers crossed that they will finish the job for you!

Maggie - How exciting! Will you be spending Christmas there? Ive got so much sorting out to do too but no time to do it! I think we are just going to move the essentials before Christmas then between Christmas and New Year move the rest! Im almost tempted to pay someone to do it ha ha or set fire to it all :eek:

Latecomer - sorry to hear about your problems too, must be the time of year for it! The miserable weather doesnt help the renovations or the soul! I was very glad when we had finished dealing with all the trades people, mine were a real pain! It will all work out fine in the end though!

Right well best go put some washing in and get to bed, up at 6am!!!
Night all x

latecomer

@lisal0u - sorry to hear about your Gran. What kind of flooring are you fitting?

We need to decide on some for the new kitchen and will run into the sitting room too. Will be wood or laminate but we cant decide which. In fact we haven't even really got time to think about it at the moment but know it needs to be down before the kitchen can be fitted.

Our talk with the builder went far better than expected. We suggested that they make use of the good weather to get the roof up and that they consider working weekends if the weather is good. He pays his guys x1.5 at the weekends so I dont think he's overly keen but if it was just a couple of days to get the roof up then it would be worth it. Weather has been good today so fingers crossed they have made good progress. The block work should be finished which I'm hoping means they can start working on building trusses for the roof. They should also have opened up the roof at the back for the second dormer. This one is square and so its relatively simple in comparison to the one at the front. Hopefully that means it wont leak as much........