First-time house renovation

KT1985

I have had another fine day
I have measured up for all of the internal doors (£135 for the lot) and have chosen door furniture. I have stripped the walls in the new en suite, and spoken to the bathroom supplier. One of the wallpapers is chosen, and I have purchased a large part of the tools for the job.

I spent the rest of the day daydreaming about a woodburning stove... I really would like one, but don't know if I can justify what it is going to cost to have it fitted, which is a bit of a shame.

Tommorow- meeting with the builder, a plumber and a joiner, and more wallpaper ahead of the rewire starting next week...

TomsMom

matt_boro wrote: »

well the latest is I have had an offer of £92k accepted, with the condition that the vendor accepts no further offers on the property once survey is completed!

Looks like I might be getting there!

Matt

:T :T

Well done Matt.

Do yourself a favour and go for the full structural survey. The most expensive I know but will cover any problems with the building. Best thing we ever did as ours showed up that the loft conversion was dangerous - all supports to the roof had been removed, purlin cut into by 2/3rds to make headroom for the doorway, and the weight of the unsupported roof had already caused problems shown by the loft windows not closing properly. Estimate to put it right - £30,000 approx. We negotiated this amount off the purchase price. If we hadn't have had the structural survey we wouldn't have had the knowledge to recognise this problem and we'd be up queer street now! Cost of survey £600 approx. Worth every penny!

Let us know how it goes.

latecomer

Got to agree with TomsMum and while ours didn't show up anything that bad, it did show up some issues which we then negotiated the cost of fixing off the purchase price.

and if you think that you are investing £92k then its worth spending a little more to ensure you are not making a bad investment.

TomsMom

:dance: :dance: We've ordered some lights :j :j . Oh, I know - sad aren't I :rotfl:

OH had an afternoon hospital appointment yesterday so we took advantage of the morning and went on a mission! House shopping! We ordered lights for the bathroom, downstairs WC, dining area and some wall lights for the lounge.

We also went to a fireplace showroom and discovered that the fireplace we liked (the Ethos mentioned in a previous post) was way way above our budget (£1,958 plus cost of a fire :eek: ) so we knocked that idea on the head. The builders told us that to make a large enough hole in the random stone wall for the other fire (the Apollo) would be nigh on impossible, and I bet that one would be megabucks too. So, compromise time. We decided to go for an electric fire as it wont be used very often as we have central heating but trying to find an authentic looking flame effect on an electric fire is like looking for rocking horse droppings :rotfl: . Still, we found one we were happy with eventually and now have to source it at the right price . Once we've got the fire we'll give some thought to a simple, complimentary surround.

Lots been going on at the house since the builders arrived back on Monday, steels installed in the loft, floor laid, studding for wall started, spotlights in kitchen, new light switches and sockets everywhere. It's quite exciting to see things happening again after the last few quiet weeks. I've updated my blog and added a few photos for the previous couple of entries too.

The builders have asked for the first two stage payments and it's getting to be serious money now - quite frightening really. Good job we purchased this house quite a bit cheaper than we sold the other one for but it looks like the difference is all going to be spent on doing it up .

BB1984

All looks great Toms Mom - I like to see some nice big UBs being used in a house refurb! Like the lights too.

I've added a couple of photos to my blog, nothing v exciting but one of them's of the new cupboard...!

BB

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

All looks great Toms Mom - I like to see some nice big UBs being used in a house refurb! Like the lights too.

I've added a couple of photos to my blog, nothing v exciting but one of them's of the new cupboard...!

BB

Should I know what a UB is or am I being a bit thick tonight? :rotfl:

I love that cupboard Beth.

KT1985

TomsMom wrote: »

Good job we purchased this house quite a bit cheaper than we sold the other one for but it looks like the difference is all going to be spent on doing it up .

We feel the same- I have been doing some simple maths this evening- it is scary what things cost...

I have had another good day. I have stripped wallpaper, I have chosen a wood burning stove (decided it was good idea- just as cheap as a decent gas fire) I have investigated options for the office, and looked at lampshades

latecomer

EDIT: reported above SPAM.

TomsMom wrote: »

Should I know what a UB is or am I being a bit thick tonight? :rotfl:

I've no idea either?

@BB - Got to say your progress is fantastic. We have been in our place for almost exactly a year and have made nothing like as much progress. I know we are waiting for plans etc but still feel we should have done more.

At least we started painting the small bedroom last night. Started on the cornice, while OH did the ceiling and then put a layer of basecoat on the walls. Finished up at about midnight and then after OH left for work I did the one remaining wall. Its starting to look good and I've left an electric heater on its frost mode to keep a little heat in the room during the day. I'll turn it up when we get home and then the plan is another coat on the cornice and then hopefully some colour on the walls.

latecomer

reported AGAIN.

BB1984

A UB is a Universal Beam. Sorry, I was just being silly - it's just the standard reference for structural steel I-sections. (Quite often people call them RSJs, but RSJs are in fact slightly different. To be fair, my eyesight isn't good enough to see whether Toms Mom's are RSJs or UBs) Just me paying far too much geeky interest in structural stuff...!

I don't have any news or updates today, just thought I'd answer that one! Question though, if anyone knows - is B&Q carpet underlay any good? Their 5* looks similar to Tredaire's elite one, and has got similar tog rating etc. At the mo it's on offer so compares to buying Tredaire online - would rather go and pick some up from B&Q rather than rely on website delivery, but not if it's rubbish...!

BB