First-time house renovation

KT1985

Well, we have been very busy
The electricians have started, which is great. Messy, but great.
We knocked down a wall- so our 5 bed property is now a 4 bed, with an en-suite. It looks completely different- I must take some pictures.
We did some good money saving over the weekend- we had a 15% off voucher for homebase so we bought all of the tiles, B&Q did crazy reduction on laminate floor, so we got that, adn I bought all of the floor tiles with my 10% off homemovers card at focus
Spending the day today trying to revive a fish tank that came with the house... it is the only thing that was left in the house that we wanted!

latecomer

@TomsMum - they really aare making progress. What a difference a couple of days makes.

Glad to hear everyone else is making some progress too. We've not done much apart from another coat of paint on the cornice. I'm hoping to get the walls dont again tonight.

We did get our Douglas Fir skirting boards ordered yesterday. Despite being told they would come in either 2.4 or 4.2m lengths when the guy spoke to their supplier it turns out they are 4.8m lengths which is fantastic as we need 3 lengths around 4.25m so wont need to join them. Final price was £5+vat and they will deliver them free once they get them in. Cant wait to get them fitted as that will hopefully make a huge difference to the number of drafts we get and hence we might be able to get the house up to a reasonable temperature.

We also had a guy round last night to quote for doing the building work for the log burner and got a rough estimate of £1000. He really needs it opened up to see the full size of the chamber first and then he can check the condition etc. He was quoting £125 to open it out but I think I'll have a shot at it over the weekend.

Shimmyhill

latecomer,

We have a Gas fire fitted into our chimney (only done a few years ago) and i would much rather it was a normal fire to burn wood/coal etc. Are there good links to look at for the process to convert or are you starting from scratch ??

BB1984

Hello! I know I'm excused, but can't resist stopping by when I see this thread on the front page...!
Haven't got much to say, the only progress we've made is to book in the carpet fitter for Friday afternoon - the plan is for him to do our bedroom and the middle bedroom. Can't wait - two rooms 100% finished!!!!!! It will be such a luxury to have carpet underfoot in our bedroom, especially as the carpet we've chosen is goregous, and we treated ourselves to super-comfy underlay too
This evening we ordered the underlay, in fact. Used tradepriced.co.uk, on recommendation from this board - hopefully they will deliver on time (Friday morning). We've ordered Tredaire Sterling(3*) for the hall and two spare bedrooms, and Tredaire Green (5*) for the lounge and main bedroom.
Have also been looking in the IKEA catalogue (got one through the door as there's a new IKEA opening in Southampton soon) and I think we've chosen some furniture for our bedroom. I feel a very big and expensive shopping spree coming on....!

Well done everyone on all the progress - esp. Toms Mom, you lot have been crazy busy! Also KT - and can't believe you've bought a 5 bed house (esp as you're 23...?! We've all admitted our ages so feel free to enlighten us - we're a nosy bunch aren't we TM...?!)

BB

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

Well done everyone on all the progress - esp. Toms Mom, you lot have been crazy busy! Also KT - and can't believe you've bought a 5 bed house (esp as you're 23...?! We've all admitted our ages so feel free to enlighten us - we're a nosy bunch aren't we TM...?!)
BB

Actually, I feel like a bit of a cheat. You are all doing so well doing the work yourself and we've got builders doing ours. OK, it's a big construction job that only professionals can do so the credit has to go to them and they really have worked their socks off the last few days. But we've redecorated 4 houses top to bottom previously so hopefully that counts.

OH is hoping he might be able to do some of the decorating after all, his chemo has been stopped since there's been no further improvement and he's been told his strength should gradually start to come back. So fingers crossed that by the time the builders have finished OH might be able to do a bit more.

Did I really admit my age???? I think I told you I could be your [STRIKE]granny[/STRIKE] mum but really I'm probably in between as I'm 61 tomorrow. Oh lordy, I can't believe I've just admitted to that :eek: . Please don't ostracise me 'cos I'm officially a wrinkly as in my head I'm really only 20 honest .

TomsMom

Ah ........ :hello: hello Andy. Where have you been hiding? I did wonder whether people were finding it hard to get motivated again after Christmas.

Well done on the beading . Glad to hear the pooch is better and sorry but I laughed at this

ripping up the edge of the piece of lawn that i spent weeks propagating in the autumn and then distributing it around the lounge carpet!:mad: ......... I might as well have thrown the seed on the lounge carpet and watered it

It must have been the fact that he had the cone removed and couldn't believe the feeling of freedom again :rotfl:.

jamtart6

Hello All!
Just bought a brand spanking new project It is definitely NOT a home just yet but hoping to get there with it!

It needs :
New kitchen
New windows
New boiler
New heating (all pipes replaced)
New bathroom

and mentally, we've decided to whack an extension on the back. :rotfl::eek:

One amazing thing is.... we are NOT living in it! I think you are all really brave to live in the house you are renovating! The mess is doing my head in and I am only there for 2 hrs a day!

From what I've read here I think we have done quite well preparing up to now:

• mate with a trailer - TICK (mate with a large van actually:D)
• Car with fold down seats/estate - TICK
• Toilet - TICK
• lots of hands on deck - TICK

We're finding it quite tough to design our extension. Doors and windows are a nightmare!!

Had the keys 4 weeks (can't count xmas!)
We have :

• ordered the bathroom
• ordered the windows (fitting in 10 days time)
• stripped half a room
• taken all the fittings out of the room
• been trying to get hold of a plasterer (are they all as elusive as our local ones??:eek:)
• Had 3 quotes for the heating
• Had 2 quotes for the drawing of the plans for extension

Timescale for me is :

• Plans submitted by end of Jan
• Windows fitted by end of Jan
• Bathroom fitted by end of Feb
• Heating fitted by end of Feb
• All paper stripped by end of Feb
• Walls re-plastered by end of Feb
• Extension built by mid-April (single storey sloping roof..is this expecting too much??)
• Kitchen fitted April/May
• Back windows/doors fitted April/May
• Bedrooms and Hall stairs landing painted by April/May
• Front room stripped by April

Can't think past that yet! :rotfl:

Nice to meet you all anyway!

helping_hubby

hi jamtart, welcome to the forum.

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been trying to get hold of a plasterer (are they all as elusive as our local ones??:eek:)

Yes, get used to it Dealing with trades people - even just for quotes or getting them to answer the phone is the hardest and most annoying thing out of all the jobs we've done over the past 6 months.

My tip is to not bother leaving messages. Just keep phoning until you speak to a human. 90% of them never return calls. If they do email, I find this is a good way of communicating final details. It's in writing, and the trades people I've had email communication with seem to set aside some time every day to reply.

Where abouts in the country are you?

I did wonder whether people were finding it hard to get motivated again after Christmas.

Tomsmom, I'm finding it really hard. OH has promised me that we'll complete stripping the wallpaper and fill holes tonight so me and mum can get the first coat of paint on in bedroom 1 at the weekend.

I hardly got any sleep last night, because we have a fox terrorising our bunnies. So this is yet another thing that shoots to the top of the list of things to do and I don't even know what to do about it

Still, I've got some things to look forward to, going to Staind on Monday night, and Metallica in less than 6 weeks. And we've booked a holiday to Cyprus Aaahhh sun sea and sand. Cannot wait.

helping_hubby

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMSMOM!




hope I got the right day

BB1984

Ah you beat me to it, HH!

Happy Birthday indeed Toms Mom - hope you have a good one, many happy returns.

BB