First-time house renovation

redlady_1

Well, I am now broke! I have learnt that a good tradesmen is very hard to find. That people will let you down. That things will cost more than you have budgeted for and that I have a drill phobia!

However, the DIY duck was finally broken last week with putting up a batten and curtain rail and now there is no stopping me! The bathroom is being created from the old shower and half of the spare room. I have moved out for two weeks and at the moment there is a stud wall and lots of wires everywhere! But, the plumber has uncovered an old wall and recess which I am now going to seal and make a feature of. There is no waste and trying to create one has been fun as the stairs are in the way. There are no supporting walls either.

The things that will be left for me to attempt initially for the bathroom will be putting some kind of door on the emmersion tank, the tiling (although I may be ok following a bash in the kitchen at it), laying the lino and hanging the doors on both the bathroom and spare room. Then its decorating the spare room, laying the carpet etc etc.

Will it ever end??!!! :eek: There have been many tears, tantrums and total highs along the way. No one told me it would be so emotional. Would I do it again - not through choice. But, I have also learnt quite a bit about myself on the journey and will have a fab cottage in the end.

I have opened up a fireplace and the main heating is a woodburner. I moved in in January when we had all that snow and it made the house toasty.

My bargain of the century - that would be the two 3 metre 40 mm beech worktops. I paid £1 each!!!

redlady_1

suisidevw wrote: »

Welcome Red....... can you get some pics up please. When I hear 'renovation and cottage' I love it!

I will try and put pics up once I am back in there. There has been some pretty amazing transformations when I look at the before pics.

And thanks for the welcome everyone.

redlady_1

I would like to know just how difficult it is to hang a door. People around me wince when I say I am going to have a go. But I am pretty focused and the worst that can happen is I have to buy a new door. I am going to have some of those old black latches instead of door handles. I also have a DIY manual to help me.

If I can manage to do the internal doors then I may consider tackling the front door as it needs replacing and I cannot get a carpenter who is interested in the job. The door is not a standard size and the frame also needs replacing.

littlerose12345

redlady_1 wrote: »

I would like to know just how difficult it is to hang a door. People around me wince when I say I am going to have a go. But I am pretty focused and the worst that can happen is I have to buy a new door. I am going to have some of those old black latches instead of door handles. I also have a DIY manual to help me.

If I can manage to do the internal doors then I may consider tackling the front door as it needs replacing and I cannot get a carpenter who is interested in the job. The door is not a standard size and the frame also needs replacing.

Hmm.. that was one thing we didnt do ourselves... we got a carpenter in who did it quick and with minimal effort. our doors were VERY heavy though!!

redlady_1

Oh dear, this could be more difficult than I first thought! For some reason the recession has not hit this part of Wiltshire yet. I have had 6 carpenters round, one didnt even bother taking measurements, one tried to rip me off, one said the external door would be about £1k and the others just never bothered getting back to me!

spirit

redlady_1 wrote: »

Morning all,

I am new to the thread and thought I had better stick my head around the door. A bit of background, 5 years ago I was cleared out financially by my darling husband (yes, us women do come off worse now and again!) I rented for a while and last year managed to buy my house - however, "Lil" as she is known was a "total renovation project" as described by the EA. Oh, they were not wrong! I had no kitchen, a shower and a downstairs toilet. I guess this would be a good time to point out I had never done DIY in my life, not even change a light bulb!

So, here we are 6 months later, there is now heating, a kitchen and the bathroom is being created as we speak. There is still a long way to go but my little cottage is finally taking shape. It has been a VERY steep learning curve, so any advice would be gratefully received.

Red

Hi RL,

welcome to the forum - got any pics you can show us? sounds like you and I have done/are doing the same thing!

redlady_1

Hi Spirit. I never ever thought I would have been capable of taking something like this on but it ticked all my boxes and was within my very small price bracket! The developers had been all over it like a rash but the vendors refused to sell as they wanted it to be someones home rather than to make a fast buck. Their mother had lived in it and had died so they had an emotional attachment to it - for which I will be eternally grateful. There was a solid roof and windows and surprisingly no damp. But I think there are nasties lurking in the cellar!

How far along the road are you?

Despite the pain and sacrifice I am so happy in my little place. Once I move back in I will post some pics for you, however, I will probably need some help as women and technology do not mix!

TomsMom

redlady_1 wrote: »

I would like to know just how difficult it is to hang a door. People around me wince when I say I am going to have a go. But I am pretty focused and the worst that can happen is I have to buy a new door. I am going to have some of those old black latches instead of door handles. I also have a DIY manual to help me.

If I can manage to do the internal doors then I may consider tackling the front door as it needs replacing and I cannot get a carpenter who is interested in the job. The door is not a standard size and the frame also needs replacing.

Ours was a major renovation and we had builders in. They hung our doors. But OH has re-hung doors in the past and I would say it's not a one man (or one woman) job. Two pairs of hands are preferable, especially if the door is heavy - one to hold the door in place and steady while the other screws the hinges to the opening. You could always wedge the door up on something to hold it in place while you screw the hinges.

latecomer

@everyone - thanks for all the nice messages. Its been a long week.

@redlady_1 - welcome to our rambling thread! Lots of experience in here so dont be afraid to ask.

On the subject of BBQs - avoid the cheap B&Q ones if you can. There tends to be some great deals on BBQs if you keep looking - we got a fantasic gas BBQ for our inlaws which was £300 down to £140 and this was in early summer too so in perfect time for the rest of the BBQ season.

OH still in hospital but hopefully getting out later on today. Bump still not behaving but they cant do anything other than monitor so they seem to be happy for her to come home as we are ony 15mins from the hospital.

Our extension is now fully rendered and I believe the final bits of plastering is being done upstairs this morning. There isn't a huge amount more for them to do until the insulation board turns up for the kitchen and the roof gets fixed. Getting into the final-ish stages now and really want to see it finsihed so we can get on with the fitting of kitchen and showerroom - not to mention all the decorating.

Not sure if I mentioned it but OH got a fantastic deal on carpets - really good quality carpet but a slight second so was heavily discounted from their normal low prices. As we were taking over 100 sq metres of it and getting a separate carpet for our bedroom OH negotiated additional discount. Ended up being £7/sq m for that one. Got a roll end for our bedroom. Ordered underlay and gripper online and I think the total price for everything, including underlay, gripper, bars and fitting is abuot £17/ sq m which I reckon is amazing.

Got my folks up this weekend in addition to the inlaws so we've got lots of manpower so hopefully will get lots of decorating done. Also going to try and take out some bushes from the front garden to give space for a pram to get round the outside of the house. Not sure how much I can do (or will be allowed to do) but will try and be productive.

Was thinking about laminate flooring and got an email from screwfix with deals on WITEX laminates. Anyone know anything about this brand? I suspect its cheap and nasty but I've requested a couple of samples anyway.

Hope you all have productive weekends!

spirit

redlady_1 wrote: »

Hi Spirit. I never ever thought I would have been capable of taking something like this on but it ticked all my boxes and was within my very small price bracket! The developers had been all over it like a rash but the vendors refused to sell as they wanted it to be someones home rather than to make a fast buck. Their mother had lived in it and had died so they had an emotional attachment to it - for which I will be eternally grateful. There was a solid roof and windows and surprisingly no damp. But I think there are nasties lurking in the cellar!

How far along the road are you?

Despite the pain and sacrifice I am so happy in my little place. Once I move back in I will post some pics for you, however, I will probably need some help as women and technology do not mix!

Nor me Redlady, the house I bought 12 weeks ago would not have been on my radar when I started looking. It was only that my buyers were pushing me and I couldn't find anything. I kept ringing the agents' and asked for things with no onward chain.

they told me about this one they were taking on but hadn't had its HIPS report back. they gave me the address so I could look from the outside. I liked the location so rang them daily for almost a week. they wouldn't let me see til the report was back. I was the first to see it (in my lunchbreak) and offered straight away.

it's only 30 years old but has not been touched -well, I fib, it has been decorated probably only once before and really, seriously badly. i think the old boy wasn't wearing his specs! the paintwork was terrible and just patches of indiscriminately placed wallpaper.

she must have been drying her knickers on the rads as the wallpaper was all peeling immediately above the rads!!

she died in January and so her family put it on the market to get rid of it quickly I guess. It was quite habitable. the kitchen and bathroom were really dated. much of the other stuff was just updating and decorating after that.

i had the electrics updated. the guy at No. 1 who is a sparky, said it didn't need total rewire, just a new consumer unit and updated sockets, switches and more sockets adding.

the window fitter also took down the sitting room/kitchen wall and put up the steel and he also took down the bathroom wall since it was not a supporting one.

i agree with your above post about people letting you down :mad: 2 plumbers so far have done that and i just want it fitting now. it's been in my bedroom 3 awaiting fitting for about 6 weeks now. i've got a couple of people from myhammer coming this evening and tomorrow to see.

not sure i agree about women and technology not mixing though! i love it. having said that, i need to borrow someone's drill so i can put up my new slate door number plate i had made!