First-time house renovation

ukmaggie45

Hi there Kate, welcome to the Renovations Thread! :beer:

katehesk wrote: »

Under the conditions of our mortgage the flooring needs to be levelled, and I have been told to lay ashphalt throughout as this acts as a damp prrof membrane also. Is this correct? Not sure what it is that is in situ, something??? and then quarry tile over the top. Some parts of the floor were concrete and very uneven, so we dug these up and it's now basically just earth in those parts.

How old is your house? We live in a terraced house built about 1905, and we had quarry tiles laid on earth in the kitchen. We've been here 37 years now ( :eek: ), so I don't remember exactly what happened when it was sorted out, but I think the soil was dug out somewhat, damp proof membrane laid (prob on top of sand to level it?), concrete laid on top, and then a self levelling screed of some sort laid before we put down vinyl flooring.

We have just bought a 1955 house with concrete ground floor, which has concrete sickness (google it if you don't know what it is), so all has to be dug out and replaced. :eek:

Our damp surveyor made suggestions as to the best way to do the new floor (we may have other damp issues at the back of the house too, won't really know till the floor comes up).

I think the asphalt goes on the top of the concrete after everything else is done - you will need a damp proof membrane under the concrete too. (I think)

Please bear in mind I am a complete idiot when it comes to renovation stuff, this is just what I can remember from our surveys etc. I wish we were young and fit enough to do at least some of this stuff ourselves, but we will be using a builder as I am moderately disabled and OH is approaching pensionable age, so it's a bit beyond our capabilities!

Sounds like you are making good progress.

It is scary having your first home, but ours is still standing all these years later despite various disasters! Do try and have some fun time amongst all the hard work - get out for an evening once in a while - meal out or cinema or something, so you don't get to feel stale about the work.

And we all like to see photos of work in process of course! We're just [STRIKE]curious[/STRIKE] nosy to see other folks homes. Do please think of setting up a blog about your progress - you will love looking back on it in a few months/years when you can see how far you've come.

We think our building work will begin end Aug or beginning Sep, I think I'll have to set up a new blog then for progress reports.

spirit

Morning all,

Hello Kate and a welcome to the thread from me too. I would just add that the feelings you have are completly normal and are not alone. :A

My bathroom is 95% done. I had a bit of a mishap on Saturday, went to IKEA to get some chests of drawers. My ex-neighbour came with me and she bought a free standing (flatpack) cupboard. So when we got back to her house (and my old one of course) I opened the boot to get her purchases out and her box at the same time the box decided to take itself out and slid onto my foot :eek:

I had it xrayed and isn't broken, just badly bruised. Nurse said to put my foot up and put frozen pack on it. I didn't have the time though as I had to do the tile grouting in the bathroom so as not to hold up the fitter. It must have looked very funny though with my foot up on the loo or bath as I was grouting :rotfl:

He's now fitted all but the shower. He said something about the electricity supply for it and his mate would get me a more appropriate one. Not sure what he meant by that. I took the shower back to the plumbers merchant yesterday and he said it only needs a 13 I think he said, amp socket. When the sparky was here he put in a spur for me since at that time I was going to put the Mira Platinum shower in.

I'll give it a couple of days to see if he comes back about the shower. the bath is fully useable and has a hand held shower attachment so I can make do for now. The shower I took back was a Mira Vigour power shower, anyone know what the problem might have been?

The next thing is the kitchen fitting. Kitchen arrives on Friday. I've bought separately the extractor (e-bay) sink and taps (e-bay), dishwasher (boots kitchen appliances) and fridge-freezer (boots), black induction hob (IKEA). I'm now looking for a black, single, built in electric oven.

I've had workmen in here now pretty much every week since mid April when I moved in, so am looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet (I expect the neighbours are too)

katehesk

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hi there Kate, welcome to the Renovations Thread! :beer:



How old is your house? We live in a terraced house built about 1905, and we had quarry tiles laid on earth in the kitchen.

Thank you!

I think ours is the same. Quarry tile layed over earth.

I have just spoken to a guy called steve, who does this sort of flooring (when you google flooring it comes up with laminate et al, and not the type of flooring i'm talking about...not sure what to search for!) - found him in on yell.com .

Anyway, he does ashphalting and when I mentioned the quarry tile, he said it was basically just layed over earth and over the years where patches of tiles lift up with damp, patches of concrete are often layed in those areas, which explains our patchwork of concrete and quarry tile floor.

We are not sure of the exact age of the house. My boyfriend's grandad is sure that the houses were built in the 1930's, as he is a local lad, but I actually think they are older, probably about the same as your former home, maybe 1910ish.

I have another question, not very technical, but I still need a bit of advice.

This flooring guy, Steve is coming on Monday to look at the job and presumably give us a price.

Obviously I would like to get a few different people to come and do the same so we know we are getting the best price (I am actually very funny about builders and contractor types, and generally go with my instinct about them as workers and people, which I know is probably wrong - I was not involved in the selection of our plasterer and when I met him, i felt very uncomfortable around him, and avoided the house for ages cos I hated being there when he was...in the end it all blew up because his finishing was very poor, and he left the 'project' with the job 9/10ths finished, and we are now using a friend of my bf's dad, who is very good, and has rectified alot of the shoddy work...and yes we did get a bit of money knocked of the quoted price).

My question is this, how do you politely say to a contractor who has been to give a price for works, that you are considering your options and will be in touch. I know any decent person would probably appreciate that. But we are a young couple, and I feel that sometimes, eg. in the case of the plasterer, who thought he could get away with shoddy work, (picked the wrong person, as I am actually quite calm and assertive when I'm not stressing out) people think they can take advantage of that.

Does any of that make sense?!

Another reason why I think I stress out sometimes, is because my bf is the complete opposite and is so easy going and sees everything in a good light, which is great...hmmm...sometimes. I'm more of realist *ahem* pessimist. Also his dad, who is a joiner has been our main source of knowledge on the job, and bf's dad's word is gospel according to bf and can't be questioned :rolleyes:

We are going camping this weekend, so having a weekend off :j Need it!

Ps. the bf has been taking some pictures as we have gone along, so will see what I can do about getting them online.

ukmaggie45

Hi Kate, so far as I am aware it is perfectly normal for people to get several quotes, most folks advise to get at least three. So I wouldn't worry about telling your chap that that you are waiting for more quotes.

I think that "gut feeling" about workmen can be very useful. And remember, it's your home, it's no good having someone working there who you feel uncomfortable with.

Ask around your friends and family if they can recommend tradespeople, personal recommendation it the best way to go if you possible can. We have had some horrendous experiences in our current house over the years (don't mention double glazing! :eek: ) but now have a local company that we use for double glazing who were very helpful when we were burgled a few weeks ago and came round to replace door panel within 24 hours.

You are very lucky that BFs Dad is a joiner - he must be an absolute mine of information. :j I'm sure he will have seen work like your floor being done and be able to give you better advice than I can.

Odd you should mention that you think your house is 1910ish but your BFs Grandad thinks 1930s. Our new house was actually built in 1955, but it's very Deco in style, and you would swear it was a 1930s house, especially the front door and windows by it (still original). The land was sold end of 1938 (it used to be Liverpool Zoo!) and permission was granted to build about 90 houses on the estate, but I guess WWII intervened!

In one way we've been naughty, as we didn't get several quotes for the building work. But our builder did a very complicated build for DD and SiL on a Grade II Listed building, and they were very pleased with his work, and we've seen it and it looks very well done and well finished. He has done extensive costings for us too, so we know where we are money wise...

Of course we will prob be difficult and want to change some things so may entail more costs - am keen on getting tempered glass on stairs and landing instead of the filled in bit that's there instead of bannisters (:eek: must be mad - that'll cost, hardly money saving!). Excuse is that we'll be losing the landing window when the extension goes up, so really need to maximise any light there is. We're having two sun tunnels onto the landing, and there's light through the front door and windows by it, but think it will be very gloomy in the back of the hallway the way things are at the mo.

Here's a link to pic of front door from inside from early viewing of house, you can see the solid "banister" and the 30s style door and windows.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liverpool-leftovers/4019055431/in/set-72157622480297397/

Here's a better picture of the door. It's a bit ajar as didn't want to shut it completely as EA was outside and I thought if I did that it might freak him out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liverpool-leftovers/4019174273/in/set-72157622480297397/

BTW we're still in our old home, and likely to be here till well after Xmas. New house will take a while to become habitable even after the building work is finished. We go there most days to garden, and I'm slogging on the internet trying to find all we need. Currently we're trying to make kitchen and bathroom and downstairs shower-room decisions, but then it'll be the flooring, curtains, etc etc. OH and I hardly ever agree on stuff as well, so we're very slow to make decisions! :rotfl:

And then it will be doing some of the renovation and repairs on current house before we try to sell. I still love this house, will be sad to go, but it will be worth it to have the garden... But will miss our wonderful sunsets that we see from the living room here!

PS have a nice weekend off camping - hope you have good weather! More rain here in Liverpool tomorrow I think. Am craving sun!

katehesk

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Hi Kate, so far as I am aware it is perfectly normal for people to get several quotes, most folks advise to get at least three. So I wouldn't worry about telling your chap that that you are waiting for more quotes.

I think that "gut feeling" about workmen can be very useful. And remember, it's your home, it's no good having someone working there who you feel uncomfortable with.

Ask around your friends and family if they can recommend tradespeople, personal recommendation it the best way to go if you possible can. We have had some horrendous experiences in our current house over the years (don't mention double glazing! :eek: ) but now have a local company that we use for double glazing who were very helpful when we were burgled a few weeks ago and came round to replace door panel within 24 hours.

You are very lucky that BFs Dad is a joiner - he must be an absolute mine of information. :j I'm sure he will have seen work like your floor being done and be able to give you better advice than I can.

Odd you should mention that you think your house is 1910ish but your BFs Grandad thinks 1930s. Our new house was actually built in 1955, but it's very Deco in style, and you would swear it was a 1930s house, especially the front door and windows by it (still original). The land was sold end of 1938 (it used to be Liverpool Zoo!) and permission was granted to build about 90 houses on the estate, but I guess WWII intervened!

In one way we've been naughty, as we didn't get several quotes for the building work. But our builder did a very complicated build for DD and SiL on a Grade II Listed building, and they were very pleased with his work, and we've seen it and it looks very well done and well finished. He has done extensive costings for us too, so we know where we are money wise...

Of course we will prob be difficult and want to change some things so may entail more costs - am keen on getting tempered glass on stairs and landing instead of the filled in bit that's there instead of bannisters (:eek: must be mad - that'll cost, hardly money saving!). Excuse is that we'll be losing the landing window when the extension goes up, so really need to maximise any light there is. We're having two sun tunnels onto the landing, and there's light through the front door and windows by it, but think it will be very gloomy in the back of the hallway the way things are at the mo.

Here's a link to pic of front door from inside from early viewing of house, you can see the solid "banister" and the 30s style door and windows.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liverpool-leftovers/4019055431/in/set-72157622480297397/

Here's a better picture of the door. It's a bit ajar as didn't want to shut it completely as EA was outside and I thought if I did that it might freak him out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liverpool-leftovers/4019174273/in/set-72157622480297397/

BTW we're still in our old home, and likely to be here till well after Xmas. New house will take a while to become habitable even after the building work is finished. We go there most days to garden, and I'm slogging on the internet trying to find all we need. Currently we're trying to make kitchen and bathroom and downstairs shower-room decisions, but then it'll be the flooring, curtains, etc etc. OH and I hardly ever agree on stuff as well, so we're very slow to make decisions! :rotfl:

And then it will be doing some of the renovation and repairs on current house before we try to sell. I still love this house, will be sad to go, but it will be worth it to have the garden... But will miss our wonderful sunsets that we see from the living room here!

PS have a nice weekend off camping - hope you have good weather! More rain here in Liverpool tomorrow I think. Am craving sun!

Aw, I sound like a right little ingrate (as my Mum would say) don't I? Bf's dad has been brilliant, very helpful, and done loads of work for us. I am just one of those people who questions things, and wants thing to be just so.

Your new house sounds like it will be amazing.

I never knew Liverpool had a zoo! Wish we still did (former liverpool resident, my bf is a woolyback though so now living 15 mins away, down the M62) .

Ordered our kitchen today...cream gloss slab with walnut worktops, delivered October 2nd, hopefully be ready for it by then. Also ordered Hob, hood and new washer. Need to get Double eye level oven, fridge freezer and sink and taps! Gonna have a trawl on Ebay and the net. Already compared lots of prices, and have pretty much settled on the Fridge freezer I want.

My mum has also been very supportive and has helped out a lot with the more unexpected costs of the 'project' (haha I hate saying that, it sounds sort of pretentious, but I guess that's what it is).

Feeling more optimistic about everything today, and a weekend away will be brilliant.

Raining in Ullswater too all weekend apparently, which is our camping place of choice this time. What I would give for a week in the sun...erm, I mean a new bathroom suite.....

Canucklehead

katehesk wrote: »

My question is this, how do you politely say to a contractor who has been to give a price for works, that you are considering your options and will be in touch. I know any decent person would probably appreciate that. But we are a young couple, and I feel that sometimes, eg. in the case of the plasterer, who thought he could get away with shoddy work, (picked the wrong person, as I am actually quite calm and assertive when I'm not stressing out) people think they can take advantage of that.

Hi, again....my OH always appreciates it if a potential customer acknowledges receipt of his quotes (we email the quotes and request a 'read receipt'...simple click of the cursor is all that it takes). Some go the extra distance and call/email something to the effect that 'we're getting x quotes in, after we've had the opportunity to compare like for like we'll get back to you. He'll then leave it about 2 weeks if he hasn't heard anything and follow it up with a 'could you please advise me in regard to the status of my quotation' email. He has found in recent years (30+ years in the trades now) that common courtesy is in decline.:sad:

Decisive customers are the most desirable:j....wafflers and prevaricators are the worst.:eek: Basically, treat others as you wish to be treated yourself works for us.

Good luck with your project.

HTH

Canucklehead

typeractive

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi, again....my OH always appreciates it if a potential customer acknowledges receipt of his quotes (we email the quotes and request a 'read receipt'...simple click of the cursor is all that it takes). Some go the extra distance and call/email something to the effect that 'we're getting x quotes in, after we've had the opportunity to compare like for like we'll get back to you. He'll then leave it about 2 weeks if he hasn't heard anything and follow it up with a 'could you please advise me in regard to the status of my quotation' email. He has found in recent years (30+ years in the trades now) that common courtesy is in decline.:sad:

Hi Canucklehead,

I fully appreciate this must be frustrating for any worker. Time and effort goes into quoting and advising etc. I recently had to tell an electrician he did not get the job. I could have not bothered telling him, but I like to think I did the right thing by getting back in touch and explaining and saying thanks (offered to buy him a beer if I see him out and about).

Decisive customers are the most desirable:j....wafflers and prevaricators are the worst.:eek: Basically, treat others as you wish to be treated yourself works for us.

I'm decisive, though I think I'm so detailed I actually begin to be a waffler. :rotfl: The electrician that won my quote and confidence has agreed everything specifically in writing. He said that it was the longest email he has ever typed upon replying and confirming. Though the great thing is - he's been on site, got a paper copy of my plans, and got everything noted so knows what he should face in each room. Equally I like to know what to expect, and when i see someone that is equally organised it stores confidence.

Both my electrician and planner have commented upon how much detail I have given, in comparison to so many people that just make stuff up as they go along, and actually don't know what they want. The daft thing is I find myself contacting them for little bits and bobs/giving extra details prior to them turning up and finding something out of sort. However I then feel guilty for it as I don't want to be a pest!

I wish Mr Canucklehead lived closer to me as I'd deffo employ ya's given the knowledge and support given on this site - I have a feeling I'll be asking you for advice in the future! hehe

Canucklehead

typeractive wrote: »

Hi Canucklehead,

I fully appreciate this must be frustrating for any worker. Time and effort goes into quoting and advising etc. I recently had to tell an electrician he did not get the job. I could have not bothered telling him, but I like to think I did the right thing by getting back in touch and explaining and saying thanks (offered to buy him a beer if I see him out and about).




I'm decisive, though I think I'm so detailed I actually begin to be a waffler. :rotfl: The electrician that won my quote and confidence has agreed everything specifically in writing. He said that it was the longest email he has ever typed upon replying and confirming. Though the great thing is - he's been on site, got a paper copy of my plans, and got everything noted so knows what he should face in each room. Equally I like to know what to expect, and when i see someone that is equally organised it stores confidence.

Both my electrician and planner have commented upon how much detail I have given, in comparison to so many people that just make stuff up as they go along, and actually don't know what they want. The daft thing is I find myself contacting them for little bits and bobs/giving extra details prior to them turning up and finding something out of sort. However I then feel guilty for it as I don't want to be a pest!

I wish Mr Canucklehead lived closer to me as I'd deffo employ ya's given the knowledge and support given on this site - I have a feeling I'll be asking you for advice in the future! hehe

:TYou would be my OH's favourite customer then! His latest has been an absolute nightmare (need to 'fine tune' our vetting procedure)....thank heavens the OH completed there on Tuesday ...now the small matter of getting this guy to settle up.:mad:

Anytime you need a bit of advice give us a holler.

HTH

Canucklehead

typeractive

Canucklehead wrote: »

:TYou would be my OH's favourite customer then!

Hahaha - well get him to come to the North East for a week or however long it takes to first fix! :cool: hehe

His latest has been an absolute nightmare (need to 'fine tune' our vetting procedure)....thank heavens the OH completed there on Tuesday ...now the small matter of getting this guy to settle up.:mad:

I can imagine that must happen all the time. I hope they do pay up on time and it's hassle free!

Anytime you need a bit of advice give us a holler.

HTH

Canucklehead

Don't you worry canuckle - I will indeed! :eek: heheh:j

latecomer

@kate - welcome to the thread! Be warned that there will be numerous requests for pics of your progress.

As others have said - its definitely worth getting several quotes for any large job but I'd nearly always go with personal recommendations if possible (even if they were not the cheapest within reason).

And there if you need some inspiration just read back through the trials and tribulations that others have experienced. Ours was a bit of a disaster but we've got there in the end.


We've had a fairly productive weekend but mainly outside for a change. I was off on friday for my grans funeral (not unexpected as she was 97!) and spent the rest of the day moving slabs and stones from the sunken areas of the garden at the front. Spent about a day over saturday & sunday digging out the old wall at the side of the drive and then starting to rebuild it about 1.5 feet back and incorporating a curve from the gate post. Takes forever to get something thats reasonably stable and looks good but its starting to take shape. Got rained off yesterday several times and then had to concentrate on removing the remainder of the slabs and walls for today as they should be starting to clear the drive and dig the trench for the drainage connections for the downpipes from the rowans.

I said they could put a lot of the material from the drive into the sunker areas to build up the levels and hence why I had to be finished in there before today. Hoepfully we'll have enough top soil to fill over the top. And as the skip wasn't removed on friday as it should have been its gained a lot of weight as I filled all the holes with all the big rocks that I dug out from around the wall. No point in leaving the skip with empty spaces - even removed some of the workers general waste (plastic bottles etc) into our bin to get extra stones in



Also did a fair bit of painting and varnishing over the weekend so the woodwork and kitchen walls are starting to get there. The kitchen itself has a bit of a setback after I noticed a problem with the worktops. Basically along on edge its not parallel to the units so the overhang goes from approx 30mm to 5mm over the length of 3 units. the head joiner was at the house yesterday and figured out its not the worktops but the units (and hence the wall) thats out. Mind you given that they noticed the other wall wasn't square to the back wall I cant understand why they didn't check the other one! Anyway the units are packed out slightly so they are going to try and remove the packing and rotate them outwards to make it batter. I dont think it will be perfect by any means but at least it should make it less noticeable.

The electrician is there today and be completely finished by the end of the day. Plumber will be there tomorrow but I'll believe it when I see it. All going well we should have a working kitchen by end of play wednesday which would be fantastic. It also means we can clear out the temporary kitchen and start working on getting it decorated before the flooring goes down.

Still got to make the path round the side of the house and fix the path at the front. would be great to get it done before the baby arrives but not the end of the world if its afterwards. Finally feels like we are almost there - its a great feeling