First-time house renovation

arroli

Why can't you have recessed lights? Is it because of the vaulted roof?

Hopeful, yes Im told its because of the vaulted roof. we have also planned to do these spotlights in kitchen, also part vaulted roof (or it will be!!!) so need to re think lighting...not too worried as there are some lovely alternative options available.

We started beginning of October, our builders seem to be working at a fast pace...they tell me they will do this and that in 2-3 weeks time...next time I go to the cottage the walls are demolished/rebuilt etc....speedy progress!! The bad weather means they can carry on with internal works not too worried now we have a new roof that is complete and weathertight before the winter.

We dont plan to have it in a liveable state for several months though, so not stressing just yet.

Would be good to see some pics of your project...mine are on my homepage..

latecomer

Getting it water tight is a huge step forward and it was one of the things that killed us last year as it just stopped everything during the the horrific weather we experienced.

@stolt - the push to get the back room sorted is so that we've got a nice family space where we can open the doors to the kitchen to cook and still have LLC playing in the sitting room. At the moment we have to shift everything through to the kitchen and back which is a pain. Also having the laminate throughout the area means we dont have to worry about any spillages etc.

My grand total of progress on the house was moving aobut 6 boxes of stuff we are keeping upstairs and getting out some of the old box files to be sorted through (we keep everything so have a lot of old redundant paperwork!). Also bought a case of nice wine for our neighbours as a thank you for putting up with our building work over the last year and a bit, which was very well recieved

When we were in B&Q on saturay we picked up a cheap mirror which is perfect for the bathroom, something that we've been meaning to get since the tiling was finished 18 months ago! Wonder how long it will take to get it put up

ukmaggie45

Hi Stolt and All,

stolt wrote: »

Still got to sort out the bi folds... could i ask how much one cost, pm if youwish i just trying to work out a budget for the dinning room (ol kitchen ripped out) but these companies wont leave you alone once you have had them round for a pricing....

I love looking into your kitchen from the dark outside - it just looks so lovely and cosy and bright and jewel like. :j Your canvases look great, really set it all off. I'm so envious, am really looking forward to the kitchen being installed

Been baby sitting the twins this afternoon while DD2 went to dentist so am a bit brain dead now (only for about half an hour on my own, and they didn't cry too much before their Mum arrived back). So am a bit confuddled right now.

I can't remember what was said in the original costings about the bifolds, will try and find them later or tomorrow. Plus I'm not sure we had the bifolds in the original costs, prob something along the lines of "to install £X, client to supply". If that's the case we'll prob have some figures the end of this week or early next week, as builder is currently going over the extra costs for us now so we know what they are in detail.

(Main extras were replacing the old windows at the front - 2 bays and one small bedroom window, plus the original roof that roofer thought might need replacing in 10 years or so. Since that's when we hit our 70s we thought it sensible to bite the bullet now. We have ballpark figure for roof, and our own guestimate for windows, so hope we won't have too much of a shock. :rotfl: )

It would be more than we were originally quoted for the bifolds anyway (if we were), as in the end we went for the aluminium doors as the frames holding each window are marginally narrower than the UPVC ones so it lets more light in. Since they are north east facing we want to get as much light in as possible. While wood would have been lovely, we're well overbudget on the build anyway (hmm, shades of everything we keep seeing on Grand Designs!) so just not an option.

Anyway, I'll let you know when we know.

Maggie

ukmaggie45

Hopeful_5 wrote: »

Maggie - how far you have come in such a short time! When are you hoping to be in now?

It feels like a roller-coaster, even more so now when I only get photo updates some days of the week, when OH isn't working. I don't know when the build will finish, TBH I suspect it may go over into the New Year as there's still the porch to build. And I don't know what's happening with the floor in the original part of the house yet too. I may sound pessimistic, but I prefer to look at worst case scenario and then be agreeably surprised. :rotfl:

Hopeful_5 wrote: »

I must get some photos up. I went to the bungalow today with the intention of taking some on my old mobile which has email but forgot . My brain is in a constant swim with all that is going on and it's all down to to me alone :eek:.

The shopping aspect is a pain! :eek: The decisions - which bathroom tile, which bath, what for the rest of the bathroom - decision seems to be needing to be made fast. Of course if we'd planned all of that stuff in advance it wouldn't be like that.

Hopeful_5 wrote: »

I also need photos now so I can prove to my local council that the house is uninhabitable as my six months council tax reprieve is up. I was badly advised when I first contacted them in May and should have said in my letter that the bungalow was 'uninhabitable' rather than that it was simply 'unfurnished and unoccupied' as I was told to do at the time.

I think we got muddled on this too. We got the initial 6 months and then we got a bill. OH rang them (see below) and we didn't have to pay.

Hopeful_5 wrote: »

I'll say it's uninhabitable - no kitchen, no bathroom, no heating and electrics at first fix stage. I plough on.

We had an inspection, OH was there at the time, and the bloke said he was pretty sure we'd "pass". Not heard anything since, so I assume it's OK.

latecomer

Finally did something on the house and thought I should rescue the thread from page 6!!!

Last night with the weather forecasting snow and low temps falling to around 0 degreesC I thought it was time to get my finger out and back fill around the drainage pipes. Of course I had planned to do this at the weekend but with OH not feeling great and LLC being rather time consuming it was doomed to never happen.

OH is through at her folks for a few days so I didn't have to worry about food or noise. Got home around 7pm, brought working clothes in from garage and put on radiator ( ) for a few mins, then got stuck in. Of course soil is half frozen and full of rocks so not only have to dig it up into barrow but also sift through to get out the worst of the stones to make sure the new pipes dont get broken. Couldn't feel my fingers after 10 minutes but persevered and once I got my heart rate up sufficiently they warmed up nicely. Ended up being out there for aabout 2 hours but got them all well covered so hopefully that will protect them from freezing. Ok its not like its a water pipe but I'm sure despite best intentions there will be at least one area where water collects.

I'm going to phone the joiner shortly and give him a final chance to agree to come back and sort out the remaining issues in an agreeable timeframe but I doubt he'll even answer the phone. If he does I'm going find it hard to be civil but will do my best

OH has been trying to find a plasterer and has had a recommendation (unofficially) from a company thats only doing insurance work at the moment for one of the ex-employees who just happens to live 2 streets away from us and is apparently very good. So he's going to come round at 5:30pm tomorrow to have a look as he doesn't like quoting over the phone when ceilings have bene reboarded as he's had problems with that previously - mumbled something about ceilings floating around. Dont think you could class ours like that due to the 125mm screws into the joists above

Going to try and scrape the last of the remnants of the wall paper in dining room tonight or at least get a couple of walls done. If the plasterer is available we'll be getting it done as soon as I can get the walls finishes so he can see what needs patched.

aliasojo

Kinda need some thoughts please? My stairs are awful and need replaced. All the doors/frames/architrave/skirting etc have been replaced with oak. Ideally I would love solid proper oak stairs but given the circumstances, I wont now be in a position to do that.

Possible options are.......stairs from Tradestairs.com - engineered oak stringers/oak treads/oak faced risers.(No newels) Around £700 ish (£950 delivered).

Stairs made to measure from local company with top and bottom newels/laminated oak stringers (dont know if laminated is the same as engineered)/pine treads/ply risers. Around £1100+VAT+Del. If oak treads and risers were got, the price would rise to around £1500+VAT.

Cheapo pine staircase painted white with some sort of oak trim to try to make it blend it (*cries at the thought of this option*)

I dont know what to do tbh. By rights I cant afford any of them now but I cant just leave it, it needs doing. Any thoughts? My brain is a bit mushy at the mo'.

spirit

Is everything ok aliasojo?

aliasojo

Nope.

Just trying to keep at it.

spirit

((((Hugs to you))))

i'd go for the cheapest. FWIW, i sawed off my banisters on week 1. i had a quote from a local chippy to supply and fit replacements and it was £500 which is an ok price I think (for the South East)

i've not bothered as i've just put the house back on the market to sell. whoever buys it can put up what they want or not as they see fit.

in my last house I did the same as with a narrow hall, it just makes it look cramped. my buyers there had a little un so they've since put spindles in so I hear.

andrew-b

What exactly is wrong with the existing stairs and what are they made of? Can they be tarted up by replacing any timbers that need to be replaced, sanding down and a woodstain? If so i'd be tempted to go that route...whilst alot of work to keep you occupied if you don't have the cashflow it seems more sensible to me. If they are salvageable i would think that may be preferable to a cheapo pine replacement and cheaper.

Or could you just replace the banisters as a compromise which would be far far simpler? If your going to cover most of it in carpet (not sure you are..but i'd feel it's safer) then your not going to see it anyhow! Don't know if you recall lisaLou's glass banisters but i daresay if you scroll back far enough you'll find some pictures and costings (please bear in mind her house renovation nearly broke her financially when her relationship broke up ..was in contact still but not heard from her for a while so guess she's still working her butt off paying it off).

If you go for a replacement i'd go for oak all the way if you can..but can you really afford it? Seriously you don't want to go beyond your means and give yourself any financial worries on top of everything else.

Either way..mind what your doing with your stanley knife!! Sorry but i had to try cheer you up