First-time house renovation

andrew-b

kr15snw wrote: »

Hi Andrew, hubby is a builder so we'll be doing the majority ourselves. He's spent years rennovating other people's homes, just never done ours. So we thought what the hell! Our budget is tiny, but we have a lot of friends who owe us favours (chippy's, sparkys etc) who won't need paying / will do work for food.

Draw up a contract with him to make sure he commits time to the house and stays on site!:rotfl:Seriously though it's one thing doing other peoples houses and another doing your own especially if that's his day job! Also i'd be wary of pulling in to many favours and not expect all for nothing...presumably all the tradesmen friends will have their own out of work committments so it might mean it takes a bit longer than if you were paying them!

Still sounds like your thinking the plans through and i see your logic. Just remember that there's a ceiling price a house in a particular street will ever sell for if resale value comes into it. If it's a "forever house" then it's not as relevant. Either way ..good luck!


On the subject of "forever houses"...our bungalow was going to be one....wer'e now considering moving on in a year or so as now there's a little one around we're starting to see the need for more space and i'm realising that with my mobility issues we won't be able to adapt the house to my needs as i get older. Will have to finish off this house first though! Whether we take on a wreck of a house or a boring "move straight in house" i'm not sure yet but i think alot will depend on what return we get on my investment in many hours of DIY on this one! If it is a renovation then next time it will be a more managerial role.

I feel a 2nd time house renovation thread coming on..now whose nuts ?! :rotfl:

latecomer

andrew-b wrote: »

now whose nuts ?! :rotfl:

Stark raving.....

I have to say if I did it again - I'd definitely do things differently and I wouldn't live in it especially with a young child. Apart from that....bring it on

kr15snw

We keep saying it will be a forever house as we reckon it’s going to take 5 years to ‘finish’. Lol. Plus it’s a street we’ve wanted to move into for a-g-e-s

But never say never! Lol

ukmaggie45

We're sleeping in the house! :T :j :beer: OH on camp bed and me on floor. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

It was the Twins "Official Birthday" on Saturday, so DD1 came up to stay with her new hubby and a longtime friend so we thought it would be fun to bring them back here to new house as a surprise...

We've stayed on here in new house after the celebrations, trying to sort stuff out a bit. Got pans compatible with induction hob in TJ Hughes closing down sale, and more stuff too. It's all a bit strange at the mo... OH on holiday this week, and we're trying to get things a bit better sorted and get some more stuff from home over here.

Today went and ordered new Motability car too (current car is 3 years old mid September) - knackering with all the hanging around in the place and the paperwork stuff etc. But it's going to be a Grand Scenic 1.5 Diesel in Eclipse - a kind of very dark grey. Extras are heated front seats (only way I managed to make it to london for DD1's wedding so keen to have them in new car) and sun roof. These are extra and I pay up front for them on top of the payment for the bigger car. I am very lucky to be able to use Motability, it is a godsend for many disabled people, myself included.

OH back in work next week for 3 days, so may go back home for that time before we head off on holiday. We'll see.

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had good weekends!

I failed miserably at doing anything constructive DIY wise! I did manage to have a bbq and visited the home and gift show in Harrogate. I went with a friend who runs a gift shop and pretended to be an assistant buyer for the day, it was a lot of fun spending someone elses money! The trade prices were generally 250% cheaper than retail, wish I could have bought stuff for myself!

Yesterday the wood surrounds for my windows got undercoated and hopefully glossed today. The house will look a lot more finished once they are up. Didnt manage to get my bedroom curtain rail up or make the blinds for the kitchen and Im working Saturday so I cant see much getting done this weekend either.

Picked the first bounty from my garden at the weekend, I was pretty pleased...

The eggs were courtesy of the neighbours so I cant take credit for them!

latecomer

Down on page 14

We've finally had some progress - of sorts. got a local builder in to build a concrete ramp at the front of the drive and also to install the downpipes to the guttering. First he did the ramp - which more like a slab with literally no drop at all - they claimed the drainage prevented them from going any lower but they didn't even put a curve on the edge.

Guttering and down pipes should have been simple -

1, take off guttering that was twisted and sort brackets and put it back up. brackets were not touched at all so it would have just twisted again as soon as any weight of water/snow was on it.
2. install downpipes - got back to teh house last night to find the one they had installed at the side of the garage was like a banana. The pop up at the side of the garage was about 3 inches out from the wall as was the connection on teh guttering itself. So the sensible thing to do would be to fit brackets that hold it pipe out from the wall so its vertical? Obviously not to a builder - they had brackets that held the pipe against teh wall so they just bent the downpipe into a banana shape. Even my 80 year old neighbour immediately noticed it and commented on it looking a little "odd". Down pipes at the back are actually ok but in standard plastic rather than cast iron effect.

Builder didn't seem to understand the issue when I was on the phone and claimed that he didn't know that all the pipes were meant to be cast iron effect despite his quote stating exactly that. He then said " So its all got to come out then?" in a very pathetic scolded child sort of tone to which I replied that he didn't but that it wasn't what we had asked for or been quoted for. Whats the bet he doesn't feel obliged to reduce the bill?

He also said the brackets used on the one at the corner of the garage were normal and didn't know what I expected him to do - I pointed out that he could perhaps fit brackets that held the pipe out from the wall like were fitted to our neighbours wall not 10 feet from where ours was.

I know we've had a bit of a bad run when it comes to idiotic and incompetent builders but surely the law of averages says that eventually we are going to find some so called professional who can manage to quote for a job and complete it on time and to the spec provided without bodging it? Is it really too much to ask?

Really should have taken a photo to share - would have brightened up most folks days!

kmmr

Hello all!

It's been a while since I was here (extension in west London) and I have just come back to have a bit of a rant.

I have been messing around with the builders and the building inspector about a few final things for months, nothing major, just getting around to replacing the fire alarms with linked ones etc, and I finally have it all right... ready to call the inspector for a final inspection... and upstairs have gone and leaked all through my second bedroom!

The inspectors will never sign it off when the second room is dripping and soaked all through the ceiling!! I was so looking forward to the final 'end of renovation' champagne! sigh...

Upstairs were installing a new kitchen and the installers have left a leaking pipe inside, and completely broken the outflow pipe outside. So I had water pouring down the outside causing damage, and inside accumulating all in the ceiling and soaking through. Now have massive damp (actually slowly running water) down the wall, all damaged electrics and ceiling, and swollen wood all around the door. And the whole place stinks of damp... miserable to come home to. Carpets also looking damaged, but possibly salvagable. Soo annoyed...

Here is the room all nice and finished a few months back. Now the whole area where the lights are in the boxing is soaking and filthy. And all down that wall is running water, swollen wood etc. etc.
http://clearlybuilt.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/dsc_09361.jpg
http://clearlybuilt.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dsc_0897.jpg

Only slight bright point is that there was a tiny spot of damp appearing on that wall (and I mean tiny, maybe 10square cm) which I was contemplating looking at, so I suppose they will have to fix it all when they re-do the whole wall.

typeractive

:o:o sorry to hear that kmmr - especially when it looks so great in those pics!!

Chin up, it will get sorted and be back better than ever!

Fingers crossed!

latecomer

@kmmr - really sorry to hear that - I know how it feels


I've spent the night filling the holes I left when I moved the sockets. Cut bits of wood to go at the back and then screwed them in from the sides of the hole. Then screwed the cut out plasterboard from where the switches now are into the other holes. Worked really well until I started doing the back room and I couldn't get either of the 2 bits of plasterboard to fit the 2 holes. Was rather confused until OH phoned and I mentioned it and she pointed out that the plasterboard came from the new holes rather than the old hole and hence wouldn't necessarily fit either...... idiot

Then went round filling the edges where there has been a little settlement in the extension so it can be painted.

Tomorrow I plan to sand the filled bits and move the light swicthes down approx 200mm...... the fun never ends

aliasojo

latecomer wrote: »

I know we've had a bit of a bad run when it comes to idiotic and incompetent builders but surely the law of averages says that eventually we are going to find some so called professional who can manage to quote for a job and complete it on time and to the spec provided without bodging it? Is it really too much to ask?

No, law of averages does not apply to tradesmen unfortunately.

Yes, it's too much to ask.

Stress levels in our house are through the roof again, OH is at the new rental place as he had to start work in the new area and I'm still at home trying to deal with the last of the work that needed doing, and getting nowhere fast. I should have been out of here 2 weeks ago but nothing is going according to plan.

I had to get in a new joiner in a hurry to get the wood fitted in the living room and it's ok but not quite as good as my usual joiner. But to be fair, he was half the price of my usual joiner and much, much quicker so it all balances out. (Especially since I wont be living here looking a the wee niggly bits that might bug me.)

I got someone in to put up the coving at the top of the stairs and he's got a join in a bit there didn't need to be a join in so I can only assume he'd cut the length wrongly and had to adapt. The join isn't mitred, it's just a butt join and badly filled so you can see it from a mile away. The object was to get people in to help finish stuff off to save me time but I'm going to have to fix bits here and there so I'm not sure how good that idea worked out. :undecided

My usual joiner is supposed to be here today but hasn't replied to my texts so I suspect he may be a no show.

The walls I was hoping to get away with emulsioning, just aren't in good enough condition so I may have to put up paper which will cost me more time....and tbh, I've lost interest now since I wont be staying here.

All our furniture is in the new place and I'm on a camping chair and a blow up bed here, 'tis not fun. I don't think I will be participating in 2nd time house renovation, I will happily just support all of you from afar.

@kmmr, sorry to hear about the damage, you must be really frustrated. Hope it all gets sorted out with as little disruption to you as poss.

@maggie...good to hear things are moving on and you're at the stage of being able to live in the place.....but surely you're doing something wrong if you're the one that gets the floor? :rotfl::rotfl: