First-time house renovation

latecomer

aliasojo wrote: »

so I think my renovation days are over.

I might get a tent. Little to do in those.

latecomer....when you say stripping the wood, is it painted wood or damaged wood?

Painted and varnished - just dont have the time to do it and its something I would rather pay for so I can do the bathroom upstairs instead.

Tents are great - until it rains for days and everything is wet, I'd stick to a house even its one that doesn't need much/anything doing.

latecomer

@typer - sounds like you have a good lot of trades there - we have so far only managed to get a decent gas engineer who is unfortuntely probably not that far from retiral as he's struggling with mobility. he's also an electrician (and used to do just about everything else too) so I may get him to check over the electrics if its required.

We have been recommended a builder by our neighbour who is an architect and although he's not cheap, he's not meant to extortionate either so will see what he quotes for the work. The last guy isn't coming back regardless of how good his quotes are - just dont have the patience to have to point out all the defects and check everything myself to ensure you get the job completed as per quote.

And we've just had redundancies at our place - thankfully not directly affected but still not great. Mind you initially thought I was going to get a paid holiday to finish off the house and get it sold. Mind you I'd rather have a job at the moment I think

lisal0u

Hi All,

Had a fairly productive weekend! Almost got all the wooden surrounds fitted around the windows, it makes such a difference to not have tatty bits of plasterboard edge on show!

Also managed to get Dad round to fit the extractor fan in the kitchen! It looks great but something musnt be properly sealed as its not drawing properly. Hopefully this can be fixed without having to take it down again!

Also managed to get curtains up in my bedroom, its only taken a year and a half Still need to make the kitchen blinds though!

I think after buying the house 3 years ago Ill soon be able to say its finished whoo :j

Im also going to bow out of the 2nd time renovation thread hahah once is definately enough!

On the subject of trades people I can also join in to say I wouldnt reccommend any that I used! The builders were thieves, plasterers were a pain and kitchen fitter refused to come back and finish the job. Its very fustrating! If I did my job as badly as some of these trades people Id be fired and so should they!!

kr15snw - Ooo looking forward to a nosey! I love reading house renovation blogs.

latecomer - Sorry to hear about the break in, I must have missed that while I was MIA.

kr15snw

Hot water is now working! Plumber coming tonight to try see if he can fix the shower / washing machine

And as a bonus we ripped up the spare room carpet (was just plain manky) to find stunning wooden floors that just need a sand down and a varnish

latecomer

kr15snw wrote: »

And as a bonus we ripped up the spare room carpet (was just plain manky) to find stunning wooden floors that just need a sand down and a varnish

Bonus prizes :j

suisidevw

Excellent bonus prize! Make sure you do it yourself, we did and it saved us a fortune and looks INCREDIBLE!

LC, glad you like my log store roof.

latecomer

IF you do it yourself - never ever stop/pause/hesitate with the sander engaged or you get divots. I can't divulge the source of this information as I would never make such a mistake......

latecomer

We've got a builder arranged to come and do the drive, back path and garage steps - not cheap but it needs done and we dont have the time to do it. I'm going to try and do the front path and a small patio at the back.

Also got the kitchen fiitter arranged for the week after next so hopefully that should get that finished.

And we;re off on holiday for a week - not taking a computer and intend to relax. Hoping the fresh highland air will help the wee guy sleep a little better........

aliasojo

latecomer wrote: »

Hoping the fresh highland air will help the wee guy sleep a little better........

Ooooh where you heading? I'm leaving the Highlands on Monday (if last tradesman turns up on time) to go stay in the central belt. Can't say I'm looking forward to it tbh but trying to be positive. :undecided

kr15snw

Every room has perfect floorboards!

And downstrairs are even clean and don't look like they need much stripping!!!