refurb on £10k...any ideas?

theGrinch

I need to refurb a 3 bed house which is still in the 1970s. I have £10k and 4 weeks to spend....any suggestions of how I can best spend the money to increase the value? Im interested to hear your views of how you would do it?

Currently the house has 2 double beds, 1 single, 1st floor bath and sep WC. 3 recs, a small kitchen, and small garden.

theGrinch

I need to refurb a 3 bed house which is still in the 1970s. I have £10k and 4 weeks to spend....any suggestions of how I can best spend the money to increase the value? Im interested to hear your views of how you would do it?

Currently the house has 2 double beds, 1 single, 1st floor bath and sep WC. 3 recs, a small kitchen, and small garden.

tru

Have a look here, the books look good

MATH

This is a family market type home, assuming central heating is already installed, bath room and kitchen are OK, the things I would be looking for in a family home are:

Low maintenance rear garden with turfed area.
Hard standing for two cars at the front.
Kitchen you can eat in at a table (poss knock kitchen and dining area through)
Shower over bath and no seperate toilet (poss knock through toilet 'n' bath)

A nearby 1970's house near us which has been neglected for years is in the process of being done over by DIY developers. They have:-

Replaced all 1970's internal door with panel white doors (£15 ea at Wickes)

Installed central Heating

Replaced 1970's blue bath suite with a basic white one with shower over (bath suite £180 from Focus)

Replaced the kitchen units with basic wood front units

Hard flooring to bath and kitchen

Plain cream carpet to all other floors

Unoffensive cream 'n' white colour scheme to all rooms

Repainted exterior gutters black, windows white, front door blue.

Tarted up front 'n' back garden a bit (but not too much)

They have been working on it at week-ends only and are on month 3 - don't know their budget tho.

Wishfairy

Great Question! We've just bought our house this week and taken an extra £10,000 for improvements.

So far we've decided on:

Knocking the bathroom and wc into one room, adding a new suite (£200), retiling and new wooden floor, replacing radiator with towel heater etc - we're expecting this to cost around the £600 - £1000 mark because we are doing the work ourselves.

From the above we will gain a useable sized space on the landing that will be used as an office for my small business - furnished from ikea and carpeted from the sales this summer.

Turning the scruffy front garden into a large driveway - brick block as pebbles would only end up thrown at the windows :-/ And doing some easy to maintain landscaping.

Toying with the idea of adding a conservatory and patio doors but I need to do a bit more pricing first, lol!

Little things make a difference too - making sure all the interior door handles match (B&Q have some great brushed chrome ones at the minute), changing the single sockets to doubles, nicer light fittings, replacing cracked light switches etc.

We'd like to take out the horrible gas fire too but that leaves us with a back boiler to replace and that means lots of money and corgi registered tradesmen so we're going to wait and see what's left when we've finished the bits we have planned.

Feel free to email me - it might be fun to see what we both do with the same amount of money on a similar property (I think mine is a bit older than 70's but the basics sound the same!)

theGrinch

hello there, some great answers.

I am seriously thinking about creating a large kitchen and knocking through the sep wc. new bath suite and kitchen units, paint and decorate, sand rec floors, create downstairs cloakroom, replace radiators and boiler, tidy up the gardens, new doors, fitted wardrobes.

if I had some left over I would rewire, replace windows and add period features.

good to hear your views.

elona

I replied to this earlier but it semms to have been lost.

Try the library for a Colin and Justin or else a House Doctor book as they give you loads of info and good pictures of what they mean.

Have you got central heating and white bathroom suites.

A seperate shower cubicle if you can fit it in.

Do not lose a bedroom for any reason.

Could kitchen units be refurbished by painting?
New hob,sink and tiles etc.

Wood laminate floors.

Neutral colours which look expensive.

Could you look around other houses like yours which have been done up and are at a high price to see what they have done to increase value?

Is loft boarded up so could be used for storage?

Tidy garden with bench or seating area - barbecue ?

ReductionQueen

Kitchens and bathrooms are the key. Most people don't want to mess with these, so any improvements to them are a plus. As already mentioned, neutral colours are best. Are there horrible but sound kitchen cabinets? If so either paint them with melamine primer and paint and replace the handles, or replace the doors and also the work surfaces. Vinyl on a concrete floor or sanded floorboards completes the look. Appliances are best bought out of the local paper, or failing that reconned from a local tradesman. I depends if you are going to live with it or sell it on.
White tiling and bathroom suite are a must, with splashes of colour.
The rest of the house - sanded foorboards, paint completely white, with stick on boarders for colour.

It's not what you add, but what you take away, but don't replace if you can just tart it up eg fitted cupboards or wardrobes.
Everything depends if you are going to sell it on, or if you want to live there as to how much you spend. Remember, if you are selling, the decor and appliances may not be there for long after the sale, so hardwaring is not an issue.

vansboy

New heating - gas, is favourite

Windows - can they be 'overhauled' or are the rotten

New bathroom - NOT the cheapest suite, but a £400 - £500 from Focus/Wickes/ a store that INCLDES taps n stuff within the price

Kitchen - get your dimensions of the room, go to MFI for FREE planning & computer print out - see where you can get same layout for less £$£$£. We chose IKEA, very smart it looks too, in gloss black. £500 less than MFI.

Roof - worth checking this out, 'cos if it leaks, anything you do inside is wasted.

Insulation - a few rolls of it in the roof is £$£$ well spent

If the walls are sound, but the paper is OK, just paint it. If its peeling off, think about lining paper & painting over, much cheaper than plastering, or expensive patterned wallcoverings.

Bedrooms carpeted for £100 or less each on remnants.

Downstairs flooring, plenty laminate offers around.

VB

theGrinch

hello there, some great answers.

I am seriously thinking about creating a large kitchen and knocking through the sep wc. new bath suite and kitchen units, paint and decorate, sand rec floors, create downstairs cloakroom, replace radiators and boiler, tidy up the gardens, new doors, fitted wardrobes.

if I had some left over I would rewire, replace windows and add period features.

good to hear your views.

ocemeer

dont forget the outside of the house, a lick of paint on the window frames and door makes it appeal especially if you are selling the house.
Try and blag a trade account with a builders merchant we managed to save £1500 min on a new kitchen. Pay attention to the details, the buyers will, its worth paying for skilled trades, plastering etc
Oh the rules about what you can do with electricity and rewiring will change in two days time.
Will try and think of more savings (still doing up our stuck in the 70s house, artex on every available surface is not a good period feature on a 1890 house! )
finally Four weeks on your own you must be mad or very very brave ;D