What order to do the DIY?!

kford224

House_Hunter wrote: »

What needs to be done re central heating? Boiler exchange or a new complete installation? Are there radiators in place? Does a gas line already exist and run to the location of the boiler? How many radiators are you adding/renewing?

At the moment the property has electric storage heaters, but there is a gas pipe in the kitchen and a gas fire in the lounge, so it is available, although capped off at the moment according to the National Grid.

We'll need to put in all the radiators and remove the water tank in the master bedroom as we are planning on getting a combi boiler. The airing cupboard can then be a built-in wardrobe, or at least that is the plan!

House_Hunter

Sounds similar to what we did - when we purchased ours it had no primary heating system and just an old immersion heater.

We ripped that out and installed a new combi...upgraded gas supply line to bigger spec, fitted 8 new rads as well as removing old water tanks....all copper piped under timber flooring throughout.

Ours came in pretty much bang on £5k.....

timbo58

agree with dave82, plumbing/gas and electrics 1st: I just had a new boiler put in, a few leaks/toilet fixed and the old stuff ripped out and that came to £2600! So it'll soon add up.

Once the house is warm, and safe you can do all the decorating you feel able to do yourselves.

Worth thinking about making sure all the locks are up to spec, you have keys for everything (and just as important: you are the ONLY ones who do have keys: change the barrels etc) and worth (especially at the mo when everyones doing deals) getting the loft insulation topped up to current specs, TRVs on all radiators, low energy lamps etc.
Make it liveable then concentrate on Kitchen/bathroom and master bedroom so you can eat/wash/sleep properly, the take your time doing everything else.
Rope in reliable friends to help you redecorate: a bottle of wine and a takeaway and the paint will go in in no time: good fun too.

kford224

Thank you - and good point about the locks, definitely a good thing to get sorted!!

27col

Don't even think of doing any decorating until the electrics and plumbing are done. They are both major causes of disruption and mess. You would not believe over the years, how many people asked me if I could rewire their house but not damage their new decorations. Get both those done and they will take care of a good part of your available cash reserve. But the disruption will be over with for good and you can then think about what you want the rest of the house to be like.
I remember when we got our first place, we could not even afford curtains and we had to get ready for bed in the dark, or out on the landing. We were on bare boards until someone gave us some second hand lino.
Don't get me going about the longevity of cheaper kitchens. I have only ever had kitchens from the likes of Wickes and they have lasted perfectly well for many years. A properly assembled and fitted Wickes standard type kitchen will last just as long as most of the so called quality ones. Just make sure that it is not allowed to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance. Hinges coming loose etc. No doubt the kitchen snobs on here will disagree with me. In any event, I doubt whether many kitchens are changed because they had badly deteriorated due to not being very good quality. Much more likely, that they were not considered "trendy" enough by their new owners. Finally, timbo58 is giving good advice.

dander

First of all figure out what needs to be done and what you would just like. People on TV programmes seem to love replastering entire houses as soon as they buy them - but plenty of us make do with filler, lining paper and the like. Again, electrics - make sure the system is actually outdated and unsafe before you get a total rewire - if you're not confident you can tell yourself, it's better to spend a few quid on getting a professional report than just assuming and tearing everything out. I agree with others here that basic kitchens don't fall apart after a few years - I firmly believe there's no point in spending extra on products because they're supposed to last 20 or 30 years, when they will almost always be torn out due to fashion long before that time is up. On the same note - don't rush to tear old fittings out of the house if they are good quality and solid, just to replace them with modern stuff that might not wear as well.

Start by getting quotes for the things that absolutely must be done to get the house safe and liveable in - heating electrics. Then when you take that figure away from your £7k budget, take a look at what you'd like to do with the rest - you'll find it's much easier to focus the mind on what you want to do if you know exactly how much you have to spend - some things will probably just drop off the list!

I paid £4k for a new heating system including new radiators/towel rails throughout (conversion rather than completely fresh install)
Conversion of living room window to patio doors cost £900 - but that was as part of a complete house double-glazing job, so probably slightly less than it would be to do that alone.
Having a plumber in to refit cloakroom cost £700 - decorating costs were on top of that
I've easily spent well over £1k on a kitchen revamp, and that's a DIY cost for doing new worktops, sink, taps, tiling etc.

You'll be amazed at how much you spend on less obvious things when doing DIY jobs - there's all kinds of small things like buying brushes, rollers, scrapers, sandpaper, screws, nails, filler, white spirit - it all adds up incredibly fast. When you're on a tight budget - shop around for everything, even the small stuff. I find Wilkinsons are noticeably cheaper than the DIY stores for a lot of basics - they also often do things like screws and hooks in smaller packets so you can only buy what you need.

Also keep your eye out for discount weekends at DIY stores - they all seem to do them quite regularly and you can get good savings. Focus are currently doing 15% off if you spend more than £50 - plus you get a 10% off card that you can use on everything between now and the end of April. Some DIY stores also do a special discount period for housemovers - you just have to take something in to prove you've moved and you get a card. I know I had a Focus one when i moved house that gave me 10% off for 6 months, but other stores probably do similiar offers.

PS. I don't work for Focus, I just live very, very near one, so I tend to know what they're up to!

BakerBoy

timbo58 wrote: »

TRVs on all radiators

What are they?

dave82_2

Thermostatic valves so you can control the temp in each room.

BakerBoy

Thanks, are they a new thing?

kford224

andrew-b wrote: »

Your budget is woefully inadequate for what you have in mind.

Since August 2006, we've spent about £16k for:
new boiler £1945
new kitchen £6,750 Wickes..including £3,385 for fitting by them which included electrics, moving gas pipe but not tiling/decorating/stripping out... though i wouldn't make that mistake twice!
Since the kitchen i got into DIY in a big way and put in a new bathroom £3k ...completely DIYed apart from £460 for plasterer.
Spare room cost about £200 to decorate including curtains, lampshade, curtain rail.
New UPVC front door £550.
UPVC soffits and fascias £1750.
Recently decorated hall ...not added up yet what spent but i'd guess less than £150.
Bedroom we haven't done much on at all.
Kitchen, hall and spare room we have used lining paper rather than having replastered to keep costs down.
Then i guess i've spent about £1k or so on my workshop (aka shed!) ...essential as we don't have a garage.

The other week we put new curtains in bedroom...that was about £100 for 2 sets of curtains and 2 curtain poles alone! One set that came down (previous owner's) has been used to replace a tatty pair of curtains in lounge that were a foot shorter than the window (had made do since 2006!).

Of course there have been lots of other bits and this doesn't include probably £500 on tools etc and £3000 on furniture! We haven't replaced carpets yet either..and not put flooring down in hall or bathroom yet. All this whilst living in the property too.

The more you can DIY the better as labour will eat up budget in no time. And you can still DIY a rewire....you just have to tell building control first and pay some money to get them to sign it off...i'm sure it would work out cheaper than paying a spark! You can also DIY much of the central heating system...it's only hooking up gas to the boiler and commissioning it that you need someone to do to be legal.

If your not moving in yet you'll also have 2 sets of bills to pay...all eating up potential renovation budget.

So something has to give and it's a case of make do until you can afford otherwise.

We aren't expecting to get it all done for £7000, we are just deciding what to do prioritise the £7000 on! Fortunately my uncle is a plumber (specialising in CH installations), I have two cousins that are sparkies and a friend who is a kitchen fitter, so we are hoping to save quite a bit on the labour costs

Also, we are both currently living with the olds, and will be exempt from paying council tax on the property for six months as we won't be living there. Obviously there will be some expenditure whilst we are there (doing the work) but nothing like when we move in It would be good to get the messy stuff out the way before we move in, but everything else can wait until we move in. I don't mind roughing it for a bit! Hehe.