Popping my renovation cherry

Inforashekel

Hi all,

Have taken the plunge and bought a victorian 3 bed detached, in need of cmplete renovation. Has original sash windows, leaky cast guttering, no heating and woodworm riddled floorboards. But we love it

Would be great to hear from anyone who has renovated similar places, for hints and tips, and what NOT to do!

So far we're arranging for the guttering to be replaced and busy knocking theplaster off the walls... a lot had already fallen pff, hence the extreme action needed!

K

Leif

My advice would be to learn to do as much as possible yourself. If you are reasonably good with your hands, you will do a much better job than most professionals. When you do hire people, try and hire the trade rather than a builder who subcontracts out, or employs his own trades, as you are cutting out the middle man. And when you know the chap(ess) who actually does the work, and treat them with respect, you tend to find they do a better job. Do not hire on price alone. Good work costs money.

To hire trades, talk with friends, family and neighbours for recommendations. Avoid trade sites.

Speaking from experience, you might be surprised how much you can do yourself. I spent last night screwing a piece of wood to a joist so I could attach the bathroom light switch to the ceiling. The electrician who fitted it simply screwed it to plasterboard, with nothing on the other side. And the ceiling I put up in the porch looks better than the one a builder put up in the bathroom, which has trowel marks, and it cracked within weeks of completion.

warmhands.coldheart

Just finishing renovating a 1920's 3 bed detached.
Similar issues as you described. Spent a bit on it but got it at a great price.

We ripped up all ground floors as 2 wooden floors were riddled with woodworm and rot. Other floors were concrete but were badly sunk (were a bit like a wok) Re-instated floors with 100mm insulation and screed. Installed underfloor heating as only marginally more expensive than radiators and no issues then with worrying where to put the rads. Ripped all plaster off walls as was required at ground floor to install damp proof course. As solid walls (No Cavity) we had the walls lined with plasterboard backed insulation and all walls re-skimmed. Ended up doing all external walls on both floors to keep heating costs down. Full re-wire and all new central heating including conversion over to mains gas from Oil.. Whole house re-pointed as was in quite a bad state and had roof reslated (new membrane and all new slates... unfortunately budget couldn't extend to natural slates so had to go with man made fibre cement) Both chimneys dismantled and re-built with new pots (again in bad condition. Some internal wall mods to make better use of kitchen space.

On the final stretch now.... did a lot of the donkey work ourselves to keep cost down, All in I'd say cost us about £60,000 inc VAT

Would never have done it had we not got the house at such a good price.... advantages of a depressed housing market (I'm in Northern Ireland)

Canucklehead

Inforashekel wrote: »

Hi all,

Have taken the plunge and bought a victorian 3 bed detached, in need of cmplete renovation. Has original sash windows, leaky cast guttering, no heating and woodworm riddled floorboards. But we love it

Would be great to hear from anyone who has renovated similar places, for hints and tips, and what NOT to do!

So far we're arranging for the guttering to be replaced and busy knocking theplaster off the walls... a lot had already fallen pff, hence the extreme action needed!

K

Hi: have you looked here?


Canucklehead

latecomer

^ reported spam.

As per Canucklehead's post - check out that thread and you'll get some idea of all the sorts of things you might experience. Its pretty quiet on there now but perhaps all it needs is some new blood.

My best advice is to think carefully about the order you do things. Get it wind and water tight if required, then get the floors up and all the wood treated and replaced as necessary. Then building work, electrics and plumbing/central heating and then think about the finishing stuff like plastering and decorating.

Living in a renovation project can be difficult in many different ways - so be prepared. the first time renovation thread will hopefully give food for thought if nothing else.

cyclonebri1

Just take care, there is so much crap posted here from I would do's rather than I have done's, that makes deciphering awkward

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Just take care, there is so much crap posted here from I would do's rather than I have done's, that makes deciphering awkward

Could you point out examples of crap here so that others can learn from you?

inthesticks

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Just take care, there is so much crap posted here from I would do's rather than I have done's, that makes deciphering awkward

Sad but true!

Moomum

We did this last year, renovated a 5 bed Victorian. As someone else has said, stay away from trade sites and go on reccomendations from friends if possible. We had so much trouble with trademan. Have a big contingency, we went over budget big time. Took longer than we thought also , but we are in now and house is exactly how we want it so was worth it! Enjoy

john.h

Leif wrote: »

My advice would be to learn to do as much as possible yourself. If you are reasonably good with your hands, you will do a much better job than most professionals.

What a load of !!!!!!!!.... Id say i was very good with my hands (joiner) could i lay bricks better than bricklayers? No. Can i plaster walls better than a plasterer? No. Etc,etc

John...

rustyboy21

My advice after being through exactly what you are going through is get the basics right first , you can live with the other bits and do them over time.

By basics, I don't mean easy jobs, but the ones which will make your life easier and be most beneficial to you. They are

Rewire- unless recently done ( mine was 40 years old ) Lights dimmed when put kettle on and constant buzzing ! :eek:
CH - I also had new water pipes ( Plastic) fitted to all system as water tasted horrible through old lead pipes.

Windows ( I had UPVC windows fitted into were sash windows where, but went for half-half look so similar looking, a lot cheaper) You can have them fitted into original bay, leaving the original coving etc in place.

Check your roof.

Get the outside all secure and all your wtaer/electrics good inside. Lobbing some paint on walls will cover up any dodgy wallpaper and paint, until you can afford to get the nicer things done.