Complete renovation needed - are we taking on too much??

Looby_Lou

How much of the work needs to be done before you move in? We're in ahouse which needs a new kitchen (but we have a couple of base units and put in a freestanding fridge and cooker) I cook for the family and it will do until we re do the kitchen. We have new windows going in next week, if the bathroom is just a redesign then live with it for a bit. From what you say most of the work could be done whilst you live in the house. It's not ideal but it is perfectly doable. Decide what must be done before you move in (ladders instead of stairs with small children would be difficult!) and what could be done whilst you are living in the house eg conservatory

*debbie*

Within reason, I wouldn't worry about the kids unless they are still at crawling / putting everything in their mouths stage. As kids we lived through many a house refurb, from simply gutting and replacing bathroom and kitchen, electrics and plumbing to a full on redo where floors were ripped up due to rot and big holes left everywhere for weeks. All I could remember was the work done, not the mess everywhere. I remember choosing new paint etc for redone bedrooms, but not the dust and mess and chaos we must have lived in.
We had a huge extension done and lots of internal work, leaving only the smallest bedroom untouched, the winter of 2011 and have 2 kids of 11 and 13 as well as 2 foster kids of 5 and 7 who stayed away for a month during the worst of the mess. It was awful, but the kids didn't seem to mind! However, I definitely un-recommend our builders, they are in Peterborough, I'm not sure if I should post their details on here? They made promises that weren't kept, tried to kill us all with dodgy gas work (gas-safe condemned the new boiler ) and I firmly believe they only finished the work because we had kept back so much of the money and they were desperate.

Redleela

Have you looked into the expected timescale of your renovation? We have almost finished a complete renovation of our house using a combination of builders & completing a lot of the non-structural work ourselves. My husband is quite skilled at most tasks (plumbing, plaster-boarding, installing underfloor heating) but it has taken much much longer than we ever expected. If you are doing lots of work yourselves expect it to take 2-3 times longer than you think.

We lived on site during our works (house was gutted, extension knocked down & re-built, whole ground floor dug out & put back in for underfloor heating). We got through it but if I had to do it again I would have a large caravan on site or rent nearby.

As others have said you need to be on site each day. Usually in the morning when your builder arrives. If you are buying in building materials yourself you may need to speak to your builder a few times a day to make decisions and check if he/she needs you to order anything (in our experience they need prompting sometimes).

I hope that helps and good luck with your project. It is hard work & you sacrifice personal time but if it is your dream go for it.

phoebe1989seb

Redleela wrote: »

Have you looked into the expected timescale of your renovation? If you are doing lots of work yourselves expect it to take 2-3 times longer than you think.

This. All of our previous projects have taken longer than initially expected - five years instead of two etc etc. Our current one is not so large house-size-wise as our biggie done a few years back, but nonetheless involves far more intense, full-on stuff - taking bare stone internal walls back to a plastered finish & building a large vaulted-ceilinged extension for starters. When we moved in two years ago we didn't so much as under-estimate the level of work required as much as feeling we could live with it as it was for longer, but it was really bad - still is TBH, although we do have four lovely (almost) finished rooms.........only seven to go

I seriously think that blitzing a place whilst living either off-site but with daily visits (or a reliable project manager) or else staying in a caravan or similar, is a better way to get completed more quickly - but personally we're very hands-on and need to be in the thick of things!

aeb_2

We, DH + 3 pre-school age, bought a wreck, although it was structurally sound. Six bedrooms, an annex and an indoor swimming pool not used for at least 15 years set in 3/4 acre. We put every penny in and intended to take it slowly and live in the annex.

3 months later my DH died suddenly and then I realised I was pregnant. The dating scan confirmed it was triplets.

Life went on hold and to some extent it still is. I decorated the annex before they were born and rented it out to get an income to enable me to move forward with the main house. I've been lucky with that. We lived in the kitchen for 2 years, it's large and has a stove which heats 3 rooms and the water. I also cook on it. I've worked from top to bottom and just done what I can but I agree that everything takes 3 x longer than planned. And 3 x 3 x longer with 6 little helpers! I have to do everything in the early morning or late at night.

My advice is not to half do anything. A temporary job is double money spent. I did:

1 Loft insulation (grant thingy)
2 Day time - made a hen run, 15 x hens, + veg garden
2 Evenings -stud walls in two bedrooms to create two en suites. I did that following instructions on the net. Learn doing 1st and 2nd was twice as quick/good.
3 At same time as 2 plumber did pipework but no money yet for fittings.
4 6 new windows to replace old rotten wooden ones (2 x bedrooms, 2 x en suite, 2 others)
5 Decorate guest bedroom. Good plan. Plasterer friend and wife could stay for the weekend. It helps living near the beach!
6 Then able to decorate these 2 rooms for children, until then they all slept in my room.
7 Children in own rooms (nearly) so my bedroom next. Had saved up enough for dream bathroom so did preparation and decorating but got a tradesman in to fit it, tiling, etc. Would love to have had a go but no time and whereas no one sees inside a stud wall, I would look at wonky tiles every day!
8 I'd watched the plumber do the bathroom so I had ago at the en suites. Only one leak soon mended.
9 Fitted cardboard 'carpets' upstairs and down
10 2 bedrooms remain unpacked and unusable
11 With lots of help from friends who must have felt sorry for us 'decorated' the room off the kitchen - playroom. This is the only room I rushed as just no time and 6 children needed a space with a carpet, the only one in the house.
12 Other downstairs rooms not used, pool covered and sealed off.

What was our 3 year plan will be at least 10 and may never be done but I have no regrets about moving.

OP, I would go for it.

deputy2404

Thank you for all your messages - the structural survey has been booked in and we have decided to buy a caravan to live in (on the drive) whilst the work is being done so that one of us can be on site every day. We have a 16 y/o and 8mth old so 16 y/o is looking forward to helping with the demolishing once GCSE's are over and the baby can be kept behind a stairgate in the one room which doesn't need any work doing on it. It's a huge project, but I'm so excited about it and I know it will take 3 times as long as we originally think, but I will get a home with my stamp all over it. Thanks again for all the positive messages, I'll keep you all posted on developments - it would be great to be able to post a 'before and after' album!!

Contessa

aeb wrote: »

We, DH + 3 pre-school age, bought a wreck, although it was structurally sound. Six bedrooms, an annex and an indoor swimming pool not used for at least 15 years set in 3/4 acre. We put every penny in and intended to take it slowly and live in the annex.

3 months later my DH died suddenly and then I realised I was pregnant. The dating scan confirmed it was triplets.

Life went on hold and to some extent it still is. I decorated the annex before they were born and rented it out to get an income to enable me to move forward with the main house. I've been lucky with that. We lived in the kitchen for 2 years, it's large and has a stove which heats 3 rooms and the water. I also cook on it. I've worked from top to bottom and just done what I can but I agree that everything takes 3 x longer than planned. And 3 x 3 x longer with 6 little helpers! I have to do everything in the early morning or late at night.

My advice is not to half do anything. A temporary job is double money spent. I did:

1 Loft insulation (grant thingy)
2 Day time - made a hen run, 15 x hens, + veg garden
2 Evenings -stud walls in two bedrooms to create two en suites. I did that following instructions on the net. Learn doing 1st and 2nd was twice as quick/good.
3 At same time as 2 plumber did pipework but no money yet for fittings.
4 6 new windows to replace old rotten wooden ones (2 x bedrooms, 2 x en suite, 2 others)
5 Decorate guest bedroom. Good plan. Plasterer friend and wife could stay for the weekend. It helps living near the beach!
6 Then able to decorate these 2 rooms for children, until then they all slept in my room.
7 Children in own rooms (nearly) so my bedroom next. Had saved up enough for dream bathroom so did preparation and decorating but got a tradesman in to fit it, tiling, etc. Would love to have had a go but no time and whereas no one sees inside a stud wall, I would look at wonky tiles every day!
8 I'd watched the plumber do the bathroom so I had ago at the en suites. Only one leak soon mended.
9 Fitted cardboard 'carpets' upstairs and down
10 2 bedrooms remain unpacked and unusable
11 With lots of help from friends who must have felt sorry for us 'decorated' the room off the kitchen - playroom. This is the only room I rushed as just no time and 6 children needed a space with a carpet, the only one in the house.
12 Other downstairs rooms not used, pool covered and sealed off.

What was our 3 year plan will be at least 10 and may never be done but I have no regrets about moving.

OP, I would go for it.

aeb, Your story is inspirational. I admire you for the way you for what you've done under difficult circumstances.

Davesnave

Contessa wrote: »

aeb, Your story is inspirational. I admire you for the way you for what you've done under difficult circumstances.

I agree, but be careful not to inspire the wrong people!

Just before we bought our present semi-wreck (money spent, but stupidly, by previous owners) we went to see a nice looking house which seemed fair value at £285k, reduced from an original £335k.

The outside was fine, as Mr Home Underdehammer had used tradespeople to renew the roof and windows, but there the good impressions ended. Inside, it was a disaster area, as the enthusiastic, unskilled owner had re-modelled according to his strange tastes and "had a go," unsuccessfully, at most trades. To be fair, he'd got the plumbing right, but repositioning the staircase so that the only access to it was through the conservatory was definitely an odd one, especially as the conservatory didn't exist! He'd run out of money and his wife had departed some time before we viewed.

We liked the house as raw potential and we could see how it might work for us, but ripping out everything and starting again looked like it might cost £40 -£50k at a minimum, which with an extension to get around the staircase issue, pushed it out of budget at the price. We thought it was worth £240k. He wouldn't accept less than £260k.

Two days later we decided to buy elsewhere, but looking on Nethouseprices, the wreck actually sold 6months after our viewing....for £240k.

That's the other side of property developing.

aeb_2

Davesnave wrote: »

I agree, but be careful not to inspire the wrong people!

Just before we bought our present semi-wreck (money spent, but stupidly, by previous owners) we went to see a nice looking house which seemed fair value at £285k, reduced from an original £335k.

The outside was fine, as Mr Home Underdehammer had used tradespeople to renew the roof and windows, but there the good impressions ended. Inside, it was a disaster area, as the enthusiastic, unskilled owner had re-modelled according to his strange tastes and "had a go," unsuccessfully, at most trades. To be fair, he'd got the plumbing right, but repositioning the staircase so that the only access to it was through the conservatory was definitely an odd one, especially as the conservatory didn't exist! He'd run out of money and his wife had departed some time before we viewed.

We liked the house as raw potential and we could see how it might work for us, but ripping out everything and starting again looked like it might cost £40 -£50k at a minimum, which with an extension to get around the staircase issue, pushed it out of budget at the price. We thought it was worth £240k. He wouldn't accept less than £260k.

Two days later we decided to buy elsewhere, but looking on Nethouseprices, the wreck actually sold 6months after our viewing....for £240k.

That's the other side of property developing.

I totally agree with what you say. My house is structurally sound - 1920's, good roof, solid walls, etc. One of the reasons we bought it was because it is for the most part in original condition - old doors, windows, wood panels and features, etc all in place. Even the kitchen has its old stone floor and walk in pantry (the room which is now the playroom) and stand alone cupboards pre 1960's.
The decor in this house dates from the time you 'got the man in' long before DIY. The only addition is the pool which is independent from the house, joined only by 3' of wooden boarding so again, not affecting the house at all. We were lucky.

I can imagine what you could be thinking about how a single woman with 6 small children doing DIY on such a house could turn out. We looked at so many like that I know just what you are thinking.

I will try many things but I do know where to stop - plastering, tiling, moving walls or stairs, big plumbing, heating and tree felling are not for me. I wouldn't do anything that can't be put back or mended. Stud walling I'll do because it can easily be undone whereas plastering can't be. There was a thread on here about hanging doors the other day. I will gladly pay for that because if it's wrong there is nothing worse than a wonky ill fitting door and it's an expensive mistake you are reminded of everyday, hence I have no new doors until I can afford them properly.

Oh and carpet fitting, wont do that
or electrics...

I'm still smiling at what you imagine my house to look like:o

Ivana_Tinkle

My God, I'd be impressed enough if anyone with triplets ever managed to brush their hair, never mind renovate a house! That really is inspirational.