Everything needs doing to our house - Don't know where to start - advice?

katym79

Hi,


As the title states really - we've bought a house that needs everything doing to it. So, I've written a list of everything I want to do - but wondering if I'm missing anything obvious, and what would be the most logical order in which to do things.


Could you have a look at my list and let me know which way round you'd do things? Please note, this is just for the outside and downstairs of the house. Eventually we'd like a loft extension for an extra room and we need to sort out the bathroom, but not a priority. I guess I need project manager.


House Plans
Front Garden
Dig lawn over/covered
Plants removed ( except by wall)
Lawn area paved/concreted
Gates cleaned up
See if van and car fit on front? (bike down side??)
If not, need to build bike shed
Nice hanging baskets!! Tubs for plants


Front Porch
New front door window to be built flush with house (basically doing away with porch)
Floor ceiling made good


Living Room
Redecoration
Have someone look at the wiring
Remove fireplace
Fit new surround/gas fire
Strip wallpaper/paint
Furniture that its
Carpet/curtains


Hallway/stairs
Turn under stairs into useable storage
Strip paint from banisters/stairs ready to repaint
Parquet flooring (to be same as kitchen/diner


Kitchen diner
Make a plan!
Build out at least 3m
Downstairs toilet/sink
Able to put utility with this?
Wiring
Can we take out wall supporting stairs?
Design kitchen
Skylight
Bifold/sliding door to garden
Flooring to match from hallway
Place for radiator


Garden
Chops down tree at side
Find home(s) for all the stuff in big shed
Knock down big shed
Possibly re-site greenhouse to where big shed is
Summer house/workshop at bottom of garden to replace existing sheds
New place for composting
Replace fence with new (higher, like other side)
Plan for planting
Tree to stay??


Outside
Repointing
Check/fix/replace guttering
Windows need replacing
Check/fix bay roof

Babbawah

Aaah bless.

Is this your first home? (a house & a home are 2 totally different things)

I'd like to help, I really would. I have echoes of my first house that became my home.

First things first is to get the thing externally weathertight (assuming it is structurally sound).

Spend your £money on the basic structure first before worrying about the cosmetics. Who cares what the garden looks like if you need 8x buckets to catch the drips when it rains.

arbrighton

as babbawah says, watertight first. Then wiring check as it will be expensive and ruin any new decor etc if any rewiring is required.

Apart from gas fire, you haven't mentioned heating. Has that been sorted?

Dr._Shoe

As a rule of thumb, outdoor jobs in the summer, indoor in the winter!

It sounds like you want/need to park the vehicles in the front garden. Obviously I don't know what street parking's like but if it's bad this might be a priority this spring. I'd keep the "big shed" for now (I dream of owning a "big shed") because it will be useful for storing materials for all the indoor works, especially if you have to change the wiring.

Do the wiring, new windows, new door etc before the new floor. Redecorate last. Do you need to get rid of the porch? They do help prevent heat loss though a good quality [and secure] PVC door will do just as well.

Seek expert advice before taking out any walls, you may need planning/building control permission too.

How much of this work are you going to do yourself?

enginesuck

We are in a similar boat to you, everyroom needs a redecorate, kitchen and bathrooms replaced, rewiring, windows and doors are urgent. BUT it is totally livable - for now.

It took me a couple of months to realise that it will take time ! Im thinking around 5 years (its probably going to cost around 35k) so we are going to chip away at it.

If just ordered windows and doors - very high quality (and cost)

Later this year will be a re-wire

Next year will be redecoration and carpeting bedrooms,
Hallway etc then in year three some restructuring of the downstairs replacement kitchen and finally year 4 kitchen replacement !


Take a breath and realise it cant be all done at once ! - unless you are fortunate to have all the spare cash at once !

macman

No point in redecorating before you rewire. And no point in rewiring before you make the place watertight.

pinkpixie274

You sound exactly like me! Trust me you are not on your own here... We chose our house as it has so much 'potential' but just don't know where to start! I'd think the extension would be quite high up the list as it will be a big job & I don't see the point in making everything nice for it to get messed up when the building work starts?!

That's where I'm heading first on my project so keep working hard at the savings

bui

I'm in a similar position (well my family). So I'll be looking here for interesting updates.

katym79

Hi, sorry for leaving this so long, been snowed under with work (not house related :-( but thanks for those suggestions. I think I'm going to start with getting the guttering fixed, then graveling the front garden to get another car on there (parking a nightmare round here) and measuring up for the extension/designing the kitchen to go in it. It's still overwhelming. And I need to find a load of money, but I'm not in a massive hurry. Are any of you doing a blog or diary of your experiences? If so I'd love to follow them?

katym79

arbrighton wrote: »

as babbawah says, watertight first. Then wiring check as it will be expensive and ruin any new decor etc if any rewiring is required.

Apart from gas fire, you haven't mentioned heating. Has that been sorted?

Hi, We installed central heating last year just before it turned cold. Thats the only thing we've done to the house so far. We had the ancient gas fires removed and capped off in the living and dining rooms. Might look to put in another gas fire in the living room when that get redecorated.

Is it possible to rewire before we undertake building work for the extension do you think? Or would it be an idea to wait until then and do it all at the same time?

pelirocco

As someone who has recently had a fire due to a spotlight overheating ( fire in attic , we were very very lucky in discovering it before we went to bed ) I would stress check the wiring as the first thing you do .........the fire destroyed our wiring we have to be completely rewired and have been told we need to move out while its being done