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

kate83

I also had this when I moved into mine, still not finished yet, nearly 10years later.
As everyone else has said, make sure water tight first and sort anything that may cause damp, so gutters/roof. Check wiring and replace windows/insulation if needs be.

Next will depend on what will make you happy while the rest of house a mess - I chose to do up one bedroom and the living room so I had somewhere nice to escape to when it got too much.
I would in your case be tempted to do extension first if you can afford it, the kitchen diner can double as living space. Otherwise just focus on one room at a time, you'll get there eventually. Sometimes a quick coat of paint can make a massive difference if you know it's going to be a few years before you can afford to do it properly.

katym79

pelirocco wrote: »

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

Eek, sorry to hear that. Can i be cheeky and ask how much roughly a whole house re wire is?

Peronihull

Can i join in? Sorry for the thread hijack...

We have finally completed on a "do-er up-per" so just starting to plan out modernisation works. I agree with all said about make it water tight first then focus on electrics and plumbing if you need to and try and do these jobs whilst house is empty rather than living round them.

We've had a few quotes on a re wire (3 bed semi in South of England) they range from £3k to an eye watering £4850! Top end is including chromes and spot lights with extra sockets though so midrange I'd say for a basic with minimum sockets in plastics was around £3500k.

We've also planned a temporary kitchen as we plan to extend as well in future so just looking at the bare miniums to tide us over but we've done some jobs with that in mind ie moving plugs / rads to alternative walls as we think we will knock through at some point so it might even be worth thinking "ahead" if you can so you do things now where you can that make sense later...

pendragon_arther

katym79 wrote: »

Eek, sorry to hear that. Can i be cheeky and ask how much roughly a whole house re wire is?

It depends on where you are. We were in Kingston and the entire house, 3 bedroom terraced was almost 5k but now as safe as, er, houses. As others have said watertight, wiring are the priorities. When decorating do one room at a time, don't make the mistake of trying to do a few at once.

hop3y

Thread high-jacker!

We moved into our same property in June - we had a list as long as our arm, but tackled the garden and outside in what was left of the summer and we're on with the inside now.

What we've done -
Knocked down two sheds and bought a new one and fit it
Stained the decking
Knocked down the garden fence
Got new gates down the side of the house installed
Removed unwanted small trees and returfed
Put in new sink
Got rid of old dishwasher and fixed pipes behind it and replaced with a kitchen unit door (storage for the bin!)
Stripped bedroom number 1
Got rid of bulk head box over the stairs which was falling in
Repleaced electric meter box as it didn't have a door!
Replaced fence panels in gardens and raised with gravel boards
Cleared loft (previous occupants left 5 cars full of rubbish in it!)

Currently on with:
Skimming roofs in a few bedrooms
Replacing radiators
Pointing side of house and replacing some spalling bricks (maybe March or April time when weather gets better)

It's crazy looking back that we've done all that in practically half a year, but being a FTB is really not as bad as everyone makes out as long as you put some time and effort into it.

Will be good to keep up with this thread.

Halle71

Speak to someone (builder/architect) about the order you do things in.

We are having a ground floor extension and were told that we shouldn't have refurbed the first floor bathroom before the build because when they support it to put the beams in, the whole room will probably shift and tiles break etc.

But we were impatient and wanted to make a start while we were doing all the paperwork for the extension.

katym79

Just had a couple of quotes in for getting the guttering replaced - the first was £390 - the second £550 black plastic guttering and 2 downpipes. Does this sound reasonable? They differ wildly.

katym79

Gone with cheapest quote - he seems really nice and its a small house so i think the other quotes were a bit ambitious. But I guess we'll wait and see.

katym79

Guttering done - tick. Also, started chatting to bank about finance. Next, talk to some builders about extension I think.

Peronihull

we've done a few bits on ours, since our post. We are actually writing a blog to try and keep are record of everything... since getting the keys we have:

1) had a two massive conifer tree removed (450)
2) had the guttering, facias, soffits, down pipes replaced (1100)
3) Chimney re pointed (300)
4) Electrics re wired to first fix (1750)
5) replastering (due to the flood damage - see other thread) and chases filled in, as well as front room ceiling skimmed (2330)
6)Put up a new fence in the garden (70)
7)Had a the boiler chimney removed throughout the house and a stud wall added in to airing cupboard (2400)

We've just got a few things left on this first phase to do... hope to be in by easter

We are blogging about it... so feel free to check it out to see the pics etc :

http://fixingupcoltash.com/