House renovation - what order should we do things in?

MissMarble

Hi everyone,

My bf and I have just moved into our first home and it’s quite the project.

We are in the process of organising the house to get re-wired and we’ve had two quotes from electricians (one for almost £4K and the other for just over £2K). Obviously that’s a big difference but one is an individual carrying out the work by themselves, the other is a company with a team of four electricians.

Anyways, as we will be getting the house re-wired in the coming weeks, we also need to plan the other work to take place. However we are a bit confused about what order to do things in.

We need the following works to be undertaken as well as the re-wire - please note this isn’t in any specific order!

- New bathroom (electrician pointed out we need to remove the spot lights as they aren’t steam protected and move the extractor fan which is currently above the shower head) - we would like to change the layout if possible - but if not the bathroom suite as it is quite damaged and replace tiles.

- Replastering in some rooms - there’s wood chip wallpaper in the hallway which we are in the process of removing and some walls are quite damaged. Other exterior walls have a foam padding under the wallpaper which we aren’t sure if we should remove as it’s acting as insulation but peels off with the steamer!

- Redecorating with painting walls and new carpets

- New boiler and radiators - boiler is about 14 years old and some radiators are hanging off the walls!

- Knock through living room to dining room which requires the steel beam

- New skirting boards as the plug sockets are in them and need re placing once moved

- Replace kitchen tiles and flooring (plus decorating in kitchen specially walls and cupboards) the electricians highlighted how the wall tiles will probably get damaged and they will need to get behind the cupboards

- Removing live gas fire in living room and replacing with a feature fireplace (keeping current frame but removing actual gas fire) and in the dining room fitting an electric log burner in replacement of the non working gas fire

Can anyone advise on what order we should do things in? Obviously the rewire will be a messy job so we assume it should be top of the list.

Thank you

Working_Mum

When I moved into my house 17 years ago we re-wired, re-plumbed and moved some walls around, replaced the kitchen, got windows replaced etc within 4 months of purchase.

This meant I got all the dusty, grotty "foundation type" jobs out of the way and then I re-decorated etc after the dust had settled and we'd lived there a while so knew how we lived in the rooms and also how the changing season effected the light etc.

I left one room because I ran out of steam! This room is still painted magnolia and has polystyrene tiles on the ceiling - my next project it has to be said!!

It has meant that my boiler now needs replacing and repairs and renewals all hit at the same time but I have a rolling sprucing maintenance programme for rooms which i have redecorated since the initial burst!

Good luck! Take lots of pics and have fun making this house your home!

FreeBear

MissMarble wrote: »

- Replastering in some rooms - there’s wood chip wallpaper in the hallway which we are in the process of removing and some walls are quite damaged. Other exterior walls have a foam padding under the wallpaper which we aren’t sure if we should remove as it’s acting as insulation but peels off with the steamer!

If you have a foam insulating wall covering, this suggests that the property is quite old, possibly with solid brick walls ?
Certainly, the previous owner was trying to make the property warmer, so if you are replastering, it might be worth looking at fitting internal wall insulation. This can either be plasterboard bonded to PUR sheets, or sheets Celotex/Kingspan topped with plasterboard. An alternative is studwork infilled with mineral wool and finished of with plasterboard, but it requires a vapour control membrane and has a lower thermal rating than the same thickness of PUR sheets.

SG27

I will be doing something similar on the house im buying. Never done this before but here is my planned order:

Rewire
New and resited Boiler/plumbing
Windows facias
Plastering
New bathroom/kitchen
Painting
Carpets/laminate
Garage roof repair

exiled_red

We just did basically the same renovations key thing is to get everyone coordinated this is easiest if you have a builder overseeing everything so he can get his trades in when they need to. It also depends if you are going to be living there while all this is happening.


The easiest would be to rip everything out (bathroom, kitchen boiler central heating fire, kitchen floor skirting boards etc) knock down the walls get the structural stuff done then get the central heating and rewire done pipes for water and gas etc. Get positions for radiators and pipes run there but don't put them on until you get everywhere you need replastered also before plastering get Windows done. Replaster then get kitchen and bathroom fitted then tilled, get flooring put down and the skirting put back (this can go over laminate with no need for additional beading) then paint then put carpet down.

theGrinch

I completed recently on my purchase. I intend to live there for 9-months before starting work because:

a) need a break after the rollercoaster of buying and selling to freshen up for the next big push.

b) Mindful that works will take 3 - 4 months to complete and that means autumn and winter are drawing in.

c) Talk to the neighbours before I start banging with extensions and conversions.

d) I want to live in it to see hw we use the rooms and what are my priorities.

Ultimately, it will be an extension, loft conversion plus changing everything else.

The downside, will be living on a building site.

onomatopoeia99

MissMarble wrote: »

- New boiler and radiators - boiler is about 14 years old and some radiators are hanging off the walls!

Any particular reason why you want to replace the boiler? At that age it should be a condensing one and therefore efficient, unlike the over 30 year old Glow worm that my parents finally replaced last year, which certainly wasn't.

MissMarble

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Any particular reason why you want to replace the boiler? At that age it should be a condensing one and therefore efficient, unlike the over 30 year old Glow worm that my parents finally replaced last year, which certainly wasn't.

We'd like to get a Worcester boiler ahead of the winter if money and time allows! I believe the current one is a Baxi.

Val1160

I want to put a cooker in a chimney breast I know about the rsj for support but the extraction scares me? What’s involved and how much do you think the whole thing would cost? Thankyou 

PJBRFC

This thread is over two years old. If you want answers you should start your own thread.