Fix Up, Look Sharp

GeorgianaCavendish

Merlin's_Beard said:

Under budget and ahead of schedule.... you'll have to share your secrets!

Haha, I'm still in a state of shock about it!   

GeorgianaCavendish

EssexHebridean said:

You are just doing so well on the renovation! Great news that you will be able to sell the old oil tank too - definitely a bonus! 

Thank you Its really nice to get some positive news like that, although the renovations are going well I am starting to feel a bit burnt out with it - I'm VERY ready for the end of this project!

GeorgianaCavendish

enthusiasticsaver said:

Just popped on to MFW to catch up on @EssexHebridean new diary and found you too. Sounds like you have a project on your hands so will catch up shortly. 

Thanks for popping by! Its always nice to 'see' you and I really value your input

GeorgianaCavendish

September Round-Up

Renovation Budget Pots

Professional Jobs : £11,995.66
Float Costs : £493.18

Extra Income

Prolific Academic - £65.22 
TopCashBack - £4.78
YouGov - £50.00
Bank Interest - £239.99 (includes interest on 2 x savings accounts paid every 3 months)


MSE Challenges 

Emergency Fund - £7525/£7500
Christmas 2023 - £750/£800 (revised this target downwards from £1000)
1p Challenge 2023 - £296.46/£667.95 (I got this far but have decided to withdraw from the challenge as the money would be better put towards house refurbs)
Mortgage Overpayments 2023 - £780.39/£1000
NSD 2023 - 176

NSD 
16/17 (first time this year that I didn't make my target, but too many spendy days this month!)

GeorgianaCavendish

I feel absolutely shattered this month! I'm so busy at work and all my spare time, energy and headspace is going on the house. 

The new pots are working out well, it feels like all we are doing is spending money at the moment but things are moving in the right direction. 

The drain work is finished and the floor in the utility room has been replaced. We levelled the kitchen floor last weekend and it looks fantastic (if I do say so myself ) and the bathroom has been plastered & shower tray fitted. Plastering is continuing but is slow and the plasterer is being flaky. He's had some bad luck with his van but supposedly his phone has been broken 3 times in the last 6 weeks so I'm a bit skeptical about this run of bad luck He's been dodging my messages since Thursday so I'm starting to think that I need to get someone else in to finish the work. 

The insulation inspection took place and it looks cavity wall insulation would be on the cards for us. That would be completely free (rather than partially subsidised, like the loft insulation). I think under the Great British Insulation Scheme we can only pick one type of insulation to get financial help with, so we'll likely go with the cavity wall insulation and install the loft insulation ourselves. Currently waiting for the report back from the inspection before we can move forward. 

Things we've been spending all our money on : bathroom suite, kitchen units, tiles for the bathroom and a range cooker. I found the cooker on ebay for around 35% of the full price, so we were happy to go ahead and buy it now rather than wait until we are a bit further with the refurb. We've also got the carpets on order (the ones we had to buy that is, we do have some 'spare' carpet that can be used for some rooms). 

Goals for October : plastering finished (big question mark over this, depending if we've been ghosted!); bathroom tiled and full suite fitted; kitchen units fitted and painting started. The painting is going to have to be done piecemeal because obviously the new plaster needs to dry - but there are some rooms that we could do (once the dusty work stops!) 

EssexHebridean

Sounds like you do need to find a different plasterer - even if he returns now would you be confident that he'll do the sort of job/leave the sort of finish you want? It's a pain though isn't it as it's always such a faff getting someone to finish a job. 

I can identify with feeling like you're constantly spending money - our last month has been very much the same but it's definitely all worth it in the end isn't it. I'm so full of admiration still on the amount of work you're doing yourselves on your house too - that's really impressive! 

Great news on the insulation. We need to top up loft insulation at some stage as well although having now realised that our loft is fully boarded it will probably be by way of simply unrolling some rolls of insulation over the existing boarding round the edges to start with anyway - we were always planning on doing it bit by bit anyway so that seems as good a way of any of proceeding. 

GeorgianaCavendish

That is so true @EssexHebridean - we have hired someone else, but he's not able to start for a couple of weeks. Still no contact from the original plasterer but we'll keep hold of the tools he left behind until he does make contact. 
The thing I am most annoyed about is that the original guy asked us to buy the materials, and I didn't realise it but plaster goes off very quickly! The new guy looked through everything and agreed to use a couple of bags but said he wouldn't be prepared to use the majority of it as it had expired at the end of September. Last weekend we had to take 15 bags to the dump - about £250 just thrown away! But now that it isn't piled up in the dining room, I can start to get over it   

GeorgianaCavendish

October Round-Up

Renovation Budget Pots

Professional Jobs : £13,001.26
Float Costs : £600.13

Extra Income

Prolific Academic - £6.07
TopCashBack - £1.61
Tax Refunds - £489.90
Train Refunds - 19.05
Bank Interest - £3.40
Premium Bonds - £125


MSE Challenges 

Emergency Fund - £7575/£7500
Christmas 2023 - £800/£800 (that's a wrap for 2023!) 
Mortgage Overpayments 2023 - £867.10/£1000
NSD 2023 - 196

NSD 
20/17 

EssexHebridean

That really is annoying about the materials wasted - I can well understand your annoyance there! 

GeorgianaCavendish

Phew! I'm so glad that October is over! It was a really busy month with work, and we all got sick at the beginning of the month (the cold lurgy that seems to have been going round) so there were a good couple of weeks when no progress was made on the house. We're also behind on a number of jobs, but there is a lot scheduled for the next 6 weeks so we might make up that lost time.

As I said above, the original plasterer completely ghosted us so we had to find a replacement. The new plasterer will start in 2 weeks and the job will end up costing us about £1000 more overall, but at least we have it booked in and the new guy seems really nice. Also part of the additional cost is replacing those wasted materials   (I guess I can argue about those with the original guy if he ever gets back to us). The other work has been pushed back due to the delay with the plastering, so it is going to be a busy end of the year for us!

We've got a small DIY job to do before the plasterer starts, so that's the focus for this weekend. Also planning to get some more painting done to take advantage of the house being dust free. I think we are going to invest in a few freestanding oil powered radiators to help keep the house at a suitable temperature for paint and plaster to dry; as the plumbing won't be completed until early December and I at least want to paint the walls behind the radiators before that takes place. 

Everything we bought last month has been delivered and is sitting in our garage. The kitchen is being fitted next week along with another part of the bathroom so we'll have a bit more storage space back! The bathroom and kitchen splashback tiling will take place at the end of November, with the final fix from plumber and electrician happening in early December. 

We had to reschedule our carpet fitters to January, and will have to take delivery of one of the carpets around the end of November. I've explained the situation to them and they will hold off delivering it for as long as possible, but it will still likely be delivered before December. This is a good incentive to clear out the garage! 

I'm still waiting for the report from the Great British Insulation Scheme. I got some additional paperwork to fill out this week, so I hope that is a sign that things are moving forwards. 

Now we are getting closer to the house being finished, I've started keeping a list of fixtures and fittings that we need to buy so that I can swoop if I see a really good bargain. We have a lot of old vintage furniture already and we're looking to add some more furniture in a similar mid-century style. As well as setting up ebay alerts and stalking FB marketplace, I've found some local house clearance shops, so I'm keeping an eye on those as well. Most of the furniture is not  urgent so I can be very picky about the condition of the items, and make sure I stick rigidly to my budget - but I'm keeping an eye out so I can swoop in if I see a genuine bargain. Other items, like curtains and blinds, will be bought new - I've got all the measurements and have book marked ones that I like so now I am just waiting to see if there are any good sales or discount codes available.  


Goals for November : plastering finished;  bathroom tiled and some of suite fitted; kitchen units fitted and more painting completed. 

Goals for December (its never too early!) : electrical work finished; plumbing work finished (and heating turned on - exciting!); painting completed; skirting boards fitted 

Goals for January : carpets fitted; move in!