First-time house renovation

Doozergirl · 1 October 2008 at 12:33PM

Just saw your signature OP - don't worry about your social life - you don't need one anymore when you eventually can't wait to get back to your beautiful home

BB1984 · 1 October 2008 at 1:06PM

andrew-b wrote: »

Your kitchen looks like it may be a bit of a challenge as the layout as it was doesn't appear to work well with the sink squeezed into the corner so i'm guessing you may want the kitchen plumbing repositioned.

In answer to your blog question...too old for a bungalow? i'm in my early 30s and we have one. Couple of other families of similar age in bungalows down our road too.

Back to the OP, you may have noticed it or fixed it already but the fall on your guttering needs some attention near the telephone cable as it's sagging a little at the joint and may overflow in heavy rain.

I wouldn't demolish that shed just yet if it can be patched up and made watertight as it may make a useful store whilst your renovating - or convert it into your temporary loo and stick the porta potti out there!

Andy

Thanks andrew-b for your very keen eye - i hadn't actually noticed that particular part of the guttering...although at the back of the house it is actually broken, and it's also clogged up with leaves, moss etc so needs to be completely cleared out. Hopefully we'll get away without total replacement for the time being.

The kitchen will indeed need some plumbing jiggery-pokery, but that's not too much of a problem as there's a big fall in ground level across the kitchen, so we should be able to put the sink on an internal wall. Getting the Howden's bloke round on friday to have a chat and give us a plan/quote.

As for age - it was a joke, just because some people have taken the mickey out of us for buying a bungalow. Not that I care! My fiance and I are 24 and 27 respectively. Our choice, when looking at houses, was between a series of little 2-bed Victorian terraces, or this, a 3-bed detached bungalow, corner plot, massive garden. We wanted somewhere that we could add value to, and somewhere that would be suitable for kids, should the time come....(!) :eek:

And yes, we are planning on keeping the shed for now, as the roof is water tight so it's a handy place to put stuff. Will have a go, at the weekend, at reversing that "lean" and mending the window, though!

bb

amcluesent · 1 October 2008 at 1:31PM

Can you get Sarah Beeny's 'Property Ladder' on a box-set DVD?

latecomer · 1 October 2008 at 2:07PM

andrew-b wrote: »

Out of curiosity, Paddy's Mum, Latecomer and Sloth, what made you buy a bungalow and then want to convert the loft?

Where we live the nice areas are mainly bungalows (and huge houses). I know in some areas there is almost a stigma of only being for older people attached to them but thats not the case here. For our money we could have bought a newer house with no character and no garden or a bungalow with potential to make into a home. Easy choice for us to be honest.
Its also opposite a park so there is somewhere to walk the dog that we dont yet have :rotfl:

Stevie1 · 1 October 2008 at 2:18PM

To be honest, that bungalow doesn't look too bad. Put it that way, it has had some work done to it since it has been built (unlike ours) so you shouldn't encounter too many problems.

As for the skip comments, I actually disagree. We had 3 large skips @ £150 each and they took a bathroom, a kitchen, carpets from every room, lino, three gas fires, heaters, an incredible amount of loft rubbish, wallpaper and the plaster from every wall in the house (and it is a BIG 3 bed semi). Much better than having to pile it somewhere and do numerous trips to the tip (there is a time & money cost to that too).

..."deciding on paint colours, ordering materials, tiling, sanding/painting woodwork" is the stuff that takes the most time! Include some time off from it - one gets fed up and sick to death with decorating and renovating work. There'll be some weekends and evening when it'll be the last thing you want to do, and you have to account for that.

BB1984 · 1 October 2008 at 2:50PM

Thanks Steve for pointing out the importance of taking a break - we will need it i'm sure! At the moment though it's all hands on deck to get all the work involving tradesmen done without too many delays.

It would be nice to get some central heating in before it gets too cold, for example. And whilst we're very lucky to be temporarily staying with my mum, the novelty of having my meals cooked for me will wear off at some point and we'll be desperate for our own space again!

Here's my to-do list from my project plan:

Remove carpets
Remove storage heaters
Strip wallpaper
Remove old kitchen units
Remove hall cupboards
Clear garden
Dig path at side
Clear out air bricks
Clear out & mend gutter
Replace / repair damp floor joists
Remove old bathroom tiles
Organise new meter
Order new shower
Remove panelling in kitchen
Change locks
Remove old HW tank
Remove lounge fireplace
Re-wire (first fix)
Move box
Alarm
Knock down bathroom wall
Radiators & boiler
Remove bedroom chimney
Order kitchen units
Chop big trees down
Strengthen ceiling joists
Change bathroom window
Build new bathroom wall
Plaster bathroom walls
Bathroom ceiling
Move back door
Move kitchen door
Fit new shower enclosure & bath
Ply bathroom floor
Plaster bedroom chimney
Skim artex ceilings
Tile bathroom walls
Tile bathroom floor
New bathroom suite
New gas supply
Sand & seal kitchen floor
Electrics (second fix)
Repair kitchen floorboards
Silicon seal windows
Patch repair plaster
Fit new kitchen units
Sand woodwork
Finish kitchen fitting
Bottom paint coats in bedrooms
Install eaves ventilation
Paint ceilings
Tile kitchen
Paint kitchen
Insulate loft
Board loft

Please let me know if there's anything obvious that I've missed off. I've tried to put it vaguely in chronological order...

bb

latecomer · 1 October 2008 at 3:03PM

Thats a cracking list, you've obviously thought about it a lot (or had a lot of help

)

You dont have any mention of the roof. Its worth getting up into the loft on a wet day and checking for any signs of water coming in.

Stevie1 · 1 October 2008 at 3:18PM

Looks OK, BB. I hope, though, this is not your 3 week job list!;)

Make sure to take your time with some of these items, for example taking down bedroom chimney - very often you need to ensure there is support in place. It's not just a matter of knocking some bricks out.

Do all the wall moving/knocking down & plastering before you move in, if you can. It is the dirtiest, messiest job of them all.

BB1984 · 1 October 2008 at 4:27PM

Thanks for the compliment, Latecomer! (assuming you're not taking the mick...!) I did in fact put the list together all on my lonesome, with just a bit of input regarding how long the electrics and plumbing should take.

I also take on board your advice re the roof, although i believe (hope!) that the roof is the one thing that doesn't need any work....famous last words! Having said that, we do need to ventilate the eaves.

Cheers Stevie1 too, i will indeed be very careful with removing the chimney. I'm a structural engineer so if anything I tend to be over-cautious! We're definately planning on getting all the very mucky, dusty work done before we move in, don't fancy all that dust getting everywhere, and given that we have a choice...

I'll be at the house tomorrow so I'm looking forward to taking some more photos to add to my blog!

bb

latecomer · 1 October 2008 at 5:02PM

Was a compliment. Our task list is very adhoc and while we both know what needs done, we probably should write it all down.

You've got me thinking about removing one of our chimneys now (possibly 2) as we are just getting silly quotes to repair them and they will both be redundant (1 is already) once the extension is done.

First-time house renovation

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