My First Renovation
Discussion
Little Lofty said:
That's often the case, that's why I mentioned the wall may not be load bearing earlier in the thread. Off the top of my head I'd say 8 out of the last 10 I've removed weren't load bearing even though most of them were built with brick.
Yeah I presume the surveyor was just covering himself by saying it was load bearing, I also didn't want to get my hopes up so it was a nice surprise when I realised.KTF said:
I would move the cooker to the middle rather than jammed in the corner if thats the only wall it can go on.
I like to have stuff either side of me when I am cooking so having it in the corner would drive me crazy after a while
That's a good idea, whats the best way to add an extraction fan if its in the middle? Can the flue bit just be run in the joists? Also will their be enough space for a breakfast bar area if the hob is also sharing the space, is there an average sized area that is recommended? I like to have stuff either side of me when I am cooking so having it in the corner would drive me crazy after a while
Craikeybaby said:
There's another thread about rewires, I had my house wired with CAT5e to most rooms as wireless isn't as fast or reliable. I have iMac, printer, back up drives and Apple TV connected to it, with phones/tablets etc wireless. It is easy to run the cables now, even if you don't use them. Another thing that is worth considering is where you would put an electric car charger, as that seems to be the way things are heading - I have run a thick cable to above my porch, ready to be connected if I get an electric car.
Okay i'll have a look at that, I think i'll definitely run CAT5 to places where a tv could go so i've got points to hardwire the likes of SKY or similar. I never thought about running a point for electric cars, do they just run off standard 240v? I have power in my garage so I can always use that if required at a later date. Welshbeef said:
Good effort - though looks like your getting the Mrs to do all the hard graft 
.
Seriously though you don't want the cooker in the corner put it in the middle of that island setup.
Front room and back room certainly look like they need log burners.
Oak doors with chrome dressing.
Haha she loves a good action shot. Luckily she loves a bit of DIY too so shes been very helpfull!. Seriously though you don't want the cooker in the corner put it in the middle of that island setup.
Front room and back room certainly look like they need log burners.
Oak doors with chrome dressing.
Oak doors would be lovely but I don't think I can justify the cost as its going to be a rental and the original doors will look fine with a new coat of paint and some new handles.
-
The weekend jobs were to sort the rotten garage frame out and move the gatepost over. I need to put the finishing coats on both the frame and the door and that'll be boxed off. The gatepost job turned out to be bigger than I thought however I got it mostly done with the help of a friend, just need some more mortar and a strong pair of hands to help lift the top of the post on.
I only managed to get a picture of the drive but you can see part of the new frame in the background. Obviously the drive isn't staying like that, I will eventually lay stones down and add a feature but that's low down on the priority list at the min.
Cal
Calum95 said:
Craikeybaby said:
There's another thread about rewires, I had my house wired with CAT5e to most rooms as wireless isn't as fast or reliable. I have iMac, printer, back up drives and Apple TV connected to it, with phones/tablets etc wireless. It is easy to run the cables now, even if you don't use them. Another thing that is worth considering is where you would put an electric car charger, as that seems to be the way things are heading - I have run a thick cable to above my porch, ready to be connected if I get an electric car.
Okay i'll have a look at that, I think i'll definitely run CAT5 to places where a tv could go so i've got points to hardwire the likes of SKY or similar. I never thought about running a point for electric cars, do they just run off standard 240v? I have power in my garage so I can always use that if required at a later date. Craikeybaby said:
My understanding is that they can use 240v, but only for a slow charge. I couldn't have a fast charger in my garage as cable to the garage wasn't suitable for 32 amp. So while I had the ceiling down recently I ran a suitable cable for a fast charger to the front of the house.
So you've ran a cable from the fuse box area to the front of your house? Sorry if that's a stupid question, i'm no good with electrics yet. Luckily my fuse box is right next to the porch and on the shared wall to the garage so shouldn't be an issue to branch out of it. bunn89 said:
Hows things been progressing along Calum? Im just completing on a similar property this month and will be pretty much following in your footsteps with the majority of the work needing to be done so its nice watching someone a few weeks ahead
Hi Mate, it's slowed down a little as I've been working away from home the last two weeks. My new combi boiler has been installed and I have a date for my windows to be replaced too. Going to get stuck back into it tonight, I'm slowly seeing an end to the destruction phase so going to have to get sensible soon and start boxing some rooms off! Congrats on the property, are you going to start a thread of your own? If you have any questions I'll answer anything I can!
Cal
Hi Guys, I've had a busy last few days at the house.
The pointing on the garage was in a really sorry state so I've been waiting for a dry weekend to try and get through it. It took a hell of a lot longer than I imagined and didn't stay dry for long. I got through the bulk of it and will hopefully do odd bits here and there over the next week or two, definitely looks better now its done though.
Before and after side by side. I opted to go for red mortar as the front of the garage has previously been done like this and it looks better than the rest.
I did clean the bricks after I was finished so they're not covered in mortar like in the last pic.
The next job was to knock down the walls in the bathroom to turn it into a large family bathroom. It was originally a split toilet room and separate bathroom. I've ordered a skip so I can get rid of all the rubbish I've accumulated over the last few weeks.
Here's the before (minus the doors)
It came out very easily, only needed some slight persuasion from the sledge hammer towards to bottom.
The remainder of the wall is staying to separate the bath and toilet, I've seen it done before and liked the idea. I got lucky as the wooden vertical beam is only 20mm away from where I wanted to cut it.
After this is all tidied up I need to get on to re-plumbing the rest of the lead piping. I'm opting for plastic pipes, does anyone know a cheap supplier around the northwest/ wigan area? Or a good online provider?
I also managed to bag myself a kitchen off ebay over the weekend, the guy selling is local and is going to deliver it for me too, the next challenge will be trying to make it fit!
As the kitchen floor is concrete and has sagged over the years, what will be the easiest method to bring it back up to the level of the wooden floor? I was thinking fill it with a quite wet mix of concrete until its very close to the level I want it, then put a final layer of decent self leveler down? I'm always open to other suggestions though.
Just to clarify that although it looks like the girlfriend is doing all the work, I do help out in between pictures...
Thanks for reading,
Cal
The pointing on the garage was in a really sorry state so I've been waiting for a dry weekend to try and get through it. It took a hell of a lot longer than I imagined and didn't stay dry for long. I got through the bulk of it and will hopefully do odd bits here and there over the next week or two, definitely looks better now its done though.
Before and after side by side. I opted to go for red mortar as the front of the garage has previously been done like this and it looks better than the rest.
I did clean the bricks after I was finished so they're not covered in mortar like in the last pic.
The next job was to knock down the walls in the bathroom to turn it into a large family bathroom. It was originally a split toilet room and separate bathroom. I've ordered a skip so I can get rid of all the rubbish I've accumulated over the last few weeks.
Here's the before (minus the doors)
It came out very easily, only needed some slight persuasion from the sledge hammer towards to bottom.
The remainder of the wall is staying to separate the bath and toilet, I've seen it done before and liked the idea. I got lucky as the wooden vertical beam is only 20mm away from where I wanted to cut it.
After this is all tidied up I need to get on to re-plumbing the rest of the lead piping. I'm opting for plastic pipes, does anyone know a cheap supplier around the northwest/ wigan area? Or a good online provider?
I also managed to bag myself a kitchen off ebay over the weekend, the guy selling is local and is going to deliver it for me too, the next challenge will be trying to make it fit!
As the kitchen floor is concrete and has sagged over the years, what will be the easiest method to bring it back up to the level of the wooden floor? I was thinking fill it with a quite wet mix of concrete until its very close to the level I want it, then put a final layer of decent self leveler down? I'm always open to other suggestions though.
Just to clarify that although it looks like the girlfriend is doing all the work, I do help out in between pictures...
Thanks for reading,
Cal
Calum95 said:
Congrats on the property, are you going to start a thread of your own? If you have any questions I'll answer anything I can!
Cal
Im signing contracts Monday and fingers crossed can get my hands on the keys next week also. Great to see some more updates on the house. I'm sure it's secretly the Mrs doing all the DIY work haha!Cal
The garage re-pointing work you did looks spot on, any tools in particular you used for that, or you just a dab hand at repointing lol
So plenty has been going on in the last few weeks...
Firstly, I finally got round to removing all the old lead piping in the house and re-plumbed it using plastic, it was a relatively easy job and makes life much easier to move things around when i'm fitting the bathroom at a later date. Whats the general consensus on adding a separate shower cubical in the bathroom as opposed to an "L" bath with shower and screen? I have plenty of space for one but don't know if it's worth the extra cash and effort to fit one if i'm going to rent?
The next job was the windows, they were practically falling apart and well beyond repair, they also had old school secondary glazing which I was keen to get rid of. The guy doing them was a one man band and seems to have done a neat job, the only one left now is the curved bay which i'm squaring off and adding patio doors to. We removed the plinth bricks as I couldn't find any replacements for the new bay and didn't want it to look different.
Here's the before for the square bay
During
After
To prepare for the work on the bay window I have removed the inner skin of bricks and dug down for the footings to help out the bricky, my window fitter is removing the old windows over the weekend ready for the bricky to start on monday. I'm also due to go away for a 3 week trip soon so with any luck i'll have nice new patio doors when i'm back!
Next I had the task to bring the kitchen floor back up to the wooden floor level, I used a 4:1 sand and cement mix and plan on doing the final 10-20mm with floor leveler. Luckily my next door neighbour had a cement mixer he let me use, otherwise it would have taken a lot of wheel barrow mixes! It's not a perfect finish I know, however its my fist attempt so cut me some slack...
I also gave bricking up the doorway from the hall a go, luckily I didn't need to cut any blocks as I didn't have anything to do this with, I've tied it into the surrounding wall using metal ties. Just have the top two to put in now as it was getting late and I ran out of mortar.
Cheers for reading!
Cal
Firstly, I finally got round to removing all the old lead piping in the house and re-plumbed it using plastic, it was a relatively easy job and makes life much easier to move things around when i'm fitting the bathroom at a later date. Whats the general consensus on adding a separate shower cubical in the bathroom as opposed to an "L" bath with shower and screen? I have plenty of space for one but don't know if it's worth the extra cash and effort to fit one if i'm going to rent?
The next job was the windows, they were practically falling apart and well beyond repair, they also had old school secondary glazing which I was keen to get rid of. The guy doing them was a one man band and seems to have done a neat job, the only one left now is the curved bay which i'm squaring off and adding patio doors to. We removed the plinth bricks as I couldn't find any replacements for the new bay and didn't want it to look different.
Here's the before for the square bay
During
After
To prepare for the work on the bay window I have removed the inner skin of bricks and dug down for the footings to help out the bricky, my window fitter is removing the old windows over the weekend ready for the bricky to start on monday. I'm also due to go away for a 3 week trip soon so with any luck i'll have nice new patio doors when i'm back!
Next I had the task to bring the kitchen floor back up to the wooden floor level, I used a 4:1 sand and cement mix and plan on doing the final 10-20mm with floor leveler. Luckily my next door neighbour had a cement mixer he let me use, otherwise it would have taken a lot of wheel barrow mixes! It's not a perfect finish I know, however its my fist attempt so cut me some slack...
I also gave bricking up the doorway from the hall a go, luckily I didn't need to cut any blocks as I didn't have anything to do this with, I've tied it into the surrounding wall using metal ties. Just have the top two to put in now as it was getting late and I ran out of mortar.
Cheers for reading!
Cal
Looks good! I hope you're going to hide those plastic pipes under the floor in the bathroom though?
As for bath & shower idea. If your 100% going to rent it out i'd go for a bath only option, less to go wrong, less for you to have to reseal, less for the tennant to have to clean and keep tidy.
However if your going to live in it and sell it 100% get two. I'm saving to do my bathroom up at the minute and i'm going to get a bath and a separate shower.
As for bath & shower idea. If your 100% going to rent it out i'd go for a bath only option, less to go wrong, less for you to have to reseal, less for the tennant to have to clean and keep tidy.
However if your going to live in it and sell it 100% get two. I'm saving to do my bathroom up at the minute and i'm going to get a bath and a separate shower.
richatnort said:
Looks good! I hope you're going to hide those plastic pipes under the floor in the bathroom though?
As for bath & shower idea. If your 100% going to rent it out i'd go for a bath only option, less to go wrong, less for you to have to reseal, less for the tennant to have to clean and keep tidy.
However if your going to live in it and sell it 100% get two. I'm saving to do my bathroom up at the minute and i'm going to get a bath and a separate shower.
I plan on hiding the pipes in the wall, the way they are at the minute is so I could still use the sink.As for bath & shower idea. If your 100% going to rent it out i'd go for a bath only option, less to go wrong, less for you to have to reseal, less for the tennant to have to clean and keep tidy.
However if your going to live in it and sell it 100% get two. I'm saving to do my bathroom up at the minute and i'm going to get a bath and a separate shower.
As i'm going to be living there for about a year I think i'll put one in, just need to figure out the best layout now.
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