Georgian House Renovation Up North - 5 Years and Counting

Georgian House Renovation Up North - 5 Years and Counting

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stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
By pure coincidence, it happens to be 5 years to the day today that I got the keys to the fixer upper that was/is my first home so what better time to share it and where I've got to with the PH collective as a bit of interest/motivation to those trying to soldier on through their own builds on here.

I'll kind of dump into here as a mix of chronological/room based activity for those that are interested but first, a bit of cool story bro'

Back in 2010, I'd been living down south in Weybridge for about 10 years, renting and drinking/socialising my life away, getting fatter, older and no less single than I was when I first moved down there. Certainly no nearer to being on the property ladder whilst down there. It was therefore time to sort my life out a bit.

I had a change of employer and a move to consulting in April 2010 meant I could more or less live anywhere so I sat myself down one night and decided to draw out what I actually wanted from life (really, I did and do recommend it). I then put the picture away and forgot about it for ages.

I landed a client assignment in Leeds and rented for six month to decide if I liked being home and as I did, decided to buy a house in summer of 2011. I was after starter house as it was just me so I was looking in the region of 100 - 130k for a 2-3 bed Wimpey style home just to bounce around in.

However, as I was stood at the window looking at the various houses ,the estate agent stuck the following thing in the window, and it stopped me dead. I didn't know why at the time but it intrigued me, the price was close enough to my budget to be worth a punt and it looked so ridiculous, I went in and asked about it.



It turned out to be a Northern Rock repossession and it was priced so low as a dutch auction to get it shifted. 15 minutes later, I was parked outside in my suit, using my shiny company car as a stepladder to get over the locked gates and have a walk around to inspect the house.

I knew right then I wanted it...

Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 2nd September 01:19


Edited by stewjohnst on Sunday 4th September 23:27

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
I'll speed up the story for you but for me it wasn't until a few months later and I was unpacking boxes that I found the notebook I'd sketched the picture of what I wanted back in December of 2010.

Looking at it now its obvious why something in the back of my mind had made me go in and look at that house...



Anyway, as it was a sale with a lot of interest, they held an open day so my brother (handily an architect) and I went down to view the interior, it was massive and needed a fair amount of work but nothing that couldn't be resolved with hard labour and my view was it was worth it's value in bricks and mortar if it all fell down. We then spent the rest of the open day walking around exclaiming how expensive the woodworm, damp, electrics, etc would be to resolve for anyone else in earshot to put them off.

I left the first open day and offered the £165,000 price that got me first in the queue to start the paperwork but this was soon outbid. The estate agent wouldn't tell me the revised offer so I had to sit there saying out numbers and I sued the ebay strategy of picking random values so in the end I got if for £211,000.

Even though they were happy with my offer, the deal wasn't final until contracts were exchanged so I spent a busy three weeks phoning the estate agent, bank and my solicitor each day asking what they needed until we got to completion and I got the keys on the 1st September.

There was another open day between my offer and completion so naturally, I also went to the second open day to loudly declare the house a money pit/death trap to get shot of people once again. biggrin


stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
So day 1, this is what the house looked like

Outside

The previous owner had done a runner and left about £4,000 of Espace on the drive and I was looking forward to requesting RK details, sending them an invoice for parking it on my land and then taking ownership of the car and flogging it as four grand would have fixed the hole in the bathroom ceiling quite nicely. However, the estate agent decided to be helpful by paying (yes, they paid) to get it towed away for scrap before I got there frown

Pointing totally knackered due to not having any downpipe attached for ages...


Gable end rotten and slates loose/missing allowing rain into the house



Kitchen


Note the water on the floor as the utility room had a leak in it...



stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
There was one inside toilet, a separate bathroom...

...and this 'en-suite' minus any dividing wall in one of the top bedrooms?



Also no extraction up there so it had encouraged damp and woodworm to take hold rolleyes

One of the other bedrooms had been used as a barbers shop at some time in the past.




giveitfish

4,030 posts

213 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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Looks like a challenge!

greygoose

8,225 posts

194 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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Looks like a good potential house, odd that the front door is off-centre, I hope you are going to get rid of the "leaded windows" I hate that false look! Bizarre en suite arrangement, ok if you are single I suppose. I would get rid of the ivy/creeper asap.

Do you have any plans of the house?

BlueHave

4,636 posts

107 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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Excellent man maths

Budget = £130k

Spend = £215k

Thats a whole lot of house for just over £200k and all because its in the middle of Yorkshire. If it had been in commuter belt London or Surrey, Somerset, Kent or Buckinghamshire it would have been more than double that.

PSRG

643 posts

125 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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greygoose said:
Looks like a good potential house, odd that the front door is off-centre
I reckon it was 2 houses originally... You can see where the other front door might have been, to the left of the current one

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
PSRG said:
I reckon it was 2 houses originally... You can see where the other front door might have been, to the left of the current one
It's always been one house but it dates from around 1750, the door originally went into the room on the left but it was sealed up later and an entrance hall created to get through to the back of the house that was built on to and so you didn't walk directly into a front room.

The whole house has ups and downs all over the shop with unexpected floor level changes.

Oddly, I I do t have a floor plan but will knock one up this afternoon.

Don't forget this is a bit of a time travel thread, a lot of work has already been done and I'll post as I try to catch up to present day.

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
BlueHave said:
Excellent man maths

Budget = £130k

Spend = £215k

Thats a whole lot of house for just over £200k and all because its in the middle of Yorkshire. If it had been in commuter belt London or Surrey, Somerset, Kent or Buckinghamshire it would have been more than double that.
I know, having lived in prime Surrey commuter belt where my old landlord offered to sell me my 2 bed flat for £250,000 back in 2008, I'm rather pleased I'm a northerner again smile

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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This looks like it will be an interesting thread!

We are 4 years into our renovation, but it feels like we still have loads to do, as life keeps getting in the way.

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
A few more before photos.

I hadn't really set a budget but I had planned to do this mainly diy - firstly because my time living in London drinking and not going to the gym any more had made me a big fat and secondly I like to be doing *something* whether that's fettling an old Japanese 4x4 or house doesn't make much difference to me.

Aerial view showing the back half of the house.


Hallway to top floor

Inside toilet


Stained glass bit of Yorkshire stuck in there





Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 2nd September 23:03


Edited by stewjohnst on Friday 2nd September 23:05

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
quotequote all
Few more before pics...








mikees

2,745 posts

171 months

Friday 2nd September 2016
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I'm guessing this is going to be epic. Good man

Pheo

3,324 posts

201 months

Saturday 3rd September 2016
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Amazing project! Good luck!

AC43

11,436 posts

207 months

Saturday 3rd September 2016
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stewjohnst said:
Aerial view showing the back half of the house.
Looks pretty sizeable - what the the square footage?


stewjohnst said:
|http://thumbsnap.com/mGYXIs0M[/url]
Love all that panelling.

littlebasher

3,767 posts

170 months

Saturday 3rd September 2016
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Looks a good old size

Please post the floor plan!

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Sunday 4th September 2016
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As requested, here's the floor plan.

Had to draw it just for pH as in five years, I've never actually had one drawn up...









It's about 3000 square feet, give or take.

Du1point8

21,604 posts

191 months

Sunday 4th September 2016
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looks epic and a lot of space for not a lot.

stewjohnst

Original Poster:

2,442 posts

160 months

Sunday 4th September 2016
quotequote all
The plan was to move in and just work my way round making it tolerable to live in. As a single bloke, it was habitable but the kitchen was manky, the bathroom completely skanky and the rest of the house was just an artex explosion.

So I started with the bathroom as the shower was running only cold, the bath, well the pictures say it all...







This was never going to be the main bathroom long term as it's too small for the size of house but as I didn't plan on moving for 15-20 years, I spent a small budget getting this one finished. I needed the kitchen and bathrooms decent to release a bit if equity in 2 years time at the next remortgage for bigger jobs.