Harrogate House Renovation..

[P4T]

Hello again everybody!

Following on from my last restoration thread on here which was for this: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... I'm back with my next project..

I took my first step on the property ladder in 2013 when I bought this house.. My offer was accepted in May and due to a bit of faffing about I didn't get the keys until September. As soon as I had the keys in my hand the work started in earnest to take the property from wood chip covered, Seventies boring-ness to a nice contemporary house. I'm a huge fan of Grand Designs and the various other home programmes so I was gagging to have a go myself!

I was fortunate enough to buy a place in arguably the most desirable part of town at the bottom of the market so I think I got a great deal and I hope that with the work I have carried out I will have increased the value.

The property is a 3 bed townhouse with living space over 3 floors with a front garden and a rear courtyard with a single garage which forms part of the lower ground floor.. In simple terms if you look at the property from the front it looks like a regular 2 story terraced house whereas there are 3 stories at the rear and the lower ground floor is a single garage and utility room. I must say the house has a lot more space than you imagine before going inside.

My initial plans were to modernise the whole place into somewhere I would love to live. Work would consist of removal of wood chip throughout, re plastering where neccessary, new lighting, new carpets, new bathrooms, new kitchen, removal of internal walls on ground floor creating an open plan space and new flooring throughout. To be fair most things have been and are getting done besides the roof and the windows have already been done.

I have been living in the house for a year now whilst carrying out the work.. This has been a bit inconvenient but not the worst as I live on my own so I can generally work in one area at a time and keep other areas free from too much building muck!..

Anyway this was the front of the house followed by the floor plans.. The front of the house was/is pretty uninspiring but with a a few tweaks I have already done and plan to do I think the kerb appeal will improve.









Unfortunately I haven't taken any photos from the rear and unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the overgrown garden either!

So the first job which was started as soon as I moved in was to sort the master bedroom out which included the addition of a glass shower room/en-suite without the thunder box. This was an idea I had which I thought would be very exciting and give a wow factor to the master bedroom.. With the benefit of hindsight I would have been better playing things safe and putting up a stud wall but hey ho its a bit different and it works great for me. So the work on the master bedroom commenced.. First job was to get rid of the carpets and all the wood chip..











In the next picture you can see the built in wardrobe that was in the corner of the master bedroom which I planned to remove and utilise the space for the Ensuite shower room.

[URL=http://s1271.photobucket.com/user/PatrickMcDowall/media/House/06A4CF7C-4269-42BC-B2AF-CEAFF3033F94_zpsp2wmseu0.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1271.photobucket.com
/albums/jj622/PatrickMcDowall/House/06A4CF7C-4269-42BC-B2AF-CEAFF3033F94_zpsp2wmseu0.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

And with the built in wardrobe removed and the woodchip off the walls



The next step was to go over all the walls with a tub of filler to remove any imperfections.. This was a real pain of a job and one that after the next room I decided was too time consuming so re-skimming from there on in!..







And after a lot of hard work with the filling and sanding I went over the walls with a couple of coats of high build primer type stuff..







So the next job from there was to start the prep work for the shower room.. This would entail bringing water in taking water out with waste pipes...

More to follow..

[P4T]

So because I wanted to make life hard for myself I wanted the shower room to be a wet room as opposed to having a shower tray.. The first step here was to 'under board' the floor to ensure a bit more strength for the wetroom shower tray to sit on.. First job was lifting the existing floor boards.



Because the ceilings were going to eventually come down on the ground floor I created an opening from below to allow me to access the waste pipes easier.



The next job was to create some channels for pipework in the walls. This was a very messy job with the grinder..



With some pipework in place..



So with the batons in place ready to underboard.



And with the plyboard in place..



The shower tray was then put in place along with some more boards to bring the whole floor back to level..



And a view from underneath with the waste pipes joined up..



The next step was to tank the area where the shower room is going to be..









In the meantime the ceiling has been filled and sanded and for the area where the shower room is going to be some bathroom specific downlights and a fan were installed..



Next job was to start the tiling.. I chose the brick tile type..





And then grouted..



The floor tiles were then laid..



A basin was then installed..



As the real dusty work had now finished I set about giving the walls a final coat of paint, installing the downlights, putting on new skirting boards and hanging a Roman blind.











The next step was the one I had been looking forward to the most... It was time for some glass! The back wall of the shower room was going to be a coloured glass panel and the walls will be clear... So the channels in place



Coloured back panel in place



Walls going in..











I then removed all the sticky bits off the glass and installed the rainfall shower head..





The next job was to hang a new radiator





Then it was carpet time..





I waited with ordering the door for the shower room until the carpet had gone in so I knew the exact sizes I had to play with..



The CLEAR glass shower room has divided opinion if I'm honest.. The way I viewed it was that if there is someone else in the room with you the chances are they are your partner meaning you have probably seen each other naked before or if its a stranger chances are you have just seen each other naked anyway!.. The option of a frosted modesty bar is always available should I feel the need in the future..

[P4T]

KTF said:

Wont that shower leak all over the carpet the first time it is used?

The door has seals on the bottom and the hinge side.

[P4T]

So the master bedroom was just about finished so I moved myself out of the second bedroom into the master and then work commenced on the second bedroom. The second bedroom was fortunately not woodchip but was still papered then painted in bright pink. There was also a built in wardrobe. I am not a fan of built in wardrobes so they have been removed from every bedroom. So the to do list for this room was remove the built in wardrobe, strip the paper, sort the walls and ceiling out, fit downlights, create new open wardrobe, new radiator and new carpet.











It became apparent that part of the boxing in was for the waste pipes from the bathroom next door and the soil stack so I decided to slim down the existing boxing in and use it as a base for my open wardrobe to come..





The walls and ceilings were then filled and sanded as per the master bedroom. I was using deep fill filler which is grey hence the room looking a lot worse after filling!



The walls and ceilings were then painted with the high build primer stuff then some satin white.. The new skirting boards were then fitted and a new radiator put in.











It was then time for some more carpet..





I then decided to make a bit of an open wardrobe to go in the space where the previous built in wardrobe was.. I used to be a cabinet maker once upon a time but you'd never tell!.. I am a huge fan of walnut so some walnut veneered MDF was bought along with some edge stripping and I fashioned the following..













So that was the second bedroom finished.. Next was the third bedroom...

[P4T]

5potTurbo said:

How's the shower in real life use? Are the door seals keeping the carpet dry, or are you padding out with soggy feet anyway?

The shower and seals work well as far as keeping shower water inside the glass enclosure but as you say wet feet when leaving are the only issue. I plan to create a bathmat type scenario similar to inset front door mats outside the door. I will get some of the crucial trading type carpet which will be inset into the existing carpet to dry one's feet on when leaving the shower.. That way it can be viewed as a consumable and always be replaced in the future should it get worn from wet feet or should water find its way out in the door cracks.

[P4T]

JimbobVFR said:

Good work so far, I'm trying to picture the location but suspect you're not that far from me. I'm in the Bilton area just off Skipton Road.

The house isn't common to the location to be fair. Im just between the end of Duchy and Kent Road.

[P4T]

After the second bedroom was completed I moved onto the third bedroom. The plans were much the same for the third bedroom and again, there was a built in wardrobe that I wanted to get rid of to maximise space as with the room being smaller.

So first job was stripping the dreaded wood chip once again..







The built in wardrobe in this bedroom was a slightly more complicated affair as it was built up using breeze blocks. All of the internal walls on the top floor of the property have been breeze blocks laid directly onto the chipboard floorboards.. This was obviously common practice back when the house was built whereas nowadays everything is usually stud walls.

Anyway I got the lump hammer out and was able to bray out the blocks on the right hand side.. because the left hand side consisted of a full block and I only wanted half removing I used a stihl saw to cut straight down.







The door was hinged on the left meaning it opened into the middle of an already small room so I decided to change it to hinge on the right so that it opened against the wall instead. This meant the light switch would have been behind the door so I moved the switch also.. I then decided to see if I could plaster... Well I definately couldn't!



I needed the roof re skimming in the upstairs landing so I decided I would strip the paper there also first.. As I stripped the paper I decided to have the whole landing and stairwell re-skimmed.







I had also decided that I wanted some kind of feature lighting down the stairs.. I bought an led strip and set about whittling a bit of timber to use to diguise it.





The plasterer then came in and re skimmed the third bedroom, landing and the stairwell..









I then put new architraves back on the landing..









The paint brush then came out..









New radiator went on..



Downlights went in and the LED light up the stairs also had its first showing!.. I had wired the led strip light into the circuit for the landing spotlights however after seeing the brightness of the LEDs I am going to take it off that circuit and have a 'party' switch which will control the strip as well as other aspects of feature lighting that is going into the house..











So the next job after the third bedroom and landing was the upstairs bathroom...

[P4T]

Ok, next on the to do list was the upstairs bathroom. There was an argument for not doing anything with the bathroom as it had been re done a few years prior however it just wasn't to my taste and I felt it would let the rest of the house down.

A couple of photos as work was about to commence. There was also a false ceiling in the bathroom which was made of a plastic material.. I really wasn't a fan of that either so the plan was to remove it.







So first job was to pull down the ceiling.. This exposed a wood chipped ceiling and quite botched wiring in place for the downlights that were already in place.





I set about removing the woodchip from the ceiling and removing all of the existing tiles. The tiles ended up taking off quite a lot of the existing plaster on the walls.









I skimmed over the walls with some plaster to help give the fresh tiles a decent backing. I then commenced building some boxing in for a concealed cistern and the basin to sit on..





And I made a new bath panel.



Tiling commenced.. Feature back wall in red..







The other walls were done in the same tiles as the ones used on the floor in my ensuite shower room. They are a 600x300 tile with a textured finish. The tiling was a bit of a pita to be honest as the walls were not very square.















The grouting was then done and the floor laid. The floor tiles were of the same design as the wall tiles but with a different finish. I decided to leave a couple of rows of tiles off above the sink/toilet and infill with a mirror which would be grouted in as if it were a tile.

























And that was the bathroom just about done.. New downlights were also put in along with a ceiling extractor fan.

[P4T]

The tiles are from Topps and I believe the range is called 'Jewel'.. They are quite easy to keep clean to be fair.. A bit more of a pain when it comes to grouting but that's all.

The basecoat I used on the walls is by polycell and I think they just call it a 3 in 1 basecoat..

Ive spent all night trying to figure out RSJ's and the practicalities of actually fitting them so hopefully in the not too distant future I can show you some photos of that stuff..

[P4T]

Gingerbread Man said:

Just seen this thread. Looking good. The en-suite shower is a slight odd one for me. Maybe a small electruc UFHing mat could have helped dry it out quicker, otherwise you surely get wet feet when going to brush your teeth after the other halfs showered?
Are the shower screens sat on the edge of the tiles or sat on the floor?

Also in this snap. What other wastes run into the same one as the shower? Being a low/ shallow waste, it can easily be pulled.

You're right about the wet feet.. Because its only me I don't have the issues with the other half's shower however I get your point. I suppose this would be an issue in any wet room dependent upon size.

The glass panels are sat in 20mm channels which butt up against the edge of the tiles. A bead of silicone was run along the bottom and top edges of the channels before they were fitted and there is also a bead of silicon that secures the glass into the channels.

I couldn't see the picture you were refering to regarding wastes however the master bathroom shower, the ensuite sink and shower wastes all go into one pipe which then goes into the 4" soil stack.

[P4T]

So when the upstairs bathroom was finished I was able to replace the very dated balustrade on the upstairs landing with a glass one. I was very keen to replace all the balustrades in the house with glass to add to the contemporary feel.. Once the balustrade was sorted the carpet was laid in the third bedroom and on the landing. I used the same dove grey carpet throughout the top floor of the house.

Old balustrade and some pre carpet photos...







And after the carpet and balustrade..













So this marks the completion of the top floor.. I am pleased with how it has turned out. The issue I am having now is keeping it clean whilst working on the lower floors as dust manages to get everywhere.

[P4T]

Gingerbread Man said:

I'm surprised with that much into one 1.5" waste you've no issues.

Nope, no drainage issues whatsoever but I have not had all 3 going at the same time!.. I did make sure I created plenty of fall on all the pipes which may help matters.

[P4T]

The top floor was just about finished at the beginning of May this year so I made the decision to do the garden over the summer as opposed to starting the next step of works inside the house.

The garden was a real mess. There were conifer trees at the front blocking a lot of light and taking up usable space. There was also a big bay? type tree in the garden which also contributed to me having about 4 metres at the front of the garden which was unusable. The hedge dividing my neighbour's house and mine was also very overgrown. Generally the garden was just crap. Old wonky concrete slabs as a path and patio outside the door.. As per the first pic on the first page.



I was a bit crap with the photos as the beginning of the garden makeover however I took one photo out of the kitchen window after the bay tree was felled..



Then another when the conifers at the front were done..



Digging out all of the roots for the trees was an absolute pig of a job however it enabled me to create two distinct levels in the garden as opposed to it sloping away from the house. I also levelled it from left to right. A big pile of earth as the levelling was under way.



I then decided to build a deck out of the front door one step below the door as opposed to the 2 steps down there were.. I built the frame then was able to get rid of all the hardcore from the old slabs and also my old bathroom tiles in the framework. Perhaps not the best way of getting rid of it but it works for me.





The area where the old path ran was levelled and then some hardcore was put down and compacted.









In the last pic you can see that I have started to add a course of blocks to the end wall. 2 courses went on in total.

I wanted to make sure the new path was wider than the one that was there previously and I also wanted to create some proper steps down toward the entrance to the garden. I poured some foundations then built a wall to support the path.





The timber arrived for my deck. I spent more than I needed to buying Western Red Cedar as I really like the reddish colour however it fades to grey so quickly untreated so next summer I plan to sand and treat it again. (I did treat it with some sealer once but it hasn't worked.)



The deck then started to go down. I bought a tool to enable me to hide screws which worked well but wasn't cheap. I made sure to put plenty of rat poison down amongst the hardcore also prior to laying the deck as the downside of putting all the hardcore there is the perfect environment for rats/mice you create. I also bought some led deck lights which I put into the first plank closest to the house.







I rendered the wall I had built to support the slabs then work started on laying them. I chose Indian Black Limestone slabs which I have been very pleased with.









The next job was to create a wall between the two levels. I thought about making some more steps but decided a slope would be better to enable me to just drive the mower down. Again I poured some foundations and built a wall out of breeze blocks.



Obviously forgot to take photos during the stages of this but the next step was to render that wall along with my end wall. I then painted all my rendered walls with some white masonry paint.





I wanted to create some planters out of sleepers on the front side of the new wall..







I wanted some spot lights in the garden so I had to bury some cable to allow for this. It is a special armoured cable for outside use.



I then put some nice flowers in my new planters!.. I'm not very good with flowers to be honest but I thought they looked ok!.. In an ideal world Id have some that stay nice all year but the ones I planted are dead now as it comes into winter so will re plant next spring.







I then gave the garden a final level off and compacting in preparation for turf. I really wanted to go for artificial grass but I just couldn't justify the cost.







Next job.. Turf!







I left an area next to the slabs and in front of the deck for some topiary. This was eventually in filled with gravel around the plants.















I then had the roof jet washed. I came home from work one day as the neighbour was having his done... I'm not great with heights and couldn't believe the different it made so I asked the chap to come back tomorrow and do mine!.. (photo of next doors done compared to mine not done.. Again forgot to take a photo of mine done!)



The final job for the garden this year was to replace the fence to the right as I look out and also put a fence on top of the end wall to add a little privacy. I did the fencing then painted them in a colour called black ash which I am very pleased with. Next spring I will be replacing the neighbour on the other side's fence for him and again painting it in the same colour..











This update takes you all up to about a month ago and not too much has happened in that space of time.. I am very pleased with how the garden turned out and due to working outside on it all summer I have never been as tanned in my life!..

[P4T]

NicoG said:

Very impressive stuff, and of particular interest to me, since I am looking for a similar project.

I can't claim to be able to do eveything you've done here so far though...

Looking forward to the Downstairs getting the treatment...!

What's your budget?
How quickly are you looking to sell it on?
Are you looking to keep turning these projects over?

I don't really have a budget to be fair.. To me the most important thing is how it looks when its done. It has to look a certain way and it will cost what it costs.. Within reason obviously. I do anticipate the cost of work totalling at least £20k when it is finished. Being prepared to do a lot of the work myself I am able to save on labour costs.

The plan will probably be to sell it when it is finished and look to do the same again on a slightly larger scale or if I could find a plot build a house. While I am still relatively young and single with no children I plan to keep taking on projects with a view to increasing my net worth or by ending up in a house that I would not have been able to afford on my salary. I don't have stacks of cash in the bank.. never have been any good at saving. Always been good at borrowing money and paying it back. The money to do the project is borrowed so I suppose I am taking a calculated risk.

[P4T]

Pheo said:

Same here. Have some questions on the bathrooms and balistrades as well if thats ok!

Bathrooms:

Specifically on the shower cubicle. Was this custom made? I have an odd bit in the bathroom which I think I can fit a 1000x700 cublicle into, but I'd need random size bits of glass, like yours I think.

Also, were you not concerned about leaks with a wet-room? I've heard that retrofitting these is not always a good idea due to leaks (movement of boards etc could crack the tanking/tiles etc), Again though it would maximize space for me if we could take your approach.

Balistrade:

Wondering if you had thoughts on how you would do the main stair? I have an issue with mine (its quite similar) in that the newel posts don't work in the same way as yours. Specifically, there is only one at the top, so its out of line with the one on the wall. I'd have to add another one somehow (perhaps bolt onto the existing one, but worry about stability. Where did you get the parts?

Yep, the shower cubicle in the bedroom was all custom made out of glass. I measured up the sizes I figured I needed and the fixings required to make them work and a local glass company manufactured the glass. I did all the fitting myself also to keep costs down. Glass is great and there is a lot that can be done with it... If the wet room process is done correctly i.e under boarding then the risk of movement is reduced. As I have said earlier in the post I think in future I will just use very slim shower tray as opposed to doing a wet room.

I plan to do the further 3 balustrades in the house using the same method however the actual staircases will need more thought due to the end angles required. If you want to post a picture up of yours I can maybe suggest some ideas... There are a few different ways glass balustrades can be done.. A couple of which have been shown in other threads on here.. the one which is least like mine was in the Chamonix studio renovation thread which is essentially sandwiching the glass along the bottom edge.

[P4T]

KTF said:

Assuming you are doing this on a renovation rather than living in it basis, are you not keeping track of the costs?

Whilst it is an interesting project, if you want to do this as a semi-regular job then you have to have an idea of how much you plan to spend and how much you have spent. Otherwise you will never know if you have made a profit or loss at the end of the day...

I have been living in the house whilst doing the work.. When I first moved in I thought it might cost 10k to do it and as time has progressed I think its more likely to break 20k..I'm not too concerned with the overspend as I am confident I am still going to end up with plenty of equity. I do understand your point that of course the sums have to work for it to be worthwhile.. Perhaps I came across a tad to blasé about the budget.. It has to obviously stop somewhere before it starts being a pointless activity as far as making a profit is concerned.

[P4T]

Pheo said:

Did the glass company supply the fittings as well?

Yep, the local glass co were very helpful as far as supplying the necessary fittings etc. I essentially first went in with an idea sketched out of what I wanted to achieve and we discussed what was and wasn't possible from there until a final plan was drawn at which point I then measured up and provided measurements.

[P4T]

Pheo said:

Thanks guys - been eyeing up the staircase all night now - will sort some photos tomorrow!

RE the wet room, think I would only go with this option if a thin shower tray wouldn't fit. Would need to check we can even fun the soil pipe, i.e. can we get through the joists?

You could do as was previously done in mine and notch the waste pipe into the bottom of the joists as seen in the pic below. This would however be much easier to do if you drop the ceiling below which is obviously more of a pain unless you plan to re do it anyway.

[P4T]

B17NNS said:

Your standard of workmanship is very good

Thank you very much!

[P4T]

mgtony said:

Would all those joints in the floorspace not be better to be solvent welded to avoid future leaks?

Yeah they could be.. It would mean replacing the pipes for weldable ones. I think the McAlpine fittings are quite good though to be fair.