Second time refurbishment - 1930's house

[kiethton]

Things continue to crack on at Kiethton towers:

New windows have gone in across all rooms not being touched by any future extension:






After this work focussed on the living room and master bedroom above, replacing the bowed floor upstairs (a lot easier to re-wire etc when up) and insulting downstairs, unfortunately finding warped/split floor joists which needed replacement



















Also got rid of the weak point in the loft - all insulated with 200mm insulation (government programme for OAP previous owner) except the loft hatch...replaced with an insulated version:



Annoyingly I can't find a photo of the finished result!

After all of this we're working through our list of jobs to do before the plasterer can come... in true grand designs style my wife is now pregnant, due march, the house is very likely to still be a building site when the baby arrives (unless I pull my finger out), we have no heating/radiators attached and I broke the bed frame....

Life/refurbishments are meant to be this way right...

Edited by kiethton on Thursday 15th September 17:17

[beanoir78]

kiethton said:

(unless I pull my finger out)

I think that’s where you went wrong…

[Greshamst]

kiethton said:

and insulting downstairs

What a man says to his own house is his business, but try to be kind where possible, the downstairs is going through a change and trying its best.

[mattvanders]

Just read though the whole thread, very interesting and good luck with the build. And more importantly congratulations with the growing family, nothing like a bit of extra pressure to get the project finished

[AlexC1981]

kiethton said:

In doing so I couldn't believe that the previous owners had these two floor coverings together in the same room

Oh wow! That carpet takes me back. I am sure that is the same carpet I had in my bedroom growing up in the early 80s. I remember running my toy cars along those black and green lines and pretending they were roads.

[kiethton]

And in typical timing the lead pipe supplying the green bathroom sink under the stairs (yes, I dont know why it's there either) decided to spontaneously shoot water all over the room. Thankfully caught within an hour or 2 but the whole area is soaked and we've got no water. I had intended to crack on upstairs but looks like I'm pulling up the hall floor and re-doing the pipes (likely back to the incoming copper main) this weekend...bliss!

[kiethton]

• *warning - long post incoming***

With the plasterer starting on Thursday and the house hopefully starting to come back away from being a building site I thought it worth updating the thread as a lot has happened over the last few months.

After windows were fitted over the summer it became obvious that the window reveals would need plaster, the old walls throughout were wavy (from multiple layers of wallpaper being applied/removed), were cracked and various bits of plaster were loose so I might as well bite the bullet and have the whole house skimmed....

With this in mind what came next was working room-through-room, taking up all downstairs flooring and boards, clearing the voids, re-wiring to add additional sockets, chasing walls and building/wiring new feature ceilings, re-pluming to move radiators before putting insulation between the joists to maximise heat retention and laying new flooring. Below shows the progress in the dining room but this was repeated across the whole downstairs (and master bedroom).













Just some plasterboard to dot and dab then this room is ready for plaster (by the weekend hopefully!)

Throughout this process all was not ideal - we were living in the house until the cold snap hit hit in mid-December. However, with no heating in the house the cold became a bit too much for my then 6m pregnant wife...we moved out to the living room floor of the in-laws a week earlier than planned and the kitchen got ripped out, with me discovering a lot of old, soft plaster in the process.



The cold snap also didn't help the house, 2 pipes froze with one resulting in a water leak, thankfully we were there the next day to catch it without any permanent damage. Pipes were then repaired and all was well...for a week.

The weekend before last saw a nightmare. The en-suite bathroom to the master bedroom decided to pick up with a broken, blocked macerator sending sewage to the shower, up to the rim of the pan and the waste pipe to the sink. A cheap wet vac was purchased (thanks screwfix) and the sewage sucked. Unfortunately the unit seems to be broken. This left me covered in st for no reason, us with no toilet (not great with a now heavily pregnant wife) and nowhere to shower when we do eventually get back in!

Needless to say that with the master bedroom ready for plaster I've decided to just rip the (1980's addition) en-suite out in its entirety. We both acknowledged that we'd a) never want to use it and b) be worked by the saniflo pumping in the night whenever we used it anyway. This should also help fix the sewage pipe pressure issue we've been having for that soil stack (still need to fit a cap to the top vent!). Skip ordered and I'll be cracking on with that delightful job this weekend!. Although losing a bathroom is not ideal it was going to be ripped out when we did the extension, we'll just have to live with the one bathroom until then. Stripping the en-suite will necessitate a new window but saving grace is the plasterer can start on the other rooms and finish this one around the window when I'm done.

I say the plasterer is coming but even that's been a drama, having booked in the one we used before at our old flat, when prompting getting Jim's key last week he decided to let me down - broken his hip at work apparently. Who knows whether it's that or he's under-quoted, getting a replacement has resulted in a 70% increase in cost - an extra £2.3k ouch but needs must....

This brings us to date, a lot of work still to be done but we've broken the back of it. The flooring for downstairs (laminate herringbone) was ordered in the Black Friday sales and we've got our kitchen fitting appointment next Monday.

Hopefully we'll be back in when the plaster is dried and the paint is on the walls - 4-5 weeks hopefully! Leaves us with a month or so before the baby's due date to get the rest finished!

Edited by kiethton on Tuesday 10th January 15:52

[SunsetZed]

Nothing to add other than I really enjoy following your updates, good luck getting back in before the baby!

[_Neal_]

SunsetZed said:

Nothing to add other than I really enjoy following your updates, good luck getting back in before the baby!

Absolutely this! I need to deal with a fireplace and underfloor insulation in a 1930s house so really useful to see your approach.

Good luck with it all - I've been in a similar position (when our kitchen fitter called to say he was finished, we were in the maternity ward with a new arrival) so hopefully you don't cut it that fine - it was not ideal.

[kiethton]

Thanks!

I think we'll be in before the due date (12th March) but....

We'll have no skirting
We'll have no doors
I'll not have got the living room TV unit built
We'll have no wardrobes or carpets upstairs
The kitchen may have no work tops/be partially installed
Some rooms may not be decorated/fixed at all

A busy few weeks are coming up, with plastering set to transform the place so I'm sure there will be more pictures (that I'll try to take the right way around this time!)

Edited by kiethton on Wednesday 11th January 11:34

[B'stard Child]

Ahh saw your floor insulation work in another thread - was wondering if you had a thread going - and this bumped up in HG&DIY so I'm all caught up today and looking forward to the next installments

Excellent work and a good future plan for the house

[Harry Flashman]

Wow - you guys have been through it! Crossing everything for you now.

[Harry Flashman]

Reminds me of our last house, the 1930s one, where every time I stripped something back, I found something else wrong/bodged and it cost more money.

Highlights:
- chimneys blocked as someone had filled them with waste asbestos and then poured concrete in. Cue poisonous damp issues

- conservatory resting weight on neighbours fence. Removal required, new extension to replace.

- kitchen extension roof resting on a load of four inch nails hammered into the wall. New extension required.

- builder absconding with my window money as he owed money elsewhere, so no windows, in a rainy several weeks, cue damage to the house that had to be rectified (and me threatening to murder the man).

You'll get there! We weren't yet pregnant, but I had busted up my knee in in an accident and was on crutches, and we were flatsharing with two of my single mates, and going through a miscarriage, so Lady F was unimpressed by the whole process.

[kiethton]

Harry Flashman said:

Reminds me of our last house, the 1930s one, where every time I stripped something back, I found something else wrong/bodged and it cost more money.

Highlights:
- chimneys blocked as someone had filled them with waste asbestos and then poured concrete in. Cue poisonous damp issues

- conservatory resting weight on neighbours fence. Removal required, new extension to replace.

- kitchen extension roof resting on a load of four inch nails hammered into the wall. New extension required.

- builder absconding with my window money as he owed money elsewhere, so no windows, in a rainy several weeks, cue damage to the house that had to be rectified (and me threatening to murder the man).

You'll get there! We weren't yet pregnant, but I had busted up my knee in in an accident and was on crutches, and we were flatsharing with two of my single mates, and going through a miscarriage, so Lady F was unimpressed by the whole process.

Thats rough, nothing that bad (relative) here thankfully - anything that has gone wrong has been a relatively cheap fix that I've managed to do myself (ex the nails through pipes when I had no idea what I was doing when we first moved in last year). Fingers crossed we get it all done, we've already sworn we'll not do another project (yeah right!) and that when we do the big extension we'll get the pro's in from start to finish (very likely)

[dhutch]

kiethton said:

Thanks!

I think we'll be in before the due date (12th March) but....

We'll have no skirting
We'll have no doors
I'll not have got the living room TV unit built
We'll have no wardrobes or carpets upstairs
The kitchen may have no work tops/be partially installed
Some rooms may not be decorated/fixed at all

A busy few weeks are coming up, with plastering set to transform the place so I'm sure there will be more pictures (that I'll try to take the right way around this time!)

Well I hope the best for you, at least you will be coming into spring which will need less heating!

We had our first 11 months ago, and I can tell you first hand the drain on productivity will be measurable. You wont have time for watching tv!

Do not expect to do anything or even really leave the house for the first two weeks, and assuming you then return to the day job in weeks 3 and 4 don't expect to feel like doing anything then either! Get some meals batch cooked for the microwave, or ask friends/family to. Undecorated rooms wont be an issue, not eating however is less of an option.

Congratulations, you mad fools.

Cheers

[a311]

Good read. Good effort doing so much of the work yourself.

Shades of when we moved into our house in 08, slightly older, no heating, hole in the roof. Surprising what you can put up with/live in. We cooked with only a George Forman Grill and microwave, and rigged up a temp emersion heater but only had a bath and no shower.

I'm glad ours was all done and dusted by time we had kids. Good luck with the work and new addition when he/she arrives.

[jimmybell]

Ooh following with interest! Reminds me of doing my last house, sadly the new one has us a little overwhelmed thus far.

i think i got a flat on the hill by you from a huge pothole, cycling back from the white bear.

Fwiw we also lifted our victorian floorboards, celotex boarded, foamed and re installed the boards, then used a rental floorsander (and a cheapy belt and rotary) and it came up brilliantly. Having done it.. i’d now pay someone else to do the sanding as they just have better tools you cant rent.. and theyre really not expensive.. but nice to say we did it. Sadly sold the place and now have to start again, but the downstairs was lovely whilst we had it.

[kiethton]

Thanks all, she's due 12th March so we're cutting it fine!

Pothole likely was near us, that hill is horrific and always being patched.

This weekend was crazy, only recovered enough to type now. Started at 7:30 Saturday morning with the pressing need to have the place ready for the plasterer...

The dining room was my first focus; walls final prepped and got the sheets dot and dabbed on, largely without incident/issue - about 14 boards all in - transforms the room! Thankfully all done by early afternoon!

Next up was a focus on the now redundant en-suite with the broken saniflo. The FIL was conscripted to help strip the room:





I then set about removing/isolating some of the electrical and plumbing connections. Tried working under work light but had to call it off at 6ish as was shattered.

Needless to say I was back for 7 on Sunday and the walls started coming down



Eventually my wife came over and helped with the cleaning up (putting it into buckets) as I lugged it downstairs and into the skip.



Got fairly far, with everything removed and the old room back to a shell



I don't have a recent photo but this is from the room entrance before it was taken out, really made a huge difference to how big the room feels!



Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish the room - still need to re-do the (rotten) flooring and get a sheet of board on the ceiling to bring it to the same level. More pressing was cleaning the place to get a clean working environment for the plasterers to get going. Living room, dining room, hall, bathroom, downstairs toilet and all bedrooms ex this one cleared. They got started gritting on the Friday - it's getting real seeing the transformation! They even commented on the decent plasterboarding job, result!

Edited by kiethton on Tuesday 17th January 19:30

[Aluminati]

Doffs cap and bookmarks

[kiethton]

Was back and cracking on to finish the bedroom for plastering (overboarding ceiling, tidying electrics and plumbing and new P5 floor) and the transformation to the space is crazy.

From the listing:



Ready for plaster:





(The window fitter has been called to get a replacement for the old one asap!)

Otherwise the plasterers have been cracking on downstairs

Living room taking shape, just the end wall left:





Dining room and kitchen done and now drying out:







Very glad I took the time to drop the centre of ceilings in the living room and dining room, think they'll look smart when dry, painted and the LED's installed.

If anybody knows the best affordable option for 45* LED channel (with light diffuser) please let me know!