Another renovation diary thread. (pics)
Discussion
So, after selling the farm and being unable to get a mortgage in the current climate to put us in something big enough, we've ended up renting.
Unable to persuade the powers that be that running an R8 for a year was a good idea, we've bought a do-er-upper for cash:
3 Bed Ex council Semi, with as you can see a decent sized, if somewhat overgrown garden (its actually bigger still, but impenetrable. Brush cutters unleashed this weekend!!); drive with space for 2 or 3 cars with some work, all for £89k
Was owned by an old guy, he hadn't told anyone he had got ill and it had all got too much for him - his family found him in a bit of a state by all accounts.
Entrance Hall:
Reception 1:
Damp is caused by a garden wall having been built up to the wall of the house
Reception 2:
Those are not our colour swatches
Kitchen:
Everything covered in a nice layer of grease and nicotine.
Bedroom1:
Bedroom2:
Bedroom3:
Bathroom:
Hmm, need a wider angle lense, they are bigger than they look in the pictures!
Garden from the house:
There is a pond and a gravel path under there somewhere, and a decent little shed at the bottom too.
The very greasy kitchen didn't last long!
Unable to persuade the powers that be that running an R8 for a year was a good idea, we've bought a do-er-upper for cash:
3 Bed Ex council Semi, with as you can see a decent sized, if somewhat overgrown garden (its actually bigger still, but impenetrable. Brush cutters unleashed this weekend!!); drive with space for 2 or 3 cars with some work, all for £89k
Was owned by an old guy, he hadn't told anyone he had got ill and it had all got too much for him - his family found him in a bit of a state by all accounts.
Entrance Hall:
Reception 1:
Damp is caused by a garden wall having been built up to the wall of the house
Reception 2:
Those are not our colour swatches
Kitchen:
Everything covered in a nice layer of grease and nicotine.
Bedroom1:
Bedroom2:
Bedroom3:
Bathroom:
Hmm, need a wider angle lense, they are bigger than they look in the pictures!
Garden from the house:
There is a pond and a gravel path under there somewhere, and a decent little shed at the bottom too.
The very greasy kitchen didn't last long!
Managed to forget the camera on Saturday, and both the camera and my mobile on Sunday
Dropped round with the phone after work, so some of the pictures are not of the utmost quality...
Some excellent wiring:
In case its not clear, the wiring goes from that FCU, diagonally up to the left to a chocolate box wrapped in vinyl tape, and from there diagonally back again to the cooker hood connection, with a live cut off wire hanging out; and also diagonally downwards to each of the cooker connection points, one of which was live with no cover.
Electrician called!
front room: 80's fireplace pulled out, rotten floorboards and joists cut out, and affected areas and dwarf walls "synthaprufed":
New joists and floor fitted:
Backroom: another 80's fireplace removed. In amongst the backfill around the back boiler I found a 1935 penny. Shame it wasn't a 1933 one...
More fireplace genocide upstairs, and fitted wardrobes removed. They provided some of the floorboards in front of the fireplace in the front room.
My mother stripping:
In the garden:
Found the path:
Uncovered the pond:
and left the logs etc as cover for these cute little critters, and about 9 million baby frogs:
Lots of hedge trimming and clearing later:
EDIT: Just noticed the handgun - Perhaps I should point out it's a plastic toy I found in the privet we pulled out.
The (2nd) skip is full, hence the bits of buddleia still taking up half the garden
Managed to get right to the end and measured the garden, 95ft by 35ft.
Dropped round with the phone after work, so some of the pictures are not of the utmost quality...
Some excellent wiring:
In case its not clear, the wiring goes from that FCU, diagonally up to the left to a chocolate box wrapped in vinyl tape, and from there diagonally back again to the cooker hood connection, with a live cut off wire hanging out; and also diagonally downwards to each of the cooker connection points, one of which was live with no cover.
Electrician called!
front room: 80's fireplace pulled out, rotten floorboards and joists cut out, and affected areas and dwarf walls "synthaprufed":
New joists and floor fitted:
Backroom: another 80's fireplace removed. In amongst the backfill around the back boiler I found a 1935 penny. Shame it wasn't a 1933 one...
More fireplace genocide upstairs, and fitted wardrobes removed. They provided some of the floorboards in front of the fireplace in the front room.
My mother stripping:
In the garden:
Found the path:
Uncovered the pond:
and left the logs etc as cover for these cute little critters, and about 9 million baby frogs:
Lots of hedge trimming and clearing later:
EDIT: Just noticed the handgun - Perhaps I should point out it's a plastic toy I found in the privet we pulled out.
The (2nd) skip is full, hence the bits of buddleia still taking up half the garden
Managed to get right to the end and measured the garden, 95ft by 35ft.
Edited by chris1roll on Wednesday 8th June 21:09
Edited by chris1roll on Wednesday 8th June 21:28
A week. Completed purchase last Wednesday.
Compared to when my wife and I renovated our half of the farmhouse its nothing. That was an almost total bare bones restoration job which took 10 months - every weekend, evenings after work till the small hours, (a snooze in the car at lunchtime) all 5 weeks holiday etc, finally finished at 11pm on Christmas eve. When two months in we were stood on dirt 18 inches below ground level and could look up to what would be the bedroom ceiling it was a bit daunting!
Immensely satisfying though - we specced everything how we wanted it - down to the brushed stainless steel electrical fittings and the wall lights we sourced from e-bay because we couldn't find any new ones we liked. I enjoy every minute of it.
I still ache thinking about it tbh...especially as the new owners have managed to turn it into something resembling a Barratt home, complete with f
king uPVC windows, in a shorter period of time. I'm digressing now, and it might turn into a rant which probably belongs in a separate topic...
To be clear, the plan is not necessarily to live in this one, but to get it finished and get it revalued. If it's worth turning it and repeating the process we'll do that; eventually we might be able to work our way back up to something approaching what we had before, without needing a mortgage.
Compared to when my wife and I renovated our half of the farmhouse its nothing. That was an almost total bare bones restoration job which took 10 months - every weekend, evenings after work till the small hours, (a snooze in the car at lunchtime) all 5 weeks holiday etc, finally finished at 11pm on Christmas eve
. When two months in we were stood on dirt 18 inches below ground level and could look up to what would be the bedroom ceiling it was a bit daunting!Immensely satisfying though - we specced everything how we wanted it - down to the brushed stainless steel electrical fittings and the wall lights we sourced from e-bay because we couldn't find any new ones we liked. I enjoy every minute of it.
I still ache thinking about it tbh...especially as the new owners have managed to turn it into something resembling a Barratt home, complete with f
king uPVC windows, in a shorter period of time. I'm digressing now, and it might turn into a rant which probably belongs in a separate topic...To be clear, the plan is not necessarily to live in this one, but to get it finished and get it revalued. If it's worth turning it and repeating the process we'll do that; eventually we might be able to work our way back up to something approaching what we had before, without needing a mortgage.
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