tomturd Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 Some of you may know I bought my first house about 10 weeks ago. Its been a busy 10 weeks.. thought I'd post some pics up. Had it rewired and central heating installed since I moved in. Garden before: now: Front bedroom when I moved in, lovely polystrene ceiling tiles and built in wardrobes during rewiring re-skimmed finished new door and radiator (central heating installed) bathroom walk in shower removing the old airing cupboard to make room for combi boiler walk in shower gone new boiler and bath Bathroom (today) - about to put up a parition wall so I can make the seperate bathroom and toilet into one big single room the best of some very boring pics... next up is fitting a door to the new partition wall and removing the doors/wall separating the toilet and bathroom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 That's pretty cool, done all that yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Vandart Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 The walls in that garden are pretty cool, I take it they were hidden by the jungle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 That's pretty cool, done all that yourself? I've had people in for the electrics, central heating, plastering and carpet fitting - all on my list of things I'm not even going to attempt. Everything else I've done myself. When I was younger I worked doing fencing/decking and general handyman/odd jobs for 2 years which helped a lot, makes you realise there's not much you can't do yourself. The walls in that garden are pretty cool, I take it they were hidden by the jungle? Yep, the whole thing was hidden, there was a shed in there somewhere full of old tools. My girlfriend likes the walls too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeperson45 Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 Looks like effort, my family did as much as we could when we were getting an extension which led to my leg kicking a hole in our living room ceiling, then my dad doing the same 10 minutes later. I love the feel and smell of new plaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Vandart Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 Is it on budget? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 Is it on budget? haha, yep its been pretty cheap so far. damn, something somewhere must not like me posting these pictures. Just walked into the kitchen to get something out of the fridge and noticed the floor was making a weird sound. A weird, squelchy sound. Looked behind the washing machine and both hoses were leaking. And JUST now (like, 2 seconds ago) something just fell off the radiator which has been there all day and banged on the floor.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish-Finger-er Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 pretty cool, was looking at a very similar project myself a couple of weeks back, however that house has now gone, so its back on the look. going to be doing practically everything myself. (rewire is going to be a joint effort between me and a mate, central heating, im basically getting the boiler plumbed into the gas supply, and then installing rads, pipework myself)- well at least that was the plan in the place i had lined up. just trying to find another house now, in a state of semi disrepair. im finding way too many houses that are up to scratch, for only 10-15 grand more, which makes the whole idea just a little bit less appealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted September 11, 2011 Report Share Posted September 11, 2011 Looks like it might be quite fun. Cosy garden, looking forward to seeing what it's like when you finish the job. Keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 rewire is going to be a joint effort between me and a mate just trying to find another house now, in a state of semi disrepair. im finding way too many houses that are up to scratch, for only 10-15 grand more, which makes the whole idea just a little bit less appealing. my advice would be to make sure either a) your mate can sign off any electrical work or b ) you 'liase' with an electrician before you start work to make sure they'd be prepared to inspect your work and sign it off for you once its done. I had a bit of a brown pants moment with my electrics, luckily they're all signed off now. If it was the difference of 10k for a house that doesn't need work then I'd go down that route if i were you! I was pretty lucky with mine and got it for about £30k - £35k less than other houses on the street so theres room to make a profit. Looks like it might be quite fun. Cosy garden, looking forward to seeing what it's like when you finish the job. Keep us posted. Thanks will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davetrials Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 (edited) Cant belive the size of your garden after you gave it a goood seeing to! any more plans for it? Edited September 12, 2011 by Davetrials Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann2707 Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 Great to see you got a free house with your rainforest! looks much better now though. My sister and bf have had their first house for a year and have done what youve done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewEH1 Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 You are getting along really well! Something I definitely want to do in the future when I buy my first house. Have you also taken into consideration doing some insulation work within the roof/walls? Might be worth doing if you have the budget/inclination to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish-Finger-er Posted September 12, 2011 Report Share Posted September 12, 2011 my advice would be to make sure either a) your mate can sign off any electrical work or b ) you 'liase' with an electrician before you start work to make sure they'd be prepared to inspect your work and sign it off for you once its done. I had a bit of a brown pants moment with my electrics, luckily they're all signed off now. If it was the difference of 10k for a house that doesn't need work then I'd go down that route if i were you! I was pretty lucky with mine and got it for about £30k - £35k less than other houses on the street so theres room to make a profit. Thanks will do. yea my mate can sign it off. yea, for example the house i was looking at, was basically a fully functioning shell, it had electric, and water, and electric ducted hot air central heating. the house further down the street is going for £30k more. but you start adding up your expenses Central heating £7000 (no gas on the street, so its lpg, oil fired, or ground source heat pump (i could go air source, but would still need electric underfloor or the like for when it gets colder) upvc double glazing £3500 kitchen £3000 complete rewire £400 (just materials) bathroom £900. + £5000 on other crap (carpets/laminate flooring, beds, paint, loft insulation,interior doors, new felt roof on the utility room) and your only 11k short off the completed house, add in all the additonial time spent on it. and its just not as appealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Cant belive the size of your garden after you gave it a goood seeing to! any more plans for it? Nor me, it was pretty satisfying cutting it all back. 20 odd trips to the tip wasn't so fun. I'll be leaving the garden now until next year I think, probably going to patio that area of mud and just generally tidy it up. You are getting along really well! Something I definitely want to do in the future when I buy my first house. Have you also taken into consideration doing some insulation work within the roof/walls? Might be worth doing if you have the budget/inclination to do it. Yep, I've bought a truck load of 'space blanket' insulation. Reduced from £11 for a narrow roll, to £3, to £1. Bought a huge £21's worth which should be enough to do my loft twice over. Not looking forward to that job though. yea my mate can sign it off. yea, for example the house i was looking at, was basically a fully functioning shell, it had electric, and water, and electric ducted hot air central heating. the house further down the street is going for £30k more. but you start adding up your expenses Central heating £7000 (no gas on the street, so its lpg, oil fired, or ground source heat pump (i could go air source, but would still need electric underfloor or the like for when it gets colder) upvc double glazing £3500 kitchen £3000 complete rewire £400 (just materials) bathroom £900. + £5000 on other crap (carpets/laminate flooring, beds, paint, loft insulation,interior doors, new felt roof on the utility room) and your only 11k short off the completed house, add in all the additonial time spent on it. and its just not as appealing. Central heating for £7000? Ouch! That's more than I plan on spending overall. Mine already had double glazing luckily, guessing the previous owner got it on some sort of old persons scheme. That house does sound like a lot of work though, well avoided I think.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish-Finger-er Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Central heating for £7000? unfortunately as there is no gas on the street, things become way more complex. A boiler costs the same, but I can no longer use a mate to fit it with me/sign it off. so that means paying someone to fit it, the garden doesnt have space for an above ground tank, so the tank will have to be sunk below ground.its just a major ballache. as the whole system has to be certified safe, which either means having one company do the whole lot, or have multiple visits off an inspector (i cant just dig a pit, throw a tank in there, backfill it, run the pipe to the house and then get them to plumb in the boiler, theyd want to see the tank safely installed in the ground etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 unfortunately as there is no gas on the street, things become way more complex. A boiler costs the same, but I can no longer use a mate to fit it with me/sign it off. so that means paying someone to fit it, the garden doesnt have space for an above ground tank, so the tank will have to be sunk below ground.its just a major ballache. as the whole system has to be certified safe, which either means having one company do the whole lot, or have multiple visits off an inspector (i cant just dig a pit, throw a tank in there, backfill it, run the pipe to the house and then get them to plumb in the boiler, theyd want to see the tank safely installed in the ground etc) building control sounds like a hassle. I hope I dont have to get them round for anything I'm planning... Tonight I put in a frosted perspex sheet above my new bathroom door, and knocked the seperate toilet and bathroom into one big room - really satisfying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 That is SUCH a better room already, nicely done I'm really looking forward to moving out of the flat and getting a house to do stuff like this to. Did you have the thoughts of most of the work you've done while you were initially walking round, or did it take a bit of time to work it all out? My biggest worry is that I wont have the vision unless the place is completely empty, which is unlikely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 That is SUCH a better room already, nicely done I'm really looking forward to moving out of the flat and getting a house to do stuff like this to. Did you have the thoughts of most of the work you've done while you were initially walking round, or did it take a bit of time to work it all out? My biggest worry is that I wont have the vision unless the place is completely empty, which is unlikely... Cheers To be honest I only looked at one house (this one) in person, I'd been keeping an eye on globrix for houses which had south facing gardens, under a certain price and in a certain area. This was the only one that met those criteria. When I first phoned up about it, it'd been sold, but a few months later it popped back onto globrix and it turned out that sale fell through, so I jumped in straight away. As for deciding what to do with it, I'm just making it up as I go along really. When I viewed the house I had passing thoughts of 'oh, this is just a partition wall so I could potentially stick a door there and knock this wall down..', another example is the suspended ceiling downstairs; I only discovered it had a suspended ceiling after I'd moved in (I was wondering why the curtains seem to dissapear into the ceiling), so that's given me the idea to restore it to its original ceiling height. tl;dr version, I didn't really have much thought about what to do before buying the place, and there's not really much 'working out' to do, its just a case of getting on with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Cheers To be honest I only looked at one house (this one) in person, I'd been keeping an eye on globrix for houses which had south facing gardens, under a certain price and in a certain area. This was the only one that met those criteria. When I first phoned up about it, it'd been sold, but a few months later it popped back onto globrix and it turned out that sale fell through, so I jumped in straight away. As for deciding what to do with it, I'm just making it up as I go along really. When I viewed the house I had passing thoughts of 'oh, this is just a partition wall so I could potentially stick a door there and knock this wall down..', another example is the suspended ceiling downstairs; I only discovered it had a suspended ceiling after I'd moved in (I was wondering why the curtains seem to dissapear into the ceiling), so that's given me the idea to restore it to its original ceiling height. tl;dr version, I didn't really have much thought about what to do before buying the place, and there's not really much 'working out' to do, its just a case of getting on with it That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm gonna be moving out of Croydon, renting a place down by my office for a bit while I go find something similar. Are you living there while you're doing all the work or have you got somewhere else to ease the disruption? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted September 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Living here. Doing a bit of rearranging as different parts of the house are done. Soon I'll be moving the living room into our current bedroom, and moving the current bedroom into the smaller bedroom, that'll leave downstairs clear to sort out. I think I've done everything in a fairly sensible order, at no point was the bathroom without a door, for example. I'm constantly cleaning too (even when I know its going to be a mess again in a few hours time) - using an outdoor brush on carpet works surprisingly well. Just makes it a bit more liveable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Living here. Doing a bit of rearranging as different parts of the house are done. Soon I'll be moving the living room into our current bedroom, and moving the current bedroom into the smaller bedroom, that'll leave downstairs clear to sort out. I think I've done everything in a fairly sensible order, at no point was the bathroom without a door, for example. I'm constantly cleaning too (even when I know its going to be a mess again in a few hours time) - using an outdoor brush on carpet works surprisingly well. Just makes it a bit more liveable Yea I can't see I'll be able to afford to do it any other way either to be honest! Seems like you've got it all under control - definitely keep the thread updated because it's interesting to see the development Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Vandart Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Dude you have done more in that house than I have done in this one in 6 years, keep the momentum going or you'll end up in a building site like us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Im doing pretty much exactly the same stuff as you at the min, only difference being the result of mine will be a rental property. Ill put some pics up if you dont mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Dunstan Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Looks like hard work! I'd love to be house proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.