Need to do up whole house and not sure where to start!

[tupsadaisy]

We moved into our first owned home a year ago and have now saved up to do all the work needed but I don’t know where to start.

We need to paint / new floors the whole upstairs and downstairs (upstairs carpet, not sure yet about downstairs probably wood flooring aside from large kitchen diner which would be tiled - have to knock through that too which is definitely the first job downstairs)

Also need to put in a new kitchen and new bathroom.

When I say need it’s perfectly functional as it is but we’ve bought minimal cheap furniture at the moment until we’ve made changes and I’m sick of living in this place like it is!

Aside from the wall to be knocked down any ideas where to start?

I’m thinking wall then all downstairs painting then downstairs floors then adding built in shelves where they’re needed...

All seems like such a big job and then I get scared and don’t do anything for a while. DH working extremely long hours at the moment, I have more flexibility but am at work until 6 everyday so we’re going to be putting our trust in people and hopefully find recommendations.

Does anyone know of a wooden floor company who deal with the fitting which isn’t a crazy cost? Dealing with all the different workmen is a bit daunting

Thanks!!

[tupsadaisy]

Oh and also bits and bobs like hanging TVs on walls and drilling the wires into the concrete walls...

[scaredofthecity]

we're in a similar position and have just painted and new floors downstairs and the change is brilliant. For not a huge amount of money the house feels transformed, but it was particularly grotty before. It was a lot of work though, my DH did it all whilst I looked after DC. He was knackered bless him!
Next is the bathroom, but that won't be for a while.

[whiskyowl]

Start with the boring, structural jobs. Any rewiring, new heating, any big messy things like knocking structures around. I realise this sounds boring compared to the interior decoration bit of the job, but if you are doing up this house properly, then you need to get the bones of it right first. If you start with cosmetic stuff, it'll just get ruined if you want to put in heating/electrics later on and you will end up paying twice or just leaving things out.

[parkview094]

Spend some time planning the changes you would like to make first. Not just things you need now but things you might want in the future. Much easier to run wiring for that extra plug socket now than to retro-fit later.

Get anything that's disruptive across the whole house out of the way first, like Heating and Electrics. Make liveable following that then start upstairs and work down.

The only caveat depends on the structural work you want to have done. If you're doing major works downstairs, the dust will get upstairs. Can any such work be phased?

Do you have 2 bathrooms? Have a think about how long you will be without a bathroom if not and what (if any) temporary measures you can put in place.

Same for the kitchen. Can you put a temporary kitchen in one of the other rooms downstairs to keep you up and running whilst building works are on-going.

Good luck!

[SilverSpot]

Are you going to live there during the work? Do you have children? That kinda depends how you deal with it. If you can just camp in one room and are not bothered about a kitchen and n stuff that makes it WAY easier. Or if you can move in with someone else!

Strip out all the carpets and old flooring etc. Take off skirting boards if you are going to have new ones. Strip out bathroom (at least tiles and flooring, if not the suite).

Structural work, electrics, plumbing/heating first. Think about things like shaver socket in bathroom, a good fan etc.

Door frames (if need new). Plastering.

Then I would do kitchen and bathroom(s).

Then decorating. Doors on. Flooring and skirting boards.

Do skirting boards before decorating if having carpet. If having wood floors it is better to get the floor down then skirting board so you don't have to have the beading strip.

[SilverSpot]

Put as much stuff into storage as you can. So much easier just to live out of one suitcase during reno works.

[tupsadaisy]

No kids yet and we have family nearby so if needs be we could camp on them while the bathroom is done - ridiculous question but how long does ripping out one bathroom, retiling, and replacing take?

Thanks everyone for your comments I really appreciate them

[user071017]

We're on the home straight of a two month project. We've:

Painted, decorated and floored 11 rooms
Put in new windows
Rewired
Renovated original flooring
Painted exterior of the house
As we speak the new kitchen is going in

My biggest tip for speed and efficiency: time all your tradesmen to work as many of them at once in different areas of the house. Like now, kitchen fitters are doing their thing, our painter is doing the loft and there's a guy doing the garden.

[DropZoneOne]

@tups

We had our bathroom refitted in May (It's being totally redone next month due to issues but that's another story!)

We were without wash facilities for 4 days, whilst bathroom was ripped out, electrics done and walls replastered. Bath went in on day 4. We then had delays due to staff issues, but in theory the tiling should have been another 2-3 days and shower plus furniture / radiator a further 2 days. That was for 2mx2m bathroom, fully tiled.

We used shower facilities at work and DD had a flannel wash during the first week. Loo was in place but we used a bucket to flush.

This time round I'm seriously considering checking into an airbnb for the first week!

[tupsadaisy]

User 07 would it be cheeky to ask how much that project has cost? I’m aware geography will play a part

[dailydance]

Upstairs first (otherwise if you start downstairs you’ll ruin it when getting everything up/down when refurbishing upstairs)

Second: garden... otherwise you may ruin any new paint/work downstairs dragging things to/from garden


Last: downstairs

[smu06set]

We are about to redo our bathroom (currently its classic 80s avocado suite and tiling). One week will have the suite replaced flooring laid and walls retiled. If we need to replaster the walls having ripped the old tiles down it will delay us a bit, but that's more waiting for the plaster to dry than anything. Cost wise we are under 500quid, if you want a plumber to come in and do it you probably need 2k. Oh and we sourced all fittings ourself, DH is a spark so no need to pay for that, and we didnt change the layout of the bathroom so no moving soil stacks required.

[user071017]

Tups absolutely everything from materials to labour costs (including a £20k kitchen), about £45k. Probably be £50k by the time we've finished. We're in Surrey.