If you have done major house refurbishment - what worked well, and what do you wish you hadn't bothered to do?

[TheEternalOptimist]

We have bought a small terraced house in Scotland. It is in pretty good condition but does need a fair bit of work.

1. New windows - anyone got a recommendation?

1. New boiler - currently electric storage heaters. Possibly interested in wood burning stove in living room, and gas central heating

1. New flooring - real wood for living room and hall. Tiles for kitchen. Again looking for recommendations.

1. Bathroom and kitchen - any recommendations?

1. Remove wall between dining and living room, make one double door instead of 2 individual doors.

1. Garden - needs completely redone. I would like dry stone walls, but not sure if they are going to be really expensive.

One thing we were wondering about, is whether there are any kind of grants available when installing new windows/gas heating etc (energy saving).

We are hoping to do most of the work next year and then re-mortgage at some point to spread the costs.

If you have already done major work on your house - what do you regret? What works really well, and what was a waste of money?

Feel free to share bright ideas :o

Claude- do you know what the difference between a 'sash' and a 'box sash' window is please? those look lovely, and one of the houses we're looking at seriously next is listed...

I have a hot water tap in the kitchen which I love for instant tea/ coffee. In the bathrooms we have big heated towel radiators (in main bathroom one by shower, one by bath) they also have an electic element in them so when central heating is off you can still dry and warm towels. Big towel radiators are great for quick drying in wet weather too - you can fit pretty much a full load over two and leave the bathroom fan on, then the house isn't filled with damp washing.

I wish we'd put under tile heating in the bathroom for giving off a bit of warmth when central heating not on and in the very depths of winter.

We love our woodburners but design in space for lots of dry storage inside and out to make it practical to use. We use a really big basket full for one early evening/ nights use.

I'm in the middle of a restoration and would definately echo what others have said about plug points. I had a panic about my electricians quote and cut back. Already regretting this!

Elsewhere I have swapped storage heaters for gch plus a woodburner in the lounge which is working out wonderfully.

I will say that unless you're skilled at DIY, save up and get work done by the proffessionals. It's quicker, less messy and the finish is so much better. Once I get this place finished I will be going back and getting the stuff I did (mainly wallpapering) done again.

Ant
Is your bathroom very big? I cannot imagine needing two radiators in our small bathroom.

We have underfloor heating atm and will definitely look into it for the bathrooms.

Mavis
No worries - I am not talented at DIY so we shall be getting someone to do the work.

You can have a system that combines solar, wood and gas for your central heating. You basically have a great big tank of hot water which heats up with the sun or your wood stove when they are available, and a gas boiler which tops up the heat when the other two sources are not enough.

Not cheap though, and don't know how much value from the solar you would get in Scotland!

Dry stone walls are not that hard to do yourself if you are not going more than about 1m high, but they are fairly time consuming hence the cost of having it done for you. Do you have a good source of stone? Dry stone walling is all about the quality of the stone...

Stone is v expensive in the UK (why??? )

When we had our garden done (v v small) it was the largest cost by far, but there seemed no point in doing it unless doing it properly IYSWIM.

Think the stone came to 3.5k in the end

Discrete
from the research I have been doing, I think the combi boiler thing would be quite expensive.

Not sure about the cost of stone, but we have miles and miles of the stone walls in the countryside so thought it cannot be that expensive. Might be very very wrong about that though.

Love these colours

They are lovely... but will they not seem very cold up in the frozen north Scotland?

hahaha we have some sun in Scotland

once a year or so

The house is south facing so gets lots of sun. If there is any.

other similar colour schemes

Love that website.

Ooh, yess... it's very good- love the 'purr tones'!

Great colour website. I love the mossy hues. Warm, but also cool!

It is a great website. The mossy hues are great too.

I am going for neutral neutral neutral with colour dabs here and there so that I can change them when I get bored.

We are currently doing our house. I would say before doing work check for things like woodworm and get treated before putting carpets down (a mistake we have made!!!). Also, check that all the doors open the way you want them to to optimise space and also make sure light switches and plugs are how you like them before getting any plastering etc done. Go for radiators that don't take up too much space, we have bought some tall ones which look really nice and are very warm.

Thanks, York. Good points.

I am thinking of leaving the door off the kitchen and just having an archway. The only thing stopping me is the thought of when we sell, if it would be a drawback for buyers.

Although, we are hoping to stay longer in the house so maybe we should just do what we want and not worry about resell value.

And by the way, you can have all your lamps controlled by one switch. Ask for a 5-amp circuit. Your lamps will all need different plugs (round 3-pin small ones).

If you can, try and work out where your furniture is going before you decide locations of sockets. And also where you need to be able to plug the vacuum in to be able to do each room (and the stairs!).

Definitely do what you want rather than worrying about resale. Your instincts sound good so I doubt you're going to do anything barmy.

Fresh
That is fab, but why do I need different plugs? Is it a different circuit than the rest of the wiring?

It's a 5-amp circuit (which will just run lights) rather than a 13-amp ring main (which will run lots of things). Piglet will know this better than me, but I think the different plugs thing is so that you can't accidentally plug something needing (say) 13 amps into a 5-amp circuit, which would blow it.

So yes, it's a different circuit with a lower total load and a smaller fuse.

We have recently had an extension built in the Glasgow area so have lots of trades to recommend if you are close by. Can't beat Mr Central Heating for radiators. They stock the same ones as B&Q (Acova I think) but at a fraction of the cost.

I would second looking at which way the doors open. We converted half a small room into a shower room but changed the door to open outwards instead of inwards. It has made a huge difference and gives the illusion of a much bigger room.

Cat
Not in Glasgow area, but will look them up to see if they are in our area too. We are on the East coast.

Good idea with doors, will have another look at that.

Thanks for the explanation, Fresh. When we had this abroad, they were the same plugs and presumably the same circuit. Was really handy to have.

Have been kindly referred here from my thread here

Buy B&Q kitchen units and have a carpenter custom-build from them.
garlicbutter What does the carpenter do that makes them lovely then?

New windows: Get a local company, don't bother with the big window firms. We had 6 new windows fitted for under 2 and a half thousand pounds and they were quick and easy.

All I can really say is prepare yourself for lots of dust. Move out if you can! I have been living with dust and mess for months since having the bathroom and now the kitchen done.

We also (or at least DH did) did a lot of the knocking things down ourselves, digging for foundations, carrying in bricks and so on. It's much cheaper if you can order all the stuff first then get someone to do the work.

oh and apparently Chrome radiators don't give out as much heat as white ones.

Eternaloptimist, i lived in Helensburgh for part of my childhood. I remember ONE sunny day