Support thread for House Renovators/DIYers

[LPlateFlyer]

Was wondering if anyone wanted to join me in a support thread for all of us doing lots of renovating, odd jobs, diy etc. This can be somewhere we can do some well deserved bragging on a job well done!

I have sooooo much DIY that needs to get done.

I almost finished the downstairs loo yesterday. All that needs to be done is a second coat of paint on the door and a towel rail and toilet roll holder to be put up.

Yesterday's Tada list:
Painted skirtings in loo 2x coats
Painted door frame in loo 2x coats
Painted door in loo 1 x coat
Put together and installed a small bathroom cabinet


I'm about to start putting together an Ikea book case so that I can get some of the books out of storage!

[Mum2Fergus]

Hi Beta...b would be my choice, have never got the whole AGA thing personally.

[MoreBeta]

Mum2 - no I never got the whole AGA either.

It came with the house and I would not have chosen to install it but its there and its the wrong colour so I have to deal with it..... somehow.

Personally, in my dreams I would have a Miele induction hob and two Miele ovens (one steam) and a Miele microwave but I think that might blow the entire budget out of the water.

[redandblacks]

You need to tweet that one to middle-class dilemmas!

[MoreBeta]

redandblacks - I know exactly what you mean.

For the whole of my adult life I avoided buying a house. I havent even completed the purchase of this one yet and I'm already agonising over an AGA, Farrow and Ball paint charts and kitchen units.

Where did it all go wrong?

[Aethelfleda]

Screwed bookcases to wall (yay, can fill them next!)

Also put up the first of our velux blinds. They supplied white instead of beige. fortunately I am not bovverred cos it looks fab and is a heat-reflecty one so is going to be v v v useful.

And filled our first raised bed in the garden (yay). It's all happening....

[Aethelfleda]

(ps more, what is the "wrong" colour, is it powder pink or lime green?)

I'd paint the rest of the kitchen to complement the aga. But then I think they sound pretty fun to play cooking with. Wouldn't buy one but hey, if it's a free Aga....

[Mum2Fergus]

Todays todos!

• mural to wall (think Im procrastinating with this as never attempted before lol)
• see if carpet can be fitted earlier than Monday (help me get my finger out)
• finish new robe interior
• good clean
• start moving DS back to his room...yay!!

[WhereMyMilk]

Morning all!

Can I join?

Am in the process of doing up 5 bathrooms-may the saints preserve us but I thought getting them all done at once was a good thing!

Downstairs pink monstrosity ripped out and replaced, daughter's en suite finished apart frOur en suite would have been finished but I decided when the units vanity units had been fitted, that I didn't like them
They will not be wasted though-planning on using them in the shower room have yet to make in the loft!

Family bathroom probably 60% done-plumbers ripped out airing cupboard to make a space for a shower.

[sassytheFIRST]

Hello, all.

We are about half of the way through a complete renovation project on our forever house.

So far we have (workmen have done most, DH project managed and done bits, I clean up...)

knocked out and re-built all internal walls upstairs to reconfigure bedrooms
taken out staircase and built new one in better place
replaced a bathroom
knocked out dining room wall to create a big dining kitchen
built a stud wall to create a small study
plastered and painted upstairs
tiled bathroom


still to do
carpets in kids bedrooms going in this fri
finish ensuite and tile, flooring in both bathrooms
new kitchen - July date for this
build a small extension to living room, then stud wall to split living room into main room and snug
plaster and paint throughout downstairs, carpet etc.


The worst aspect so far has been living with the inlaws for the past 7 weeks but thankfully that's about over - moving home next weekend I hope!

[MoreBeta]

Aethelfleda - I could live with lime green but dark blue is just hard to match with the rest of our planned decor and frankly I dont want to plan my entire paint scheme around an AGA.

On top of that its a small galley kitchen at the back of the house but the AGA sticks right out so its the first thing you see as you enter the front door, makes the kitchen hideously hot, has no extractor above so steam and smoke also just collect in there. It doesnt even heat any hot water so it isnt a back up for the boiler. Its got to go.

[Aethelfleda]

You don't like blue that much? Really?? Well fair do's, it's your kitchen. I totally see how a galley kitchen would not suit it, and if you don't want it to be the focal point then it sounds like it's out. Can you remove and flog it rather than trade-in? Would have thought ebay/gumtree could get a fair whack in resale value and then that's £££ to replace it with something you like?

Aaand just sorting out our many many books when DH calls me over to a suspicious looking pile of yellow dust that has appeared by the back door. Looks as if the tiling has loosened and pulled off bits of crumbly plasterboard where the back door has slammed in the wind. Arg. That's the next job then!!

[Aethelfleda]

Oh and Hi Wheresmymilk... wow! I bow to your superior bathroomage! i must say you're brave not to hold back one for general use while the rest are renovated...

(This reminds me of one of the Larger Families threads where everyone declares how many DCs they have. I wonder if someone on thread has a guesthouse and will chip in with eight ensuites? There was a former B&B for sale near us when we were househunting that literally had a loo in every room...can you imagine ripping that lot out?!?!)

[Mum2Fergus]

Mural done ('easy to hang' my considerable ass!), really pleased with it plumber been and moved stopcock. Reflector foil behind radiator and its back on the wall. Carpet cant be done til Monday so not much more I can do in there...must start planning front room now! Happy Bank Holiday Saturday folks!!

[Mum2Fergus]

Day off for me inside today..if weather keeps up I'll head to store and invest in some garden gear, lawnmower, strimmer and a spade! Never had my own garden before, and this one is huge!! No idea what to do with it or where to start!

[Aethelfleda]

Last night We cracked open the Collins DIY manual and I swapped over DS's light switch as the old one was cracked. Then managed to clean the connections/replace bulbs to get all of our downlighters working in the ensuite. I don't get why downlighters are so popular in new housing: they eat electricity, the halogen bulbs get hot, the low energy LEDs flicker unless you pay to replace them with special LED drivers...who on earth would put them in realises builders would cos they are cheap, and sighs we have far too many of the blighters.

And have made a start on clearing some of the Eeevil Ivy of Eevilness that has been let loose in the hedge for donkeys years. I think the previous owners really liked ivy.

Is it just me or does everyone get halfway through one job and then "see" another?! I am scared to actually make a real to-do list a lot of the time as it's all so neverending.....this thread isna great motivator though!!

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

How did I miss this thread until now?!?

We are in our first and hopefully only house. Been here a few years, and it's still a constant project. It was two flats (previously a house) and we've been converting it back. Since we started we've added central heating, replaced the windows, had all the outside walls repaired, and had the driveway sorted out so it's now all one level and just concrete, rather than a mix of concrete, tarmac and gravel. We've had the hole in the roof fixed, and turned a single skin wall in the lean to, to a cavity wall so we have a conservatory. We got a new bathroom fitted in the main bathroom as we just had showers, no bath. Got our lovely plumber to plumb in the new suite, and a family friend to re-tile. I ripped out the shower, fixed the ceiling, ripped out the tiles (very theruptic) and fitted the new lights myself. Was rather proud.

Now, we are in the process of having a new shower fitted in the small bathroom (we've just chosen tiles, and had the bathroom re-plastered) I was going to re-tile it myself, but DH was worrying about it as I'm pregnant with DC2, so we'll be having someone in for that. :( I do, however, get to take out the rest of the cupboards from what used to be the upstairs kitchen, and refit whatever I can salvage downstairs as a utility area, and entirely redecorate small bathroom, and the upstairs ex-kitchen-soon-to-be-nursery! DD and I chose paint colours today, and I'm planning on roping her in to help.

DFIL will be helping (or rather doing, with us assisting) to change the countertops over in the kitchen so they finally match, and we'll have room to re-install the washing machine, which has been in the upstairs ex-kitchen until recently. Then I can clean the walls and repaint the kitchen. Also need to repair the main bathroom door, and finish off the woodwork in there.

We also need to knock down the rest of the dividing wall in the hallway, redecorate in there, and the dining room, and get new carpets, but that can wait a few years, or until the current carpets aren't safe.

After that it's the garden, and we're done!

Now that we're axpecting DC2, we've had to crack on with getting quite a few bits done that we've been procrastinating about saving for, so we're leaving in a bit of a building site again. I keep telling myself it will be lovely when it's done, but it's so tiring, and I've been getting pretty fed up of having 2 rooms completely out of action, and boxes of stuff everywhere. We're waiting for plaster to dry, so I can't even crack on with stuff over the weekend, just removing the cupboards, and putting up the garden fence. Any and all survival tips to help me keep my sanity, gratefully received! :)

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

Wow, that was an essay, sorry!

[Mum2Fergus]

Jeezo Mrs Mango...I feel quite ashamed of my meagre efforts lol all relative I guess! I intend this place to be forever home (lottery win aside!). Did very little today...prep for carpet arriving tomorrow, sort through DS clothes in readiness for moving all to his new fitted robes. Double sided tape around window to fit blackout blind that I will trim and sew tomorrow.

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

We were probably a bit ambitious when we bought the house to be honest, it needed quite a bit doing, and every time we get a job done we find another problem, or the roof falls off! We're very lucky in that we have a big family with lots of varied skills, so we get help. Sounds like you're a lot further on than we are, Mum2Fergus. I can't wait until we get to the point where it's worth getting new carpets.

[Mum2Fergus]

Todays todos!

• carpet being fitted at 10am
• refurnish and dress room
• trim and sew blackout blind
• get my room to resemble some form of order again
• start planning for starting my room in a few weeks!

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

How'd the carpet fitting go, Mum2Fergus?

We decided to sort through/clear out our clothes, starting yesterday evening. Managed to clear enough space so that the regular bedding/towels have somewhere to live for the time being, so our bedroom is looking less like a warehouse.

Clothes gone to clothing bank, bought extra wood to use as driving tool for fence posts, and collected mallet from ILs. So for the rest of today we will be putting up the fence in the garden, and stripping out the now empty cupboards from the ex-kitchen.

[Mum2Fergus]

DS room finally complete! 2 bags to dump and 4 to charity shop following clearout while putting things back in his room and getting our room back in order. On to planning next room!!

[wonkylegs]

Aethalfleada LED bulbs for downlighters don't all flicker. There is a huge range of quality in the bulbs currently available and it can be hard to find really good ones. The best g10 ones we bought annoyingly had the manufacturer go bust immediately after we bought them but we've got other ones that are ok. I agree some are awful but it's worth trying different makes to get good light replacements that don't ramp up your electricity bill.

[Aethelfleda]

Thanks for the encouragement wonky! I've done a bit of web crawling and it seems that replacing all at once in a circuit with LEDs can make the wattage too low for the transformers to like it, I've checled our transformers and they want 20-60 kW for ideal functioning. So I have one LED bulb and 3 normal ones in our kitchen (sigh). Trouble is I found some great G10s from LEDHut (the screwin ones), but most of our downlighters are MR16 (push in terminals) and the little blighters jusr seem pickier. Our to do list is so huge I'm goong to concentrate on gettimg them all working with normal bulbs first, then room by room get it all lower energy. At least most of the rooms have more normal screw or bayonet fittings that actually work...

And the weekend has seen me fit another velux blind and change the handle on the back door, and with DH we have replaced two dodgy fence posts and ordered new panels for them (yerk it's all adding up).
dH keeps looking at me and raising eyebrows at all the expense, and some days I think we're crazy for doing the house up when it's not that bad, but I wants it to be lovely to live in, I do!

[Mum2Fergus]

Argh! Cant get blackout blind to stay up! Hook tape of velcro attached to frame using double sided tape but not securing it, so blind falling down...ggrrrr!