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!

[mamapants]

I think 40k seems fair for the work you've listed.

Can't remember everything you've listed.
We've been quoted just under 3k for a complete rewire of a 3 -4 bedroom house and garage. Although suspect that might have an element of mates rates.

Depends what you are planning for kitchen really. We are just trying to decide hw extravagant we're going to be. Quote for granite units has come in at 3.5k so it can add up quite quick.

[TerrysNo2]

I think / hope the rewiring won't need doing. We'll find out next week when the survey is done. I don't think it all needs replastering either as the walls looked ok when we checked.

I am going to get the builder to come over when the sale looks more certain and quote for all the work.

Anyone recommend a good kitchen company? I am thinking of getting the carcasses from howdens but really nice doors somewhere. Any ideas?

[Aethelfleda]

Wow more, that's so exciting! How old is the house, and could you date any of the "stuff" at all? Seems a bit odd to walll off an actual room, if it was done eg 200 years ago there could be aome amazing Victorian stuff in there... Really hope the damp turns out to be containable. Can yoi check with the previous owners/neighbours/local vicar if tue house has any rumours/old stories that may explain the room's presence? And you MUST tell us what happens next!!!

[mamapants]

I told DP about the hidden room. And first thing he said was 'is it a cellar' apparently it was common place after the war to just brick off the old cellars with whatever was in them or to store anything you wanted rid of and brick it up. I would be very excited to go through it all but would delay me by weeks.

[MoreBeta]

The house was built 1820 - 25. I have its full history. It was extended at the back and I am guessing the room was closed off something like 30 -50 years ago. The builder who is a bit of a local Listed Building expert thought it might have been the old kitchen where of course servants would have worked - hence cut off form the rest of the house. There might be an old cast iron range/boiler in there but I cant see the wall where that would be located. Goodness knows what else is down there.

Strangely the smell is not so strong to day but it has been cool and windy so maybe it has aired a bit.

[mamapants]

So to update on our house. DP has mostly been in work this week so not so much to report.
All the old electrics have now been stripped. And another internal wall down in living room- only small doorway into hall thing.
Radiators down.
Ceiling down in kitchen so we can now see the big A frame and beams which we are going to have exposed- think it will look amazing.
Knocked down bathroom. Taken down ceiling and remove insulation in bedroom3.
He's also started digging up the floors done bedroom3.
Oh and taken down plaster work in livingroom revealing inglenook fireplace. And taken off plaster in bathroom revealing lovely stonewall we think we are going to plaster this leaving some stonework exposed. And taken up the quarrytile floor.
He has also roped in some helpers for his next days off.
Have had 2 kitchen companies in and had quotes back from one.
Think I'm keen on getting the granite worktops tbh. Any opinions?
Also had electrical quote, waiting on the plumbing quote. Booked plasterer. Got carpenters booked to do work in 3 weeks time as we will have taken down roof on back 3 rooms and will be putting flatroof on them so need the woods in place ready so roofing all on one level not iggledypiggledy like it is now. After that I should buy a full stop s rather than make ridiculously long sentences!

[Aethelfleda]

Wow, such exciting stuff! I feel quite lame with my plethora of minor DIy tasks, hope you don't mind them all amidst the major gutting other houses seem to be getting!!!

Plumber/tiler scheduled to arrive Monday to get cracking on our showers/bathroom. Excited but REALLY crossing everything they don't find penetrating damp damage once it's all ripped out...

Have put in the first panel of our new back fence with DH and , miracle of miracles, it a) fitted in pretty easily and b) seems sound. Just the other 7 to go when time/weather permits....

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

Aethelfleda personally, I love hearing about the smaller tasks. I think hope we're nearing the end of the big tasks, and I'm really looking forward to getting all the smaller bits done. It also helps flag up things we're going to have to do pretty soon, and it's got me wondering if rehanging our front door might help. Bloody thing is wonky and drafty, but it has been up 80 odd years. Was it easy to do?

[LPlateFlyer]

Aethelfleda - it's the minor DIY things that we need to be MORE supportive of! Major building work is difficult, but it does keep happening simply because it's so big. The minor bits and pieces tend to drag out forever if you don't stay motivated.

No DIYing today. I'm inspired to do some major decluttering. We downsized when we moved to this house (had been renting prior to this) and I haven't really done the best of jobs in getting rid of excess stuff. I just can't keep it all, and it's making it harder to get jobs done because there are too many things around.

[Aethelfleda]

Ah mango, good question but I didn't rehang the actual door, it was the lock I refitted, cos the old one didn't deadlock and my DIY book reminded me that anyone could have had a key from the old owners... My first attempt was halfarsed not quite right so I re-did it to get it better lined up (and it turns out I hadn't lined up an internal arrow thing correctly )
The re-hanging doors thing is something we will be coming too as an enormous way down the extremely long list we want to a) turn our kitchen door so it hinges outwards not inwards, and alsp put bew hinges on the Upvc patio doors as they are a bit saggy.

I guess with an older door you may need to replace the whole thing if it's warped, or at least re-site the hinges as putting screws "a little bit allong" can be tricky if you're not screwing into totally sound wood. Plus if you're listed (I'm guessing not?) then it's all got to be exactly the right stuff. Whereas I may have a dubious new build stuffed full of -yurch- chipboard flooring, but at least I can do pretty much anything to it. Of course I'm a total snob and only do "naice" DIY..... :)

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

Not listed, no. Mind you, that might have stopped some of the, erm, interesting repairs that we've found.

We've already had the lock refitted, the door is secure, just wonky. Our front door is one of my favourite features though, so it will be something I'll be snobby about. :) I think it's going to cost a small fortune to have it replaced with an identical one, so I reckon we'll try re-siting the hinges, but it will have to wait until DC2 is here. I can add that onto the list of jobs for sorting out the hallway.

[LPlateFlyer]

Wonky how?

You can put a thin sliver of wood (or even some cardboard judging from what I found when taking the doors off to paint!!) under the hinge plates to lift them out slightly if they've dug the holes too deep. Sometimes you're better off chiselling out new places for the door hinges if the old screw holes are too damaged and using the two part filler (we've been using Bonda Décor Fill which is brilliant, but needs a lot of sanding to get smooth) to fill up big holes in woodwork and then painting over them.

Sometimes just stripping some paint off will do wonders, as people seem to paint over and over and over doors and door frames and the paint just gets too thick.

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

The door isn't at right angles to the frame. It's also bowed very slightly, but that's only noticeable if you're looking for it. It looks like maybe the top hinge isn't in tight enough? The top at the hinge side is slightly higher than at the other side. The door doesn't stick, although I'm sure that'll be next.

Rehanging/re-siting the hinges would only be a temporary measure in truth. We will HAVE to replace the door, I'm just refusing to have anything that doesn't look identical.

[Aethelfleda]

I kmow what you mean about the door being a "feature" mango. Ours is single glazed wood, I was concerned about security and heat loss initially as it's got quite a bit of glazing. But I really like the way it looks, and upvc will not look as nice by a long way. So we've stuck with it and installed thermal door curtains (lovely deep red colour). Not everyone's thing, but they are fab for keeping the heat in (or out) and I'm very happy with how it looks.
I'm having a day off too...may assault the fence again tomorrow...

[Mum2Fergus]

Nothing doing here except have replaced faulty ballcock in the watertank so no more drip drip dripping overflow and stopcock moved to somewhere far more convenient and accessible than behind the integrated washing machine

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

Mum2Fergus, someone, at some point, must have honestly thought that putting it there was a good idea!

Aethelfleda, over a year ago I made some temporary curtains with some upholstery fabric to keep the heat in. When we get the hallway done, I'd like it all pale neutrals, with deep red details, so your curtains sound perfect! Where did you get them?

We have had a child-free afternoon, and I've started shifting this flipping bug.
So today;
We've (mainly DH) painted the small bathroom's new ceiling with primer,
we've moved the tumble drier downstairs to it's new spot,
dismantled the big awkward cabinet from the ex-kitchen,
and DH has done a run to the dump to get rid of it (and a bunch of other crap.)
I've also finished sorting out the bulk of DDs clothes and have stored them properly by size, to keep or give away when we find out gender of DC2.

We're now having a nice child-free, paint-free, diy-free evening, involving steak and the new star trek movie!

[mamapants]

Well done MrsMango on sorting DDs clothes. I swear all the clothes we've kept of ds' are taking over the house and he is only 10mths old.
I'm trying to sort through things for clothes bins/ charity shops/ giving away so that we don't end up moving a load of stuff we don't need to our new house when we move. But I'm not very efficient.
Today I've met with the man from the energy company to consent to them cutting some ofour trees :-(
So a rowan is going, they are cutting an oak right down and I refused to let them cut the silver birch all the way down so they are going to be cutting one side.
Unfortunately they don't want to cut any of the ones we wanted cutting anyway- including two horse chestnuts and a hawthorn.

[mamapants]

Oh and mum2fergus I'm jealous of your badly positioned stopcock as its looking increasingly likely that ours either isn't on our land even or if it is it has been tarmaced over! Got the water company coming next week!

[Aethelfleda]

Right

after a two day break I have screwed in supports for most of the rest of the new fence panels. Plan is to get as many as we can put in place tonight when the DCs are in bed...

Any news about the secret room morebeta??

[Aethelfleda]

Woohoo!! I have just finished screwing in all 7 full fence panels (there is a half one still to replace but DH is going to chop our last new one to the right width and nail it in, as we have to custom make it cos it's a silly size)

My arm is very achey!! (manual screwdriver, auto one was mislaid in the move) but I feel v virtuous.... Next need a dry day to bang on the top widgets and paint it all with wilcos wood preserver.

And in twelve hours my bathrooms will (hopefully) be full of dust and workmen

[MrsMangoBiscuit]

Well done on the fences. :) Bet they look nice.

So, are you excited about the work getting started, or about the workmen?

[Aethelfleda]

My workmen are middleaged and bald however they are loverly and seem to know their onions. I now have a mini skip on the drive full of junk and am v happy this seems to be finally happening! If all goes well then it could be done and dusted by the end of the week (yay!)

mango, our door curtains came from a sale in Mostyn's but I think they are in administration so not sure if you can still get them.... They may be web suppliers still....

[Mum2Fergus]

Does anyone know the name if the contraption used for a door curtain which raises the curtain when you open the door?!

Measured up for wardrobe interior for main bedroom today, will clear it tomorrow and start paint coats over the very dark green paint already in there bathroom cabinet finally up currently toiling over door handles..damned expensive!

[Aethelfleda]

mum2F, I think you mean a riser pole, also called a Portiere

Discovered yet another door handle that needs replacing, wretched handle springs!

[Mum2Fergus]

Thats the thing! Thank you