Clueless first time buyer here

[Startuplife]

We are in the process of buying our first house and there are a couple of things we want to get done straight away but we’re both utterly clueless about when and how to do them. I have a couple of questions I’d be very grateful of some guidance on.

1. The walls and ceilings in bedrooms have a weird texture to them which I think is a plastering technique. Who would be the person to get rid of this and make it smooth?
2. I assume this job would be first followed by painting and then carpet/flooring. Is this correct?
3. We want a herringbone design for the flooring downstairs. I’ve seen you can get laminate or vinyl. Does anyone have any experience of which is best? We also currently have tiles on the kitchen floor. Would these need to be taken up first and if so by who?
4. The upstairs and most of downstairs is currently laminate. I assume we would need this to be taken up before laying the new laminate or vinyl. Would it be the flooring person who would take this up or someone else?

[Flangeosaurus]

This all depends on your budget!!

Textured plaster I would hack off myself then get a plasterer in to skim it, which is basically a thin coat of plaster to make it smooth. If it’s really thick and the walls underneath are knackered you may be better asking the plasterer to put new boards on so you’ve got a nice finish forever. Obviously the more you want done the more it costs. Plasterer will also be able to take off the old if that’s what you want but YouTube can teach you this.

Yes, plaster, decorate then flooring.

Yes tiles need to come up, again I would do this myself to save money but the flooring company will probably be able to do it, otherwise look for a handyman. You need a nice smooth floor for vinyl or laminate so it may need screeding - same again, either handyman or flooring person. I have vinyl and it’s good but not as good as LVT which are more expensive but more durable.

Good luck!

[Applesapple]

I wouldn’t hack off a textured ceiling myself. If it’s an older house there’s a good chance it contains asbestos and disturbing asbestos containing material can be really dangerous. I contacted a plasterer about skimming a textured ceiling to make it smooth and the first thing he asked was if I’ve had it tested for asbestos

[Lonecatwithkitten]

The textured walls ceilings could be artex and if old could contain asbestos your survey should cover this. The cheapest option is to plaster skin them, but you will loose a microscopic amount of space. The expensive gold standard solution is to have them removed and start again.
Herring bone floor I believe Kardean do one although it is expensive it is a really hard wearing product that lasts really well.

[custardbear]

Yes just get it skimmed, a plasterer can do this. I'd do this first as it's messy.
We have vinyl and laminate, I much prefer vinyl

[Flangeosaurus]

We got our textured plaster tested by the council run centre for about £30

[TizerorFizz]

A decent flooring contractor for Amtico or similar can self level a tiled floor. No need to take it up. But the whole of the floor needs to be level. Not just the one room. Make sure all the levels are the same. No slopes!

[Startuplife]

This is super helpful advice, thank you all so much. And sounds much more straight forward than I imagined!