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Order of the jobs to be done

10 replies

Bilboard · 13/06/2022 19:38

We bought and old house and we are on the early stages of decorating/ refurbishing.
The decor of the house is quite old fashion, think 80ish wall paper, old carpet etc, and we had a few issues with raising damp on the front of the house, which have now hopefully been resolved.
SO we are doing a room at a time and we are starting with the dining room. I am trying to organize the jobs to do in the right order. This is what I got.
First clear room, remove old electric fire place and radiator, then replaster the room and ceiling.
Instal new fireplace, put new radiator on wall, put shutters on bay window.
Paint ceiling
Then lift floor boards to insulate underneath, put them back and sand/varnish.
Paint the walls
Does this look like the right order?
Am I missing anything?
Is there any points/ tips/ ideas to add that I haven't thought about?

OP posts:
Nightmanagerfan · 13/06/2022 19:47

You need to paint walls before the radiator and shutters go on.

if you’re doing the floor I’d paint the skirting afterwards

ISeeTheLight · 13/06/2022 19:50

How old is the house and what were the damp issues, and what did you do to resolve them? If not cavity wall you're best replastering in lime (if it is not already), then painting with lime wash or similar (not emulsion, for breathability).
You also mention insulating the floorboards, read up on this as you may make the damp issue worse.
I'd start with that.

Bilboard · 13/06/2022 20:05

The house is an old town house, 1860ishs, the damp issues were mainly because the patio at the front of the house went straight into the the wall, no "breathimg brick" , no gap, nothing, so we have put a French drain to resolve this and uncovered the breathing bricks.
Not sure if there is a cavity wall. What I can see is that previous owners put plaster board on the inside of the front wall, i assume because of the damp issues.
I am not sure what there is underneath the plaster board. But presumably if the damp issues have now been solved, onve we take the plasterboard off, we can replaster that inside front wall, can't we?

OP posts:
Ohwhathaveidonenow · 13/06/2022 20:12

Put all the jobs on individual postits. Arange them on a wall in rough order (some can be done parallel) and move them around as necessary.

ISeeTheLight · 13/06/2022 20:15

Ah good you've put in a French drain. Yes you can replaster but make sure it's lime (and not a mix with modern plaster). The Facebook group Traditional and Listed Building advice is very helpful.

ISeeTheLight · 13/06/2022 20:16

Highly unlikely to be a cavity wall at that age too.

Bilboard · 13/06/2022 20:23

ISeeTheLight · 13/06/2022 20:15

Ah good you've put in a French drain. Yes you can replaster but make sure it's lime (and not a mix with modern plaster). The Facebook group Traditional and Listed Building advice is very helpful.

Thank you, I 'll look this up on FB

OP posts:
BlueMongoose · 13/06/2022 20:37

I'd move the shutters to just before the ceiling, otherwise the dust from the floor work will just mucky them up. If I was fitting new skirtings I'd do that after painting the walls, and do the priming and undercoating of the skirtings before I fitted them, just the gloss/other topcoat after fitting, filling any gaps, and touching up the prime/undercoat layer.
If you don't want to use lime plaster, you could batten out to keep a good gap and and put in plasterboard and have it skimmed. Don't dot-and-dab, (plasterboard stuck direct to wall with bits of mortar/cement/whatever) you'll just get cold spots which will show. We've battened out with two exterior walls in a room where the lime had been taken off and it had been battened out with tiles on chipboard (I kid you not), and we also used insulated plasterboard- you lose a couple of inches on the room, but it is a lot warmer. We're now doing another two walls, where the old lime plaster had been replaced by dot-and-dab. Old houses that do cavities often don't react well to cavity wall insulation, so this is a sort of compromise. But check with a surveyor what kind of plastering is best if in doubt. Where there is lime plaster still in place, we have left it. We have stripped /will be stripping it back and use claypaint so it can breathe.

housemadd · 13/06/2022 22:00

Before doing the radiators, think about whether you might want a heat pump in the future, since they are more efficient with big radiators. Even a new boiler or cylinder might be some disruption to some floors.

Before plastering, think about electrics. Might you want wall lights, or low pendant ceiling lights by the bed (in a bedroom). Are the wall boxes on the switches deep enough for modern switches?

Geneticsbunny · 14/06/2022 09:27

You could put suspended wet underfloor heating pipes in if you are lifting the whole floor anyway? Lifting the floor is a big job though. Took us several months to take up and relay.

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