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Property/DIY

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Original poster

2023 reno support thread

139 replies

succulentlove · 11/06/2023 22:17

Hi, just wondering if there are a few of us who are renovating in 2023 / expecting to start this year? Maybe a thread to chat would be nice?

We are maybe 50% of the way there- not extending but doing work on pretty much every surface of the house, adding in lots of glazing, moving the kitchen, removing chimneys etc.. A bit worried if we are spending too much given we are not adding square footage, just making better use of what is already there.

Hope to hear from others on their Reno journeys!

OP posts:

grannycake · 15/08/2023 16:02

Most of our old kitchen has been ripped out. Wine rack relocated to utility room.

New kitchen is finished and has been decorated

Next task to remove tiles from old kitchen walls and breakup concrete plinth that the old Rayburn stood on

First fit of electrics at end of August and then builder returns to plaster ceiling and one wall. Hopefully it will all be decorated and finished by end of October

Need to buy TV storage unit, small drop leaf dining table. Have ordered one new sofa but am holding off on another sofa until I'm sure the money is still in the budget. We can reuse one if we need to

But I am so sick of the mess and all our stuff is located all over the house - I need to contact the waste removal people. They were great earlier this year but the card could be in any one of about 10 boxes

Glad to hear others are reaching the end as well and commiserations to those who are experiencing problems - it's a nightmare and I'm never doing this again

CountryCob · 17/08/2023 01:35

@grannycake well done that sounds like excellent progress. I am also heartily of the mess and stuff in boxes all over the place. We are still building and whilst all the 'fixes', bar new radiators, are generally done elsewhere we can't put in carpets or finish anything off until October/ November. All the focus is on getting extension built and roof on it which is of course sensible. It has completely taken over our life for almost a year and there is still a good bit to do. Absolutely never doing a renovation again but looking forward to the end result. Thankfully I am still happy in the actual house but I can see how people would be put off their home. It is so difficult and disruptive and I am sick of it and actually nothing has gone wrong really with ours, it's just the work itself and all the time and money it takes

Seaitoverthere · 17/08/2023 05:33

We’re very lucky that we aren’t living in ours which makes it so much easier than anything we have done before. I am really enjoying the process as have a great team of people working on it who are also enjoying it and in a way I will be sad when it is over. We’re all considering approaching local agents to see if they know anyone who would want work doing as it would be great to do another project.

Had water coming through the porch light yesterday which wasn’t the best of moments but at least we found the leak!

CountryCob · 17/08/2023 08:13

Sounds lucky yes @Seaitoverthere, is your main home elsewhere?

Seaitoverthere · 17/08/2023 08:18

Yes currently a few mins drive away in temporary accommodation which is so handy. New house will be our home from next month amd I am very excited about finally moving in .

Greenwitchhorse · 17/08/2023 08:29

I am completing on my house tomorrow (buying alone) and I am about to embark on some DIY (painting, removing carpets, dismantling and disposing of old furniture that the elderly couple selling the house could not move out).

I am rather scared that I will make a mess of it all but with at any budget I need to be able to do these things myself!

CountryCob · 17/08/2023 09:45

@Seaitoverthere you were lucky to find temporary accommodation so close. There is nothing here apart from time limited airb&bs for miles and being so far away from home was actually worse with the school run and our animals and land and my friends and social life still being where we actually live, were out for a few months while some essentials were out of service but it resulted in me driving around for hours every day and needing to rush family back to the base so very little time to do anything. There was a family option but that was almost a 2 hour round trip. Good that you are excited about moving in I hope it all goes well.

@Greenwitchhorse - great name - congratulations! Getting on the property ladder is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I am doing most the the painting myself as find it easier than describing what I want to people and waiting on another trade, plus when there isn't someone asking exactly what you want in every room you can make up your own mind. Even when I am painting a wall or about to occasionally I will decide on something different. No one trying to talk you into using their easier stuff - ie not glossing the front door, or the ubiquitous 'farrow and ball dupe' that looks nothing like/ not really filling in or cutting in the plaster work. Have you got any paint ideas going? There is no much on TV/ podcasts and in magazines can get lots of ideas that way although I do try to avoid trends as date so quickly....

Seaitoverthere · 27/08/2023 18:48

How is it going for everyone ? It was a busy week last week. Drain problem was resolved, central heating leak was fixed, more electrics were done, progress on bathroom and shower room, broadband in and blocked in door and Woodburner wall plastered. Plus carpet ordered.

Instahome2 · 28/08/2023 08:33

@Seaitoverthere loads of progress 👏 Go you. Once the big messy jobs are out of the way it'll feel much better.

I really love what we've done so far. It doesn't look like weve done anything really but modernising this home that hadn't been touched in 30 years. We've done the rewire/ plumbing/ stripping wallpapers(layers) and woodchip/ removing coving/ blue grit/ plastering/ painting/ new doors/ oak and glass bannister/ carpets/ curtains/ furniture.

We've officially finished the lounge/ diner, den/ landing and girls bedrooms. I'm really falling in love with this house now. Our next room is the hallway, its quite depressing walking into our unfinished hall and hate answering the door in case the mess is seen 🫣. Our front door is being fitted in the next few weeks. I've bought our floor tiles, big LVT cement effect from polyflor, it's made for commercial properties so should withstand our scruffy kids. I'll order our slate number sign when we're in the lakes next month.

We still have the expensive jobs of bathroom and kitchen to do, our bedroom and the office too which will take us another 12m, I expect but love having some rooms finished.

Seaitoverthere · 28/08/2023 09:14

That is absolutely loads. I do get how yuh feel about the hall, it will make loads of difference once done as will your front door. We are lucky and have original tiles in the porch and the boards in hall are decent so will sand.

To make way for the kitchen a big fireplace had to come out. I’ve decided the surround can go in our bedroom. I have a piece of black granite in the garage which can be the hearth and our old Woodburner with a bioethanol burner in so will put it all on chimney breast in our bedroom.

Diymesss · 28/08/2023 15:09

@Instahome2

You’ve done so much! You should be proud.

As you’ve just changed your doors, can I ask how you went about it? I can’t find a shop that will install the doors for me as well as sell them.

Seaitoverthere · 28/08/2023 16:17

Diymesss · 28/08/2023 15:09

@Instahome2

You’ve done so much! You should be proud.

As you’ve just changed your doors, can I ask how you went about it? I can’t find a shop that will install the doors for me as well as sell them.

i know it isn’t directed at me but we did doors on old house next year. You need a good local carpenter who then charges per door to hang. Ours ended up supplying too but would have done it with us buying doors then him charging per door to fit.

Diymesss · 28/08/2023 16:26

@Seaitoverthere thanks - so sounds like I need to order some doors first, then find the carpenter to fit them?

Seaitoverthere · 28/08/2023 16:28

I would speak to a few carpenters first and show them what you are wanting and get price and a date when they can fit once you have found someone you are happy with. You could also ask door supplier for recommendations.

Seaitoverthere · 28/08/2023 16:29

…if you are buying locally.

Instahome2 · 28/08/2023 19:39

As others have said, we booked a joiner first who bought the doors from Howdens with his discount. We had to have new casings and architraves as the old doors weren't standard sizes.

Seaitoverthere · 28/08/2023 20:27

Our doors came from Howdens too.

Instahome2 · 28/08/2023 21:27

Door evolution

Seaitoverthere · 29/08/2023 07:29

Very nice @Instahome2 !

CountryCob · 29/08/2023 09:42

We also bought doors ourselves once spoken to the joiner, if you can arrange an area to store them flat that reduces warping risk until they are fitted. We supplied ironmongery which was nice as choose them ourselves but complicated as a lot of separate latches of various depths needed and 3 heavy hinges each so maybe include that in your joiner conversation whilst checking architrave is suitable for door choice. Howdens have supplied nice doors to us in the past and I was sent to Magnet for emergency supplies locally and was surprised to see that they had a good range. Our doors have changed shape a little on going in as the wood expands so it's part of our initial price that those changes are adjusted when joiners come back for other jobs maybe consider that. Actually a bank holiday weekend job was rehanging a very heavy door once bathroom floor went down I don't know how the joiners do it. Husband was keen to put it back on before it warped. We changed the orientation of door openings as quite a few opened into the room which I don't like, better to open to the wall and have a pad to stop the door banging I think but that is not a universal opinion....

Instahome2 · 29/08/2023 12:02

@CountryCob It's surprising how complicated doors are and when to fit them for the reno. We ended up fitting them before and during the plastering due to workmen schedules which we now know is completely wrong due to wood expansion with moisture. Now we've had the carpets down, they needed to be completely re-sized due to the fluffy carpets. DH bought an electric plane instead of getting the joiner out to re-do them and boy, are they heavy! Back and forth I don't know how many times to shave a few mm off each time.

Instahome2 · 29/08/2023 12:05

All of ours open in the room too, I wanted to change them but we decided to keep them that way as it would have been an utter pain to move the light switches.

CountryCob · 29/08/2023 14:41

@Instahome2 that is exactly what we were doing yesterday except thankfully builders kit is all over the place so easy to put on stands and I know about the plastic wedge things now which are also everywhere. You need to do timings as they come I think, we got windowsils and plastering the wrong way around apparently. One of the hardest parts I think is the intersection of all the jobs and trades making sure what has just been done isn't damaged straight away! My husband finds it fun but I don't too much, although I want the end result and am prepared to work for it. I think it depends on personalities. It is a hassle with the switches I agree we were lucky in some ways that rewiring anyway

Diymesss · 29/08/2023 17:49

Thanks so much for all this doors advice, very helpful! I’d never thought about doors till this house which has a number of bad fitting, flimsy doors!

Littlemissweepy · 29/08/2023 20:13

Just found the thread, am coming to end of an 18month extension and full renovation project on our money pit. We have been living out for the last 10 months. We have a move in date of 29th September. Bit off way more than I could chew and am pretty stressed and very skint. But despite that I am very excited and am loving how the house is finally coming together!

Good luck everyone.

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