Project "House"

[kevinwebster83]

Hi

I just want to explain my project to other members to hopefully gain some advice from your past experiences and do's and dont's. Basically, i've just bought a house and its in need of a good doing up (thank god for this website and forum). So here's my project...

- Completely re-do the bathroom, take out the bath and replace with large shower and re-tile walls and floor. Replace radiator with towel radiator.

- Brand new kitchen, tile the floors and some walls. Change light fittings and paint. Or maybe even just replace doors, cooker, hob and sink unit.

- Replace the existing boiler with a combi boiler and remove hot water cylinder

- General painting all over, real wood flooring in the lounge, tiles in the kitchen and bathroom, carpet everywhere else. Was considering wooden stairs but i think a no no for now.

Thats pretty much it, but given that my budget is quite low (around 3k) i just thought i'd try my luck and see what you guys can offer in terms of what to do first, what not to do and where to shop (in the west manchester area)

Hope someone can help as it seems a lot to do, with no real obvious starting point

Thanks

Kev

 

[wanabechippie]

Hey Kev.

I'm in the same boat, just a few stops further down the line.
I bought a 1930's ex-council semi in northwales back in Nov. The house was/is in fairly good nick so no work needed doing but I wanted to change a few things around.

I bought an end-of-line bathroom from B&Q for £170. Nothing super-special but it looks really nice and works just fine. Had to chop up the old cast iron bath as it was upstairs and actually weighed more than the moon!!! (tip: take everything out of the bathroom before grinding - iron dust gets everywhere and rusts in a day!!!) Did the plumbing myself as it wasn't really that big a job. I used flexi connectors for the taps and wastes as the new fittings were in awkward positions and i'm somewhat of a champion pie eater!

Also tiled the bathroom and kitchen. Really make sure your walls are as flat as possible before tiling. One wee bump in my bathroom wall made one tile stick out a mile!

Not got around to replacing the kitchen yet. The carcasses are fine, but the doors are poop so will just change those. I've bought slate effect floor tiles from B&Q to lay on the kitchen floor. Cheap and chearfull but they look nice and don't hurt the wallet to much if your on a budget!

Also had a new central heating system fitted to replace the gas heaters that were scaring the wife in all the rooms. New combi-boiler + new heaters = £2200.

Had all new electrics as well because the existing stuff was veeeery old and muchos dubious. Got the whole lot changed (inc new consumer unit + outside lights and separate workshop electrics) for £1300.

Next on the list is properly insulating the loft and under floor cavities + cavity wall insulation as the place is bloody freezing at the mo!

I suppose that if your on such a tight budget: make a list of the things that need doing and rank them in order of importance (ie: safety vs comfort). Also, it might help to get the messy jobs out of the way first so you aren't continuosuly clearing up after yourself.

Hope it all goes well!

 

[MasterAbacus]

Well the first thing id do, is forget about the Consumer DIY sheds.... Get yourself down to a TP and open a trade account.... if you tell them what your doing....ie House renovations, im sure you will get some cracking deals.... They offer what is called a Cash Trade account..... ask about it...

I didnt find out about this untill 12 months into the renovations of our house.... neva looked back....

EG bathroom suit, at a DIY shed was £599, and at TP got the same thing delivered for £180..... Masive savings.... another was the Bathroom taps DIY shed, price at £80, i got them for cash trade for £25.....


There are savings to be had out there.... try your luck....

 

[masona]

- Completely re-do the bathroom, take out the bath and replace with large shower and re-tile walls and floor.

Just make sure the shower is tanked, plenty of info if you do a search here.

 

[kevinwebster83]

Hi guys

Thanks for all your help

Kev

 

[joeb99]

TP is a complete rip off, cement is £4.30 a bag, £3.00 at BandQ.

Sand is £45 a ton, £37 at build center al inc vat

 

[MasterAbacus]

TP is a complete rip off, cement is £4.30 a bag, £3.00 at BandQ.

Sand is £45 a ton, £37 at build center al inc vat

Them prices will be standard prices, not trade.... if your doing up a property and estimate to spend a fair bit of cash, ull get a bloody good deal from TP.

just checked.... for me... Cement £2.85 bag and Sand £37 a tonne with free delivery....

 

[noseall]

if you are ever thinking of having children in the future, or intend selling the house as a 'family home', then you will definitely need to think about installing a bath.

 

[fido]

£3K is not a lot to do the amount of work you describe. Having said that I have probably spent less than that on my place. I changed from solid fuel back boiler to gas combi, fitted new screwfix bathroom suite with steel bath, electric shower with glass screen, tiled approx. half of bathroom, new pine doors to existing kitchen units + new hand made solid pine wall unit, new vinyl floor covering in kitchen, ripped out '50s tiled fireplace and fitted antique pine surround with a slate slab for the hearth, renewed most wiring although switches, sockets etc had already been renewed, new consumer unit, removed damp areas of wall linings and replaced with foilbacked plasterboard, renewed virtually all plumbing and replaced one radiator with a bigger one. I get most stuff from Screwfix as the local merchants often don't stock what I want.

 

[kevinwebster83]

Thanks for all your comments.

I've over budgeted on most things and it comes to less than the £3k i'm looking to spend but things don't always go to plan but fingers crossed.

I think the most costly part will be replacing the boiler and taking out the hot water cylinder (from what i've seen so far) and re-piping where required and as i know nothing about plumbing then i'm sure a couple of days of a plumbers time will not come cheap.

Can anyone recommend a plumber in the Salford area? I've looked on the CORGI website and there are about half a million to a mile. Some extra advice would be invaluable. Is it worthwhile getting more than a couple of quotes?

Thanks

Kev

 

[bernardgreen]

if you are ever thinking of having children in the future, or intend selling the house as a 'family home', then you will definitely need to think about installing a bath.

And keeping a hot water tank. Combi boilers are NOT family friendly.

Changing water temperature when another member of the family turns on another tap in the house is OK when there are just two and one undserstands the need to keep the shower constant temperature.

If you have the header tank etc in the loft then why get rid of it. A good condensing boiler and hot water tank is far better than a combi.

 

[kevinwebster83]

I understand your point however, this is only a really small house (2 up, 2 down) and there is just myself and girlfriend - for a family home its very impractical.

The header tank lives in the bedroom taking up quite a lot of space that could be used as a wardrobe/storage and to open the room up a bit. The water pressure is also very low, and as no shower is present at the moment then i've been advised that a combi boiler (or changing water tank but i'd prefer to remove it) is a better option.

Kev

 

[stevesey]

...Had to chop up the old cast iron bath as it was upstairs and actually weighed more than the moon!!! (tip: take everything out of the bathroom before grinding - iron dust gets everywhere and rusts in a day!!!) ...

You ground a cast iron bath!!! Standard approach is to smash with a sledge hammer - starting at the tap/waste end. Did ours recently (in situ as it was against the wall on three sides), once you get the hang it is easy. Took about an hour in all. Gloves, ear defenders, and eye protection essential and plenty of dust sheets in the bath to reduce the ringing and contain the enamel shards!!

 

[wanabechippie]

You ground a cast iron bath!!! Standard approach is to smash with a sledge hammer

Yup. Tried that for about an hour and a half only to be rewarded with a handful of iron shards and a cut wrist!

Neighbours from 2 doors down came to complain about the 'church bells' we had apparantly installed in the house!! I obviously don't have the knack!

 

[Bon]

The header tank lives in the bedroom taking up quite a lot of space that could be used as a wardrobe/storage and to open the room up a bit. The water pressure is also very low, and as no shower is present at the moment then i've been advised that a combi boiler (or changing water tank but i'd prefer to remove it) is a better option.

Kev

Do you have any roof space? If so then why not sling your tank up there. It'll be fine providing it's sufficiently lagged.

That way you won't get the problems with the combi as you won't have one and you'll also get an improved shower (when you fit one) than you would from the tank where it is now.

If possible, you could fit it directly above where it is now so it would make installing it easier (& cheaper) as it would be a case of extending the cold feed, overflow and outlets etc...