We've just had our offer accepted on a 'project' house in a village near the town we live in now. Having done a little DIY before we did think that our second house could be a 'doer upper' so we could buy something nicer for our budget that we would otherwise not be able to afford.
Sooo, we've found our perfect house. A four bed detached cottage in a nice village. It's based on an old (1700's???) existing cottage and was mostly rebuilt in 1960 buy a builder who got a grant to do the work. The last owner has just moved out after 45 years and it's had no significant work since 1960 and looks it! It's not listed and has a solid looking tiled roof.
At the back of the house the bathroom is downstairs next to the kitchen which has aging units and no space for a modern cooker. The living room has an inglenook fireplace which has had a 60's chimney breast inside it (electric fire in there now) not sure if we can get the stonework back to original condition which would be a shame. There;'s a cowsh*t wall that looks great (very curvy) and the back wall is 1' 6" thick (original?) and is 4' underground outside.
The rendering has cracked on the front so the front wall is damp (rendering has been patched up but not sure how recently/effectively) some of the windows are painted shut, there's no gas, no serious heating system.
Sooo, it's a lot more work than we intended to do, we're getting the most comprehensive survey we can before we spend any money on anything else.
Jobs list:
move front door to front of house
block exising door in living room
re-render front (possibly)
get rid of/reduce damp
connect to gas main
install boiler
run radiator pipes
hang radiators
complete rewire
install bathroom upstairs
remove existing bathroom and knock down walls
remove existing kitchen
tank back wall if required
convert cupboard into downstairs loo (macerator or regular)
install underfloor heating in new kitchen diner area
remove current fireplace/chimneybreast
install multifuel burner or open fire
tile kitchen floor
install kitchen
re-plaster
redecorate
sheesh!
Sooo, we've found our perfect house. A four bed detached cottage in a nice village. It's based on an old (1700's???) existing cottage and was mostly rebuilt in 1960 buy a builder who got a grant to do the work. The last owner has just moved out after 45 years and it's had no significant work since 1960 and looks it! It's not listed and has a solid looking tiled roof.
At the back of the house the bathroom is downstairs next to the kitchen which has aging units and no space for a modern cooker. The living room has an inglenook fireplace which has had a 60's chimney breast inside it (electric fire in there now) not sure if we can get the stonework back to original condition which would be a shame. There;'s a cowsh*t wall that looks great (very curvy) and the back wall is 1' 6" thick (original?) and is 4' underground outside.
The rendering has cracked on the front so the front wall is damp (rendering has been patched up but not sure how recently/effectively) some of the windows are painted shut, there's no gas, no serious heating system.
Sooo, it's a lot more work than we intended to do, we're getting the most comprehensive survey we can before we spend any money on anything else.
Jobs list:
move front door to front of house
block exising door in living room
re-render front (possibly)
get rid of/reduce damp
connect to gas main
install boiler
run radiator pipes
hang radiators
complete rewire
install bathroom upstairs
remove existing bathroom and knock down walls
remove existing kitchen
tank back wall if required
convert cupboard into downstairs loo (macerator or regular)
install underfloor heating in new kitchen diner area
remove current fireplace/chimneybreast
install multifuel burner or open fire
tile kitchen floor
install kitchen
re-plaster
redecorate
sheesh!