I've avoided the 'R' word up until recently, but I'm slowly coming to terms with it! Anyway - on December the 11th Jane and I got the keys to our first home. Neither of us have been house owners before, so I was very very excited.
We always knew it needed a bit of TLC (Which was, frankly, the reason we could afford the place in the area that it's in) - but things escalated, and I'm kind of glad. So far I'm having lots and lots of fun.
For those interested, I'm going to be lazy and post to Flickr where I've uploaded all the pics. The pre-renovation pics are all from the Estate Agent - the place was "okay" before, but it was a rental home and the general fit and finish was just crap. It had been rewired at some point in the 90's, and they obviously cheaped out by fitting lots of surface mounted patress boxes. We also uncovered some real nasties when we started pulling the old wiring.
And, naturally, the more you dig the more you find - so we're pretty much going all out. It's not intended to be some kind of masterpiece or anything clever, we're just trying to build a nice 3 bed semi to live in!
The main aesthetic issues all stem simply from the age of the building and that's the plaster! Most of it is original from 1939 and it's simply started to debond from the lath and the walls, meaning that any small chip sees it coming off in great chunks!
The immediate task list is pretty simple, if time consuming:
1. Remove all lath and plaster ceilings (Messy - very, very messy! I really can't describe it - Google it and most peoples advice is simply "don't")
2. Remove all lath and plaster partition walls (As above!)
2. Chase and rewire the entire house
3. Replumb the central heating, moving radiators as required
4. Plasterboard everywhere where the old lath was
At that point, I'm engaging a plasterer to come round and make good the walls and ceilings. Then it'll be onto getting the kitchen sorted.
After that, I'm not really sure yet - I think we'll look to move in as having two houses and not being an MP is pretty fucking expensive. Either way, the slightly more mid-term plans include:
Replace/repair floorboards
New flooring / carpets
New woodwork - architraves, skirting board etc
To date, the only professional we've engaged is the builder who knocked out a wall, installed the RSJ and bricked up the kitchen doorway. Everything else is me and whoever else I can cajole into giving up their free time!
I've got a sparky who'll hopefully check and sign off our electrical work and I'm getting a plumber in to do his thing!
Link:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/vwdanh/16c962EDITED: 4 Jan 2016 13:36 by HERMAND