Hi all,
I am in the process of purchasing a new house, this house is little more than I hoped to spend but too good an offer to turn down also.
My problem is the whole house could do with gutting and starting again, electric, windows, bathroom, kitchen and so on and as money is premium already I wondered if anyone had any good tips/know where to go for getting low prices. Even if I had to buy in bulk i.e. get all radiators at once...
Any tip would be greatly welcomed.
Many thanks,
CJC wibbled:
You too?
Yeah - I'm doing that as well...
OK - are you contracting out everything or DIYing everything, or a mixture (if so, please elaborate)?
Screwfix seem to be, on average across a range of products, a generally good price. Their rads are cheaper than many places I've seen. Screwfix plumbing seems generally cheaper than many places I've tried, bjut their electrics leave much to be desired (unless you like Volex and MK).
However, Axminster seem to do better on some tool prices.
Lots of discount plumbing and electrical things at:
Round West Kent, north East Sussex way, Parkers Builders Merchants aren't too bad on list price (ie list isn't completely stupid, but of course there's room for discounts so I always compare with B&Q web for things that both sell, eg cement, plasterboard etc - and ask for a discount)
If you buy your rads from Screwfix, then it's makes no difference if you get the lot at once, or as you need - but if you buy your doors online, you may get a better delivery charge for all at once.
Got any pics?
Cheers
Tim
Working out the order of work is crucial and will save money. examples: Don't fit a conservatory then decide you want to replace the gutters above it. Don't replaster a wall then decide you want to run a cable and socket. Don't lay nice new floorboards then decide they've to come up for rad pipes.
and so on...
mark
"Dave" wrote
Wise words! Recommend that you run buried cables in conduit (rather than plastered in) for this reason.
Phil
I reached the point 7 years ago where I'd installed heating and replaced the windows (to beat Part L) and finished off the rewire. That combination basically detroys every room, so there's no point starting to make good until you've got that sort of work out of the way.
TheScullster coughed up some electrons that declared:
More wise words
I've always thought that, about using conduit:
I recent play suggests 16mm tube (straight runs) will have no problems with up to 2.5mm2 T+E and 1.5mm2 triple+E. It appears it will take a couple of Cat5/TV Aerial/Telephone cables without a problem, assuming 2m drop from ceiling for those.
Obviously, select a larger size, or round style, for bigger circuits (eg cooker and shower) or if needing to use joints (oval doesn't really "do" joints).
Capping's a waste of time IMHO and it's harder to re-thread cables later.
I'd also add, if possible, make your light switch back boxes deep, so you can add dimmers later. 25mm would be a minimum, but I'm using 35mm for everything (sockets included) - bit more room for cables. This of course is very much a cost/benefit scenario related to how hard the house bricks are!
Cheers
Tim
mark coughed up some electrons that declared:
Indeed. Constraints have been the bane of my life...
I need the heating out (well HW tank) before I can fix the new bathroom (bog's in the hall - which used to be the bathroom). I was hoping soon, but it's turned cold again and I'm too ghey to enjoy working in a cold building. I have however, removed all the radiators that are in my immediate way, leaving 3 working ones and hot water.
My extra tips:
Always leave working hot water for all the time that's needed to strip paper and wash the walls down, it works better. I did all the paper stripping and washing down first just to get it out the way and so I can replaster without further ado. That was the most miserable job of the lot so far - get the missus to help, or some mates for a beer and wash party - just having company makes it more bearable.
Always have a working bog (even if it's in the hall).
I had to put in temporary lighting (cables clipped to the underside of the ceiling with cheap bayonet fittings and 25W daylight CFLs) as the wiring was so knackered - but that was worth the effort - I started in winter and working by extension lead and random lamps would have been tedious, and dangerous (floor up).
If you're stripping a kitchen, keep the longest worktop and the better cupboards - they make excellent site workbenches and tool storage. Chuck them last.
If the loft is full of crap, like manky, patchy filthy rat-plop infested glass wool, take it out and hoover asap - at least the the parts where you need to go for plumbing and electrics. It's so much more pleasant to work with a clean site.
If you've got clean and servicable insulation, then disposable coverall suit (2-4 quid each) dust mask and gloves mean that you stay clean, breathing and relatively un-itchy.
Anyway, a plan came together. The house is stripped, and I'm ready to set the electrics into two bedrooms. I will replaster immediately and slap a coat of emulsion on and lay the floor in one, so the kids have somewhere clean to stay if I need to keep them for the odd day. The other room will act as a store for tools and materials, leaving the bathroom and kitchen clear as those are going to be the more difficult jobs.
Cheers
Tim
mark coughed up some electrons that declared:
And if there's some doubt as to future plans, try to allow for both/all options where practical. For example, I had planned to open out the dormer upstairs a bit more and make a lounge. But, having removed some plasterboard, it turns out the little 1.5m drywall I was going to yank out to achieve this in fact contains two vertical supports to a f*ck-off big (3" x 10" or something) timber that holds the flat roofs up.
Doing anything about that will probably involve steel and engineer's designs and more building control, and TBH, I can't be bothered, nor have the spare money.
So we may split the room with drywall and a small landing and give it to the kids, or we may split it with no landing (room off room) and have our bedroom and a study up there, or we may have the lounge up there if we can work out an arrangement that works.
Upstairs is phase 2, so everyone's bedrooms start on the ground floor.
This means that our bedroom downstairs could become a lounge and/or my daughter's bedroom could become my lab - so I've decided to not brick up the fireplace in our bedroom in case we want a fire in the lounge, and I'm adding extra electrics and low voltage plates (aerials, networking etc) to both rooms so that they work equally well in either mode. Repurposing those rooms becomes no more than a new coat of paint in a different colour, but only because we considered the scenarios now.
Cheers
Tim
My tip:
1) don't underestimate the cost of doing all this work.2) don't underestimate how long it will take you to do it.
3) involve building control at an early stage to avoid expensive corrections laterRobert
Another tip:
Get an outside tap fitted on day one.
That way you've got water for the kettle went you yank the kitchen out. The water supply for mixing cement, concrete, plaster and subsequent washing of tools etc is outside.
mark
I've done a couple of complete kitchen strip-outs and refits.
I usually move one of the cupboard units with worktop into another room, to hold the microwave, kettle, enough cutlary/crockery/food, etc, with the fridge stood next to it. That gives you enough to make snacks.
The other thing I did in one case was to unfix the sink unit so it could move around, and reconnect the taps using the washing machine hoses, with a large bucket in the cupboard under the plughole. In my case, the unit also had a small dishwasher in the cupboard under the drainer, and it was very handy to be able to still use that (pumping out into the sink and then the bucket). I could move this around out of the way when preparing walls, ceilings, floor, etc. whilst still having it working.
Include lots of cat5e and CAI co-ax.
Run conduit, but put all your cables _outside_ the conduit, not in it. Why? It leaves you more conduit space to add cables later. If a cable buried in plaster is not wanted one day, its no problem to just disconnect it and leave it buried.
Where practical, run your socket ring cable around the room at socket height. That way in future you can add new sockets anywhere round the room you like.
etc - see
Excellent advise. I fitted the new stopcock for the extension when the slab was layed. Ducted MDPE to stopcock to 15mm pipe bent over in a U, to hoselock connector. Plastic rubble bag over the top to keep the water out of the duct and allows turning on and off through the bag. I stuffed the bag with loft insulation in the winter to stop it freezing. This setup also allows the new water supply to be tested by being used. It is being used now for mixing mortar, cleaning buckets etc. When build is finished, it will be the new internal stopcock, and the existing internal stopcock complete with its lead supply will be removed. To do that I'll have to dig up the water pipe in the garden again (dead legs not allowed). And to think I was going to have a hose through the open kitchen window. Only thing I could do with is an outside socket for the cement mixer ;-} Simon.
Someone on this newsgroup (I suspect it was Mr Plowman) gave me the brilliant idea of having 3 stoptaps. A main stoptap that stops all the water and splits to feed two other stoptaps. The first of the other two stoptaps controls all the internal water and the second supplies the outside tap.
Adam
The only tip I can give is this, when you decide on what you are having and get prices, don't forget to factor in everything, as all the 'bits' that you forgot about will catch up with you and leave you in financial ruin, example: most people think, 'bathroom, right we want a new suite, say 500, and 200 for a plumber, 250 for tiles and tiler, so about a grand will sort the bathroom' - wrong!! - it will almost certainly need a plasterer for at least a day, plus materials, the ceiling will need something doing to it, either plastered over or a suspended one installed, you'll probably need a new door and other related joinery work, IE floorboard replacement or plywood sheets for the tiles, and what about an extractor fan? and the window frame? and window cill?...before long, that original guestimate of £1000 has doubled, the same applies to the kitchen, what starts out as a
5000 kitchen will usually end up costing over 8K.If you are using outside labour rather than DIY, I would strongly reccomend you use an all round builder who does this kind of thing for a living, rather than a kitchen fitter, an electrician, a plumber, a tiler etc, because none of them care about the other's job, they just come in, do what they are getting paid for and leave and they aren't interested what happens after that and the end result is usually a shambles and extremely expensive.
Thanks all for your answers on this,
I think we have decided on this place, so I guess there will be many months/years ahead for me and DIY and digging deep in my pockets.
Lets see if I can haggle a good price to make it easier.
Thanks again for all your answers and I'm sure I'll be back when I'm stumped on something.
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