I rented a couple of 80s houses, I’d try living in it for a week, I found the lack of internal brickwork made it very noisy. Not sure if this was universal or the ones we lived in were the norm. If I’d bought them I’d definitely have tried to do some noise reduction.

I’ve renovated older properties, hopefully some of the horsehair/bakelite electrics issues I’ve dealt with won’t affect you!

I rented a couple of 80s houses, I’d try living in it for a week, I found the lack of internal brickwork made it very noisy. Not sure if this was universal or the ones we lived in were the norm. If I’d bought them I’d definitely have tried to do some noise reduction.

Our’s is 100% blockwork, you can’t even get wifi signal outside the study!

Ours is a mixd of structural and stud (80s again) so definitely dependant on the building.

I’ve only skimmed through the other posts so sorry if I’m repeating someone else. My main advice would be to be realistic about the level of fixtures and fittings. For example, a Smallbone kitchen may well be fantastic, but it might be out of place in a 2 bed terrace.

^^^^ Good point – similarly, spunking £££££s on underfloor heating in a small bathroom in a 2-bed terrace would be money not easily recouped, but it would be expected in a 4 bed ‘executive’ home.

Edit – posted twice

Tools to buy,

some of those large rubberised plastic buckets for carrying crap out,

a builders shovel bigger mouth than a normal shovel.

crowbar, hammer and hump hammer,

Wet and dry vacumn cleaner, a godsend,

Decent step ladders,not cheap aluminium bendy ones,

Large tool box,

Plastic sheeting to block rooms off when making dust, and to cover windows.

Bump cap, and face masks, coveralls,
and thats just for strip out.

all from Toolstation and they do free delivery so no probs with collection etc.

DLGLOVER

Correct, a private home you don’t need any type of asbestos survey.

But you would have to be very very stupid not to, unless you’re 100% sure you have no asbestos in your property.

My advice dont move in to you Finnish it, living in the project can be really stress full especialy for the women ime and the motivation to get away from the rents will keep you at it, so many people move in and the project grinds to a holt and then becomes the reason for divorce.

Toolstation may well be cheaper than Screwfix, but with a trade account at Screwfix I get free coffee and doughnuts!

and be careful!

Yep, wear gloves, wear a mask when knocking down plaster, wear safety goggles when doing anything (hammering/ plaster removal/drilling) that might generate splinters of material. I got a scratch on my cornea from a splinter and now I need to wear glasses (Annoyingly, not during all the DIY I’ve been doing, just innocently walking along past a tree surgeon doing his thing).

The separate drill and impact driver is a good tip. I’ve found it a huge time saver. Loads quicker to put down the drill and pick up the driver than to stop drilling, take out the drill bit, drop it in the pile of bits on the floor, eventually find it, put it somewhere safe, fumble with your gloves to pick up the screwdriver bit, take off your gloves, pick up the screwdriver bit, put it in the drill, put your gloves back on, screw the screw in, take the screwdriver bit out and put it in your pocket, realise that it’s missed your pocket and actually dropped on the floor, get down on hands and knees to find it, kneel on the drill bit, swear, put the drill bit in, drill the next hole, take the drill bit out, realise that you didn’t find the screwdriver bit a minute ago……

Luckily for us Toolstation and Screwfix are right next to each other so can get different things from each depending on which one is cheaper.

sammaratti – Member
Correct, a private home you don’t need any type of asbestos survey.

But you would have to be very very stupid not to, unless you’re 100% sure you have no asbestos in your property.

Maybe, but if you’re not planning on disturbing anything that could be asbestos during the actual work, then you’ve got to go through the process of drilling, cutting, taking samples etc to send off for testing, potentially needlessly exposing yourself to the thing you’re trying to avoid.

Toolstation may well be cheaper than Screwfix, but with a trade account at Screwfix I get free coffee and doughnuts!

Free tea/coffee in Toolstaion for all round here. Free Bacon roll at Tradepoint/B&Q last month as well. Worth signing up to the mailing list for special discounts with TS and SF.

Thisisnotaspoon

That is exactly why I suggested a survey. You would be very suprised just to how many products in the average household can contain asbestos.

And you should never drill or cut anything that you think should be asbestos

Another thing – think very carefully about what you want for the future (difficult I know) as it will be easier to prepare things now than to damage newly plastered walls.

I did this in our bathroom – simply a case of chasing in some twin & earth and leaving exposed (not not wired in of course) behind the vanity unit. Then if I want to add a shaving point/toothbrush charger in the future all I need do is get an electrician in to wire up each end.