Electrics and gas can both kill, so tread carefully or get a pro in. Anything else is fair game. The only other thing to approach with caution – plumbing – can make a large mess if it leaks, practice your soldering first if you plan on doing copper.

Decent tools are always worth it, get the commonly used ones first, some good lists posted here already (sds drill, cordless drill/impact driver, workmate, selection of saws & screwdrivers)

Lastly, if you’re new to a particular type of job – slow and steady wins the race. Every time.

Oh, and either the Readers Digest DIY guide or the Collins one. Worth their weight in gold, etc.

lol @ Saccades ,

Tell the wife to bugger off if she suggests floating shelves at any point. Same goes for fitting a shower tray that isn’t the right size because it looks nice so you have to tile some funky tiling to make up the difference and fill a hole of doom neatly.

I think we’ve all been there. The best advise here, is to tell the wife/GF/SO to bu88er off full stop until you’ve completed the refurb 🙄

For comparison, I had a full redo to do, it took approx. 4 months, some structural inside work to boot.

Started 23rd Dec, then spent 3 weeks solid (including xmas day – new neighbours were very forgiving) doing what I could. Then the next 3 months or so working 17:30 till 23:00 to get it done. (I’d gutted the entire house in 1 day)

I worked with the father in law (builder when he was available) and learnt an incredible amount very quickly. Plastering and gas I got done by trade people I knew as it was so much quicker and time was moving on.

S

over estimate the time to do any job, give your selftime and manage expectations.

My OH thinks that i can paint a 8m x 3m room in 2 or 3 days, including wood work and the ceiling. my mate is a pro and reckons twice that for him. I think that it’ll take me 9 days. from start to finish. I’m up to 10.5 months of stalling so far…

My OH thinks that i can paint a 8m x 3m room in 2 or 3 days, including wood work and the ceiling

Like my OH then. I usually multiply her figures by 4 or 5 for a reasonable starting point…

FWIW our 7 x 4 lounge has taken around 10 days so far (not including the electrical stuff):

Several days to strip old paper.
A day spent filling chases (we rewired the lighting) and patching some existing poor plasterwork.
Day for first undercoat.
Day for second undercoat.
Day for each topcoat (at least two).
A day to sand skirting back to something approaching good, still lots to do.
Two days painting the ceiling.

Of course we have to actually live in the room as well while all this is going on, just to complicate matters. And there is lots of detail stuff left to do (dealing with beams, doorframes, shelving, etc).

Just completed today!!

That’s all really, just a bit relieved/excited/daunted.

Good luck!

The only tip that I can give is don’t whatever you do read any of the excellent McMoonter threads. You will feel so utterly inadequate.

Have a look at http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk, it is a very good source of information and bar a few cocks, it is mostly full of very knowledgable people.

Other than that, watch out for costs getting out of control. Whenever I have estimated the cost of a job on my house, it has always been short.

Last one is to find a good supplier, avoid B&Q/homebase if possible. They are expensive and more often that not, dont have what I want. I use toolstation for anything small, free next day delivery over £10 and the prices are keen, also less2build or similar online company can be good on bricks or larger materials. Unless you can blag a trade account somewhere, I haven’t been able to.

FWIW our 7 x 4 lounge has taken around 10 days so far (not including the electrical stuff):

Several days to strip old paper.
A day spent filling chases (we rewired the lighting) and patching some existing poor plasterwork.
Day for first undercoat.
Day for second undercoat.
Day for each topcoat (at least two).
A day to sand skirting back to something approaching good, still lots to do.
Two days painting the ceiling.

Of course we have to actually live in the room as well while all this is going on, just to complicate matters. And there is lots of detail stuff left to do (dealing with beams, doorframes, shelving, etc).

That sounds excessive to me. 2 days for a ceiling? For my lounge, it took me 2 days to put up a plasterboard ceiling, cut holes for downlights, scrim and fill joins, sand back, mist coat and 2 top coats?

You should easily be able to do 2 coats of paint in a day, even a short day. Modern water based paints are dry enough to repaint in a few hours.

A few pics. 😯

Today’s good news was discovering every window needs lintels for new DG 🙁

I assume you have just compleated the purchase not the renovation . Where in leeds is it?

That bathroom suite is something…

*turns down brightness on laptop*

Copper coloured, tasseled sofa. 8)

Buy a big box of good face masks and use them. Really not worth inhaling the crap that comes out of renovation work.

Oh, and been there:
Once
Twice
Three
Four
Times…

Ooooh I like the stairs carpet!

I knew I forgot something the last time I saw that boiler pic….

Buy a big box of good face masks

Thanks to a bit of advice further up, I invested in a fetish mask ventilator thing.

Puts me in the mood for murderin’.

matt: do you move alot?!

HI Rich

I hope the house is coming on nicely.

I know a good bathroom man, Chris Cigan – only does bathrooms

The builder I was mentioning is Mark Bolger

There is a window manufacturer called quik slyde on bradford road – might be worth a look if you need some new ones.

All should be on google, but if you need numbers, let me know!

I hope the house is coming on nicely.

You’ve seen the pics above, yes?! 😉

Cheers Alastair – I’m rapidly becoming aware that budget limitations means I’m going to have to do most of it myself. I think I’m ok on fabricator for windows, but am in need of another comparison quote from a fitter.

If you know a (cheap) plasterer & possibly a tiler though, I’d be very grateful to hear!

@scotia – yes. But two we’re buy to let properties. Sadly the last one lost three years hard work worth of capital as the market plummeted.

Hang on….. is that A BAR in the lounge?!?

Yes. Mahogany. Want to buy it? Do you good price long time 😉

Plenty good advice on this thread . One thing I would add is avoid the temptation to work until your eyes are closing in an attempt to get things done quickly. I speak from experience putting down new flooring I tried to get it all done in 2 days, tired myself out and took an extra 2 days to correct all the ****** ups and cost an extra £40 into the bargain.

Yes. Mahogany. Want to buy it? Do you good price long time

if you’ll deliver it gratis (I live in Sydney) I will happily take that off your hands for a tenner.

I’d love that bar !

How much ! Where are you ?

That sounds excessive to me. 2 days for a ceiling?

I say again

Of course we have to actually live in the room as well while all this is going on, just to complicate matters

Things I’ve discovered:

1. Water pipe in appears to be lead; not yet discovered how far it goes and whether it spurs off as lead into kitchen as well; I hope not. That all needs to be ripped out and replaced and look like I’m going to have to do myself.*

2. Ceiling in front room knackered/dangerous.

3. Massive amounts of damp around bottom of chimney breast – not sure why. Will need so much exploratory smashing up, might as well get wood burner afterwards 😀 .

4. Windows/doors all need front lintels. I’m still at a loss with this; actually contemplating scaffolding though house and attempting them myself due to quotes coming in.*

5. Apparently I have a nice boiler (made by “Ideal” whoever they are), even though installed by the Chuckle Brothers. Every little bit of positive news helps.

6. The house should have never got a gas safety certificate (boiler installation and fire that should be condemned)

7. The advice given early on in this thread has been very useful, especially regarding tools/equip.

8. I’m actually quite scared/down on some days, but I love the place.

* I don’t have enough money.

Horrible things.

[

That was a bonus 8)

Kitchen looks ok though 😉

Marvelous thread. Sounds like we’re in a similar situation to you. Old house, LOTS needs doing, and to paraphrase the late George Harrison, it’s gonna take a whole lotta spending money and a whole lot of precious time.

Massive amounts of damp around bottom of chimney breast

Regarding this, we had the same issue. Fit a Chinaman’s Hat on top of the chimney. Possibly slightly un-PC, but that’s what everyone called them when I was asking around. We did it and problem solved.

If you’ve got a lead service I think your water compnay will replace it for nowt – mebbe, might have dreamt it.

Wow – quite project you’ve got yourself there OP!

We bought a renovation project 6 months ago – not quite as dated / neglected as yours but pretty bodged nonetheless.

Have a look at some things called Strongboys for fitting lintels. Make sure you need lintels for UPVC – we didn’t have them and still don’t, and the window company were fine with it.

Learn to plaster – diyplastering.co.uk runs courses but also has some great videos which i taught myself from. I still end up with some holes and dips, but these are easily sorted with Easyfill after it dries. I’ve done four walls now and have got loads to do.

Loads of jobs to do here – I’m half way though the bathroom, kitchen still to do, all flooring, oak framed garden room, oak framed garage / workshop etc.

Best advise I have is to do something every day. I work shifts so some nights I work leave me whacked. However, I’ll still do something – even if it measuring up for a fitting, compiling a list, marking something up, buying stuff online etc. It’s amazing how five minutes here and there will save you.

I’ve stuck some stuff on my blog – http://www.anacreinhampshie.blogspot.co.uk

Good luck Ox, it’s fun, but scary isn’t it? Oddly I find more comfort the more I remove; at least I can see what’s going on then!

Fit a Chinaman’s Hat on top of the chimney

Googing now thanks. All free advice welcome!

@ thestabiliser – thanks, but that only applied to the thingy at front of house, once it’s in the house, your problem. It’s a new thingy at front of house, so I’m hopeful that it’s not all lead.

@ siwhite – I’ll google strongboys now thanks *hopes this isn’t a wind-up!* I’ve not had conclusive decision yet as to whether lintels are needed, but I’m actually looking to get good windows in as a feature; and the lintels will need doing at some point. Next door didn’t, and it looks crap as the soldiers sag. I really want rid of soldiers as they spoil the look. One of those ‘best get it done now’ things, same as lead/ceiling/fire/everything!

Taking advice above, I do something every day, but don’t spend too much time there I get depressed! I still have a place only 2 mins away to come back to, wash, sleep etc. I’m very lucky in that respect!

Little update on here, as was suggested to keep general updates in one place.

Those photos take me back to stripping the current place I’m in. It all looks horrible until the last stages when you start painting it and then suddenly the rooms are transformed into something really nice!

We moved into a 1928 property in november, we ripped out the decrepit kitchen and got it done two weeks before Christmas. We can do anything else on the house until the deceased father in laws house is sold (its complicated).
We have a lead water pipe, apparently your water company will replace free it if you dig the channel from the house to the road.
None of the windows had sealant around them, the flashings were made from tin, the electrics need doing, the garden is overgrown and I’m waging a war with ivy as we speak, the old chap hasn’t spent a bean on the place for years according to a neighbour. And it shows. A least the roof is ok and the flat roof on the extension is in good order.
Massive project coming up in about 18 months. I have just bought the DK DIY book.

A sneaky afternoon off work and enlisted some help today.

This is ‘my’ bedroom at 12pm. Not to shabby really eh? Lick of paint etc..I move in at the end of March, so at least I’ll have one room to hide in.

One cup of tea later.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_videoeditor&v=wvQb0pTxqN4[/video]

The post-tragedy silhouette shot.

I was in the same place as you a while ago. The advice above about ‘do something everyday’ is perfect. This weekend I get to seal the bathtub and fit the shower screen to the none too plumb wall. Wish me luck- I loathe working with mastic.

Top tip- buy good quality mastic and tools. They really are worth their weight in gold.

Seems to me that you are making pretty decent progress there. We took on a project similar to that one about 12 years ago and it took many a late night but it did get finished. We ended up paying for the last bit of painting to be done though because we had finally had enough of it all.

Moved out last year to another (albeit much easier) project – just general updating of a 1980s house – every room needs decorating and bathrooms/kitchen/carpets all need replacing but it is liveable in. In 8 months we have only managed to finish our en-suite, rip out a walk-in wardrobe, complete the main bedroom/kids’ room, rip out and make good a kitchen with attached diner into one big room. No budget to replace the kitchen but just about to start on the main bathroom.