House revamp - where to start ?

[Mimi83 10]

Hi

I am looking for some advice/insights into revamping our old '60s 3-bed semi.

Basically the entire house is old and tired-looking, albeit neutral.

We had the bathroom made new when we moved in and the living and bedrooms, we just installed a new budget carpet that has been well used by our toddlers.

I feel like now it is time to start doing up our home bit by bit ... but where do I start? There is a bit of all sorts of work needed including decoration, wood work, windows/patio door frames, kitchen work.

Please can you give some insights from experience? We are first-time homeowners so don't really know where to start or whom to contact.

Thanks!

 

P.S. Just for some idea, I have included the kind of work that needs to be done below... I know it sounds ugly but really we live in a clean and mostly tidy house However the house does need work for sure ...

 

 

• The walls are covered in old textured wallpaper that has been painted magnolia. We would like smooth plastered walls.
  
• The built-in wardrobes, while sound in form, are on the wrong side of the room ... this gives us very little space for the bed. We would like to have them on the opposite wall of the room.
  
• The boiler cupboard is rather ugly inside and out and has no shelves/etc inside to help in storage.
  
• The windows, while double-glazed, have black mold growing under the seal. (This is one of the things i'm most concerned about).
  
• The staircase/rail is very dated in design and the carpet is old and ugly.
  
• Downstairs, the flooring is laminated but sort of a botch job with holes for radiator pipes that are gaping open.
  
• The kick-boards are again rather in poor shape.
  
• It is the same story through the kitchen, though I did in my own way try to give it a 'theme' with some colourful blinds/rugs to make it look a bit harmonious. But it is a cheap kitchen and the splash-back tile grout is coming off or blackish
  
• In the living room, the back opens up into the garden; this is an old-fashioned sliding door which works perfectly but is dated and the external wooden frame is badly weathered.
  

 

---------- Post added 10-12-2016 at 14:12 ----------

 

Ooh I forgot to mention; in the living room, there is a chimney breast alongside stone/concrete side 'wings' for placing the TV etc ... this takes up a huge amount of unused space. Ideally I would like to get rid of this but it would mean proper construction-related messy work ...

[jsmith2009 10]

hi i be happy to look at the work kind regards jeff

[dan2802 53]

Jeff is a quality tradesman and should be able to sort all trades to get your home back in shape.

[Dan_Ashcroft 10]

Start at the top of the house (roof), then work down.

 

Make sure its dry (roof, damp), safe (electrics) and secure (doors, windows), then think about the cosmetic stuff.

 

You often can't move fitted wardrobes, as they can't be on external walls

[geared 317]

How much work are you willing to do yourself?

 

Things like removing wallpaper are relatively simple but can be really time consuming, it's a job you can easily manage by yourself, but pay someone to do it and it can cost quite abit just due to the labour charges involved.

[handypandy 14]

The hardest part sometimes when you are living in it, is to actually make a start, psyching yourself up for the work ahead. Once you have made that start, the process can be quite cathartic.

 

If you are sure that the basic structure is good, ie. roof, pointing, windows and doors, all the other stuff is mainly cosmetic. Plan all your dirty work first and start at the top and work your way down. Decorate last.

 

If you are having trades in to do some of the work, get them to quote and ask their advice on the order of work. Nothing worse than having work done in the wrong order, then having to patch up or do things twice.

 

 

.

[Mac_Plas 10]

Id start with the windows and patio doors.

 

If your living in the property while it's being done start upstairs with the bedrooms and work your way down and out.

 

It will take a bit longer and might cost a little more but you can see the progress room by room, check the work room by room, not living in a building site for 6 months, if you run out of money you can stop without having the house upside down it's also less stressful, you can also say do the bedrooms and stop for a month to have a break.

 

We plastered a full house last January and took about 6 weeks, did a couple of rooms and let the customer decorate and have a break, went back and did the living room and dining room a couple of weeks later and finished with the h/s/l at the end of January.

 

Hope this helps

 

Chris

 

---------- Post added 13-12-2016 at 12:16 ----------

 

I'd also take the paper off yourself as said, gating a tradesmen to do will cost.

 

Don't hold the steamer on too long as you might blow the backing plaster and that will lead to more work for your plasterer and cost you more money.

[Chez2 10]

handypandy has said pretty much what I was going to say.

 

We have done a house bit by bit but also a complete gut of a house. I would say to take it in stages and spend money according to how long you want to stay. If doing it to sell on then buy good quality but not over the top. If planning to say for good then still keep in mind that you should not overspend for the market rate of the house. Its not always easy to foresee a change in circumstances.

 

Keep in mind the access route through the house for tradespeople for future work. Don't do the room they have to pass though to do other jobs.

 

Set a budget for each room based on good research not just a finger in the air price. Go for a quality trades person, not cheap.

 

 

You mention some rooms look dated. Keep in mind that styles change so you don't want to be stuck with an ultra modern kitchen or bathroom when styles change. If you decorate in a flexible way its amazing how different you can make a room look by changing soft furnishings and accessories.

[Starlc 11]

If your going to be living in the house you are going to need some habitable rooms with working facilities so working from the top down may not be the best way forward for you ! I have gone through a full house renovation while living in so know exactly what it is like, all rooms where shelled back to brick and even floor joists replaced etc !

 

Good luck !

[Mimi83 10]

Thank you everyone; your words have been eye opening indeed. It seems that i must start with an external house maintenance guy to check the roof first? Will he also check an old patch of ceiling mould in the upstairs bedroom?

 

Re Dan: the wardrobe presently is on the common wall between two houses. I want to put it on the opposite internal wall ...(i hope I'm making sense; it's definitely not an external wall). But I therefore will have to also replace a fixed window pane with a movable/open-shut window on the other side. It is part of a ginormous wall-to-wall front window that only opens at one end. It's beginning to sound difficult even as I write this Sigh.

[matssundin13 10]

We're kind of in the middle of doing a similar thing.

 

House had been rewired a few years ago, and due to tight funds, we're generally doing one room at a time. Had all the windows replaced upstairs and redone all 3 bedrooms.

 

Each bedroom has been stripped back to the bare walls, replastered, new skirting, door, door frame, coving, wardrobes built, decorated, then new carpet. I did all decorating etc, just left other bits to pro's I know.

 

My thought is do each room right, do it once, then next time it only needs repainting and maybe carpet.

[Mimi83 10]

We're kind of in the middle of doing a similar thing.

 

House had been rewired a few years ago, and due to tight funds, we're generally doing one room at a time. Had all the windows replaced upstairs and redone all 3 bedrooms.

 

Each bedroom has been stripped back to the bare walls, replastered, new skirting, door, door frame, coving, wardrobes built, decorated, then new carpet. I did all decorating etc, just left other bits to pro's I know.

 

My thought is do each room right, do it once, then next time it only needs repainting and maybe carpet.

 

Thank you! That's an encouraging case in point... i am now thinking about following this rough order of things as well.

Can you recommend any window fixing people who can remove mold from the surrounds and reseal the window? Thanks.