buying older home - renovations and redecorations chat

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by Alien

Upstairs dilemma treating the original floor boards (great condition) or for same price getting a laminate floor with sound reducing underlay

any opinions

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We didn’t treat our floorboards; we filled them with a white sealant, then painted them all in white floor paint: they look amazing.

In our old house the floorboards had less gaps/better condition, so we stained them, they looked amazing though.

What do you mean by treating them? Can’t you stain/varnish/paint them?

[Alien]

I have no idea what do I mean. Carpenter mentioned sanding and staining (but the stain is to keep the colour staying as natural as possible


I decided to go for laminate with underlay for the two of the bedrooms upstairs and landing. We got good flooring and good noise reducing underlay. We need to move in during the school break, this year is being very thought on DS adn I need him settled before he is back to school

[Alien]

Can I ask why everyone suggest rewire. Is it always necessary for 38 year old house?

[parisdisneyfan]

Our survey suggested this on our 46 year old house. My dh is an electrical engineer and as we are doing building work soon and redoing kitchens, bathrooms, sockets and switches and it had a new consumer unit/fuse box/smart meter in the last couple of years we have decided to risk it. We have no signs of rodents either which would be another reason to get it all replaced. The only couple of things we have found so far have been simple (although potentially dangerous/fire risk) mis wires on sockets which were simple to fix and easily accessible.

HOWEVER This is just what we have decided and take the risk associated with not replacing it all, don't take my word for not getting one in your house!

[Lisa123wm]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

Our survey suggested this on our 46 year old house. My dh is an electrical engineer and as we are doing building work soon and redoing kitchens, bathrooms, sockets and switches and it had a new consumer unit/fuse box/smart meter in the last couple of years we have decided to risk it. We have no signs of rodents either which would be another reason to get it all replaced. The only couple of things we have found so far have been simple (although potentially dangerous/fire risk) mis wires on sockets which were simple to fix and easily accessible.

HOWEVER This is just what we have decided and take the risk associated with not replacing it all, don't take my word for not getting one in your house!

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My hubby is also an electrical engineer and we have just moved into a 40 year old house. It’s the newest house we’ve bought.
We are having new sockets added throughout along with new consumer board etc and a full test on all the wiring. Electricians are here right now doing all of this. I’ve been told the wiring is fine so far.

Already had all the radiators replaced, it’s been a very busy couple of weeks, but want to get all this messy work out of the way before new flooring/carpets are fitted etc.

We will also be having new kitchen and bathrooms at some point in the future, so very similar to you 🙂

[Alien]

so far we have roofer and drains inspection. Seem everyone who quotes me for any work is looking for 1500 euro.

[Alien]

we are here less than 15 days and I changed my mind over so many things.

Wallpaper is still there in most rooms, we haven't done much since 23rd of december. I am not going to worry about removing popcorn ceiling for awhile, it's so expensive - better tackle higher priority items. We will pain few of the rooms over the wallpaper to see how it looks.

I love our new home. I thought that i need to have so much done before I feel at home but actually I am happy chilling out for awhile and only doing urgent items and not taking any more quick decisions that I later
regret

I said to DS no Disney this year and he is ok with it. DH on other hand

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Ahh the ceilings! I have my Electrician Mate coming Tuesday to look at where I want spots in the dining room. Then I am ripping the ceiling down. Deep joy.

[Alien]

We are getting a lot of information but not much work done to the room we decided to do properly

we took the wardrobe to get quote for new build in wardrobes
we got quote for replastering/sorting out the popcorn ceiling
we decided that it's good time to look at insulation when the wardrobes are done
We got guy to look (quote still pending, will get few)
the insulation guy said we need to sort out plumber to move the radiator and electrition to get us few new plugs before we start plastering as we are moving the location of the bed

So here we are keep calling people but at some point someone will say yes, this is the right time and we will actually will get something done!

I am sure if we were more clued in we would know better who to contact first but we will get there


We checked the chimney - no water coming in
Repair of the chimney to use it as fireplace would cost 4000euro
Stove & flue and stove installation (wood burning) would cost 3300 euro
Balloon if we don't want to do anything for awhile - 25 euro
Closing it off 1000 (without actually removing it)

went for the 25 euro for now. I am trying to research types of stoves and potential impact to asthmatic before deciding to stove. Will it be bit sad to have fireplace that we will never use as fireplace if we just block it - structure we don't need and only makes other decoration of the room bit on the sad side? Stove seems to be most sensible way forward.

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by Alien

We are getting a lot of information but not much work done to the room we decided to do properly

we took the wardrobe to get quote for new build in wardrobes
we got quote for replastering/sorting out the popcorn ceiling
we decided that it's good time to look at insulation when the wardrobes are done
We got guy to look (quote still pending, will get few)
the insulation guy said we need to sort out plumber to move the radiator and electrition to get us few new plugs before we start plastering as we are moving the location of the bed

So here we are keep calling people but at some point someone will say yes, this is the right time and we will actually will get something done!

I am sure if we were more clued in we would know better who to contact first but we will get there


We checked the chimney - no water coming in
Repair of the chimney to use it as fireplace would cost 4000euro
Stove & flue and stove installation (wood burning) would cost 3300 euro
Balloon if we don't want to do anything for awhile - 25 euro
Closing it off 1000 (without actually removing it)

went for the 25 euro for now. I am trying to research types of stoves and potential impact to asthmatic before deciding to stove. Will it be bit sad to have fireplace that we will never use as fireplace if we just block it - structure we don't need and only makes other decoration of the room bit on the sad side? Stove seems to be most sensible way forward.

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I feel your pain, we are having such problems getting people to come and quote for what we think is a big job but they either don't get back to you or turn up or don't bother sending a quote. I do understand that quotes are a pain for them when they might not get the work but Only people that keep hassling me are double glazing to replace windows!

We are going to start on one of the bedrooms in 2 weeks as it has the least work to do and I will just go slow. Hoping that we will get a bathroom fitter sorted soon and get them done. Just keep saying to myself - this time next year it will be beautiful