SD's new house, the practical stuff

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SD's new house, the practical stuff
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dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 9:43 am Post subject: SD's new house, the practical stuff

they have at last got a house, next thing is to make it into a home.

so far i have had a look at the place and in the words of bob the builder "yes we can " tis a bit distressed in places though

today's job is to go in alone and have a proper poke about, start the risk assessment and make sure the very keen but amateur helpers for the initial clearance/ first stage gutting are going to be safe and there are plenty of useful tasks to do that i can instruct in faster than i could do them.

the corner support of the stairs has been cut out as somebody wanted to make a cupboard door from plastic covered chipboard in the edwardian side panelling

the gully drain that directs water into the airbricks is quite a good un as well

more later

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 9:51 am Post subject:
How old is it?

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 11:30 am Post subject:

Congratulations on a successful closing!

I had to google air bricks. Always amazing to me how myopic our worldview can become... (I suppose they're not a thing here because the ventilation doesn't outweigh the heating losses, and our stick-built houses likely breathe more readily anyway, and we don't tend to have houses directly next to each other, so proper drainage around a foundation helps to keep it dry anyway. - I imagine they are a thing in southern parts of the US where brick homes are more commmon)

Can you get a look at the sill and judge its condition?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 11:43 am Post subject:
Airbricks are crap, ineffective and a great source of drafts

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 11:52 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Airbricks are crap, ineffective and a great source of drafts

Well I imagined as much, but I can see how they came about in a prior era.

Many homes here of a certain age had a central chaseway built in for plumbing, etc, that essentially acted as a chimney to pull heat through and out the attic, and in the event of a fire make sure that every room erupted into flames almost at the same time.

Lots of things seem like good ideas at the time

(But I wasn't about to go poo-poo-ing your building traditions...

)

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 1:30 pm Post subject:

a very interesting couple of hours in their c1900 hundred house.

a few of the problems are "improvements " that have caused bad things. seem fairly easy to fix.

at least some of the damp is not rising and needs addressing as part of the make it dry job but again nowt too complex.

the cracking in the front face and party wall looks like a combo of heave, bomb damage, lack of ties between the walls and a rotten lintel over the sitting room window ( and perhaps a rotten or eaten sole plate in a semi load bearing wall ) a bit messy and a multi approach job but again nowt too horrible or expensive.

the woodworm have eaten a few moderately important sticks ( nowt wrong with a bit of remedial structural timberwork ) but so far there looks to be plenty of clean wood in most of the house including 2 rooms of new floorboards

the original lead gas pipes for the lights are still in some walls ( gas safe chap booked to cap the meter and prep the boiler for drainage and wrapping )

the electrics will not be turned on

the square foot "test pit" in the hall floor indicates they might have a full set of 1900 multicolour geometric mosaic floor tiles

apart from the amazing gravity defying stairs which have little visible means of support tis fairly safe for the stripout crew to remove carpets, paper and all my wreckage as i expose and remove stuff that has to go.

i recon we might need a couple or more acrows but i should know for definite in about 4 hrs or so tomorrrow

demolition power tools and fubars are me for a few days

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 7:22 pm Post subject:

Here, air bricks have big signs over them that say 'Slugs Welcome'. Or so you'd think, anyway.

I looked a house today which would be a complete gut-and-refit job. It's too big, too ugly and too old. But it's in exactly the right place, with 6.5 acres. A no through road, backs onto to Forestry Commision land, on the way to school (pick up via the school bus)

I'm sorely tempted, and probably completely mad. The estate agent described me as 'brave', which sounds awfully dangerous.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 7:32 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

The estate agent described me as 'brave', which sounds awfully dangerous.

Sounds affordable if you've got a way to do the rehab on a reasonable budget..... Though it may be worth pricing out a complete re-build in parralel to provide perspective to the budget

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 8:05 pm Post subject:
Do post about your renovation works, so I can live vicariously and squirrel away tips and tricks "just in case"

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 9:15 pm Post subject:

Slim wrote:

Though it may be worth pricing out a complete re-build in parralel to provide perspective to the budget

Could easily be the best way: you would likely end up with a far better house.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Aug 25, 17 9:44 pm Post subject:
WW's already done the building a house thing. The 'never again/this time I'll know what I'm doing' balance is for her to judge.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 17 1:11 am Post subject:

Slim wrote:

wellington womble wrote:

The estate agent described me as 'brave', which sounds awfully dangerous.

Sounds affordable if you've got a way to do the rehab on a reasonable budget..... Though it may be worth pricing out a complete re-build in parralel to provide perspective to the budget

I gather that's more common over there. Here we have outdated, power crazy, draconian dictators called the planning department. It's apparently their deepest desire to make sure nobody builds anything very sensible.

Last time, we did exactly that. It took two years, fourteen resubmissions, and three planning officers (consecutively) to get it passed. I wouldn't mind, but design number fourteen was nearly identical to design number two.

Last edited by wellington womble on Sat Aug 26, 17 1:33 am; edited 1 time in total

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 17 1:16 am Post subject:

sean wrote:

WW's already done the building a house thing. The 'never again/this time I'll know what I'm doing' balance is for her to judge.

I never said that! It went fairly well last time. Except the garage being in the wrong place. And that wasn't my fault. Oh, and we forgot to put a window on the stairs. And we forgot that the best views were over the road, and only put small windows facing that way. I argued for a pantry and another window in the bedroom, and lost. But I was right, there was room. All in all, it went reasonably well, and we got most things right.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 17 1:32 am Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

Slim wrote:

Though it may be worth pricing out a complete re-build in parralel to provide perspective to the budget

Could easily be the best way: you would likely end up with a far better house.

On the whole, I agree. If it were a small house, I would definitely do that. I would prefer to buy a smaller house, but can't find one with land, and there are few possibilities near Js school. It's such a perfect location/land combination, that the house is rather secondary. But to knock a four bed down and replace with a two bed would not make financial sense. Also, I think it would cost about double to rebuild as to renovate, and the plot is quite expensive to begin with, because of the land.

I remain undecided.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 17 8:07 am Post subject:
Is it somewhere you see yourself being in 5, 10 years? Is brexit going to bugger about with prices? If you have the means and enough knowledge to get the right people in / DIY safely, then why not?

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