The House Projects Thread

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Jimmy Choo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

Jobbo wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:25 pm Thank you to Jimmy Choo for coming over today to help me fit a replacement double oven. Quite straightforward since I had a spare in the garage (really). Would have been easier had I not noticed a new water feature from the light switches before he arrived. Turned out to be an elbow in the main cold water feed in the loft which had popped off; sopping wet insulation pulled back and hopefully the wiring will dry out. Fortunately I had a decent push-fit elbow in stock to fix the immediate problem.
Of all the things to have a spare in the garage!
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Jobbo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jobbo »

I’ve probably got spares for pretty much everything in there 😂

Electrics seemed fine this morning so I’ve turned the light circuits back on. Getting my dehumidifier tomorrow to make certain there’s no lingering damp but it doesn’t smell damp anywhere so I think I was quick enough turning off the water to get away with it.
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Jimmy Choo
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Jimmy Choo »

Jobbo wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 6:54 pm I’ve probably got spares for pretty much everything in there 😂

Electrics seemed fine this morning so I’ve turned the light circuits back on. Getting my dehumidifier tomorrow to make certain there’s no lingering damp but it doesn’t smell damp anywhere so I think I was quick enough turning off the water to get away with it.
As long as the lights that are supposed to be off aren't on and the ones that are supposed to be on aren't off, you're grand!
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DeskJockey
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

Today I grew a pair (at least temporarily) and messed about with something I normally consider off limits: plumbing(ish).

We had a leak in the shower a couple of weeks ago, so had the builder who built the bathroom out and ended up with four rows of tiles coming off for the plaster to dry before being rehung. While testing the seals I noticed a small leak from behind the thermostatic shower unit.

So, I watched an installation video, turned the water off, unscrewed the unit and the escutcheons, and applied a bathroom silicone sealant to the holes the pipes came through. I thought the original seal had failed, but it turned out they had never used any sealant on it in the first place which seems rather stupid as the cold water feed comes through between two tiles, which also seems poorly thought out.

24 hours to fully set and we can have showers again!
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KiwiDave
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by KiwiDave »

Investigative work done yesterday to discover/confirm both bathroom floors are fucked because the previous owner of the house didn't seal the shower trays properly... :x
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by dinny_g »

DeskJockey wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:30 pm Today I grew a pair (at least temporarily) and messed about with something I normally consider off limits: plumbing(ish).
Nothing better than having a go at something and it all working out. 8-)

While not quite in the same league, I recently took on refurbishing some oak furniture. Just sanding 15 years of tea cup stains, spills and the other half’s make-up mess, then waxing but it’s come up like new and is good for another 15 years
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by KiwiDave »

dinny_g wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:42 pm While not quite in the same league, I recently took on refurbishing some oak furniture. Just sanding 15 years of tea cup stains, spills and the other half’s make-up mess, then waxing but it’s come up like new and is good for another 15 years
That's got to be hugely satisfying 8-)
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by dinny_g »

Yeah Oak’s a marvellous material to work with. Forgives a lot of sins. You could go at it with a power sander without worrying about taking too much off.

I may do another coat of wax because it’s now a slightly lighter hue to the bed frame (which I didn’t do). I did two bedside cabinets and a dresser. They’re English Oak
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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DeskJockey
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

dinny_g wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:42 pm
DeskJockey wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:30 pm Today I grew a pair (at least temporarily) and messed about with something I normally consider off limits: plumbing(ish).
Nothing better than having a go at something and it all working out. 8-)

While not quite in the same league, I recently took on refurbishing some oak furniture. Just sanding 15 years of tea cup stains, spills and the other half’s make-up mess, then waxing but it’s come up like new and is good for another 15 years
Does feel good, true. More than anything I find that I lack time and tools (although it was an excellent opportunities to buy a 32mm wrench). I'm not particularly skilled, so there's plenty to learn, but YouTube is great for that.
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by dinny_g »

Very true - an example of that is a mate of mine who, with ZERO building skills, built a double garage and single carport at the end of his garden.

Suitable foundations - there's a YouTube video for that. Operating a Mini Digger - there's a YouTube video for that. Laying a concrete floor - there's a YouTube video for that etc.

He did the lot... Very impressive really
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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davecG60
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by davecG60 »

davecG60 wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 2:13 pm Thought this would be as good as place as any to ask...

Our house is on the market and the plan is to downsize and be relatively mortgage free. So we've put off viewing any actual houses for fear pf getting our hopes up and missing out. Today we decided we may as well look at a couple of houses that need work as they're decent enough and also to get back into the habit of looking at stuff etc.
First house owned for years by an elderly person needs full heating as old storage heaters ain't the best, new kitchen & wall knocking down to make it open plan. 3rd bedroom is an old style "box" room so needs either seriously thinking about or swapping for the large bathroom at the back - this is obvs big job as all waste and water run straight down to back of the house and the kitchen is underneath too. Rest of house just needs full decorating and tidying. Good location and gardens etc good. Nice garage and store is a bonus. However theres a query been mentioned by the agent about asbestos in the porch .

Second property is ex rental & needs full decor and refresh. Front and back garden doing and really thats it. 3 decent bedrooms which will do us for now. However there is asbestos in the porch ( owner is fixing this before sale ) but there is also asbestos roof to the garage ( owner not touching this at all) . We have done several projects before but never come across an asbestos problem, so we don't know how bad it is. I know the fibres are dangerous when you disturb them and we would want to clear it all before we re-sold in a few years. But how bad is it all to get rid of?

The first property is the one we'd make more money on but as we are downsizing due to poor health ( I'm still long covid and wife's health not too great) would it be worth the stress and mither. It's top end of budget but reckon a cheeky cash offer could secure it. The second is easier to do but wouldn't make us as much in the long run but has confirmed asbestos to sort.

What are peoples experiences with asbestos? Plan is to live there for 5 years max before selling up and moving somewhere isolated ;)
Think an update is in order!

Didn't buy any of these houses. Had an offer accepted then survey etc on a 3 bed 60s end semi. It had been extended downstairs and just needed finishing off ( due to separation ). Survey showed a few things up but nowt major. Until we found out they'd breached planning ! We're obviously fully committed at this point and continued with the sale. However despite daily reassurances the works would be done to comply with planning they never got done and after a few weeks of nothing we ran out of patience. That was house number 1

House 2
Whilst going to view a potential alternative in case house 1 fell through we spotted a house pop up on instagram agent page ( before it hit rightmove) 3 bed ex-council 50s build with planning for a big side extension that the vendors had decided not to go ahead with. It was the last house on the row to be built so had a big plot and big garden too. Viewed it that night and asking price offer accepted the following morning. That was February. We'd sold ours and rather than asking our buyer to wait for the completion of a new sale we'd asked the new seller if they would rent so we could move straight in. They said they would so brill we got cracking.
Survey showed a few things ( back extension had been put up by their relative in a weekend !) We'd be knocking it down anyway for the extension so not nbothered about it at all.
Then we found it had had Japanese knotweed.... Treated by the borough council but the infection had come from district council land. Trying to get answers from these pair of authorities was mildly testing to say the least. This was March and I only got an answer to my query yesterday form the District Council !!
The vendors were always slow to answer our queries which was annoying but not everyone works the same way ;)
Then they said they couldn't rent as they didn't want the upheaval - this was about 3 weeks before our completion on the old house :o :o :oops:
We found a local place to rent for 6 months at 3 times our old mortgage price and managed to get it all sorted in time for completion.

They were going to buy a new build in the neighbouring town but apparently 3 days before Easter had been told (by Barratts ) to get a survey in place for the new house by thyeh end of the week or the saleprice would be re-neg'd. Survey didn't happen and the house was relisted for £20k more the following week. I'm not sure how accurate the details are as that is what we were told by the vendors so will obvs be in their favour!
No need to panic though they reassured us, we still want to sell. And that was it....
Days of silence turned into weeks, which turned into months..... and then the email to the agents came " We don't want to sell anymore"

So we'd basically been strung along for 6 months and had the piss taken out of our goodwill.

We are sat in a rental we didn't need paying an absolute fortune that we can't afford. Not good

House 3

Viewed the day after the twats email. Offer accepted. Survey next week. Now need a mortgage because house prices here have shot up this year. Vendors have lost out on 2 properties due to chains being broken so will move into their parents house. Fingers crossed this is third time lucky :|
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DeskJockey
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

That sounds painful. And, definitely, fingers crossed.
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by dinny_g »

I sold a house last year with an 2 Asbestos downpipes, one from the toilet, one from the roof and an, albeit redundant Asbestos water tank in the attic
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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davecG60
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by davecG60 »

DeskJockey wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:12 pm That sounds painful. And, definitely, fingers crossed.
Cheers.
Went round with the "kids" last night to show them their new home.
We spoke with the vendors about moving ASAP and we're all in agreement to get shifting. They've put a deposit down on a new build and are ordering fittings etc, so as sure as we can ve it'll happen thus time.
They said if we need to move stuff prior to completion they've a lockable garage we can have as well.

Not counting my chickens yet though!!!
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by DeskJockey »

Certainly sounds like a better chance!
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by davecG60 »

Just out of interest...
This is not going to turn into another project house :lol: but

The rear 2 bedrooms are Dormers and each measure approx 3.5M X 2.5M. There may well talk of widening the rooms to the max possible width to approx 4.5M X 2.5M whilst keeping the Dormers. The Vendor reckons it's about £10k to do ? Anybody done similar ? Our first instinct is double story extension at the rear - creating bigger kitchen diner with bi-folds and properly extend the bedrooms but that would obviously mean more £££££ which defeats the idea of moving somewhat ;)
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Ascender »

The planning process is just a whole lot of fun and games isn't it? Except they don't tell you the rules until you're halfway through the game and then start springing new ones on you.

And as for the Crofting Commission, a branch of Scottish Government, they seem to be blaming massive delays on covid which is strange given the role they supposedly carry out. Anyway, they apparently have a 3 month delay on a 3 month process to review applications to de-croft land. After 8 weeks I thought I'd give them a friendly mail to see how they were getting on. At this point they mentioned that they needed a certain map in a certain format in order to submit the request in to their q. So they've done absolutely nothing with it for nearly two months and made no mention of this map in the submission requirements.

They also confused the hell out of all of us by asking for a "master map". I thought the architects would know what that meant, but they just shrugged their shoulders. A few emails later and I established they needed something overlaid on to an OS map. I despair...
Cheers,

Mike.
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Ascender »

davecG60 wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 4:41 pm
davecG60 wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 2:13 pm Thought this would be as good as place as any to ask...

Our house is on the market and the plan is to downsize and be relatively mortgage free. So we've put off viewing any actual houses for fear pf getting our hopes up and missing out. Today we decided we may as well look at a couple of houses that need work as they're decent enough and also to get back into the habit of looking at stuff etc.
First house owned for years by an elderly person needs full heating as old storage heaters ain't the best, new kitchen & wall knocking down to make it open plan. 3rd bedroom is an old style "box" room so needs either seriously thinking about or swapping for the large bathroom at the back - this is obvs big job as all waste and water run straight down to back of the house and the kitchen is underneath too. Rest of house just needs full decorating and tidying. Good location and gardens etc good. Nice garage and store is a bonus. However theres a query been mentioned by the agent about asbestos in the porch .

Second property is ex rental & needs full decor and refresh. Front and back garden doing and really thats it. 3 decent bedrooms which will do us for now. However there is asbestos in the porch ( owner is fixing this before sale ) but there is also asbestos roof to the garage ( owner not touching this at all) . We have done several projects before but never come across an asbestos problem, so we don't know how bad it is. I know the fibres are dangerous when you disturb them and we would want to clear it all before we re-sold in a few years. But how bad is it all to get rid of?

The first property is the one we'd make more money on but as we are downsizing due to poor health ( I'm still long covid and wife's health not too great) would it be worth the stress and mither. It's top end of budget but reckon a cheeky cash offer could secure it. The second is easier to do but wouldn't make us as much in the long run but has confirmed asbestos to sort.

What are peoples experiences with asbestos? Plan is to live there for 5 years max before selling up and moving somewhere isolated ;)
Think an update is in order!

Didn't buy any of these houses. Had an offer accepted then survey etc on a 3 bed 60s end semi. It had been extended downstairs and just needed finishing off ( due to separation ). Survey showed a few things up but nowt major. Until we found out they'd breached planning ! We're obviously fully committed at this point and continued with the sale. However despite daily reassurances the works would be done to comply with planning they never got done and after a few weeks of nothing we ran out of patience. That was house number 1

House 2
Whilst going to view a potential alternative in case house 1 fell through we spotted a house pop up on instagram agent page ( before it hit rightmove) 3 bed ex-council 50s build with planning for a big side extension that the vendors had decided not to go ahead with. It was the last house on the row to be built so had a big plot and big garden too. Viewed it that night and asking price offer accepted the following morning. That was February. We'd sold ours and rather than asking our buyer to wait for the completion of a new sale we'd asked the new seller if they would rent so we could move straight in. They said they would so brill we got cracking.
Survey showed a few things ( back extension had been put up by their relative in a weekend !) We'd be knocking it down anyway for the extension so not nbothered about it at all.
Then we found it had had Japanese knotweed.... Treated by the borough council but the infection had come from district council land. Trying to get answers from these pair of authorities was mildly testing to say the least. This was March and I only got an answer to my query yesterday form the District Council !!
The vendors were always slow to answer our queries which was annoying but not everyone works the same way ;)
Then they said they couldn't rent as they didn't want the upheaval - this was about 3 weeks before our completion on the old house :o :o :oops:
We found a local place to rent for 6 months at 3 times our old mortgage price and managed to get it all sorted in time for completion.

They were going to buy a new build in the neighbouring town but apparently 3 days before Easter had been told (by Barratts ) to get a survey in place for the new house by thyeh end of the week or the saleprice would be re-neg'd. Survey didn't happen and the house was relisted for £20k more the following week. I'm not sure how accurate the details are as that is what we were told by the vendors so will obvs be in their favour!
No need to panic though they reassured us, we still want to sell. And that was it....
Days of silence turned into weeks, which turned into months..... and then the email to the agents came " We don't want to sell anymore"

So we'd basically been strung along for 6 months and had the piss taken out of our goodwill.

We are sat in a rental we didn't need paying an absolute fortune that we can't afford. Not good

House 3

Viewed the day after the twats email. Offer accepted. Survey next week. Now need a mortgage because house prices here have shot up this year. Vendors have lost out on 2 properties due to chains being broken so will move into their parents house. Fingers crossed this is third time lucky :|
As if life isn't stressful enough! Its so strange to hear how people treat others and string them along with stuff like this.

Fingers crossed for you.
Cheers,

Mike.
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Simon
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by Simon »

Had a garden airer receptacle in the garden which we've all hurt our foot on when walked on, with Noah hurting his little toe quite badly last weekend. So I vowed that this weekend it would be gone. Thing is that it was set in concrete, so had to dig around it and break it up it to get it out the ground.

By coincidence on a DIY video on YouTube this week I saw this which I picked up yesterday for £65 from Screwfix, including 22 accessories (in case the price changes by the time you click on it).

Very impressed. I'm certain that there are better SDS drills available, but for the money you can't get close from the big brands. It was able to break up the block of concrete in 20 minutes, which included stopping to do further digging around and whatnot. Seriously impressed. Well worth it if you need an SDS drill and don't want to spend big money.
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jamcg
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Re: The House Projects Thread

Post by jamcg »

Simon wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 5:58 pm Had a garden airer receptacle in the garden which we've all hurt our foot on when walked on, with Noah hurting his little toe quite badly last weekend. So I vowed that this weekend it would be gone. Thing is that it was set in concrete, so had to dig around it and break it up it to get it out the ground.

By coincidence on a DIY video on YouTube this week I saw this which I picked up yesterday for £65 from Screwfix, including 22 accessories (in case the price changes by the time you click on it).

Very impressed. I'm certain that there are better SDS drills available, but for the money you can't get close from the big brands. It was able to break up the block of concrete in 20 minutes, which included stopping to do further digging around and whatnot. Seriously impressed. Well worth it if you need an SDS drill and don't want to spend big money.

We buy those to use as breakers. They wear out and break so often that this is one of the few times that buying a cheaper tool makes financial sense :lol:
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