1970 House Renovation - 3 floor townhouse build log

Finished off the downlights in the kitchen, few leading up the stairs and one on the landing



And then, all the tiling is finished and grouted now. I'm pretty happy with this given it was my first time tiling... and not with a small tile by any stretch!

I'm lucky enough to have next to no lippage, so pretty chuffed. Some grout spacing is slightly off, but not immediately obvious when you're in the room.






This is the next project, massive feature wall with... more porcelain! Turning out to be an expensive kitchen project.



P.s. Excuse the photo quality... something up with my canon M I'll look into!
 
Not updated this for a while!

- Kitchen is now completed
- Hallways and upstairs ceilings done
- Ground floor walls removed

We have a photographer coming for the kitchen from the installer... So will post photos up when that is done!

We're now finishing upstairs which should be done quickly, just painting and carpets to do which isn't a lot of work.

After that just downstairs remains until house is completed.
 
The Craig said:
Looks great!

Any more pics of other rooms and plans for this year?
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Many thanks!

I'm not actually sure I showed the front room yet?

In terms of progress we paused for a bit, maybe got complacent. Upstairs we have one bedroom done with new carpets, we have roofers coming to fix a minor leak and then one round of plastering to complete the top floor, followed by new carpets.

After that really, just new downstairs bathroom to create / downstairs hall to decorate and downstairs room. Also refresh upstairs bathroom.
 
Semple said:
Ah noooo was expecting to see more finished pics!

Got a rough idea of the costs of the whole renovation @rexehuk?
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I'll get more pictures up... Someone tried to break into house Monday so clearly the locals like it too...

fastwunz said:
Find much asbestos?
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Luckily not, only asbestolux above Integrated garage which is stable.

Wore respirators while doing the works anyway just to be safe.
 
fastwunz said:
That’s fortunate - I would have expected it to be on the soffits, under cloaking, pipe lagging, flooring, artex ceilings, boiler flues... - result! It can be mega expensive to get rid of in 70’s houses!

They even had asbestos filters for cigarettes believe it or not lol
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I lie. The soffits were actually asbestos... the guys who fitted new ones didn't have any masks or gear - I quietly locked the door and let them work...
 
Lord-Jaffa said:
If it's in good condition then just encapsulate it with ET-150 paint, if its raw board then even painting it can exceed the control limits for working with Asbestos though. Truly awful material.
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Yeah I was working in the garage yesterday building storage, and did think to myself whether there could be dust in the air from the AIB and if I should really be using the garage as a workshop. I did actually think about spraying it with a heavy PVA mix to bind it and prevent any dust, but something made for the job would probably be a far better idea. Would cost me £100 by looks of it in paint, so have to weigh that up with dropped ceiling (plus the insulation value I gain from doing that).
 
I can't believe when I started this thread, and where we now are! I realised I haven't posted anymore updates on what we got up to - covid really screwed us all over :)

I just have to say that embarking on this, and doing the majority of it solo has been incredibly hard and tiring but also hugely rewarding. I feel like I've gained skills for life and am now fairly competent at electrics and plumbing! It's amusing looking back at using Yorkshires as a DIYer to progressing to end feeds and owning enough plumbing gear to setup my own business :cry:.

To anyone else considering it, if you're willing to put in the research and graft it makes me smile each morning seeing what you've built so I would thoroughly recommend it.
 
Buffman said:
Great to re read! Have you got any more plans?

Im in for more pics
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We've been doing more work, I've been less on the ball recording it though. I'll try to get some more progression up over the next week or so.

jonneymendoza said:
Wow and you did this all on your own?

How much did you save roughly by doing this all on your own?
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The kitchen was installed professionally i.e. units/worktops as I don't have the stomach for that amount of risk. Can you imagine butchering a unit that is like £500? I think it's something I will always get done by pros now, the gear they had was simply not achievable as a DIYer (Mafell gear etc!)

But yeah the tiling, plumbing, electrics, sink installation, decorating and lights were all by me. Before anyone freaks out, had an electrician working with me (kitchen is protected area) signing off and basically by the end told me to just crack on as he said I was more than competent.

I'm not sure we have a figure on how much we saved, but it has to be fairly substantial. I think the savings are somewhat offset by finish though, as the budget for workers went into materials somewhat.
 
The Garden Patio (Hell on Earth)
One of the jobs I began during lockdown, was replacing the existing slabs in the garden, and we opted for 20mm porcelain tiles.

This job almost killed me, with a garden on the first floor I had to bring in all materials (porcelain, cement, MOT, sand) through the kitchen up from downstairs. Probably one of the only jobs in the house where I was near collapsing and said never again!

After mixing a few batches of mortar by hand, I ended up getting a cement mixer from all places Aldi (yes the supermarket). All the porcelain was laid on a full mortar bed with bonding slurry on the back of the slabs.

Taking up slabs / breaking down
The original garden had a very aggressive patio slope, which I wanted to reduce so you didn't end up tipping over when sitting down in a chair. Because I didn't want to remove all the material, I decided to build up (which I now see as a sign I probably am clinically insane)



Retaining wall
In order to build up, I built a mini retaining wall and probably went overboard with the engineering incorporating spiral reinforcement bars and straight 90 degree galv bar along the edge. I additionally added padstones to enable me to build in the fence later.





MOT and compacting
Ever tried to carry a compacter, up a flight of stairs and through your brand new kitchen? Amazing fun, and recommend it if you like swearing.



Finished job
Unfortunately photos of me in progress I can't find at the moment, but this is where we ended up. With material shortages laying the first slabs until completion was well over 8 months, not to mention the fact it physically almost destroyed me.

I still need to finish the steps which will also be done in tile, and the area as you step out. On the cards for next few weeks I hope.

 
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Buffman said:
Any updates to this @rexehuk ? The patio looks good!
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Good question! Thanks, it's proving good now we have a puppy too.

Downstairs is still being renovated, new ceilings and building a new en suite but paused for time being.

At the moment tackling the garden, got grp grating and finishing the tiling and steps for summer, complete with cedar cladding.

I'll post an update as thought folks has forgotten!
 
So, quick garden update from where we left off. Photos are a bit patchy as stopped taking so many but hopefully gives you a sense of what I'm doing!

Fencing
Our neighbors turned into an AirBnb so we wanted some privacy which pushed us to get the fence done also with a dog on the way wanted it more secure for them.

Started by fixing some posts to the house, began using resin fixings for this because why not (more fun to learn!)







Grating
When we moved in, they had boarded over this pretty big drop with decking boards, but all the supports were rotten and frankly hated the idea of falling through one day. We wanted some natural light down there so settled on GRP grating which you'd normally see used on railways etc. It was cost-effective and only cost about £200~ and with no risk of rot.



Went for resin anchors again (I love these things) with M10 bolts (5 each side) taking on wooden support beams


Coated the beams in bituminous paint to give them even better chances of survival


First side all bolted on, all in stainless steel fixings


Finished product, haven't got photos of the final one going down on the day
 
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