Bungalow build log

[Buffman]

Edit: need to fix dead photobucket links! Later pics are all working however

Got my 1st house 2 months ago and it needed a lot of renovation, as I bought it off the family of a deceased old lady. It's a 1960s 3 bed bungalow with a rather odd layout currently (more on that later).

Picture of layout (from rightmove sale)

** it's also got a carport with garage door adjacent to the garage

Estate agents picture of the front:
Unfortunately the estate agents photo paints it nicer than it is! I still need to do a lot of work of the outside

Bedroom 1:

To insert orignal old estate agent photo

After the ugly built in cupboard removed (and the old spiders/tarantulas that lay behind!!!):

Fresh lick of white paint

Latest :

Wallpaper & Coving removed, new paint straight onto the old plaster. Lots of polyfilla and sanding inbetween! Also got 2 new sockets in beside the feature wall where we will be putting the bed.

Carpets still to go down, and touch up paint after putting in new coving (I don't particularly like coving, but needed to cover up the marks from the old coving :O)


Living room:
This is a large ~6.3m by ~4m room with a big fireplace we'll need to get a burner in next year/when we have more cash...

Picture of the old non fireplace side of the living room. I intend to put my tv stuff on this side and have a dining table in front of the fire.

Painted walls, and lots of washing. Very difficult with 14ft high vaulted ceilings!

I'm going to be fitting an engineered wood floor to this room, hopefully next week



Hallway:
Hallway to bedrooms 1>3 and bathroom

Wallpaper stripped, edging removed and freshly painted


New lights have been/ will be added throughout (by me ). I'm glad I'm not a sparky!


Currently it's also not got a working boiler which will be replaced soon! (rerouted from the garage to the kitchen)

I'll try get this updated and some more before photos of the living room/hallway... (It's a 3 bedroom place but I plan to tackle the other 2 next year..)



Plans
•Carpets fitted to bedroom and hallway (should be in ~3 weeks)
•Next year I will be knocking down 2 structural walls and opening up the kitchen/entrance space (~3m by 2m). •Currently the entrance is into a large unused hallway space off the kitchen, I intend to walk into one large kitchen room.
•Bedroom 2 & 3 need doing
•Garden needs a serious looking at/de weeding
•Add log burner/similar to living room
•Fix the pointing and roof issues

 

[Buffman]

reserved

If you have any DIY tips let me know!

 

[Buffman]

reserved 2

 

[Buffman]

Looks good. I'd have said to leave the hallway till the very end as it's bound to get scratched when moving things to rooms but too late for that.

The plan currently is get the following pre Christmas done/usable:
Hallway, bedroom 1 and lounge area. (whilst using nasty old kitchen). The rest will be a job for next year!

Inevitably I Will end up Scratching it! (sadly the finish on this wall isnt great and rather bumpy/full of polyfilla anyways)

 

[Buffman]

Subscribed! Well done so far.

Forget carpets. Laminate or engineered floor throughout

Going to be tiled (I think) when we do the large kitchen rework and engineered wood in the living roon.

Carpets for all the bedrooms and that narrow hallway between bedrooms/bathroom. (I've ordered the carpet for first bedroom and hallway.)

Does anyone know where to get a decent price/quality on curtains??
Because of the length in the lounge/lving room they are rather expensive..

 

[Buffman]

Started laying some engineered wood floor... Only got about 4 metres at a wider length section of the room to go... :x

Also put a new light in (pretty heavy/pain to fit!)

 

[Buffman]

Floor is now fitted and sofa in the living room. Boiler is now also installed... But I have a broken hob (gas leak so it's supplies been cut off) and a broken shower (no hot water) . I will be attempting to fit a new thermostatic mixer shower myself

 

[Buffman]

Hah the floor has since been cleaned... That was mid fitting and not quite a "posed" photo.. (so may have odd bits on it!)

Got rid of the old shower and gubbins today (here's hoping I'm able to fit the new one!)
Build cost if so (roughly)
Shower £105 (amazon sales)
2 metres chrome pipe £12
2 quick fit valves £20 (allows me to extend pipes)
2 Valve bends (as the pipework is exposed) £16
Pipe cutters £3
Monkey Wrench £4
Ptfe tape (£1)
Silicone filler £5

I'll put in some before/after pics soon.. (hopefully it will be an easy fit with all the bits I've bought!)

Remember to fit laminate floor protectors to all furniture. Saves scratches. I know the stuff is tough but that is what we have done.

Yeah I've already got some on order

 

[Buffman]

Managed to fit my shower. The bathroom is pretty old, so needs replaced when I can afford. (also notice all the old holes from the old ladies handrails... It's a pain trying to get rid of the wall plugs! Anyone got any tips?)

Bit of a bodge but it works! Also got 20 quid off the shower from amazon because the small holder isn't the correct size to fit the shower hose. Good service.

Also got a fridge another good service (John Lewis)

And a washing machine from tesco with terrible delivery service (didn't fit it even though they were meant to!)

 

[Buffman]

Ah good idea!

Will try that then fill the holes with sealant after cheers

 

[Buffman]

Finally moved into my place and put stuff in, however within a day in the bedroom there was some serious condensation up the back wall which backs onto the garage!

Will the following help?

• Improving insulation above bedroom
• Improving insulation above garage which bedroom backs onto
• Do I need to add airbricks/similar or insulation between the bedroom and garage? They seem to have brick walls (and the garage doesn't seem ridiculously cold, despite no real insulation)
• the pointing on the brickwork outside the bedroom /Garage is in poor condition, (and also hedges around the outside bricks

Any help appreciated!



For an update: covered up the fireplace with some free (!) sheet stainless steel off brother in law





Also got the tree up! (and a cheap interim dining table/chairs for 70 quid)

 

[Buffman]

Obviously u left a vent in the fireplace?

Nope?

(that's an electric heater... Which also is unlikely to be plugged in!)

 

[Buffman]

Chimney's need to have a vent in them

This chimney doesn't have anything fixed to it... Thats a portable electric fire sitting there at the minute (as a placeholder)

No problem as far as I'm aware.

When I do get a log burner fitted I'll obviously open that area up.

 

[Buffman]

Woke up today and there was a massive roof leak. Turns out one of the valves British gas installed is ****ing out water... (they recently installed boiler and new pipework)

Some pictures of the finished deal in the bedroom (its the back blue wall where the condensation arises. I think I've resolved this for now but still going to put some better insulation in.

There is certainly more floor space in here than I anticipated! (I've since put a TV and xbox on the unit... The essentials )

Some pics of the other side of the living room with Xmas stuff (I fit one bracket for the curtains this evening..)

I'll update the OP at some point... Pending any interest!

 

[Buffman]

How come you didnt remove the wall unit under the window, given its mostly blocked by the sofa anyway?

A combination of lack of foresight and fearing what lay behind it!

Initially we didn't realise we wanted a sofa that big (or angled that way).
Oh well we have a well varnished unit which is completely hidden

(it works as a coffee table though when I'm laying on sofa

 

[Buffman]

Just insulated an exterior wall (internally). Makes a big difference

How much you use? I imagine just tie some wood posts into the brick wall and fill it up with ~100mm wool and then put plasterboard over the top? (on the inside wall of my garage).

Only issue is my house distribution board is on this adjoining wall so I'll need to leave that clear.

You got an estimated cost?

 

[Buffman]

Just had a builder round and he suggested that I get a new window (as current doesn't have trickle vents). Is that very likely to help? Don't think I'll go down that route

He also suggested that adding a thin layer of insulation to the roof top (ie near the felt) was an easier / more effective job than removing the existing 100mm insulation on the roof floor and adding 300mm insulation and re boarding at a higher level??

Also stripped all the wallpaper in the smaller 3rd bedroom today, but realise it will need re-lining papered as the wall is in pretty poor condition.
Any tips on wallpapering? It's something I've never done before.

 

[Buffman]

£150 to batten wall, 50mm insulation and 12.5mm Plasterborad with vapour barrier between batten and PB. Some say insulated PB better, adhered to wall and mechanically fixed.

Just realised, note I would be doing the exterior wall (garage side). (so interior to garage but obv I don't care about how that looks... Much)

Would you mind saying the insulaton type you've used?
Is there an issue with airflow having the insulation direct against the garage brickwork? Are there any laymans guides to this?

*I will have to leave gaps in this for the electrical distributor and gas lines

Also, has anyone got any recommended insulation for roofs? Im not sure wether to top up (and reboard), or whether I should chuck out all the old stuff at the same time?

(is there a way to tell if insulation is old/rubbish? I know it's the old fibreglass yellow stuff) - I hate handling it but wool is expensive!

 

[Buffman]

Thanks for the recommendation koolpc

I bodge lots of things
(I hope it's mainly the shower you mean! )

Cost is the main reason for going the cheaper route generally! I had a quote in to do my structural work on the kitchen and some outside repointing and it came to £4.6k (however that's not something I want to cheap out on!!)

Engineered wood floor is pretty easy to fit btw, the one I bought was £18 a square metre too, with free underlay. I also managed to get 2 packs free (~£70) as a couple were damaged on arrival

 

[Buffman]

Started to do the third bedroom (smaller bedroom) its 2.6m by 2.6m ish. Will be putting up lining paper over the weekend and painting over it (poor wall quality)

Ive also taken the skirting boards off to fit new boards above the engineered wood floor that's going in (same stuff as I used the last room)