Yes, all my own work. Took about 3 months - working evenings and weekends with a couple of weeks over Xmas to get the tiling done. Some jobs were extra complex as I've had to plumb everything with consideration to another bathroom I plan on building adjacent to this.
The nervous wait to exchange....
- Thread starter noj
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Soldato
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- 2 May 2011
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That's a beauty, well done!
Seriously impressed. Do you have a background in any of the skills needed ? Or just taught yourself?
No, no trades. Just figured stuff out as I went along using a bit of logic and youtube videos. I've got a pipe bender, and blow torch from work on the last house.
All the new stuff is so easy to go together - it's virtually lego. Speedfit is incredible. The hardest part was channelling the wall and drilling the holes in the wall. Doing a 127mm hole through brick with a £20 drill was an experience. Did the job though.
You've inspired me to try the en suite.No, no trades. Just figured stuff out as I went along using a bit of logic and youtube videos. I've got a pipe bender, and blow torch from work on the last house.
All the new stuff is so easy to go together - it's virtually lego. Speedfit is incredible. The hardest part was channelling the wall and drilling the holes in the wall. Doing a 127mm hole through brick with a £20 drill was an experience. Did the job though.
It's one part of house that needs a full redo. And isn't used at the moment so can take all time I need.
Just one word of advice. Check for leaks at every stage, and whenever you can. Every seal, joint etc needs checking before you move to the next stage. Redoing a step is easy. Undoing weeks worth of work because something underneath it is leaking is a horror show.
Found out my old seller didn't even buy the searches for my place so doubt my future buyer (and me!) have much chance of making the stamp duty saving in 9 weeks (from today) unless I conclude the sale this Weekend or next weekend 
Also found out rightmove won't relist my house as "new" for a second time. Not sure how many people sort by new but I know I did when I was actively looking.
Also found out rightmove won't relist my house as "new" for a second time. Not sure how many people sort by new but I know I did when I was actively looking.
Soldato
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- 27 Aug 2005
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Found out my old seller didn't even buy the searches for my place so doubt my future buyer (and me!) have much chance of making the stamp duty saving in 9 weeks (from today) unless I conclude the sale this Weekend or next weekend
Also found out rightmove won't relist my house as "new" for a second time. Not sure how many people sort by new but I know I did when I was actively looking.
Wouldn't be too fussed if its not listed as new. The History of your property will give it away as not "new" anyway.
Yeah true! 4 viewings anyways and a second viewing this weekend anyways.
Just staring down the barrel at 15k stamp duty and already leveraged myself up to the top end. Fortunately have that amount available but I'll just have to take a circa 20k home improvement loan when I move in to pay for the renovations. (I think it will be better to keep my circa 400k mortgage in the 75% LTV band rather than go up a band at a worse rate)
Soldato
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How long did the whole process take?
Our property put on the market in September. We accepted an offer in October, so we could then bid on homes as being proceedable. Our bid was accepted late October. Was quite a short chain - four purchases.
It could have gone through in a couple of months, but one of the properties was occupied by tenants. Also, there was no leasehold or anything else that would have made matters more difficult. Plus I'm 'besties' with the conveyancer so all my stuff was top of the pile.
TBH if there isn't an offer accepted at this point I don't think you'd stand a chance of completing by the end of March. Not impossible... but highly unlikely unless it's ultra straight forward / no chains or mortgage.
What a wild ride this week has been, my mortgage offer runs out on the 24th and we exchanged and completed today with the final piece of paperwork to enable this arriving at 7am this morning! Absolutely mental packing your stuff to move without the actual knowledge you will be moving! All done now and in the new house! 11months it's taken!!
Congrats
Soldato
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- 2 Feb 2010
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Congrats, bet you're relieved!
I know how you feel though. Ours was a nightmare, took 6 months and that was with no chain at either end. Moving day was a stressful affair too, having to wait with a loaded van until nearly 4pm to know if it was actually going to exchange and complete. Shocking.
Soldato
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Good news. As you're probably aware, follow the brain and ignore your heart. Some get a clean and quick move, others here like myself spend half a year going from pillar to post. I was FTB also xD
If you have the time it's worth going through some mortgage sites to see how much you can save going for X or Y, then you'll know if the broker is worth it.
Soldato
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- 25 Mar 2004
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Try and get an idea where everyone in your chain is positioned from the estate agent or something. Bigger chain = more complicated, although technically it shouldn't really be.