Scooby Cottage renovation.

Congrats. Looks brilliant.?

Edited March 2, 2018 by Jml

Nice work  

Nice job indeed...now you have to price hubby's and your work at £20 per hour and work out how much you have made???

Kidding...! Don't do it!

Well done - great transformation 

Looks good. Did I dream it or has this got a basement?

I was going to ask the same. Have you made enough profit to make it worthwhile.?

 

The results look fantastic.

Great looking pad, i will read your blog ! Congratulations on getting to the finish line. 

Looking good 

Well done, you should be proud of your achievement.

Looks wonderful! Well done xx 

That's lovely - very well done, indeed.  Brilliant before and after photos, too.

 

Good luck with the sale going through smoothly.

On 02/03/2018 at 19:27, Onoff said:

Looks good. Did I dream it or has this got a basement?

a cellar the sull size of the house but its not high enough to use properly.  You have to stand with your head between the joists and I cannot remember a single time that the OH went down there and didnt bang his head!  You'd think he would have learnt after a year and half......

Thanks for all the comments - Will let you know whenit all goes through.  The champagne will be out that evening!    I am working out the hours we have spent there to give us an idea of how much per hour we'll have made.  Probably shouldn't, may put us off doing it again!

40 minutes ago, TheMitchells said:

 You have to stand with your head between the joists and I cannot remember a single time that the OH went down there and didnt bang his head!  You'd think he would have learnt after a year and half......

 

It's up there with remembering to put the loo seat down I guess 

 

 

Looks lovely, well done. 

Did you get to keep the parrot? 

Sadly no - it is happily living in Derbyshire, as far as we know.  And re the loo - the OH and I came to an agreement years ago that we both put the seat down so no arguments and as @JSHarris always says, it is healthier too! 

We have had a bit of a hiccup this week.  Our solicitor sent draft contracts on 20th Feb yet had heard nothing back, then we were asked if the Mortgge valuer could come round on Tuesday and we learnt that the solicitors were not doing anything till the mortgage offer had come through - which of course was waiting for the valuer to do their thing!  Why it has taken a month  to get sorted, I dont know.  I was not happy and was even less happy when the valuer said she found a bow and crack in the cellar wall.  So they then wanted a full structural surveyor to assess the situation.  Luckily he arrived yesterday which was very quick.  He didnt seem too concerned re the wall and was quite complimentary about our renovation, which was nice.  It is possible that the bow occurred when the drain alongside the alley wall was leaking a few years ago.  Anglian water lined the drain, which can be seen when looking in the inspection chamber.  But we may have to get some sort of paperwork to confirm this.  It is an old house and there certainly has not been any movement in the wall since we bought it so we are hopeful that this will not cause too much of a delay.  Fingers crossed!

 

I know the cellar has been much drier since we added a second airbrick in that corner and we also make sure the water butt is emptied regularly as there is nowhere for the water to go when it overflows - just straight into the damp corner of the cellar.

3 hours ago, TheMitchells said:

And re the loo - the OH and I came to an agreement years ago that we both put the seat down

 

Ha ha, I had to 'train' mine but it was mostly successful . 

 

On 16/03/2018 at 16:29, TheMitchells said:

 And re the loo - the OH and I came to an agreement years ago that we both put the seat down so no arguments and as @JSHarris always says, it is healthier too! 

 

 

Sorry - should clarify - we both put seat and lid down! 

Well, after the report from the valuer, they got in a structural surveyor who had a look and while he was quite positive to the OH, it seems he has recommended £5k worth of work to be done to the house, so the mortgage company will not give a mortgage and the buyer has withdrawn from the sale!    We are trying to get hold of his report so we know what work he is suggsting but no luck yet.  The estate agent has put the house back on the market and already has a viewing on Saturday but its such a pain!  

We are now thinking about renting it out instead but will give it a few weeks and then if no luck with a sale, we may rent. 

For all it's failings, at least the Scottish system of having a home report before you put a house on the market, you as the seller know up front exactly the condition of the property and any work that is needed.

 

I hate the English system "I paid for the survey so you can't see what it says" attitude, and the next buyer will pay for another survey........

Better late than never - a final post for this blog.  the house eventually sold on 1st June - two years minus two days since we bought it.  the buyer is very happy and so are we. 

we have had some time away from renovating but new plans are taking shape - not quite what I expected but it will do for now.  tell you more soon!

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