TheMitchells

Good luck with it It sounds like fun!. I cant give much advice as I am still without plot but there are plenty here with good tips. I am sure there is a post somewhere for all those 'I wish I had done this ...' . Thats probably worth a read so you can avoid some things. And buy the Housebuilders Bible which gives a good idea of how much things should cost for a basic 4 bed house. while not the same as yours, it gives a rough idea. and Spons may be mentioned too. good luck and lets have plenty of photo's please.?

would that work with the electric door opener that we have? we could consider that next time. I ordered the spring and it arrived this week so I am now waiting for the fitter to come round and get the garage door working again. I certainly miss it as we use the garage far more than the front door, particularly for walking the dog - which may explain why the springs keep going. it probably does more work than usual.

One spring ordered at a cost of £114 with fitter costing £75 so much better than Hormanns offerigns.

spring ordered from ABI Garage Doors Sullies - Only £110 for the spring and the chap will fit it for £75 so much better and a lesson to me - always look online to make sure we are not paying over the odds for goods! ?

Will both sides be the same - Ed, my fitter, took the tag to order another one? I shall see if we can get the number and have a look online. I guess we can't invalidate any warranty as we dont have one now!?

When we built our garage in 2002, we had an electric door fitted, 3.6m wide, supplied and fitted by a local chap and it has been great apart from one thing. in 2009 one of the springs went and so our local chap ordered another one from Germany and fitted it - cost £182 which seemed rather a lot for a metal spring but that did include fitting and vat. Then in 2012 another one went, this time it cost £238. the fitter said that he had only ever had to replace one other spring in all the doors he has fitted but ours seems to keep going - in 2014 the opposite one broke. I guess I should have made a big fuss with the German company, Hormann, but we didnt and paid the £295 for our third replacement. Guess what! its happened again. the spring went last thursday evening, luckily with the car on the outside as the OH was away and I ceretainly could not have managed to lift the door without help. Again our local chap came and had a look - this should not be happening. Our door is the only one whose springs keep going. So this time he said he would see if Hormann wanted to come and have a look and see if they could help with this issue. But you've guessed it, they dont want to know. Its out of warranty! I am emailing the company to ask for some sort of discount here - it has already cost us over £700 over and above the installation costs and I would guess the price for the new spring will keep going up. But surely I should have some comeback on Hormann as no-one else seems to have this problem. Any ideas on what else we can do?

cost for a new build vary enormously and while we have not built ourselves, we did a huge amount of research and I'd recommend in the region of £300k at a minimum, but that could go up or down depending on size, design and materials used. Get hold of some of the self build magazines - some of them give ideas of costs, visit the Self Build Centre at Swindon and maybe read the Housebuilders Bible. then you will have a much better idea of what is invovled. Certainly, i have seen some lovely houses built for £300k but most are more than that as the owners want their 'foreve home' and therefore tnd to make it better quality than a general house would be.

I'd recommend looking at one of the building companies such as Scotframe, Danwood or Potton who can do everything for you, including the design and applying for planning. I have been to the Poton site near St Neots and it was very useful. I dont they are too expensive either - they hold your hand all the way through and the houses are lovely. I would certainly consider building new as you can have the house exactly as you want it (within reason) and make sure it is well insulated and efficient, something you may struggle to do with an extension and re-design. Are the bills in the future an important consideration? Anyway - sounds like a great project whichever route you take - Good Luck.?

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! ?

well done Guys! it looks fab-u-lus!. Love the colours - may have to pinch some of those for my revamp of our place.

Dig them out if possible, after cutting/strimming down the top growth. then anything that comes up, hit with a spray of SBK. You need a systemic weedkiller that gets right down into the roots. Glyphosate is the mian checmical used and does work but it takes a couple of weeks for it to get right through the root system.

When I click the link - it just comes back to the BuildHub site???

Can I suggest you take a look at Janet Cotterell and her PH15 system. I met her a few years ago when I first thought I would be building at Graven Hill and I liked her and her system. She has researched all aspects of passivhaus and has come up with a system that works and uses the best products at a good price. her website is http://www.phhomes.co.uk/ I think her system is cut in a factory and then built on site and uses cellulose insulation with a timber frame system. You can also see one of her builds going up on the www.houseplanninghelp.com website on the Hub. The site is worth a look if you are still learning as there are loads of podcasts on all aspects of self build. And I would recomment a visit to Swindon's National Centre for Self build and renovation. https://www.nsbrc.co.uk/ That is a great place for information and inspiration - particularly on one of their open days. and its free if you pre-=book. Very exciting time - keep us all informed with lots of photographs.

that brings back memories! I was only about 4 when that came out.

just wanted to say that I have fianlly caught up on your posts and I am impressed by the work you have done. The house looks great and I am looking forward to seeing the improvements develop. Great work!

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.

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

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.

Great project! Looking forward to hearing all about it. Whereabouts in the country are you?

What a great opportunity. Yes, please - lots of photo's and plans for us to peruse. And I am sure there will be lots of questions that you can help us with.

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!

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......

me too! It looks so easy but isnt. and we never have the right screwdriver/drill bit etc! How many drill bits have you got now?

Well, at last we have finished our renovation and have had an offer that we have accepted. It took longer to get here than we ever thought, over 17months, but I think it was worth it. After Christmas and our little party, we had the estate agent in who had already sold one of the neighbours houses and before we knew it, the photographer was there and the next day it was online! we still had a few snags to sort out but we soon had those done, apart from the wooden mantle for the lounge fireplace, which we hadn't found yet. After a couple of weeks, we had a good offer and so we are now in the hands of the solicitors. I am hopeful to have it all completed by end of April. Our buyer was in the middle of selling her place to a first time buyer so I am keeping my fingers crossed that there are not too many problems. We did say we didn't want a chain, prefering a FTB or cash buyer. So here are a few of the photographs of our amazing house, together with the origonal shots, if I have them. The dining room. The lounge. Our lovely bathroom - Am very pleased with this The back bedroom. I am so proud of what we have acheived. it was our first big renovation and we had to take on many challenges that we had not done before. But apart from the builder (who did the structural work on the side gable wall and removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room) and the plasterers, we did the lot ourselves! Poor OH has still not recovered, although his knees are much better now that he is no longer crawling round the floor doing plumbing/electrics/boarding etc. Whenever I mention another nice place I have seen on Rightmove that needs renovating, he turns a strange colour of pale and goes to lie down. I think I shall have to wait for a little while before looking too seriously. I hope you have enjoyed sharing this experience/blog with us and maybe have learnt some things on the way; I know I certainly have. I shall be sad to see the house go - it has always felt a friendly /warm house, even in the middle of winter. But onwards and upwards! Maybe we will eventually find a plot and can build our own house or, if not, a renovation for us rather than for profit. And whatever, I shall make sure there is a blog on Buildhub! Cheers, The Mitchells.

Keep asking the questions and you'll keep receiving lots of help. maybe start a blog for those of us who arent able to build ourselves. I can read on with envy! Good luck.