Undertaking refurbishment of our new dream house

[PedanticBuilder]

Hi everyone! 

 

I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Hayden. 

 

Myself and my wife have recently purchased our dream house, which is in need of a lot of TLC, and it's going to be  massive DIY undertaking.

 

I'm really excited to join this buildhub community and will input where I can.  If people are interested, I will be happy to share my progress as I go along. 

Happy building! 

[Mr Punter]

Hello Hayden and welcome.

 

The house looks a bit neglected.  It is quite unusual being 3 storey with the integral double garage.  What changes are you considering?

[PedanticBuilder]

50 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Hello Hayden and welcome.

 

The house looks a bit neglected.  It is quite unusual being 3 storey with the integral double garage.  What changes are you considering?

Yes it has been neglected. The ivy has attacked the property pretty badly!This view it's more towards the back of the house and the entrance is higher up towards the right (the driveway is steep). Its definitely a unique layout and part of the reason we fell in love with it. 

Regarding what needs doing -blimey, how long do you have?

The major/structural works include:
- knocking down walls between kitchen and dining room (will leave the steel installation and plastering to pro's but can do the fireboarding of the RSJ's myself)
- installing a new steel wrap-around balcony with gall balustrades  (I can do things like installing the composite decking but the actual fabrication and installation of the  frame will need to be outsourced.
- Replacing the existing entrance gates (as the entrance is too narrow), with a sliding gate. Ill have to see how much of this I can do myself! 

Other than that, the whole house needs refurb - new kitchen (might use DIYKitchens for this if they have decent quality worktops), new windows, new external sliding doors, new front door, flooring, lights, plastering in some rooms. The garden needs major refreshing too as we plan to have a outdoor kitchen and vegetable garden. 

Also plan to turn that garage you see into a gym. WE already have a separate detached garage up the driveway.

We've budgeted £250k but i know in the current climate, that may not be enough. 

[Mr Punter]

You may find it useful to get some measured plans of the existing building and site and any proposed new layout.  That will make it easier to specify what you want.

 

Do you want to improve insulation, ventilation, heating, hot water, solar, cooling etc?  These are worth considering early on.  £250k sounds a healthy budget but windows and external doors, kitchens, landscaping, automatic gates, wrap around balcony and glass balustrading can eat through a lot of cash.