50 replies to this topic

[superted87]

Happy New Year to you all,

 

So I am just getting the mortgage paperwork sorted for a probate sale that I got recently in Witney in Oxfordshire. 

 

I paid a snip for it and it is in a street where nearly everyone has extended or had work done so up and coming in a great town. 

 

 

List of things to do -

 

Gut the place as it is in bad shape 

 

Replace the windows

 

New boiler 

 

Wiring up to 17th edition as it is currently 1st edition !!! lol

 

New bathroom and kitchen 

 

So you can see that it needs a lot of work but im an industrial sparky and grown up around houses being renovated etc so not daunted one bit (well... a little).

 

My big question is ...... what extension would you do ???? I need a garage or outdoor room but I like the idea of a big ass kitchen. 

 

2 stories or 1 ??? Dont want to price myself out of my plot and or street. And single can go on the exisitng slab for the garage with some additional groundwork very easily. 

 

I want to have a wraparound extension with big kitchen and pop a downstairs bathroom in where the front door is now. 

 

Any thoughts??

 

 

[superted87]

And homeowner of similar properties, what is more important ..... Garage or big kitchen diner ???? It will be me and the mrs and a lodger living their, and in the future the lodger/s will probably be very small ( ) but not just yet ! 

[Ben_O]

Good luck with the modernisation work!

 

i used to watch alot of homes under the hammer and so find all of this very interesting.

 

And if the lodger is just a lodger, then i would go for more interior space over a garage so your not under each others feet too much

 

Ill be watching..

 

Ben

[Carlos W]

Sheds and garages save marriages

[acrowot]

ive just finished a job ill try and send u the plans if u send me your address it was a 2 storey side extension and single storey at the rear makes a massive kitchen diner and u get a garage to and a massive master bedroom with onsweet

[psmini]

Looks like a great property and a blank canvas. We are in very similar positions! I'm due to move into mine in 4 weeks time. It has a tandem length garage that's been converted into a 4th reception room and a utility room. It also has an extension off the kitchen diner to create a further room. Quite a few houses in the street have been extended and I'm thinking whether I should build above the garage and wrap it around the back to join up the rear extension, creating a large open plan kitchen/diner/living area and a further en suite bedroom upstairs. I feel your pain!!

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Edited by psmini, 04 January 2015 - 09:54 AM.

[superted87]

So the garden will not allow for any sort of extension to the rear and to be honest I don't want one as the living room is big anyway and I need a garden !!

 

I am thinking from a purely financial sense about the garage and kitchen as I plan to move out within 24 months maximum ! If I go to 2 storeys I am worried about being a large house with small garden and no garage. 

 

But if I stay with the single storey it can be done quickly and will likely get planning a lot easier also. I dont know !!!!!!!! Arghhhhh!!! 

 

Here is the floorplan It is 25' x 15'

 

[Rob Gavin]

if you are looking to move quickly, them forget about what you want - clearly you need to look at this as an investment and not your home.  Speak to the local agents and get some indication from them what people look for in the area and what additional value it is likely to add over the existing house.

[Bubblebobble]

I would look on all the housing websites and see what people in the area have done to there houses and go from there .

 

Also change the front door and the fence at the front ,  repaint all the woodwork on the garage, paint its floor and walls if you think its worth it , it creates a enticing man cave .

 

 Try to get rid of any 70s - ness that is still around the house , in my opinion that is exactely the type of stuff that puts todays buyers off .

 

Other than that just redecorate  and repalce the kitchen and bathroom if they are old , you will make your money back .

 

 Also if the gardens rubbish consider getting it re turfed before you  put it up for sale .

[superted87]

Oh it'll make its money back alright ! I really did get her for a song ! I will be definitely be extending out the front in line with next door and I can rewire the place leaving sensible points for extending the circuits if I do extend. Same goes for the plumbing really, I will just have to do some clever planning and try to make it adaptable should I need it to be. 

 

Cheers Guys

[superted87]

Rightyo then , here it comes .....

 

The big build has begun !!!!!!!!!

 

I received the keys to my 70's house of madness 3 weeks ago and have had a 2 week holiday so only managed to get round to doing this today but ..... Big progress in little China and what a week/10 days it has been . Coupled with fighting with the builders on my GF's flat and generally faffing about I am now happy to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Job 1 was to rip everything out that I didn't want in the house - This included over a tonne of stone fireplace, a kitchen, a bathroom with cast bath which I took great pleasure smashing like toffee !!! All the architraves, coving, rotten plaster boards/ wooden bits in the bathroom and a whole heap of breeze blocks, plasterboard and general muck and crap .

 

Job 2 was to remove the old back boiler. With the gas and water isolated and drained I removed it all and made way for the new combi which will go in after the extension is built.

 

Job 3 starts on Monday and involves me getting my domestic head on , leaving my offshore sparkys brain in the cupboard and doing some re wiring. I will be fitting a new CU alongside my old Part P registered buddy Dan the Man and he will take me through all the bits I have forgotten and show me the whole testing routine and get it signed off together as it has been a while since I had LABC check my work. Get me some Zone 1 gland nuts and FP cables any day !

 

Job 4 will be some plumbing and bathroom widening and door re positioning. Again got a mate to help me with all the pipes and then I will leave him to play with the explosive pipework !

 

Job 4, let mum decorate.

 

 

 

SO I will smash up loads of photos as I go and hopefully you can see how I get on and laugh as I ******* things up !!!

[superted87]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[superted87]

 

 

[RossKnight]

Can't see anything wrong with how it is currently ;)

 

 

[superted87]

It's liveable i guess