Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Apr 02, 2011 11:13 am My husband and I bought a house that we both liked in Thornlie in WA. Our biggest struggle has been finding tradesmen to turn up and give us quotes. Then have them be available to help us. So we had some big ticket items that needed doing. Electrical - unexpected cost, turns out what was initially a request for quote to move some powerpoints, ended up being a full re-wire. New fuse box, new RCD as the other RCD didn't do much and half our house was not earthed. That would be the half that was renovated in the 70's. I've learnt the next time we buy a house, to get a tradie in to check the Electrics. Roof needs fixing - ridge capping, slipped tiles - still looking for someone to help me on this. The front door needed replacing (wasn't picked up during the building inspection) Floor sanding, cheaper than I expected, we got a good deal on mates rates. Worse thing is we now have water hammer in the pipes which worked fine until a plumber turned up to fix something the electricians accidentally broke. The plumber I got in to fix that guy's work did what he could but it's my fault I think, I didn't let him do everything he wanted. I feel tired. Any tips on how to get through renovations? I am drinking more wine than I usually do these days.. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 2Apr 02, 2011 7:07 pm I completely and absolutely understand where you are coming from, unfortunately. Our home is a 1930s double brick (loosely) Californian bungalow style home. It had a 1970s brick and tile extension that had inadequate footings (we're on clay), mismatched common bricks and aluminium windows. We wanted to add 2 bedrooms and a bathroom and reconfigure part of the original house so we demo'd the old extension, rebuilt it slightly bigger with a different floorplan and added the 2 bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. I have a list of things that have not been right and need fixing but the biggest bugbear is the lack of communication from tradies. On one day alone 3 people were to come here to do quotes or fix things up and none showed up and not ONE phone call. I've been told this is the norm, particularly on a Friday. The disaster we are living with right now is that our staircase was to be installed yesterday. I was not told it would take more than one day by the rep but since they did not arrive til around 3.45pm yesterday, it was a given it would not be finished and they woudl need to come back today. The main part was pre-built but because the wall is not perfect (bowed as most are), the treads do not meet the wall perfectly (open stringers) so they could not progress any further and they have to go back the factory and have some re-made. The guy tried cutting the Iron Bark tread with a jigsaw and managed to chew up the timber. They call it "Iron" Bark for a reason. I hope they can rectify it all quickly. We actually counted down the days until the stairs were installed as we've been climbing the ladder for 2 weeks to shower. The excitement of extending and renovating wears off fairly quickly when you are living it day in, day out. It has been a roller coaster ride but there have been a lot more lows than highs lately. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 3Apr 02, 2011 7:10 pm freakychick, on a positive note, at least once all the wiring and roofing is repaired/replaced, they are two things you should not have to worry about for a very long time. Once our extension/reno is complete, almost all our wiring and all the plumbing will be brand new, thank goodness. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 4Apr 03, 2011 1:47 pm SquirtyChookGirl freakychick, on a positive note, at least once all the wiring and roofing is repaired/replaced, they are two things you should not have to worry about for a very long time. Once our extension/reno is complete, almost all our wiring and all the plumbing will be brand new, thank goodness. The thought that we don't need to worry about the electrical wiring has got me through the last week. Went to a family BBQ yesterday and one of my Cousins-in-law mentioned that his mum had a similar problem so he told us to run all the hot water taps for 5 minutes as it might be there's air in the pipes. It fixed the knocking. However, we know we need to have the hot water pipes in the roof braced properly - nothing to stop it from happening again. We're pulling up tiles at the moment, hardiflex on the floor then the tiling concrete - floor sander will be in tomorrow for a few days.. new floors by next weekend! Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 5Apr 03, 2011 3:58 pm Just a little friendly advice. Comments like......"new floors by next weekend" are like counting your chickens before they hatch. Our countdown to having a completed staircase started weeks ago. We have a partially completed staircase that should have been finished "2 sleeps ago". I've learned things generally take longer than anticipated and if they happen quicker, I go into a state of shock. We had a section of flooring that needed to be completed and was told the flooring guy would be here in the afternoon. That worked well since there was scaffolding up in that area and the painter was doing his bit. The builder was then going to remove the scaffolding so the floor could be laid. Who turns up at 7.30am to lay the floor? You guessed it. The funniest part was that the flooring boss called to say he was sorry he was late (1/2 an hour apparently) but I said he was actually more than 4 hours early since I was told to expect him in the afternoon. It becomes quite comical at times, if you can see the funny side of things that is. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 6Apr 03, 2011 11:06 pm SquirtyChookGirl Just a little friendly advice. Comments like......"new floors by next weekend" are like counting your chickens before they hatch. Our countdown to having a completed staircase started weeks ago. We have a partially completed staircase that should have been finished "2 sleeps ago". yep.. We just encountered a hurdle today ... so partial floors done by next week. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 7Apr 04, 2011 7:28 am We've been living this since last July - not too long in the scheme of things I suppose - and have probably 6 weeks to go til every little thing inside is finished (except lights since I can't decide on those). Two words sum up how I feel right now - Over It. Good luck. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 8Apr 06, 2011 7:45 am I keep looking around at all the things that need to be done. The staircase was installed and completed yesterday. It took them 2 full days + about another 6 hours over 2 days because the wall is wavy. There are patches of gyprock missing on the brand new wall they run against that had already been painted - the paper has been completely ripped off in places so it is a quite a task to repair and paint them again. Also, the handrail has a large splinter sticking out that needs repairing. Just waiting to see when they will come back to fix it. Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 9Apr 14, 2011 12:35 am sorry for the lack of reply ... was in hospital last week whilst the floors were being sanded. They look great. Just need to get hallway and kitchen de-tiled and we'll have that section done. Found someone to do my roof for me, gave me a competitive quote - so I am ringing him tomorrow. Now we need to work on skirting boards.... It never ends! Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 10Apr 14, 2011 8:19 am I'm sorry to hear you've been in hospital. I guess one bonus of that is not having to live with the sawdust. Yes, it is never ending. The only thing ending for us is the money. We're officially nearing the limit of our spend and need to get the builder to take a step back - we pay him a daily rate and materials at cost. We have to get in there and do some things ourselves instead of paying him his high labour rate + his apprentice to do things that are not "skilled" tasks. We're extremely happy with most things and it has been a huge learning curve. There is one bathroom left to complete - the floor has been poured so it is ready for the skylight to go in and be lined and waterproofed. The rest inside is final touches given the stairs only just went in last week. Skirting, some gyprock and cornice needs completing and painting. Good luck. Re: Renovation - Bathroom started. 11Jul 27, 2014 1:30 pm my goodness, i forgot I had started this thread! Over the last couple of years we've had a few dramas with the house - termites (luckily none in the house) giant trees which ended up causing us neighbour problems when we needed to replace the fence that the tree broke. We got the roof cleaned up! However we're now into our first BIG renovation inside the house: The Bathroom We noticed a large crack in the floor of the shower one morning and realised we had a problem. It took a few months and now we're using our cash reserves whilst waiting for our refinancing to go through. However, we now have had so far, a relatively hassle free start to our bathroom reno. Some damp in the corner of the bathroom from the limestone base, apparently normal in my type of house, nothing severe. No expensive treatment needed apparently. Since this is our home for a long time coming, we need to do the renos to the standard of a forever home, not an investment property. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The plan: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The current reality: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 12Jul 27, 2014 1:37 pm Posting to follow we have nearly finished the extension part at our place and then will start the renovation of the existing house <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=62083">viewtopic.php?t=62083</a><!-- l --> Re: Renovation - so much to do - Thornlie 14Oct 29, 2014 1:44 pm I too have an older house in thornlie I am trying to give some love, though not as old as yours. I'd be interested in seeing more pictures of your place, and things you've managed to tackle with it. Hello Josh, This is Irving from PRIMA, we are a manufacturer of the staircase, railings, kitchen cabinets, windows, doors from China. If you have requirement to purchase… 0 5458 Coming back to your old stomping grounds, huh? Renovations on a budget can be quite the journey. It's like giving your house a new lease on life. The twist of not knowing… 1 3477 Assuming the structure of your cabinetry is good then I would DIY everything as follows: - replace your counter tops entirely, - replace all drawer runners with soft close… 1 4782 |