Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Aug 12, 2012 3:39 pm We have an old 1950's post war home in Perth - typical timber framed 2x1 with enclosed sleepout and asbestos clad. The majority of the interior is fine: wide polished jarrah floorboards, big living areas and bedrooms, original cornices, fireplace, zinclight internal doors for lounge and dining. But of course there is alot not so good: original kitchen in relatively poor condition with asbestos walls, cheap reno'd bathroom (looks like they boarded/tiled over the asbestos) with poorly sealed showerscreen that has mould in seals, sleepout is all asbestos with rusted louvre windows, laundry/toilet is all asbestos too and no tiles on concrete floor, gorgeous zinclight and normal glass sash windows which are extremely energy inefficient, not secure and were poorly maintained, patio poorly maintained with concrete coming away at bottom of posts and timber needing at least sand and paint but possible replacement, gutters/downpipes/fascias need repair/replace, roof needs cleaning and sealing, not very secure at the back and the door is falling apart as are the stairs from back of house to the backyard, carport rusting and has holes in it (also attached to asbestos wall), etc. We want to do some minor reno's to make it liveable, secure and to last for another 5-10 years while we have children. It's in a great location and on a great sized block so it has lots of potential for the future. But we don't want to demolish and rebuild yet as we want more equity in the property and a small mortgage while we have kids. We do know asbestos is fine if painted and left alone but we don't want the risk especially when kids come along and we want the house to be more energy efficient. Currently whatever temp it is outside is the same as it is inside. So we are thinking of: - removing all exterior asbestos, insulating and recladding with weatherboards or colorbond or both, ie weatherboards on front and colorbond on rest of house (not sure what is more cost effective yet) - removing the interior asbestos in the sleepout and laundry/toilet and plasterboarding with whatever is normal for interior walls (including replacing the louvres with a single window) - putting either french doors on the back or a single lockable door in place of existing one for security and better access - this will allow us to remove the door from kitchen to back area opening up the house and giving us another room (sleepout) - replacing steps with a platform and steps down - not sure if how I described it makes sense but at the moment we can't have a dog door because the steps go straight down from the door so we need a platform/deck first and then steps amd it is a safety issue anyway. - removing all the windows from the outside and replacing with double glazed key lockable windows for energy efficiency, noise reduction and security - replacing front door with more secure front door - adding external awnings to the front lounge and dining windows due to direct sun exposure in Summer - replace carport (which would be demolished anyway when asbestos removed) with a lock-up colorbond garage. - get roof cleaned and sealed - have gutters, downpipes and fascias repaired or replaced Opinions please? The roof and gutter work is to prevent any water damage for the rest of the life of the house, which is a possibility in this place and we understand has happened in the past, and given it doesn't really cost that much (from what others have said) I am inclined to think it is a good investment. The lockup garage is mostly to reduce insurance costs and provide security. We are not too fussed about retaining the character of the place so much as we are about it being secure and liveable. We can live with the kitchen for now and it is in working order. I think if we were to remove the asbestos in the kitchen we would have to demolish the kitchen too. I don't know if that is just pointless and I am not sure it could be done without damaging the beautiful polished jarrah floorboards in there. Opinions please? Any ideas on the cost of an IKEA or similar kitchen to replace it? The bathroom we can live with although I need to work out how to completely reseal a shower. We can also live with the laundry/toilet not being tiled. I can add photos if necessary. Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 2Aug 13, 2012 11:17 am So far at a rough guess I say if you had to pay someone else to do all the work you'd be looking at $80,000 plus. Do you really want to sink that kind of dough into this house considering the 5-10 year timeline you envisage ? I'm not trying to frighten you but give you a realistic idea of the costs. Also once you start I can see plumbing and electrical prices coming into it as well. Stewie Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 3Aug 13, 2012 4:04 pm You might get more response with a shorter post. Arfur Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 4Aug 13, 2012 4:48 pm Unfortunately, and you probably don’t want to hear this, the best solution all round is the demolish and re-build option. We’ve just been through this process with all kinds of options of partial renovation’s to full renovation, pick up and build under, move on the block, and build around and under….list goes on….. Every cost versus payback (payback being everything from straight cash i.e. do renovation and sell, to payback being how liveable it will be in 10+ years for us) analysis we did came up with the same answer – pull down and re-build. Our 1960’s 3 bed is going this week leaving us a clean block to build what we truly want. During the demolition you can salvage the floorboards, etc. and re-use them in a new design. Good luck! ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 5Aug 13, 2012 8:27 pm Stewie - It doesn't frighten me. That is actually more than I think it will be but you probably know more than me and you have to be realistic don't you? Tbh even $80K for it to last 10 years and be comfortable for ALL that time (unlike what we are now) would be money well spent IMO. Plus spending that $80K adds at least $100K in value in Perth's current market straight away and if our circumstances change we can rent the place more easily and for more money than in it's present condition. So it is not an over capitalisation or a waste as I can see it, but I'm most definitely not savvy with this so please correct me!
What sort of electrical/plumbing work are you thinking? House was completely rewired before we settled. Still has all the power points in the skirting boards/trims and old wiring was left behind but electrician's have been in here a couple of times and no issues. We have an electrician coming on Thursday so anything you think of I will try and run past him. Uncle Arfur - Thanks and if I could write less I definitely would. I understand it is an essay but it is hard to get the context and what we want to do into a few words for me. Thanks to everyone that did take the time to read it and respond with helpful feedback. PAB_34 - Thanks for the advice and it is interesting to hear someone else's situation. *sigh* We have been through EVERY possible scenario too - from selling the place and buying a block and building, selling and buying established, complete renovation, partial renovation (the current preferred option) through to knockdown and rebuild. I would love a brand spanking new house but Perth sucks for rentals right now especially for people with 2 dogs and a cat and it is expensive. We have no family that we can live with while we do the work so renting is the only option. Established is getting way more expensive than we want for where we want to live thanks to the skyrocketing Perth market and I would expect we would just be inheriting other people's problems again. We don't have a huge amount of equity in it yet and we don't want a much bigger mortgage (new house would add $200K minimum to the mortgage) than we have now given we may be on one income for sometime - more context: my DH is a midwife so not on mining dollars. So I think this really is the only other option other than suck it up and live like this for another 5-10 years and honestly I don't think I could do another Summer or Winter let alone another 10 of them. I really am just at my wits end which is why I am asking you lovely wise people to give me some perspective and perhaps a bit of advice on the things I am thinking of doing, like for cladding should we go all colorbond, do the W/B's on the front and C/B on the rest, or do W/B's the whole way around. What do you think adds more value or is more cost effective? Should we try to get salvaged timber weatherboards and use? Is that even possible? Etc. Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 6Aug 13, 2012 8:31 pm PS sorry if that reply was an essay too. Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 7Aug 14, 2012 7:52 am No , not at all and at least your first post laid out all you intend to do to the place unlike a lot of posters whose posts are too short and don't describe their situation in enough detail. If you have weighed up all your options and are comfortable with your course of action then by all means go at it. At least you have a foot in the real estate door and if you can make the place comfortable for you guys over the next ten years then it will be worth it. Quote: What sort of electrical/plumbing work are you thinking? House was completely rewired before we settled. I assumed no electrical work had been done so that is one less cost. Stewie Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 8Aug 14, 2012 9:32 am Stewie - Thanks for the support. I am not necessarily comfortable with what we are going to do. I have had so many doubts about doing this vs every other option. I think we have to do something though rather than chase our tails about which decision is best and like I said we can not stay here in the condition it is in for another 10 years - another winter like this one would be unbearable and heating is useless as it disappears into the outer world. There is a lot about the interior that is stunning and it would be such a waste to tear it down when that part of it is in relatively good nick. I guess it will come down to cost and prioritising things in all reality. Phew! I knew when they did the rewiring that was a bonus for us before we settled. Thank goodness for the new laws at the time which said they had to have two RCD's to sell it. Re: Post war - Doing enough to keep it going a while longer 9Aug 14, 2012 9:44 am Then I'd take it room by room and renovate as you go. Any asbestos you find - remove it , don't do what the other clowns have done and tile over it or as in what happened to a client of mine - the previous owner didn't remove the asbestos from several rooms , he glued new plasterboard to it instead. When these clients bought the house and did a major reno it cost a fortune to remove all the asbestos because it was stuck so well together so they paid for double the original weight. Seeing photos would be good too. 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