Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Nov 20, 2014 1:52 pm Hi, I've just joined this forum and very new to the whole home renovations game so looking for lots of advice and guidance! We have a Victorian period home in Melbourne's inner east. It is a weatherboard home, double fronted, single level. It has been renovated by previous owners. front of the house is original with 3 bedrooms, central bathroom and living. Extension has kitchen, living/dining and laundry. We've recently found out that a rear extension that was done about 15years ago (before we bought the property) was not done with enough ventilation for the sub floor and so we now have a rising damp issue at the back of the house. As we have floorboards in this area, we have been advised that areas of the floor are quite dangerous and my OH has already put his foot through the floor once so we have a small hole in the floor! As you can imagine, we are quite keen to get this fixed and were considering renovating/refreshing the house in the next year or so anyway so guess this just means it will be a bigger job than we imagined. Things we would like to do include: -re-stumping the property and hence re-plastering and painting - add a WIR and en-suite to master bedroom -new central bathroom, kitchen and laundry -potentially raise the level of the entire house in order to increase ventilation of subfloor and fix the damp issue -new floorboards - add a second level for an entertainment/TV room -most likely need to demolish the existing back of the house and re-build it We've just started looking around for someone to help us do the floorplans and already have a few questions at this early stage: - Should we go with an architect then tender out to builders for construction phase or go with a design company who will project manage from start to completion? - we are tempted to go with a design company purely because it sounds more straightforward and as we don't have any expertise or know anyone in the design/construction industry but then if we sign a contract we would be entirely relying on them and their contractors to do the right things by us. -whereas if we get an architect, it sounds like we would get a great design but could also engage them to help during the building process as an objective advisor -given the problems we are having now, we really need someone who can design in proper drainage/ventilation for the house and has experience with timber period homes I know we have to be careful about mentioning businesses by name in this forum, but if anyone has recently renovated a period home in the area and can recommend some great people to use please send me a message if you can...we are looking for any help and advice we can get - especially given the amount of money we will need to spend to fix our home we want to make sure we choose the right people to work with so we get a good result. generic advice on how to select good tradespeople would be appreciated too! Thanks in advance for any replies! Re: Advice needed on renovating period home in Melbourne 2Nov 21, 2014 2:50 pm Unless you want an architecturally designed home and have lots of money, a draftsperson or builder who does plans as well might suit you fine. Whoever you end up choosing to build, please make sure you get a personal recommendation and that you see the Builder's work before you sign the contract. Thoroughly investigate any Builder - check to see if they have been taken to VCAT or have been reprimanded by the Victoria Building Authority and that they are licensed builders. Do not take on any Builder without a recommendation from someone you trust. Do not sign a contract without understanding it and avoid builders who offer interest free loans with the build. Make sure you sign off on liquidated damages if the Builder goes past the completion date. With tradie recommendations, ask your friends and their friends, family members and neighbours for people they recommend. Re: Advice needed on renovating period home in Melbourne 3Nov 21, 2014 3:01 pm I would also add to kats_meow's excellent advice - don't trust any builders' websites and don't expect that being a member of a professional organisation like the Master Builders Association will guarantee you good work or good ethics. Ask for the names and contact details of at least three previous clients and make sure at least one of them is recent (within the last six months) and one of them is from a few years ago. The latter will be able to tell you if any problems cropped up after completion of work and how they were handled. I would say it is more important how the builder handles mistakes and problems rather than whether there were any in the first place. There are a number of threads on here about how to avoid renovation disaster including a very good book by Amanda Falconer called the The Renovator's Survival Guide: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=70162&p=1150635&hilit=+renovation#p1150635 Lastly if you are inexperienced I would be making sure I had a reliable building inspector to inspect the work at regular points. Good luck. What you are looking at is fibrous plaster, true gypsum, it is cast on horizontal beds with fibers included to give strength. I has no Asbestos in it. Houses before 1985… 2 7113 you need to understand the breakdown of warranties. 90 warranty is considered as minor defects rectification period where as the longer ones are more major/structural… 1 5278 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6829 |