Anyone Renovating?

[NS2500]

I recently bought a house (instead of a Skyline) and now we're getting eveything up to scratch - new kitchen/bathroom/floors etc. Anyone else doing this kind of thing at the moment, or recently?

Just interested to know your experiences - good or bad.

-Greg.

[adznight]

My old man's a builder and I have had a fair bit of experience working with him, our place is currently undergoing some pretty major renovations. The Laundry, Bathroom, the Toilet, and bed rooms were all gutted back to bare frames. The hardest part of an extension with a stumped house is the floor and wall lines are never perfect anymore so it's very difficult to line up the new walls and floors! The bathroom is being tiled at them moment and looks awesome, laundry is done with a new storage room and we put down solid boards on the floor with hidden nails in the bedroom with the addition of a walk in robe. Overall it's a lot of work but the results are well worth while, just make sure that if your going to do it that your working with a realistic time line and not trying to rush it as trying to find time can be hard at times!

[Horus]

done a lot of DIY with the old man in my time

say goodbye to weekends and hello to back pain!

nah seriously its very satisfying, justy make sure you do things properly

[Restless 33]

i've done 3 houses so far with my dad and believe me...it's true when people say "say goodbye to ur weekends" u spend every free day over there. i'm guessing u took a loan to help, if it's only for investing then u'll wanna get it done and sold/rented asap to reduce intrest. my advice, make sure u find a good builder who is competent and alway check everything they do...assume nothing. we haev had some bad experiences with this and believe me it's worth keeping a good eye on things, and make sure things are done exactly how u want them...don't leave any room for mis-understandings. also have fun with it

[doxximus]

my gf's family are doing now, the new kitchen is going in today, bathroom needs to be tiled, and new showerscreen (gee i wonder from where....... ). it's all real fun really

[Kel]

I discovered the best invention ever last year after renovating an investment flat.

The place hadn't been touched (or cleaned) since the 70s and we didn't want to spend too much cos it was going to be a rental.

To make the bathroom look pretty we repainted the tiles using a special paint you can get at the hardware. It cost about $100 and turned the pink, brown and orange tiles to a nice vanilla colour

We also repainted the fake wood grain kitchen cupboards using a laminate paint, total cost was about $70 but kitchen was transformed!

In all it took us about 6 weeks from start to finish to get the place decent- like everyone says be prepared to give up your weekends and evenings, and avoid doing it with the other half/ family if you can help it!

I personally loved it and can't wait to do another one.

[Drifterdan]

If your doing it yourself remember saftey first!

- Don't jump from heights as there may be a nail sticking out of the floor or scrape on the floor.

- If you have to yell wear earmuffs

- If your grinding don't set fire to anything( I set fire to myself when i was an apprentice...) and wear earmuffs+googles.(good idea to have fire extingser + first aid kit too).

- Get professionals to remove any asbetos(most buildings built before 1985 or so are riddled with this crap) or atleast wear a good resporator/wet the asbestos. This stuff is far worse than smoking and cancer can take up to 40 years to set in!

- If your working with fabricated materials such as mdf, particle board etc or treated pine/blackwood then wear a dust mask.

- All electrical work is to be left to the professionals(get them to check your tools whilw they are about)

- use a residule current device to plug your tools into 'cause when use cut through a cord it'll save your life as it did for me twice...

And no wearing of thongs(yes that includes the ladies...). Use steel capped boots, these have saved me a few times. And when your missues comes around to help with a skirt and titty top, slap her.

I hope this helps someone, its a very dangerous hobby/job to the untrained. Even after 5 years I still have accidents.

Dan.