1920s Bungalow Renovation Log

[task]

The latest purchase, a 1930s 3 bed Bungalow built on very rocky ground in Derbyshire, in need of some work and modernisation.

A few photos of the outside

Front

Side

Rear

One of the first jobs was to kick the central heating into life, the boiler is a Potterton BOA installed around 1986 and running on heating oil as there's no gas on the street. It runs well and I don't currently plan to replace it. First hurdle was a iffy heating/water timer that was undervolting the CH circulation pump, overheated and seized, once replaced the heating sprung into life and has been fine.

Next on the list, loft hatch and boarding an area out, it's a massive loft served by a tiny hatch over the bathroom. We put a hatch into the hall and created a much better access hole

A shower pump was installed into the boiler room as both showers back onto here and there was already a pipe drop suitable, this made a substantial difference to the quality of shower

Other jobs have included

• widening of gateway at bottom to enable two cars to park
• plumbing of replacement shower head
• removal of various items of furniture
• new kitchen sink trap/plug
• plumbing of dishwasher
• investigation into drive at top of property (roads front and back)
• fit radio room-stat
• extensive pruning to garden

There are two spare rooms, the smaller of which I have currently turned into an inside workshop as the walls need stripping and some plastering work

The other needs some remedial work to the floor where the extension was tied but the walls seem sound so we have just painted for the short term as I need an office and we also need some guest sleeping area. At some stage in the life of the house all the doors have had fibre board placed over them hiding some rather nice 1930s paneling

Part of the ongoing plan is to restore these doors to their original condition starting with the larger spare room to be used as an office with a sofabed for guests.

Long term it would be nice to investigate a loft conversion and the removal of one or both kitchen walls, move the HW tank to the loft, increase hard-standing to the rear of the property with the addition of an electric sliding gate and add a drive and wooden car port structure to the front. Car parking is a premium, there's not currently room for all my vehicles here and we also have a caravan to park up at some point.

We are trying to do a few hours every evening at the moment along with weekends so hope to make good progress, most of the work will be done by ourselves with the exception of the mass excavation for parking. We attempted to remove the flower bed to the front right of the property and it took 4 people all day to do 2 meters, filled a 2.2meter Ifor Williams with sandstone and we had to give up when we came across a rock larger than fridge/freezer that we couldn't break with the Kango. Waiting for a mate to come and quote for doing the work.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

Looks good. Is this a house to live in or are you renovating and selling?

 

[task]

Thanks

Plan to live here for around 5 years at least the re-evaluate the situation, it will take that long to get all the jobs done!

 

[a1ex2001]

Thanks

Plan to live here for around 5 years at least the re-evaluate the situation, it will take that long to get all the jobs done!

We bought our current house saying we would stay 5 years and move on. 11 years later and we have re-converted the loft and just added a side return extension we are going nowhere anytime soon! We bought in the wrong location it is such a nice spot to live that we don't want to move even though we could have a much bigger house in a nice enough area within 5-10 minutes drive.

 

[Glaucus]

man that place looks awesome and I would kill for a double garage.

 

[DXP55]

man that place looks awesome and I would kill for a double garage.

So would I and they look like roller shutter doors as well

 

[{SAS}TB]

Interested in watching this thread we are (hopefully eventually if the end of the chain's solicitors get their **** into gear) about to purchase a 1950's bungalow which needs fully modernising and extending / loft conversion



p.s. it has a double garage

 

[ahar]

Good luck with the work. Love the double garage.

After 13 years of living in places, doing them up and then selling on we've just bought a brand new build that needs nothing to it.

Bliss!

 

[task]

Cheers for the kind words guys, the garage is great, has a new concrete floor and they are electric roller shutters. My only complaint is the roof being a little low but I'm considering building a separate workshop. I was at my last place for 10 years and that was only meant to be 3 so 5 years may grow somewhat!

Progress on the office, we should really have stripped the wall paper and put up lining paper but there is a queue of visitors waiting to come down and I'm getting tired of working on my laptop from the dining table so we will probably re-visit this room at a later date. I've got a nice large desk ready to go in and the eventual plan will be for a sofa bed to give us a second guest room, the smaller of the spare rooms just fits a double bed and wouldn't fit both a bed and a desk.

The room was extended in the 60s and it seems the floor has dropped beside one wall, this had been previously "fixed" by injecting the gap with expanding foam and ramming tin foil in

Removed the foam, jacked the floor back to height and re-shimmed the floor supports before popping a coach bolt through the old and new floors beams to shore them up, floor is nice and firm now.

The extension is made from concrete blocks and these don't seem to have supported the radiator very well, in order to get a good support to hand we used 4x M8 threaded bar and "glued" this into the wall with 2 part chemical mortar resin, it's not coming off in a hurry.

The missus decided on green skirting boards and door for this room so paint was applied prior to the arrival of the new carpet, coming Thursday

Outside I've had a few quotes for doing the digging out we need along with looking at mini digger hire and potential dumping sites for soil etc. In the short term we broke some more of the large rocks up and cleared some soil to create a better slope that has enabled me to get the Range Rover onto the front and frees up a space at the bottom for the missus. One of the neighbours complained about her parking on the narrow top road although it didn't stop anyone getting past and we have since discovered we are not the only people they've been arses too.

We ordered some chillis during the week and they turned up on Thursday so we've potted them up and put them in the conservatory for the time being

Still enjoying the view from the back of the house, we watched a very large moon rise from the living room during the week

 

[task]

More progress!

Fixed floor, painted walls, fitted carpets blind and new lights. There's a double bed in for guests currently but will eventually get replaced with a sofa bed once spare room is completed. Seems almost impossible to get a decent photo though!

Tidied up some external wiring that was beyond dodgy, replaced halogen external lights with LED and ran some CAT5 round the eaves to the office.

Replaced the felt roof on one of the external buildings, cleaned the floor and walls off and will migrate all the tools and materials from the spare room to here and setup a small workshop. Once done we can get the spare room decorated.

Next task for the shed is to float a waterproof screed and run some electric out to it and the potting shed with a couple of external lights.

We also had a guy come in and remove ~120 tons of earth/rock etc to create a much improved parking area at the bottom of the property, I may also build a workshop/garage here if I can get planning!

Before:

During:

They managed to find the drains during this process, semi handy as it turned out they were cracked and needed to be replaced anyway, so these were also repaired

10 tons of MOT Type 1 arrived today so that's waiting me dragging it about, I then need to build a rather large retaining wall.

Finally a mate, who happens to be a heating engineer, and myself dismantled and brought this home. It's currently sat in the garage awaiting the addition of a back boiler and me laying a plinth for it in the kitchen

 

[task]

A few more updates, if anyone is watching this thread.

AGA is now running, providing all hot water, heated towel rail, cooking and also a nice background heat in the property.

Spare room is complete and now being used, although the door needs a re-paint.

Externally has been on the back burner while the AGA was installed and should now become a focus again before winter sets in.

Laid the plinth for the AGA;

Then built the AGA and ran a flue, aided and checked by my friendly Oftec engineer.
Plumbed it in to the hot water tank using a pair of essex flanges and constructed a towel rail to spread the heat around.

If you wonder why the pipes slope, it's a gravity system and intentional! I had real trouble getting 15mm solder ring bends for the towel rail and impossible to find them in 28mm, had to resort to end-feed.


Outside I tidied up the edges after the excavation and spread about some MOT Type1;

Still need to build a retaining wall and lay down some concrete/soakaways

Attacked the smaller of the spare rooms, knocked the loose plaster off and rendered in concrete/PVA mix before re-skimming. Also moved the door to hinge the opposite way, it had originally been hung like this but moved sometime in the past. Still need to paint the door but guests have been stopping progress! Seem to be a bit light on photos but it's now finished with carpet. Just the right size for a double bed and bedside table.

 

[task]

We also got the original deeds back for the house, seems like we are the third owners. The last people made quite a few alterations which I have a rough document of. Looks like the property was actually built in the 20s and the land was purchased in 1890 something. I'll scan a few when I get a chance, they're mildly interesting with wax seals etc.

 

[GinG]

Just popping by to say I am still following!

Looks like some nice progress...I bet having that outside parking has made it somewhat easier, and a good time before winter sets in.

 

[task]

Just popping by to say I am still following!

Looks like some nice progress...I bet having that outside parking has made it somewhat easier, and a good time before winter sets in.

Parking is great,can actually fit all the cars in now! At some point I'll take more of the hedge out and fit a sliding gate but want to sure up that soil first. Not sure what to use to do that, currently thinking of reclaimed railway sleepers but open to suggestions.

 

[novaenough]

Looking good so far, digging out the garden had made a huge difference!
Are you thinking of using the sleepers to build a straight wall or going up in a couple of terraces? I'd be tempted to terrace/step of using sleepers to stop it looking so imposing, i think.

 

[task]

Looking good so far, digging out the garden had made a huge difference!
Are you thinking of using the sleepers to build a straight wall or going up in a couple of terraces? I'd be tempted to terrace/step of using sleepers to stop it looking so imposing, i think.

Cheers. I'm probably going to keep it one level, the rest of the garden already has several terraces. I want to add some steps in somewhere too. I'll break it up with some lights, there will hopefully be a workshop where the trailer is parked.

 

[novaenough]

Double garage and a workshop, you're just showing off now.
Two of the things I wanted when I was looking for a house, but didn't manage to get

 

[task]

The garage isn't really high enough to jack up a car inside which is a shame, neighbor has already hinted that he would object to me lifting the roof otherwise I would do that.

 

[ANDARIAL]

Nice thread
Keep up the updates and pics please

 

[ANDARIAL]

The garage isn't really high enough to jack up a car inside which is a shame, neighbor has already hinted that he would object to me lifting the roof otherwise I would do that.

Dig a pit maybe?
If you are into car repair jobs?