Granville ROAD PROJECT

1st March 2018:

That is us done, all renovated, decorated and furnished. Just need some nice tenants that will stay a long time and look after the house.

23rd February 2018:

Well I have to admit that we lost a week to some half term skiing, but the project is practically there. All the decorating, tiling, building control approvals, carpets, flooring, bathrooms etc etc are all finished. The last little bit to do is for the last bit of furniture to go in and then a really good clean from top to bottom.

9th February 2018:

Well it was a dash to the end trying desperately to get finished for the half term holidays, and sad to say we’ve just missed the target. It probably didn’t change much but we had problems with our tiler as he disappeared from the job without finishing. Lessoned learned for me, never pay someone before finishing no matter what hard luck story they tell you, which makes me a little sad that you can’t take people on their word any more. On the plus side I did find a new tiler and he was great and I’d be very happy to use him again. 

The carpets are down today, which really transform the property from a building site to a near completed home.

The kitchen looking a bit of a state though as one of the only non-carpeted areas in the house so everything had to be piled in there to make way for the carpet fitters.

The upstairs bathroom finally got a sink and a seat for the toilet! There is still a little tiling and grouting to be done. It should of been finished but as I say we were let down by our original tiler.

The down stairs bathroom is almost finished, just need some tiled skirting fitting and if it wasn’t for our new tiler’s grinder burning its brushes out it would of been finished ready to fit shower screens and box the boiler.

29th January 2018:

The downstairs toilet is taking shape with much of the fitting installed, but the big breakthrough moment was the boiler being fitted. Heating and hot water finally! The kitchen is in the process of being fitted and up in the upstairs bathroom all but a little bit of finishing needs to be done to the tiling.

26th January 2018:

Now that the majority of the regulisation, retrospective building control, has been carried out and approved, means that we can get on with new structural changes to the house. A whole new process and set of fees with the building control office though!

Most of the back wall has been opened up in the kitchen to try and meld the indoor outdoor space. 

Then quite timely the kitchen turned up ready for fitting.

At the top of the house we’ve boarded out the loft as a convenience to the future tenants and their storage needs.

We went through a few iterations of our chimney support plan, although the existing wood joist were passed by the Structural Engineer the building control people were not happy with the use of wood as a material as they had concerns for it long term heath and strength. After many calls to building control it was finally agreed that a concrete lintel supported by gallows brackets was the best way to support the chimney. This solution is seldom allowed but as the chimney only protruded by a half brick we were allowed to use this method.

24th January 2018:

Progress coming along at a good pace now with lots of visible changes and improvements.

The tiles has been busy in the upstairs bathroom, we’re using the gloss white blocks again, look great.

The downstairs room is now a bathroom and what it has lost in a window it has gained in toilets and shower trays. Losing the window probably wasn’t my first choice but the siting of the boiler and the shower under that very steep roof meant the best way was to lose the window, the bathroom still has the Velux in the ceiling though.

It is always a good sign for me that the end of a project is approaching when the kitchen is designed and ordered.

17th January 2018:

We’re back to full steam ahead now, with a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel! The redecoration, skimming, plastering and painting is almost there upstairs, bit further off downstairs. The electrics are all but done, as is the plumbing. The kitchen has been ordered, and we should hopefully soon have a boiler and working central heating.

12th January 2018:

Part of the reason the house was in the auction was that it had no building control approval for the works. TO avoid hassles when we come to sell we are retroactively getting approval, regulisation. Of the many things the council’s surveyor wanted to see was the foundations where they cross the sewer pipe. He wanted to see that they were bridged with a lintel so we had to dig a big hole to take a look. Fortunately the work was done according to the regulations and after a brief look by the chap from building control they were all passed.

11th January 2018:

Happy New Year, and over at the house we are in full swing again. The electrics are almost complete, can’t believe I had just enough on the cable rolls for the last of the lighting circuit! The horrible 70’s style slat stairs have been converted to proper steps in anticipation of carpets soon. The redecoration is on the way, walls and ceilings being skimmed over.

21st December 2017:

Things have ground to a halt a little as my project over in East London has taken priority as we hope to turn that around quickly and get a tenant as soon as possible. But over in Wimbledon it is wrapping up for the year really with some tidying and rubbish removal.

4th December 2017:

Finishing off the damp proofing, paining on a DPC layer from ground level to above the DPC line.

3rd December 2017:

I have to admit that we have been at a bit of a standstill over the last couple of weeks as we have focuses on our Bethnal Green project hoping to get that out of the way and tenanted before Christmas. Figures crossed for that!

But we have been back this week and made some headway. We’ve started treating the wall with the DampCheck (Dryzone) damp proof rods. This is a great system as the rods give a precise dose of damp proofing chemical to ensure a perfect installation every time.

The down stairs ring is pretty much 1st fixed, all the cables are in and the boxes are fixed to the wall. We’ll be re-plastering soon with DryZone renovation plaster so need to get the cables sorted before that happens.

There has been a lot of office work going on too, planning the lighting, plumbing and downstairs bathroom. A decent plan sketched out makes all of them way easier when on site and installing.

11th November 2017:

Whilst I’ll have to admit to slow progress on this one, as it has taken a back seat to the two buy-to-let properties that have been vacated recently and we’re in a rush to sort them and get them back to immaculate condition ready to let to the next tenants. Hopefully that will all be before the Christmas holidays brings the lettings market to a stop.

That said I’ve managed to get the consumer unit wired and hacked off the plaster work to install a damp proof system using the Dryrod and Dryzone Second Generation Renovation Plasters system.

5th November 2017:

Slightly slower going than I would like but half term holidays always slows things down, especially with a few days away in sunny Scarborough. We have made some good progress though, with both the electrics and plumbing both underway. The upstairs ring main has been finished and is tested and working. Always nice to get a few RCB protected sockets for a nice and safe work environment. I’ve started on the kitchen ring and cooker circuit but not got much passed cutting the holes for the back boxes. Whilst I have only rudimentary plumbing in the house in terms of a washing machine hose being the only tap in the house, but that said I have rigged a temporary connection to the old toilet so at least that is working OK. I moved the internal stop cock from the slightly inaccessible underfloor position to what will be under the kitchen sink which should make it slightly more useful. Lots of floor taken up for the electrics, so makes it half a job next week to run the central heating and water pipes in the upstairs.

27th October 2017:

A big clear out rip out this week, in many ways a backwards step as the house was sort of ok when we started, but this is simply a step back so we can take two forward next week.

18th October 2017:

Just had the British Heart Foundation in to remove a few of the furniture items, while there is a lot left they did take 8 pieces, so easier and cheaper for me to get rid of the rest and of course the warm glow of helping a charity, even though they were really helping me more!

13th October 2017:

A day late but we finally completed and now have the keys.