2 year DIY **** hole

[Ian H]

Its still a **** hole but tonight was the first night I sat in the garden and did nothing, and I love it!!

We bought this hose in Feb/March 2016, its at the end of a cul-de-sac in a nicer area than we are used to, it's a bigger house with a bigger garden than our last place. Only problem was it had an odd side extension and had been empty/neglected for a good few years, which meant the price was right.

We reckoned on 6 months and £20,000 to renovate it but 2 years and £40,000 later we had to move in after running out of cash.

Couple of pics from the estate agent.

Front:

Back:

And the day we got the keys:

 

[Burnerman]

What's above the garage, Ian? Can't see any windows......
Potential for a 2 post lift, perhaps?
Good luck with it - quite a project there but shouldn't take long to make the outside tidy.
John

 

[honda]

Plenty of greenery Ian. Hope you didn't get lost in the garden.

 

[Ian H]

What's above the garage, Ian? Can't see any windows......

It was a very long bedroom with a frosted window on the back and a clear one on the side. Few of pics of what we did to the garage:

Bricked up the side window and removed the flat roof

Raised it to the same height as the house:

Put a window in higher at the back:

New ceiling/loft floor:

Then had a builder drop the front and build it back like this:

The windows should come tomorow for those openings.

 

[Ian H]

We also split it into 2 bedrooms for our 2 sons who were sharing a room at the other house, they are both sharing the back bedroom at the minute, probably will be a couple of weeks before the front one is done.

 

[Ian H]

Plenty of greenery Ian. Hope you didn't get lost in the garden.

The garden was another reason we bought it, that was pretty overgrown!! There was a log cabin that looked lived in and loads of rabbit hutches, all rotten.

 

[CortinaV8]

I like how the roof had been ripped off but there is a brand new radiator just sat there waiting to be fitted.

Mission creep is a nightmare on these projects, I've just completed my second whole house renovation, I think about a year of extra work was created by my other half saying "I've had this idea....."

 

[Ian H]

I bet that radiator is still there

I know how you feel!! We did everything backwards and I bet that cost us the best part of a year, wasn't helped by the guy that drew our loft conversion

 

[Brigadier]

Pattern emerging in all of your projects, Ian....

.....the women do the graft, and the blokes do sod all

 

[Ian H]

.....the women do the graft, and the blokes do sod all

Equal rights, innit!!!

 

[domdee]

bet it was exciting unearthing that garden!

 

[Ian H]

bet it was exciting unearthing that garden!

Yes, it was great, we didn't even know that cabin was there or where the walls were. We found the stone wall, crawled along that and found the cabin, it was a proper mini adventure

We had a BBQ last night, birds were singing, bats were flying around, kids playing and us with a glass of wine, really proved the last 2 years had been worth it.

Although I still think that dormer is too tall.

 

[domdee]

better than banging your head all the time

 

[pilsbury]

Much work done there Ian. It’s the blood sweat and tears that make it worth it. Keep the progress moving - I have found that the latter stages are taking just as long as the major works.

 

[Ian H]

Pilsbury, you are an inspiration x x x