New member, new home, 1000 projects

[NewHomeNovice]

Hello.

My first post as a newb to this site, been reading various topics with much interest, great forum. So anyway I suppose I will give a little spiel about myself and the partner. Were both university students and have just purchased our first home. We bought a home as we have a little one on the way and at the tender age of 21 and 20 we have been lucky enough to be able to have bought our first home. This will be our home for the next 5 years we hope so we want to make it look as good as possible so tht we dont have alot to do when we come to sell it. Its a nice 3bed mid terraced house in Hertford

So down to the nitty gritty. We pick up the keys on friday so we can start moving our things in. My questions are(might be a bit long)

1) What do I start/or is the most logical place to start with after cleaning the place out?
2)We have a box lounge which I am wanting to put down solid oak flooring. (How much will it cost for parts and labour?, want to spend about £25 - £30 per sqm on floor, any suggestions on suppliers ?)
3)Can we do it ourselves or should we get a professional in? (room size approx 15sqm)
4) Currently in the lounge there is a push switch with one hanging light in the middle, What I would like to do is to put in a double dimmer switch in the wall, on one circuit put 4 spotlights in the ceiling and on the second circuit put 2 wall lights. Is this difficult ? Should I leave it to a pro ?
5)Shall I do wiring before painting the room ? if so how much will it cost roughly for an electrician to do that wiring ?
6)There is no skirting boards ? I think it looks ok but is this a no no ? what are advantages disadvantages ?
7) same as 6 but for ceiling coving.

erm I think thats it for the moment, start with one room and go from there, key elements are the flooring cost installation and the wiring of the lounge.

Thanks guys for any feedback im sure im going to be a permanent member of this forum

 

[WoodYouLike]

2)We have a box lounge which I am wanting to put down solid oak flooring. (How much will it cost for parts and labour?, want to spend about £25 - £30 per sqm on floor, any suggestions on suppliers ?)
3)Can we do it ourselves or should we get a professional in? (room size approx 15sqm)

Welcome here.
Can only answer the questions about wooden flooring I'm affreight.
Good solid Oak flooring for £25 - £30 is a bit on the tight side, be careful when you do get offered solid oak for that price, make sure the boards are dry and straight enough. Als, do you want unfinished or pre-finished boards, the latter will be easier to install (no applying finish on site), but will costs you more

Good quality T&G Oak flooring can easily be installed by your self, just take your time. If not installing directly onto joist you can install the boards 'floating', just glueing the T&G's.

Goof luck and I'm sure we see you around here again.

 

[TexMex]

Hello NewHomeNovice and welcome.

Attempting to answer your questions in order

1) No way of saying. Wait until you move in, make a list of what you want to do, decide on your priorities. If you have jobs that clash, start a seperate thread listing the jobs in question and you'll get some opinions.

2)Note item 9

3)Depends on your level of expertese, tools available etc.. Check what type of floor you have, (concrete, floorboards, chipboard). Do some searches on here and if in doubt, post a seperate thread in Floors/ Stairs/Lofts/Floor Tiling section.

4) Although you can probably still do this work yourself without falling fowl of part P (do a search if you haven't heard of it). I notice that you are expecting to sell up in about 5 years time. You may, then, be expected to provide documentation regarding these modifications. This will be followed by some posturing on the part of your buyers solicitor in attempts to push your price down.

5)I recon wiring first and note item 9 again.

6)Skirting boards are purely decorative. It is becoming quite fasionable lateley to have none. I prefer them, but others don't.

7) Ceiling coving is a task within the capabilities of the most mediocre of DIYers.

One more tip. Try to keep your posts to one specific point. Better to post half a dozen posts, all in their relevant areas, than have one catchall post for the lot.

Congrats on the move, I bet you're over the moon. Make sure you take a note of all the meter readings (gas electric and water?) as soon as you move in, and contact the appropriate suppliers with your details. If you leave it un'til later they are less likely to take your word for what they were. Good luck.

 

[NewHomeNovice]

2)We have a box lounge which I am wanting to put down solid oak flooring. (How much will it cost for parts and labour?, want to spend about £25 - £30 per sqm on floor, any suggestions on suppliers ?)
3)Can we do it ourselves or should we get a professional in? (room size approx 15sqm)

Welcome here.
Can only answer the questions about wooden flooring I'm affreight.
Good solid Oak flooring for £25 - £30 is a bit on the tight side, be careful when you do get offered solid oak for that price, make sure the boards are dry and straight enough. Als, do you want unfinished or pre-finished boards, the latter will be easier to install (no applying finish on site), but will costs you more

Good quality T&G Oak flooring can easily be installed by your self, just take your time. If not installing directly onto joist you can install the boards 'floating', just glueing the T&G's.

Goof luck and I'm sure we see you around here again.

Hi as its my first home im knd of at a loss of all these different things, its all too confusing, what I would want is solid pre finished oak flooring, whats so special about tongue and groove boards ? do tehy have an advantage over the norm ? as an estimate/guestimate, how much per msq would good flooring cost ? know of any good or reputable flooring companies in the Herts area ??? thanks !

 

[NewHomeNovice]

Hello NewHomeNovice and welcome.

Attempting to answer your questions in order

1) No way of saying. Wait until you move in, make a list of what you want to do, decide on your priorities. If you have jobs that clash, start a seperate thread listing the jobs in question and you'll get some opinions.

2)Note item 9

3)Depends on your level of expertese, tools available etc.. Check what type of floor you have, (concrete, floorboards, chipboard). Do some searches on here and if in doubt, post a seperate thread in Floors/ Stairs/Lofts/Floor Tiling section.

4) Although you can probably still do this work yourself without falling fowl of part P (do a search if you haven't heard of it). I notice that you are expecting to sell up in about 5 years time. You may, then, be expected to provide documentation regarding these modifications. This will be followed by some posturing on the part of your buyers solicitor in attempts to push your price down.

5)I recon wiring first and note item 9 again.

6)Skirting boards are purely decorative. It is becoming quite fasionable lateley to have none. I prefer them, but others don't.

7) Ceiling coving is a task within the capabilities of the most mediocre of DIYers.

One more tip. Try to keep your posts to one specific point. Better to post half a dozen posts, all in their relevant areas, than have one catchall post for the lot.

Congrats on the move, I bet you're over the moon. Make sure you take a note of all the meter readings (gas electric and water?) as soon as you move in, and contact the appropriate suppliers with your details. If you leave it un'til later they are less likely to take your word for what they were. Good luck.

sorry. I did try and look for a newbie zone on the forum but failed to spot one so dumped all my questions in here, im sure as time passes ill learn the board etiquette . Just wanted to ask, why is it imperative to take the leccy,gas,water readings ?? Under the current floor in the lounge is concrete I think as when you stamp on the floor it sounds completley solid not as if there were wood under there but alas I will only find out once ive ripped up the carpet.

 

[WoodYouLike]

[

what I would want is solid pre finished oak flooring, whats so special about tongue and groove boards ? do tehy have an advantage over the norm ?

We call T&G the norm.

 

[NewHomeNovice]

as above in edited post know of any good or reputable companies that do solid flooring in the Herts area, and price ? although I understand this is somewhat subjective
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Moderator

NewHomeNovice, welcome to the forums, I have locked this post before it gets more confusing.

I would like to echo what TexMex has said, ask one question per post to avoid confusion, i can not split this topic as its too many questions in one, oh and also
please note 10a which is here