Hey guys!
First up, as this is my first post on this forum I'd like to say a big
thank you to all the contributors to this forum. It's so great to have such
a vast wealth of relevant info all in one place! I have been lurking
around here for a very long time so I think it's time to contribute a
little back
...And a little bit of my background: My fiancee and I started on our
property investing journey around mid 2013, and after reading a lot of
books and forums, and also even doing a PI course we came to the
conclusion we would stay renting where we wanted to live and concentrate
on building a small portfolio of rentals. But after months of searching in
Auckland for anything that would be even vaguely cf+ and getting really
discouraged we decided to change tact and buy our PPOR instead.
We had to make a sacrifice on location and live a long long way out from
where we really wanted to be but finally managed to find a place which met
our requirements, the main one being it had to have big do up potential
without requiring any structural work. You see the reason being is I am a
qualified sparky but have a huge amount of experience with all sorts of
other residential trades I.e. building, plumbing, etc so I might as well
put myself to good use and gain some equity! And thus begins my 1st full
reno project. I will update this thread as we make progress on each part
(with photos) but for now I'll post the progress thus far.
Our house is an 80sqm three bedroom home in Massey Akl on a 400sqm sloping
section with a decent sized garage underneath. The exterior of the house
was in not too bad shape, just a couple hours with a chemical wash and
broom was all it took to make it a little more respectable. The inside
however was a different story! It's pretty obvious the previous owners had
a couple of very naughty dogs, which had chewed holes in the hallway
walls, making the house look real rough as you first walk in. Also it
looked as though the previous owners had fleeting thoughts of doing a
reno themselves, as half of the carpet had been ripped up, and random
patches of wallpaper had been ripped off. Add to that a very pokey little
bathroom, mould covered ceilings and a gross old unfunctional kitchen and
you've got a house just begging for some love.
First up we did some research on houses in our immediate vicinity using
RPNZ (awesome tool that!) and came to the conclusion we could expect a
valuation after reno of at least 460k. So considering we paid 390k we
came up with a budget of 25k to play with, and then figured out how best
to spend that. Next we drew up a schedule outlining time frames for each
part of the house to make sure we stayed on track- I tell you what it was
sooo rewarding being able to cross off each item on completion! Especially
the real tedious jobs like stripping wallpaper, uugghhhhh soooo lame!!
As the house was pretty stinky with that horrible old musty mildewey
stench the first couple major jobs were to put polythene moisture barrier
on the dirt under the house to stop the rising damp and dig in a new
novacoil drain around the top side of the house. Which turned out to be
well worth the effort as after the first decent downpour the water was
literally flowing out the end of it, instead of straight under our house!
Now the house doesn't stink any more, awesome!
The first major project was the bathroom, as it was definitely the most
horrible part of the house and would be the most labour intensive-
therefore it was decided to get it over and done with first. As you can
see from the photos (will upload once the moderators allow it) the floor
was rotten and needed replacing. Turns out the drain holes in the flush
mounted meterbox on the outside wall had never been sealed (bloody
sparkies ) therefore allowing water to flow down inside the wall and
then turn the chip board floor under the tiles into weetbix. Luckily this
era of house used treated timber so the framing was still fine.
As none of the internal walls in the house are load bearing we decided to
knock out the wall between the laundry and bathroom, as the laundry was in
a very odd place and an odd shape making it a waste of space in an already
small house. By combining the laundry into the bathroom we have made it
much more accessible and turned a pokey little bathroom into a much
larger, user friendly space.
The shower linings got ripped out to reveal lots of very toxic looking
mould, yuck! So all the gib was removed and new aqua line put in. I
removed the bath, relined the floor with treated ply and built a new bath
cradle so that we could have the new tiles on the sides of the bath sit
flush with the edge of it. Next up was a couple thick coats of waterproof
membrane on the walls and floor before embarking on the tiling.
Next up was the gib stopping and painting then finally installing a new
vanity and the laundry cabinets. After two soild months of doing 50 hour
weeks at work as well as a major bathroom reno I was pretty sick of that
room! So there are a few finishing touches to complete as well as all the
electrical but for now it is functioning so on to the next thing I go!
Next on the schedule is the kitchen overhaul, not quite as demanding as
the bathroom but still pretty major. A lot of pondering went in to this
one re: the layout, but the end result has achieved a massive difference!
All the yucky old cabinets got pulled out and shifted downstairs, I'll
probably reuse them for storage in the garage. We then pulled out the
silly wall separating the kitchen/lounge area (I love the smashing down
bits ) and immediately noticed what a huge difference it has made to
the feel of this part of the house. It has really made it feel like a nice
part of the house to be in- much larger and with a nicer outlook to
outside now there isn't a pointless wall interrupting the flow of vision.
A quick pre-wire was done, then the new flatpack kitchen cabinets were
assembled and installed, then the benches and floor laid. The island bench
was then moved into place and bolted down. Next up will be installing the
sink and appliances, fitting off the electrical and then installing the
splashbacks.
Meanwhile during all of this my fiancee has been stripping off all the
wallpaper throughout the whole house. I gotta say I really admire her
patience with this, as it would have driven me crazy doing that! She has
also primed and painted one of the bedrooms, and moving onto the next
rooms.
Next step will be building a deck for the front entrance, I've been
looking forward to this part for ages! Really keen to get out of the house
and work out in the sunshine. Will continue updating with pics as the
progress continues
First up, as this is my first post on this forum I'd like to say a big
thank you to all the contributors to this forum. It's so great to have such
a vast wealth of relevant info all in one place! I have been lurking
around here for a very long time so I think it's time to contribute a
little back
...And a little bit of my background: My fiancee and I started on our
property investing journey around mid 2013, and after reading a lot of
books and forums, and also even doing a PI course we came to the
conclusion we would stay renting where we wanted to live and concentrate
on building a small portfolio of rentals. But after months of searching in
Auckland for anything that would be even vaguely cf+ and getting really
discouraged we decided to change tact and buy our PPOR instead.
We had to make a sacrifice on location and live a long long way out from
where we really wanted to be but finally managed to find a place which met
our requirements, the main one being it had to have big do up potential
without requiring any structural work. You see the reason being is I am a
qualified sparky but have a huge amount of experience with all sorts of
other residential trades I.e. building, plumbing, etc so I might as well
put myself to good use and gain some equity! And thus begins my 1st full
reno project. I will update this thread as we make progress on each part
(with photos) but for now I'll post the progress thus far.
Our house is an 80sqm three bedroom home in Massey Akl on a 400sqm sloping
section with a decent sized garage underneath. The exterior of the house
was in not too bad shape, just a couple hours with a chemical wash and
broom was all it took to make it a little more respectable. The inside
however was a different story! It's pretty obvious the previous owners had
a couple of very naughty dogs, which had chewed holes in the hallway
walls, making the house look real rough as you first walk in. Also it
looked as though the previous owners had fleeting thoughts of doing a
reno themselves, as half of the carpet had been ripped up, and random
patches of wallpaper had been ripped off. Add to that a very pokey little
bathroom, mould covered ceilings and a gross old unfunctional kitchen and
you've got a house just begging for some love.
First up we did some research on houses in our immediate vicinity using
RPNZ (awesome tool that!) and came to the conclusion we could expect a
valuation after reno of at least 460k. So considering we paid 390k we
came up with a budget of 25k to play with, and then figured out how best
to spend that. Next we drew up a schedule outlining time frames for each
part of the house to make sure we stayed on track- I tell you what it was
sooo rewarding being able to cross off each item on completion! Especially
the real tedious jobs like stripping wallpaper, uugghhhhh soooo lame!!
As the house was pretty stinky with that horrible old musty mildewey
stench the first couple major jobs were to put polythene moisture barrier
on the dirt under the house to stop the rising damp and dig in a new
novacoil drain around the top side of the house. Which turned out to be
well worth the effort as after the first decent downpour the water was
literally flowing out the end of it, instead of straight under our house!
Now the house doesn't stink any more, awesome!
The first major project was the bathroom, as it was definitely the most
horrible part of the house and would be the most labour intensive-
therefore it was decided to get it over and done with first. As you can
see from the photos (will upload once the moderators allow it) the floor
was rotten and needed replacing. Turns out the drain holes in the flush
mounted meterbox on the outside wall had never been sealed (bloody
sparkies ) therefore allowing water to flow down inside the wall and
then turn the chip board floor under the tiles into weetbix. Luckily this
era of house used treated timber so the framing was still fine.
As none of the internal walls in the house are load bearing we decided to
knock out the wall between the laundry and bathroom, as the laundry was in
a very odd place and an odd shape making it a waste of space in an already
small house. By combining the laundry into the bathroom we have made it
much more accessible and turned a pokey little bathroom into a much
larger, user friendly space.
The shower linings got ripped out to reveal lots of very toxic looking
mould, yuck! So all the gib was removed and new aqua line put in. I
removed the bath, relined the floor with treated ply and built a new bath
cradle so that we could have the new tiles on the sides of the bath sit
flush with the edge of it. Next up was a couple thick coats of waterproof
membrane on the walls and floor before embarking on the tiling.
Next up was the gib stopping and painting then finally installing a new
vanity and the laundry cabinets. After two soild months of doing 50 hour
weeks at work as well as a major bathroom reno I was pretty sick of that
room! So there are a few finishing touches to complete as well as all the
electrical but for now it is functioning so on to the next thing I go!
Next on the schedule is the kitchen overhaul, not quite as demanding as
the bathroom but still pretty major. A lot of pondering went in to this
one re: the layout, but the end result has achieved a massive difference!
All the yucky old cabinets got pulled out and shifted downstairs, I'll
probably reuse them for storage in the garage. We then pulled out the
silly wall separating the kitchen/lounge area (I love the smashing down
bits ) and immediately noticed what a huge difference it has made to
the feel of this part of the house. It has really made it feel like a nice
part of the house to be in- much larger and with a nicer outlook to
outside now there isn't a pointless wall interrupting the flow of vision.
A quick pre-wire was done, then the new flatpack kitchen cabinets were
assembled and installed, then the benches and floor laid. The island bench
was then moved into place and bolted down. Next up will be installing the
sink and appliances, fitting off the electrical and then installing the
splashbacks.
Meanwhile during all of this my fiancee has been stripping off all the
wallpaper throughout the whole house. I gotta say I really admire her
patience with this, as it would have driven me crazy doing that! She has
also primed and painted one of the bedrooms, and moving onto the next
rooms.
Next step will be building a deck for the front entrance, I've been
looking forward to this part for ages! Really keen to get out of the house
and work out in the sunshine. Will continue updating with pics as the
progress continues
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