Blog - New house

I finally got the keys to my new house on Monday! I put the offer in in the first week of October so the whole process took four and a half months - pretty ridiculous given that neither I nor the vendor were in a chain! The delays were mostly caused by the vendor and her solicitor being awkward, incompetent or both.

There’s a lot more work to do in the house than I remember, it seems that you just don’t peer that
closely when you go for viewings! When I went for the second viewing it was all very rushed as well so I
probably didn’t look as closely as I should have! Anyway, it’s certainly not falling down but there is a
lot of work to do before I can move in and so I haven’t actually moved yet. Those of you that know me will
receive my new address when I do!
Anyway, here’s some pics (just snaps) for anyone who’s interested.

This is the porch, there’s not much needs doing in there apart from a coat of paint (the lightbulb
that I found in there was 9 Watt! I didn’t even know you could buy a 9 Watt lightbulb! The previous owner
must have been really penny pinching, I mean I’m as much for the environment as the next man but that
thing’s about as bright as Peter Andre):

This is the kitchen. Now, when I looked round the house the woman said that this kitchen
was ‘new’. It only struck me later on that this was clearly rubbish as I don’t think you can even buy
a kitchen that looks like this now! I think what she’s done is buy it off someone who’s ripped it out
of somewhere else and fit it in this house (a liberal interpretation of ‘new’ then).
As such it’s old, ill fitted and absolutely filthy. The
vendor really was a dirty bugger, the whole house is filthy but the kitchen is especially bad!

As you can see the sink is also in a silly place as you have to stand with your hip banging into the units
to wash up.

I’m going to rip this kitchen out and get a new one fitted; I could paint it and give it a good scrubbing
but I think it’s past it to be honest:

This is the lounge, or what they insist on calling a ‘reception room’ on TV these days.
The plaster on the original external wall is shot, the carpet needs replacing
and that, erm, ‘multimedia centre’ in the corner needs to come out! I’ve made a start on ripping that out and
it’s turning into a bit of a sod as there’s a couple of plaster skims gone on since it was installed so it’s
actually plastered into the wall!

I’m going to knock out the Art Deco fireplace as it’s really not to my tastes. Since there’s no actual fire
(the chimneys have been removed) it’s just taking up floor space.

I’ve also ripped the carpet up, I’m replacing all the carpets as the previous
owner had cats and so they’re full of cat hair. They’re also all dirty, she was obviously onr of these
people who walked around the house with her shoes on all day!:

This is the dining room complete with a range from the 40s (not original, the house was built in 1875). This
isn’t a bad room at all but there’s still quite a lot of work to do in it. For a start I’m going to see if I
can get the range ripped out as it should be worth a bit of money; I can sell it and use the money for
decorating. I’m also ripping out the fitted cupboards to the sides of the chimney breast as they’re old and
manky.

It also wants painting, as you can see I appear to have paint/Ribena stains down one of my walls! The droopy
light fitting needs replacing as well as it’s at face height:

This is the back yard which is through the door you can see above. The brick structure on the right with the
trellis on is my coal ‘ole which has still got some coal in! Once I get it cleared out it’ll be good for
storing garden and bike bits in. I also own an outside toilet fathadahntbacks:

This is the back bedroom which unfortnately has some damp problems owing to the fact that the guttering is
completely knackered and rain water has been getting onto the wall outside.

The external wall is to be taken
back to brick, lined and the plasterboarded. The purple decor was obviously chosen by the little girl
who’s room this was so again a new carpet and paint job are in order:

This is the master bedroom which is a nice size. When I looked round the house the woman had a curtain hiding
all that shite in the corner, she’s obviously started to strip the walls at some point and then thought better
of it! This room has woodworm in the floor (lucky me!) so that’s down to be treated and some of the timber
replaced. Again it needs a new carpet (not keen on the dirty, matted orange one for some reason!) and painting.

Again, due to knackered guttering the plaster on the external wall is completely shot so it’s to be knocked off
and the wall lined and plasterboarded as in the back bedroom:

This is the third bedroom which I will use as an office. The floor also has woodworm so needs treating, but apart
from that this room just needs a coat of paint and a bit of new carpet (brown carpet, what was she thinking!):

Finally this is the bathroom. Nothing to do in here really apart from tidy up some of the skirting and lay new
carpet (and give it a bloody good clean!):

So, lots of work to do! On top of all the interior stuff I also have roofers coming to replace all my guttering
and the flat roof on the extension. I’m also knocking the wall down at the front and concreting over part of the
lawn to make a second parking space; the house is up a narrow lane so parking is quite tight.

Once everyhing is sorted out I’ll put up another set of pictures so people can see the difference. It’s going to
be hard work and I’m going to have to use up all my holiday to get it sorted, but it’ll be nice when it’s done!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 10:05 pm and is filed under House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.