lizzie's kitchen and bathroom reno

this is going to be a very slow process, so might just post the events of the week every friday night over a glass of mind numbing red. it's now 5.30pm.

today the kitchen was partially ripped out. i still have a stove and a fridge in the old kitchen. hubby is wonderful and setting up a new kitchen in the spare room. fortunately the house was a doctors surgery somewhere in it's past so there is plumbing already in there. cabinet carcasses and benchtops were set up this afternoon and the sink was moved to the spare room - all just a screw together jobbie.

all was going well - until - having been without water for the last 5 hours while everything was tweaked and ripped (one forgets just how much you rely in running water), we took a final look and thought everything was in place for tonight - so hubby goes to turn the water back on.

talk about a gusher!

when cutting the chipboard around the pipes to getting the old sink out of the carcass, he must've nicked the copper.

after some wild screaming to turn it off (from me), he's cut back the pipe, filed, sanded, got the welding kit out for the first time in 12 months and ready to reseal (i mopped up).

empty gas ... hope bunnings is still open.

at least dinner is cooked.

anyhow - here is a before picture ... see you next friday when the asbestos ceiling should be ripped out, the electrical all removed and the 2nd bathroom is demolished.

oh, did i mention the washing machine is in the garage being fed by a hose and we're "showering" in an old cast iron job with tin wrapped around it (must get photo)?

gotta love renovating!

lizzie said:

we're "showering" in an old cast iron job with tin wrapped around it (must get photo)?

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Yes please. I'd love a photo.

That kitchen and bathroom looks about 10x better than what you'd see in most houses in this area ... the bathroom is about a billion times better than what we have here and are just putting up with from lack of funds

I had this image of a kitchen or bathroom more like what I'm used to dealing with ... one dinky little bench with a sink on it for a kitchen with a freestanding oven on the other side of the room, and the bathroom is an untiled room with an over-bath shower and a pedestal sink with all the pipes exposed and the hot tap being an optional extra.

If you're ripping out that bathroom, send me the old one so I can install it here - I have a leaky roof, a 40cm gap to squeeze through to get to the toilet, bright blue walls, blue floral tiles and a black and blue LINO spashback with a silver plastic trim across the top lol

When I redid the kitchen at my old house it had no proper benches, a hot water service (no cold water) that was just an exposed copper pipe sticking out of a 5L zip heater held to the wall with 1 dynabolt, no oven, the sink was a wooden thing stuck into a home made bench made out of raw stud timber and not much else, no floor coverings at all (just rough concrete), and no back door so it was windy and arctic in there. We did the whole electric frypan and microwave in the next room thing for a few weeks but honestly, that wasn't really much different to the old kitchen, the only thing that was missing was the sink. The new kitchen is nothing to write home about but hey, it cost $1000. We got the stove and HWS for free.

skater said:

Yes please. I'd love a photo.

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who would you like to model - me or hubby

perhaps i should explain: thru the door in the kitchen you can see a walk in pantry that backs onto the linen press - this will be the new bathroom area. where the bathroom currently is will be opened, raised and turned into the new open plan kitchen overlooking the backyard.

the house is in a rather nice area only 5mins from the cbd and beaches (and that includes time to unlock the garage!) as, asides from improving both the bath and kitch, a second motive is to create a 2nd living area where the dining currently is - expectation in this area for good $$ is min 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 living.

okay, so we're doing this one for profit - so that we can finish renovating the ocean views ppor (that is currently rented) and build the townhouses.

lizzie said:

who would you like to model - me or hubby

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You!

Nothing against hubby but it's a testostrone thing I seem to have.

BTW, your kitchen is 10x better than mine.

Project 1080.

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.

You rearranging walls and stuff in this reno to get the best layout?

lizzie said:

who would you like to model - me or hubby

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Gee, I wasn't planning on having a model in it.

Lizzie:

who would you like to model - me or hubby

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Hubby please, but only if that's okay with you Lizzie.

That would be nice.

Understand Project1080's POV, but maybe we could do a poll?

Skater:

Gee, I wasn't planning on having a model in it.

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We should give it due consideration though Skater, kind of spatial accuracy, I'm good with abstract but not spatial. Could be an important learning curve.

our obsession said:

[
We should give it due consideration though Skater, kind of spatial accuracy, I'm good with abstract but not spatial. Could be an important learning curve.

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Point taken! In that case if we are going to have a model, well, I choose Hubby. In these kind of circumstances the male is always better eye candy than the female.

So, who is going to start the poll?

another friday has come. the steel beams are supposed to arrive today but no idea when, so am sitting at home doing some computer work and the dreaded taxes (only dreaded because they take so long to get all the info together even with everything programmed into the computer).

the back of the house is "de-electrified" as much a possible. we do have several live wires blanked off and hanging out of walls that will be removed. turned out to be rather tricky to the stage that the electrician electrocuted himself (thank goodness for safety switches) as there is no logic in the electrical layout.

the power point in the bathroom had to stay because the entire 4-car garage electricals run off it - what the? and can't cut that off because of the need to use the power tools out there, and the laundry is currently tucked in the garage corner. another power point in the kitchen (at the back of the house) is linked to the power points in the front bedrooms! etc etc ... old houses!!

anyhow - kitchen and 1st bathroom (not the one being gutted - yet) ceilings were ripped out by the asbestos guys on wednesday. what a revolting job - more so because of the coal dust and dirt accumulating in the ceiling (despite us having swept out the ceiling before they came). is making the house a little chilly.

we will be gutting the 2nd bathroom this weekend ready for builder on monday to rip out some walls - tipper truck booked for tuesday for us to cart the several loads of bricks away to the recyclers. here come the muscles back just in time for summer!!

we put the gyprock back up in the 1st bathroom last night and i popped over to the other side of town yesterday to pick up some decorative cornicing to put in on the weekend. the vent was mounted on the wall so i might choose a nice stainless one (from other thread) to go back in when we renovate that bathroom. will be no ixl in this bathroom as the ceilings are 12 foot. i might indulge and put in a simple chandelier (always wanted one in the bathroom!).

anyhow - here's photo of the 1st bathroom setup as requested, and ceiling-less kitchen.

Are you going to gyprock the kitchen?

Chandaliers in the bathroom would be great.

Sounds like an awesome project you are doing. Can't wait to see the finished product.

skater said:

Are you going to gyprock the kitchen?

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most of those walls you can see are coming out - hubby and i will be spending a couple of days filling a small tipper truck (or four) with them, and carting them to the concrete crushers'.

did i mention that i'm still struggling to find a kitchen supplier? we will install, but i want a large-ish pantry, larger than normal end panels to conceal the fridge from the dining area and an oven tower - well - one will do this, and one will do that, the other one doesn't do two pack gloss and one will do all at twice the price of the others.

i've had to par back slightly on the pantry, so hoping the final quote i'm waiting on comes back reasonable.

A friend of mine is getting a Kitchen from Laws Auctions. They will make non standard items in gloss white, made to order. Why not try them. I know it would be a pain from Newcastle, but the price was very, very good.

Whats for tea tonight lizzie?
Thankgoodness its not a fried electrician

menu so far has been - roast chicken on the bbq (hooded), nachos (precooked and frozen sauce), lamb cassarole (slow cooker), spag bol (precooked and frozen), bbq steak and veges.

bbq lunch with family today HERE , so might just have a "leftovers" dinner tonight.

hope they don't mind me in my work clothes as we're still dismantling.

Nice work Lizzie...I knew you'd adapt.....sounds delicious...!

have you washed up on the lawn yet..? lol

hey lizzie all seems to be going well i have been having similar pricing problems with a kitchen i am renovation, please keep us updated with plenty more photos.

Also i am wanting to know if anybody would be able to tell me how much it costs to get the asbestos removed from a house, my 1st IP has it and i am wanting to soon start renovation and am unsure of my plans yet as i need to know how much would be a reasonable price on having it removed?!

asbestos removal cost us $33/m2 with a minimum of 25m being charged (ie, if you have only 20m2 to remove they still charge for 25m).

however, having now seen what was involved, i think the price was very good.

anyhow - can't wait for friday. big steel beams have gone in, demolition practically completed and builder's mate is just jackhammering up the last of the old bathroom flooring (dirt packed underneath so i will be digging it out this weekend to comply with the 400mm clearance). they hope to get the new framing started today, so hopefully that will be done by end of business tomorrow.

we took away 8 tonnes of demolition rubble. fortunately there is a brick crusher place only about 15mins drive away that charges $15/tonne, but they only take tipper trucks (yay - we hired one) and not utes or trailers etc. so disposal only cost around $300 for the hire and disposal ... heaps cheaper than skip or tip. we have around another 2 tonnes building up in the yard, but because it's being made up of small lots (bathroom floor, window cavity etc - instead of whole walls) we'll just wait until we've finished and then hire the tipper again.

fortuately most of the motar was the old lime version - basically crumbles in your hands, so the bricks came out very easily - although we do know that house is very stable, having survived the '89 earthquake with no real cracking ... and swinging away all day with a sledge hammer is very therapeudic.

aren't those brick saws fantastic! although the slurry mess is a bit revolting to clean up off the timber floors - lots of old towels and drop sheets. we could've taped around plastic but it would've taken longer to tape than the sawing took - as the cuts were in all different locations around the room and none of them particularly big.

the space now looks fantastic. so light and airy. we now get some sun in - and that's without even the new windows cut out or the bricked in verandah wall being removed.

problems so far? i order the timber windows several weeks ago and was told they'd be three weeks -which would have made then available for the builder next week. rang on tuesday to find out what day they would be delivered, only to be told that they won't be here until the week after (when builder is finished)!

ordered the kitchen last week! carcasses will be ready in time to go in, but the cupboard and drawer fronts won't follow until 2 weeks later. ah well, i can live with that. the quotes all came out fairly similar - so ended up going with the one that gave the best service and the closest to what i wanted - still had to compromise on a slightly smaller pantry. one place took 3 weeks to get a quote so they got the flick fairly quickly.

basically, because it's an old house (90yrs old) and one is never sure what one is going to find until the work is started, a lot of decisions are just being made up on the spot as we go along. keeps the mind active and the patience firmly in check. some things take twice as long as you think, and others half the time - so all in all everything is working great.

electrician and plumber are booked for early next week once the framing is all up.

so photos for today ...

another photo ... in a funny way the space now seems both smaller and larger than expected. but empty spaces always look smaller imo.