Our rental to PPOR reno

[Joostoz]

Hi people,
I'm new here although I have been reading a lot and already owe some big thanks to fellow forum members.
We bought a rented out property in July, with the plan to renovate and live in it after the tentants moved out. They did that on 1 October so that's when we started work. Since there was quite some asbestos (walls and ceilings) we decided to have that removed professionally. After they left we removed the living room and master bedroom walls and ceiling.

The whole house has been rewired, and aircon units will be installed in the living room / master bedroom.

I built an attic floor above the laundry for additional storage.

We decided to open up the living room in 2 spots, and enlarge the bathroom (it was 2x2m, now 2x3m). Next up: insulation. Hard work but hopefully it will make a difference. At the moment the bathroom is being done, and next week the sheeters will come in.

We hope to move in before Christmas!

Photos for those interested can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joostvanvliet/sets/72157647863135127/

 

[WattleIdo]

Sounds great. I'm thinking of doing something similar. Can I ask how much it's costing you for asbestos gone + rewiring + new walls and ceilings +insulation?

Good idea to make the bathroom a bit bigger. How did you do that?

 

[Joostoz]

Not sure whether that works, but we basically moved two bedroom doors to the hallway, and put in a sliding door.

All in all costs are (very roughly)
Asbestos removal 8.5k
Rewiring 10k (incl 2 aircon units)
Sheeting / plastering 11k (whole house)
Bathroom 10k (including bath / toilet / vanity)
Insulation <1k (DiY)
Kitchen 10k
Other (painting / floor sanding / skirting / architraves etc) 10k

 

[WattleIdo]

Thanks for the info. This is useful to me right now.Very inspiring. You've done well!

 

[wylie]

Just from the plan, I want to remove the wall between kitchen and laundry, but guess it might be a couple of steps down to the laundry?

If there is any sort of nice connection between kitchen and yard, I would look at raising the laundry floor (probably have to remove or alter the roof?) and add a deck at the back flowing from the kitchen.

 

[zimby]

For a PPOR those numbers are quite conservative
Chelmer is a good area to be doing the reno's tho, will almost certainly get return for money on any money spent!

 

[Joostoz]

Just from the plan, I want to remove the wall between kitchen and laundry, but guess it might be a couple of steps down to the laundry?

If there is any sort of nice connection between kitchen and yard, I would look at raising the laundry floor (probably have to remove or alter the roof?) and add a deck at the back flowing from the kitchen.

It's about 1m down from kitchen to laundry. The kitchen door leads to a small landing (with 2nd toilet), then stairs to the laundry and garden.

We would love to have removed the back window from the kitchen and then replace with double doors to a deck. Unfortunately our funds don't stretch that far (they don't stretch to anywhere to be honest). Hence the low cost solutions, self-managing everything etc.

This is our first home, and with two kids we need to find ways to save wherever possible. Plan now is to live in it for a couple of years max, then start renting it out again.

 

[Joostoz]

To make it a bit more visual

 

[wylie]

Gotcha. Understand. In your situation, just make it the best it can be on the budget you have. Maybe don't lose sight of the fact that one day when you can afford it you may add a deck, and try to plan the kitchen with that in mind, so you could knock out the window and install french doors down the track.

Good luck. Looks a good solid house.

 

[WattleIdo]

I really like your windows. If I buy the place I'm thinking of, I'll keep an eye out for windows like that - never seen this type before though.
They're probably something like the ones that were originally in the house I'm looking at.
How old is this house? (Sorry if you've already said).

 

[Joostoz]

Yep, we love the windows too! House was built in the 1950s. It's been under water to about 2m over the floorboards, unfortunately, which means some water damage to them. We hope polishing them may bring them back to life a bit! I'll upload more photos once the plasterboard goes on this week. Should make a big difference.

 

[Joostoz]

Just put some photos up of the work done today, master bedroom has been sheeted, and all ceilings done as well! Link in a previous post. Very excited!