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S1 EP 10 | The £100k Bungalow Renovation - End of weeks 5 & 6
54 Plays2 months ago
It's a double this week as Nick and Dan discuss weeks 5 and 6 at Nick's £100k bungalow renovation. The builders are working on the drainage for the side extension and beginning the block work, plus Nick has destroyed (gulp) more of the original house!
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Transcript
Reaching the 10th Episode Milestone
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the DIY guys the podcast where home renovations, power tools and mild panic go hand in hand. I'm Nick Morris. And I'm Dan Doher. Each week we'll be chatting with some property pros, some DIY diehards, hopefully help you with some tips and tricks along the way.
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome back to the DIY Guards podcast. Nick, it's episode 10. How have we made it this far, Double figures. I We should throw like some sort of party, right? Yeah. but We have to explain as well for the guys who are watching this video. We're in the world's creepiest room built by me. yeah When you led me into your garage and you said you've got something to show me, I was slightly worried. Yeah. So this is my podcast room that I've built for under 250 pounds.
00:00:43
Speaker
I was trying to build it under 200, but it got away from me. We're buying some of the tap behind you. You can see with tall thieves, please carry your ID so your next to king can be certified. Funny stuff, funny stuff. But I've never felt weirder.
00:00:56
Speaker
than just being in my garage building this room for a podcast that's only 10 episodes in. Fantastic, yeah. You know what, mate? I will give you a two. is quality. It's so good. Like, bearing in mind you just kind of, like, put it together in a couple of days. It's actually pretty awesome. Yeah, and I'm going to put some videos out there on my YouTube channel, Nick Morris Renovations, because I've actually used some cool guys with some cool materials,
00:01:18
Speaker
um for like the actual sound so hopefully the sound sounds way better because we've got literal acoustic panels as well as these like slatted acoustic panels behind Dan and I as well um so hopefully the quality is much better but it's Properly creepy being in my garage.
00:01:34
Speaker
And my wife um was working from home yesterday and I came in the afternoon and finished the these little
DIY Challenges and Solutions
00:01:39
Speaker
bits off. And i was literally crawling by the bins doing some low-level insulating while she has a proper job in law. So I feel really strained. But hopefully it sounds better. to be worth it when we're 100 episodes in. Yeah, exactly. Well, that is that's the aim, right?
00:01:54
Speaker
ah I do fear if we have to bring a guest in here, it's going to be stowing back. It will be tight, yeah. have to butter them up with chocolate and cake. and Does that make it worse? Leading them into this room with like sweets? I would like to point out that this has been so poorly built. If anyone was trapped in here, they could easily get out. Okay, I've only used like 80 mil screws, nothing's properly fixed, it'll be fine.
00:02:15
Speaker
Oh, that was the thing you got me to sign on the way in, so I don't sue you. Yeah, how is your insurance and wheels and everything? Hopefully up to date. My wife's going to be happy though if she gets the payout.
00:02:26
Speaker
She doesn't have to live with me anymore. Ironically, my wife does this for a living, she actually does wheels and probate, so maybe before every guest comes in, she can get some work out. Win-win. Win-win, yeah, exactly. yeah This episode is sponsored by Nick's wife. Yeah. But anyway, we should probably talk about a bit more of what I've been doing, I guess, and what you've been up to. How's your staircase going?
00:02:46
Speaker
It's actually going really well. um Christy, my wife, stripped all. She used something called cling strip. Oh, yeah, saw the video. It looks really gooey and horrible. Yeah, it's really gooey and horrible, but it does really do the job. It was crazy how easily it sort of comes off, how much time you sort save without standing there with a heat gun and scraping away. you don't have to – you scrape it off? or you don't scrape it off? Yeah, you don't have to like proper scrape it off if that makes sense. It's like of, it pulls away slightly. Oh, nice. What is in that? I know, yeah. You kind of fear for your life a bit easier than but that's why Christy did it, not me. It's like that CT1 stuff. What is in that stuff? I literally glue everything with it. I've got magnet captures on my doors now to hold the doors open in summer. I'm just like, do I risk screwing into the aluminium, breaking the glass with CT1? It does everything. That's the job, yeah, exactly. These products are amazing. They're awesome, aren't they? Yeah, so she stripped it all down and then ripped out. So we sort of had like flat bits of wood in there.
00:03:47
Speaker
And I've ripped that out and I've started putting spindles in. Nice. Which is cool. So we're at a point now that all the spindles are in after a lot of swearing and trying to work out angles and stuff like that. Found it really hard because there wasn't many people who had done this before. So I found it hard to find videos. So maybe I'll put up a couple of videos. Oh, nice. Good idea.
00:04:06
Speaker
So people can take a look. And your two-year-old didn't fall in any gaps? He didn't fall in any gaps. Make sure the gaps were bigger than two-year-old, smaller than two-year-old. Well, more boring information, but I then found out that there's like a minimum space you have to have in between. Oh,
Neighborhood Attention and Renovation Updates
00:04:19
Speaker
really?
00:04:20
Speaker
This is illegal. I'm not sure if you get arrested. That does make sense, I guess. Yeah, it does. And it is actually for, like, so kids don't get their heads strapped and stuff. Fair enough, then, actually. Yeah, actually makes sense. That's building rigs working for like that. know, exactly, yeah. But no one checks it. Yeah, that's so true. That's the point, yeah.
00:04:36
Speaker
But yeah, so we've got a slightly different format this week, right? So I'll start by saying happy birthday. Yeah, 40 now. Welcome to the 40 Club. How do you feel? I feel fine, the same. But I do feel like we're two middle-aged men sitting in a room I built in my garage. Yeah. Which is super weird. like Do you feel like you've made it or failed in life? Also, we've got quite good listeners at the moment because Bram Hall build who we had on last week posted loads and we had loads of listeners off of it. yeah now I feel like I'm just exposing myself as even weirder that we're in this room in... In my garage, but yeah, fine.
00:05:11
Speaker
And they were awesome, weren't they? Oh, they were so nice. Such a good, even tie. Thank you so much for being such a great guests. Yeah, and also dream guests because they literally posted on all their socials and they did links and everything where sometimes guests come on and you send them the stuff and they don't even post about it or do like a small post. like, come on. Help us out. Help us out. And surely it benefits you a bit as well. yeah But yeah, I'm going to talk about two weeks this week because... um basically week five and week six so we're going to go to the end of week six because week five basically I wasn't there I um started a rewire in Tunbridge for a client and was one of those things money coming in at this stage is more important than money going yeah out on the build so and even though saying that it's still impossible to get more money in the more money out as I'll tell you with my spreadsheet later on um so I've been down there all week and the builders have just been doing sort of the boring stuff in week five like
00:06:03
Speaker
ah drainage, um quite technical with the mishmash of gas and electric and soil stack and stuff all to deal with. um And they conquered that quite easily. Excuse me. And then week six was the exciting stuff. So the blocks are going up. Nice. Yeah. And they've done all those lintels. you know, I said to you, they've got Let's pull the concrete in like five or six little bits. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because they had the main electric coming in. So if you imagine an electric pipe coming in, they basically put concrete either side of it and shuttered the electric pipe. I keep saying electric pipe and I'm an electrician. That's awful. The electric cable coming in. So they shuttered that off, shuttered the gas pipe coming in.
00:06:39
Speaker
you've got all these little blocks and they just literally put the blocks on and put a lintel across it like you would on a door. Really logical. Yeah, yeah. It's been a while since I've seen them do that. yeah Because in my house, I didn't need to do any of that.
00:06:51
Speaker
So it's quite cool to see that, actually. So they've done that and it's starting to go up. It's probably two courses higher up the block work so far. Nice. And you can sort see it. Yeah. You can see the shape it. exciting, right? Yeah. But have you got to the stage now? Because I know you said they were putting jobs back, so you only had them for two weeks. Are they gone? They're still here. They're still persevering. They keep shooting off for days here and there, but they're still giving me a couple of days and obviously they're billing me. That's probably the main motivation to do a couple of days, isn't it? But yeah, it's been really funny because I've been like, as I haven't been there, I've installed my ring doorbell now for like security and deliveries and stuff. And obviously I've been nosing on it when I've been after work. And you see loads of like cul-de-sacs full of like families and older people, like retirees and stuff. Yeah. I've seen two old boys. don't know if they're in the industry or were in the industry. Literally, no two shits given. They're right down to the extension in the driveway, just stand there for like three minutes. One of them was just smoking, just looking at all the work. And then saw him say something about, that must be the,
00:07:50
Speaker
rafters from the old garage looking across like that. And saw this other guy with his wife his wife was come on, come on. he was like, oh, look what they're doing here. wonder what this is. Some people might get annoyed by that. That was quite funny. It made me laugh. It's interesting get people like really interested to come up and have a look and see what's going on. Yeah, I guess you'd just be there and be like, oh, I wonder what this is going to be and stuff. It's quite funny. But I'm just up to British to do that. I'd be like, oh, they're watching me. I'm getting like, dog's going to come out attack me. He's got a fag of three minutes just sitting there and we're looking at it. A cup of tea. Yeah, he really cracked me up.
00:08:24
Speaker
So yeah, the builders have done well. I keep telling everyone that i've I've put this spreadsheet on our um Linktree via Instagram yeah bio. So i'm updating now. i've finally figured out how to update to my computer.
00:08:36
Speaker
It doesn't do anything. It just updates straight away onto the Linktree. I'm such a computer phone. So I've got all the updated spreadsheets on that. And I'll talk about the cost later. But week six is when I really came in and actually did some work.
00:08:49
Speaker
So I took down all the bathroom walls and all the kitchen walls to open it all out. So now when you walk to the end of the hallway, there used to be the bathroom on the left, a storage cupboard with the immersion in and the kitchen. And that currently is just one big open space now. um um One of the walls was like solid brick.
00:09:09
Speaker
Well, it wasn't solid, solid, but brick, like sand yeah and cement with brick. um And then one of the walls was that horrible grey, like old fashioned blockwork, which comes down really easily.
00:09:21
Speaker
But it's just such so messier. Yeah, it's so true. Yeah, awful. But it's going well. The bricks are funny. You feel like, I don't if said this last week, you take the bricks and they're all coming out so nicely. then there's just so much crack when you're finished. You're like, but they were coming out so nicely. How has this happened? But yeah, I've written at the top here, it's so hard on your own. I feel like I'm going sound like a whinger, but anything on your own is hard, right? And the tidying, just getting so fed up with doing I suppose the only advantage now is we've got this rare bit of nice weather, which definitely must like perk you up a bit, right? Yeah, definitely. And actually, because the weather has been crap, was like, oh, I'm inside doing a
Planning and Design in Renovations
00:10:00
Speaker
hard-ish job, but you know at least like I'm not out in the rain and stuff. Because my brother's building his garden rooms out in the rain. We're like, what we had?
00:10:07
Speaker
Eight weeks of rain, maybe? More? yeah And he was like, oh, it's just been ridiculous. We're setting marquees up everywhere. and so i was like, actually, it's not the worst job in the world. it's quite fun taking down walls. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, making a mess. Making a mess. and it's just that thing on the outside when you just look at the wall being like, are there any cracks now? Oh, God, yeah.
00:10:26
Speaker
It's all good. The guys like did all the acros and stuff for me. Nice. It's all good. So then eventually I've got to – hard to explain on here about being visual, but one of the walls I've taken and put him back in as a stud and it will create a corridor through to the new extension. yeah In the new extension there's going to be the bathroom, the ensuite, the bedroom and the utility room.
00:10:47
Speaker
And then the kitchen's just being made like a meter bigger or so. Okay. Which I think it'll be about three point something internally, which
00:10:58
Speaker
sounds quite good to me because most extensions are like three meters, aren't they? Yeah. So hopefully it should be decent back there. And I've started thinking more about like the finish of it now.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah. And i I was thinking with the kitchen, the utility is going on like, in the extension at the back and the kitchens at the back, I could do one of those like bank of walls where in the middle is the secret doorway to the utility room. That'd be cool. Yeah. I'm thinking would actually people like that or not? Because it's not a wasted space because it would just be a door there and I'd have to have like tall units there and maybe tall units there. And I don't know whether it'd look a bit weird, but we'd just have a whole bank of all the tall stuff and put the fridge in there, the ovens and the microwave.
00:11:43
Speaker
but in the middle would be the hidden door. Yeah, love that. If I'm targeting older people, I'm not sure they care about that. It feels like a young person thing. I just feel like but it's like nice to be able to shut it away and not know that that's there. Yeah, exactly. that's That's really smart, yeah. Yeah, when I went up to, use DIY kitchens a lot, when I went up to their showroom, they show you how to do it with the plimps and everything. So you cut them so it looks just like there's nothing behind them. It opens up and the plimps open and the doors open and everything. I've just never actually done it before. and i ah I'm tempted to do it because it's quite cool. Yeah. um It's just whether it's actually worth it in the grand scheme of things, just to all the two cupboards to walk through. Well, I was going say, surely that's not...
00:12:25
Speaker
crazy expensive right to give it a no no it's fine yeah no it's fine and ah I do think it might look weird if it's like bank a tool bit door bank a tool bit yeah because it closes in that door space whereas if it's just incorporated into that yeah anyway that's where starting to think with that sort I'm starting to get to that sort thinking now i'm trying to think about the exciting stuff love it mate yeah that's awesome but i've also put in the new fuse board think i said you i was gonna put the's the old fuse board still there and working and there's a thing called a henley block which is basically just a big jugger box that was already there because the guy is doing the bathroom putting in a new fuse board from for the bathroom so i ripped out the bathroom fuse board
00:13:04
Speaker
put a new fuse board in and put it into the henry block so I've got the old fuse board and the new fuse board working. And what that means is I can start livening up, which I've done, of my new cables. So I've got both bedrooms and living room alive. So all the lights work, all the light switches work, all the sockets work, which is quite cool. And I've still got the old stuff working. I just need to slowly start moving across. Yeah, deep conditioning off, which I just haven't had time to do.
00:13:32
Speaker
hopefully something in the next couple for of weeks but it's quite exciting to do some like finishing things and that's why on my spreadsheet I've got a big cost of £124.75 from station because i bought these days used to be they used to be like but they like 200 pounds now because they've got better safety equipment and yeah it is good and you need they've got like our think with our cbo's which are just really advanced compared to the old stuff yeah and you just you don't have to put them in but it just feels like a you a bit dodgy if you don't put it in and tight and if you're trying to get maximum value for this house i think everything's got to be like high end so
00:14:09
Speaker
I always think no matter what you're doing, right, you're spending a lot of money. I know obviously you can do it yourself. But if you're spending that much money to get a property rewired, why wouldn't you go for like ah the best fuse board you can get, right? Because that is what is the best part of it, right? Like if you're going to take that out and put something cheap in, things can go wrong. It's nothing to do with the wiring. It's actually the fuse board. Yeah, exactly. And also i get my electrical stuff signed off by the council because even though I've got the qualifications to test a place, yeah because I do all this other work, it takes me like six to nine months to do like a job. yeah So I'm not doing like ah let some electricians do where they're testing like 30 places a year. So I actually haven't signed up for like the certification to sign off.
00:14:52
Speaker
So the council have to sign off. So I might as well make sure everything looks, you know, yeah bang on and so there's no problems in the future because that be. Can you imagine? I'm doing podcast it doesn't get signed up. But yeah, so doing well on that. And I've also also started ordering some tile samples and things like that. I'm a bit pushing the boat early a bit. Yeah. But um I think I spoke to you previously about tile collaboration with tile.co.uk. Yeah. I've ordered some samples and copying my bathroom upstairs. Nice. yeah um i think I'm going to go for just literally sounds really boring, but two like off-white
00:15:25
Speaker
contrasting tiles in the bathroom yeah next to each other. It's really subtle, but it just looks nice. um And then maybe, I don't know, I'm really bad at this. don't even know what's coming in for 2026, but maybe like a greeny bit for the ensuite.
00:15:42
Speaker
oh yeah it's hardly i think white there's nothing wrong with white is there but i might as well do something with a little bit of color without being too in your face too out there yeah exactly yeah and it's those little bits of like like splashes of color that do really kind of bring things to life a bit yeah this fin exactly excuse me my throat's gone today yeahm talking about two weeks in a row he's obviously done it yeah but yeah and also and the other thing the builders have done is the oversight so i don't know if people know what that is it's basically just like or in the concrete and stuff over all the drainage works they've done. So they've got like a solid base floor now.
00:16:13
Speaker
All the drainage underneath is obviously done. I've just got a pipe coming up from my toilet and they brought pipes up at the back, which will go into the utility or like the sink and everything in there and the kitchen.
00:16:25
Speaker
um And then, yeah, we've got the block work going up now. So I think it maybe in two weeks' time, surely, I'll be at maybe head height levels. in And they'll be thinking about doing, I think, like the rafters and stuff for the to ceiling, which is pretty cool.
00:16:38
Speaker
What, you having,
Budgeting and Cost-Effective Renovation Strategies
00:16:39
Speaker
like, flat roof? or Yeah, so flat roof on the extension, but with a little, you know, the old dummy roofs they have yeah just to make it look pitch. Because I think because the rest of it, the house is pitched like that, just to have a flat roof looks bit naff sometimes. Yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker
I think it looks okay at the back of the house when you do that. Yeah. but I think at the side of the house, it just doesn't look quite right visually. It's slightly odd, yeah yeah So I've got to put a little pitch on that and just make it look a bit more attractive.
00:17:04
Speaker
And then I've heard from my window man as well. He's coming in next week. Oh, amazing. Yeah. So he's he's only doing a little bit at first. He's doing the front two bedrooms and the sliding doors in the living room.
00:17:17
Speaker
But he is literally going do it And he's actually, all my guys, I need to get young guys, are retiring. He's retiring other than keeping his hand in with my easy work. So for him, this is easy work. and it's like che store upon the um So he hasn't actually got enough work for his guy anymore who's been with him for like 30 years. So he's gone off to somewhere else. And so he's doing it by himself. wow So i feel like he's doing it by himself. But surely I'm going to get roped in. yeah I was about to say, surely you've got to help. You've got to lift in. Especially sliding doors, they're going to weigh tonne.
00:17:46
Speaker
So that should be pretty cool. I'm bit nervous about it for the amphora site on the outside. Yeah, yeah. um And the white on the middle, so hopefully it looks good. Definitely. I'm excited to see like before and after pictures. Yeah, exactly.
00:17:58
Speaker
yeah, we're doing good. So... Big, big things coming up in the next few weeks. I think I need to start thinking about probably doing some stud work, either myself or getting my carpenter in. I've got the stud work in down to the extension. Definitely something I can do is just I need to just find the structure in the loft to like fix it to and everything.
00:18:18
Speaker
Or do I just see if my carpenter's got availability because he'll charge me like a day rate for it rather than like a ridiculous price that yeah some people out there might say. might cost me more like $200 or $300 for him. And then the materials are probably...
00:18:31
Speaker
150 quid rather than somebody someone gave you your a price you just get completely ripped off yeah that's exactly i can just insulate it and board it myself sort of thing nice but then he would do it like a lot quicker than you so i suppose how much is your time worth and can you be getting on with other stuff yeah exactly he he does charge more to clients but because we've been working together a lot we just sort do each other sort of a deal so yeah it's quite good so excuse me this is not the best podcast i'm coughing all over the place I'll have a drink in a second. yeah So we just do each other. The rewire I'm doing is for him at the moment and we just do each other more of a day rate. yeah It works really well because he's constantly got work, I've constantly got work and you just sort guarantee that sort of nicer work with like your mates as well. So it's it's kind of good that I can get him
00:19:15
Speaker
cheaper But I'd imagine if other people get that, have more I reckon it would be more like 600 to 1,000, unfortunately, for what I do. Because it's just the nature of the business, isn't it? Yeah, exactly that. And I suppose you would have to wait until you're like, I suppose you're paying someone, they'll probably want to the whole job, right? And start looking at like the rafters and bits and pieces. Yeah, exactly. Well, I just need people to come in for a bit at the moment. So I need the plumber to come in.
00:19:39
Speaker
um I've ripped out all the immersion and stuff, so that should be pretty cool with his help of like cutting some bits off. I've got tons of copper. I'm actually genuinely quite excited. I'm doing a video on that as well, but it's got to be a grand, honestly. It's piled up.
00:19:53
Speaker
It feels like most of this room, I swear. I've still got a couple of radiator drops in the front two bedrooms to rip off, so I can do those as well now. So it's got to have a grand coming in. But I need the plumber to come and run some pipe really for the front two bedrooms, especially because they can be plastered because the windows are going in next week. Yeah. The wiring's all done.
00:20:14
Speaker
So if the plumber comes in and runs the pipes for the radiators, then those rooms can be plastered. Wow. Which is awesome. Yeah. And that's really got real progress. And then you can even start thinking about painting and stuff and,
00:20:26
Speaker
I don't love painting, but I ah don't mind doing it if it's in bits. So if I can just do those two bedrooms and go and do something else for a week, come back do think it's much better than saying, oh, you've got like two months of solid painting. I think that would kill Yeah, exactly. That's hard. It's a bit nicer when you're just like, right I'm going to blitz this room and it's going to take me like two days, but then I can go and do something else. Yeah. Give nice break.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, because we've spoken to so many people, haven't we? Yeah. most of them do painting because it's one that you can do yourself not to the standard maybe of a painter but everyone sort of tackles himself but it can be so like it's such a hard job genuinely mentally isn't it yeah and actually there's so much skill to a lot of it as well yeah anyone that's tried to cut anything in yeah realizes how hard it actually is and The amount of times I've cut something and got something on something else, so I've had to repaint that.
00:21:14
Speaker
And then I've got stuff back on, so you have to repaint like three or four times trying to perfect it. Yeah, exactly. And then even just tidying up with painting, tidying up again, but try doing all the brushes, cleaning all the brushes, drying off is such a fact.
00:21:26
Speaker
I've just got to do some of it. It'd be mental for me not to do some of it. No, yeah. And then I've also already got the skirting and stuff like that that I mentioned previously that I got as a bit of freebie, which is really nice. Yeah. um So I'll promote them later on when i start to start. So I can even have a go at that.
00:21:41
Speaker
I just need to buy um chop saw or something. So can get some for like £200, I think, that are quite decent, quite light. Yeah, yeah. I think I need to probably invest and just have a go myself because you've done skirting, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. I've actually never done skirting. No. Haven't you? Never done skirting, no. So I feel like now's the time to crack on. Jump straight. Most of the rooms are pretty okay.
00:22:03
Speaker
A bit near Graham's old bedroom. It's not a bay window, it's got a lot of angles. Yeah. um But most of the bedrooms are like rectangles. I'm like, surely I've got to have a go. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, get some full lengths in there and you're good to go. Exactly. I mean, this is the DIY podcast. If I would don't have a go, then it's a fine line because I want to sell this house. So looks completely awful.
00:22:23
Speaker
No, I think you'll be fine. I think you'll be fine. You'll do great, I'm sure. think the tip I was told was don't try and do miters. You kind of cut out the shape and then line that Oh, really? Yeah, that's what I did in my house. Oh, did you? Yeah, rather than – because all the angles are always off. Oh, okay. No two walls are normally square. I suppose it's a 30th house, mate. Yeah. So nothing square.
00:22:48
Speaker
So, yeah, I just kind of cut out the shape and then it kind of slots in nicely. Okay. So that's a tip. was thinking mitre straight away. No, that is literally the worst thing. oh In my old house, I attempted to do that and it was just, it didn't work at all.
00:23:04
Speaker
It's interesting, in this podcast room, um I was joking about it being a bit flimsy, which it probably is a little bit flimsy it's only fixed on one solid wall on the floor. But yeah into the floor, I it properly and I used concrete screws and they are like a game changer.
00:23:17
Speaker
All you literally have to do is drill into the floor. No raw plug needed. You just literally get the concrete screw and just go boom, straight in and it's solid as a rock. So things like that, if anyone doesn't know about them, it's going to be great for the skirting because in the old days, you put the skirting, you drill through the skirting, you plug it, and you do it. and Now you can literally just drill through the skirting, drill through the wall.
00:23:38
Speaker
I think you do like a six mil hole and get like a slightly, like a six mil screw and then go bang straight in and you just The plot is amazing. That is incredible. I used 100 mil ones in here.
00:23:49
Speaker
yeah Honestly, it went it just went solid as a rock, the whole right building. i did it into these walls as well. Well, that's the thing. And I've tried using like grab adhesive. That doesn't Especially where it is like an older house where it's not completely flat. So yeah, I had to like pilot hole, roll plug, grow and so annoying. Yeah. It's funny though, because I seeing my car and it was really good to struggle with like bits. You know, you just like have a run where you're like, oh, that's 10 centimetres. You cut it. And you're like, oh, it's short. I'll do it again. And you go, oh, it's wrong. know going to have those moments, but I've just got to crack on. yeah Or at least maybe I'll start in bits where like,
00:24:25
Speaker
I know wardrobes are going to be. And then yeah branch out to... I always think that's quite a good tip, genuinely, of like, when you try something, what is like going to be the room or the bit that's not seen the most? yeah Start there and then branch out to like the nicer bits. Yeah. i always think to myself, like, I'll give everything a go.
00:24:42
Speaker
Might not be 100%, but my filling is on par with... I put myself up against the world's best fillers. I'm the worst filler ever. are you well I like doing it fills the hole and I'll be like, oh no, but there's like a tiny little millimetre in bits. I put a little bit there and it's like the whole thing casing over there. And I'm like... Well, i I'm terrible at filling. I don't know why.
00:25:02
Speaker
I think you see those people in Instagram, they're just like... too tu Yeah. I think I'm i'm just trying to do it all too perfectly. well You just got to put a thick layer on and sand down, right? Yeah, but then I did that and then went too thick and you're like, God damn it, it's taken me like seven hours to sand down one bit of skirting. So it's like, you want to leave it a little bit proud and then sand it back. say Oh, I see. Well, maybe you can just do all this. I keep selling Instagram. When are you going help? Oh, yeah. Maybe I'll come and do your skirting. I just noticed there's like a really annoying fly in our podcast thing, that's typical. It's obviously not completely walltight yet. I was about say, is that like part of what you wanted it to envisage here? Hopefully you guys find it interesting. I actually did enjoy building this and I hope it sounds better. I've got some videos on YouTube about all this stuff we've used. as um It's quite a cool little room, in here and I just dread having anyone else other than you I've known for 40 years, innit? Yeah, but hopefully you won't need...
00:25:55
Speaker
many more people to come in here, and let's be honest. Yeah, exactly. Although a couple of people reached out wanting to be on the podcast and they did actually say do it in person as well. So don't think we can afford a studio yet. Not quite. mean, this is it.
00:26:06
Speaker
Maybe episode 100 will splash it up. Because we've even seen, ah we've been to like BrewDog and they've got their own podcast. yeah So maybe episode 100, that's it. That's where the Peter Crouch podcast they filmed in. Oh, is it? Just drinking and stuff. but Yeah, yeah. Happy. picture How much of that? It must be over a grand, wasn't it? Yeah, em we like it must be huge thing. It's got to be. Yeah. You must have, like, technicians and stuff telling you what to do as we're just, like, winging this and hoping for the best. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
So yeah, so exciting things come in and I'm going to try and get there. I've got to go work for a friend next week, but for a little bit. hoping
Future Guests and Listener Engagement
00:26:40
Speaker
to nick a couple of days here and there and actually do some more. I'm guessing I can start thinking about the kitchen sockets and stuff soon. You might. What I might do, I was going say, I might ask the builder to make the hole for the door for me, but I can't do that because they're just making it unsecure. I just want to start trying to move ahead as fast as possible. Sometimes you've just got to be a bit patient. Let the builders do their bit first and then crack on. That's it.
00:27:06
Speaker
So when you're like putting sockets into a kitchen, Is there like certain places you're like, do you try and envisage what's going to be there? Do you think about like microwave toasters or do you just try and have like more sockets than you would probably need? Yeah. So I used to do more sockets than you need. And actually in a couple of renovations that my brother and I did to sell, it looked a bit busy and it looked rubbish.
00:27:30
Speaker
I now really think about, um, like Most people, for example, say you've got like a big, long worktop. You've got toaster like right in the middle. You've probably put like a toaster in the end or something. yeah So I try and think, like oh, what would go here? What would go here? Not go too crazy. Because I think once on a run, it gives us six sockets. It just looks rubbish. Because I was like, sockets are nice.
00:27:49
Speaker
When I looked at it, was oh, no. It just takes away from the worktop. So I do think about, yeah, I definitely like i've got used to over the years like planning things. I try and hide everything in a cupboard. So you need to have switches for like dishwasher, washing machine, um coffee, like if you've got microwave or a coffee station or something like that, and then an oven.
00:28:10
Speaker
Extract does a load, and I hide all those in a cupboard because... They need to be accessible. And some people just pop them out again on right on top of the worktop. And then you've got like seven switches on your worktop.
00:28:21
Speaker
Just that's awful. So I usually put it high up in a or low down in a tall one, basically. Okay. Yeah. And then with sockets, just think logically about it without going over the top, but just making sure you've got enough. And even these days, everyone wants, I feel like if you charge your phone or whatever, probably in the kitchen. So have a USB one as well. Yeah.
00:28:40
Speaker
and then if there's an island but i can't imagine there's going to be an island because I don't know. It's three metres deep. I don't know how wide it is. Yeah. And if the units are 60 and 60, either side, that's one metre 20. And you need to leave a gap of a metre, they say. Yeah. So it'd be a really skinny island of like maybe 70 or 80 centimetres. So in theory, one could fit there. But I think a really skinny island, I don't know if that's worse than having no island. Yeah. I don't know. Because people could put a dining room table there, for example. That might be nicer if you put an island...
00:29:13
Speaker
takes away from that again i think i have to speak to my carpenter the kitchen guys and just see like what actually works because just gotta make sure you've got enough room because see sometimes these islands that squished in you pull down the dishwasher and it's just tight and you can't yeah so it's one of those ones and it's more money for me isn't it more worktop more units i've got to try and think about all these things although we were doing my house i know the um your chippy stitched you up because he was like, oh, you should get Nick to put a socket in there, like in the side of the the island. And I was like, oh, i didn't even think about that. And that was genius. The amount time I used that for like charging phones or like we'll have a speaker that will have charging on this piece. It's so helpful. Yeah, I use mine all the time. So it's like toasty machines and like blenders and things like that. You just naturally go to the island. Yeah. And it's like, any yeah, I totally agree. It's like you should always, but some people put them at both ends, which I don't think you need them at both ends. But definitely the end you're not sitting at.
00:30:14
Speaker
Yeah. I would usually put it in for like blenders and I was using my toasty machine. So yeah, I would always do that as well. So that's another one to think about. Some people got floor sockets in, not necessarily the kitchen, the living room, because some people have like,
00:30:27
Speaker
in Capital, the one you helped me rewire, the one you helped me first fix, um they had like a sofa that plugged in because it could like retract and stuff. Wow. It had like a beer fridge in it and stuff. Oh, amazing.
00:30:39
Speaker
And so you have to think about stuff like that. In a kitchen, you wouldn't generally have any. No, that's true. Just trying to think forward. I suppose you could have that if you were thinking of, because I know some people get these islands that are like wooden. Yeah. It's kind of like a table, but they use it as like an island. So I suppose then you could run things up. But then where you're trying to sell it, yeah you're not picking for yourself, are you? No, it's a fine line, isn't it? Because I don't want to like squimp on anything. but don't want to go over the top or anything because...
00:31:07
Speaker
It would be like building a £50,000 garden room at the end. of the You're not going to get the money back. It might make it more sellable. You've just got to do things that you think everyone will need. Even with my sockets in the living room, I generally think about pathetic things like, oh, I think once a year they put Christmas tree in that corner. So you need a socket. Just little logical things like that is where I've been going with that sort of logical thinking of it.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm actually going to tackle next, but I think I really want to do the stud work. The stud work can be quite involved, yeah quite complicated. and This is obviously a complete bodge job in comparison. This was brought up in ah probably took me a whole day to the whole thing.
00:31:47
Speaker
So good. Whilst I used the level, and I didn't live and die by the level. So if it was a little bit off, it didn't matter. and I used all this reframe wood. Some of it was soaking wet and some it was like one or two centimetres bigger in bits, I'd use on the floor, and it doesn't matter. Whereas obviously a stud wall is going to be there forever and it needs be done properly. has to be level. I suppose that's a good and bad thing about having an older property, right, is The amount times I was trying to make things level, like a picture owl, and you're like, but the ceiling isn't level, right? So you then have to kind of like fake it a bit. Yeah, exactly. Because if that looks level, that might look out. You've try and do it like properly, haven't It's really hard. Plus, it's an amazing excuse. You're like, oh, no, didn't a level on that because, you know, it would look weird. Yeah. You're like, damn, it's straight. Yeah.
00:32:36
Speaker
I tried to make it wonky. So yeah, we talk about next thing probably, the dreaded spreadsheet of doom. Yeah. Let's get it going. I mean, let's go straight for the total because I'm budgeting a hundred thousand, which I just fucked up. Yeah. But based on some experience, And I'm already nearly a third there, so I'm 27,845, so nearly 28,000. Wow.
00:32:58
Speaker
But to put it into context, 24,000 of that is through the Builder. Yeah. um I don't think most people would have paid, because that's probably about half or slightly less than half.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah. More than half, I'd say, actually. I don't think most people would have paid him half because he probably hasn't done half of the work yet. I think has he? Maybe. um But i just we've got a relationship and i know he's not going to screw me over. So i think when people at home, again, make sure you actually think logically about what they've done, how many days they've been on site.
00:33:28
Speaker
and whether they actually deserve to have £24,000 in my instance. I suppose that is half right because they've done all the groundwork. Yeah, and actually all the drainage, all the foundations. Yeah, and then they're doing block work and they've ordered, obviously, all the blocks, all the bricks. Yeah. They've ordered them paid for the bricks but not got them to site. So actually, I'm thinking out loud, it's a lot expense. They've got to do like the rafters and the...
00:33:50
Speaker
and roof and everything like that which they usually ship out to another company but included in my quote. And there's some stud work in the extension as well. need to check my quote. um ah believe it's included in that. So yeah, it probably is about half and they've probably done about half or more. So 24,200 but actually Another four, less than 4,000 across the other stuff so far, which makes me feel a bit better because 28,000 is such a big number. Yeah. But you go inside the house and you're like, Jesus Christ, it's like a massive shit. Not even close to living. and Exactly. um But then I'm like, oh, all the structural calculations and planning permission and architectural fees and asbestos testing. That's like four skips, three skips sort of thing, 10 to build over things.
00:34:33
Speaker
So actually, I'm pretty like upbeat about it. The main costs, other than those sorts of things, it' like £300 on electricals, £200 on plastic boards. So I think I'm actually doing okay. Yeah. um It'd be really nice when the builders are done and then it's just more like, oh, how much tiles are costing, how much is the bathroom? Yeah. can really try and...
00:34:54
Speaker
working for like the best quality items without being completely blown out of the water. Yeah, definitely. But yeah, so $28,000. I don't know why i made such hard maps on 28% of my budget in, basically, aren't I? that's true. The world's easiest map. I haven't put in the windows yet because, again, i've got a relationship with a guy. There's no deposit needed. said the few guys at home, I don't think you should ever pay a deposit personally. Yeah.
00:35:22
Speaker
And I kind got the quote front me, but didn't I say it was like 7,000, I think, in windows? Yeah. And that includes two bedrooms, the sliding doors, and the windows in the kitchen that doesn't include the extension.
00:35:36
Speaker
And he's doing three out of those four next week, so I'll start to write down those costs, even though he's like the first person for asking for money, which is, you're like, oh, that's good. you're like, thank It doesn't mean that the money in your bank actually is yours. So I'd rather just give him it. I'm like, please invoice me, please invoice me, please invoice me. He just never does. So I need to actually make sure to keep up the spreadsheet.
00:35:57
Speaker
But yeah, I'm excited for that. So I'm glad we did two weeks. I think if we did just week five, would have struggled. But basically wasn't there. And then the builder just did a bit of drainage. So I'm glad we spoke about it in a couple of weeks and we can talk more about who we're speaking with next week. Yes, another awesome guest. We've got Rich from the Sympathetic Restoration joining us and he's actually coming in person. He is. Probably not in here because it's a little tight. It's too weird, which is one of the other rooms in my house. He seems like a really nice online and doing some cool stuff, isn't he?
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah, this is where like the kind of geek in you like comes out bit because he's like so into the science of like old buildings and how he likes to restore them. So yeah, if people love that, and then definitely tune in for it. Yeah, it seems like he goes into really big detail about like airflow and moisture. Moisture was a big one, wasn't it? Yeah, and yeah. He's an old house.
00:36:49
Speaker
ah the moisture, like retention of the room and like coming in from the outside and stuff. And he's got, looks like a really cool swimming pool. thing Yeah. Which was his nickname? Yeah. Moby Dick. Moby Dick, which is the world's best name as well for our restaurant. So we'll be speaking with him next week as well.
00:37:05
Speaker
And then the week after we'll be back to me discussing how I'm getting on Yeah. And hopefully I've done enough work there, we'll do the one week. If not, I'll just combine a couple of weeks and see, hopefully I'm not crying over my spreadsheet in the process. Yeah, exactly. And hopefully the builder doesn't bugger off then as well, because I said, well, I've got him early. Yeah. And he's been now squeezing me in. But think it's one of those things, once you start, it's just in your brain, isn't it? You just dip in. Like, for my rewire, I've been told to go away for a week or so, and I'm like, oh, I just want finish. Yeah. Hopefully he's feeling the same. He just...
00:37:36
Speaker
That's it. Like screws everyone else over. Well, he's at that stage where he can like do a couple of days and stuff happens. You know what I mean? It's not like trying to dig out groundwork and stuff where you need like a solid amount time. You can always come back and do a few bricks, can't you? Yeah. So hopefully at least one of him or Toby are on site at least three, four days a week and he can go up slowly and surely. It's a small extension.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. It shouldn't be too hard. Yeah. Hopefully have some more progress with you and speak with Rich next week. And also always put it out there. Hello at DIYGuysPodcast.com. Anything you want to ask or we can ask the people we're speaking with.
00:38:11
Speaker
Say next week is someone with really old building. So if you've got an old property and I've got a question about an old building, maybe get in touch. And also Instagram, DIYGuysPodcast. You can DM us or find the link tree link on there and anything else you need. Yeah, definitely. And like and subscribe as always. Yeah, you always remember that. Keep following along. It's my go-to. I haven't even checked to see if anyone's actually five-starred it yet. I need to look.
00:38:36
Speaker
Five-star it. Thanks to everyone for watching and listening, and we'll see you next week. Catch you next week.