Hello,
we are about to purchase a mid-1990s terraced house in the middle of a row.
Living area: 125m² (1,345 sq ft) – distributed over 2 full floors and an attic floor (plus a fully finished basement)
The wall surface area is approximately 400m² (4,306 sq ft).
I am somewhat apprehensive about doing the work ourselves (about 2-3 months from start to moving in).
Both of us work full-time (40 hours/week), we have a toddler (2.5 years old), and our parents-in-law live 600 km (373 miles) away.
Potential vacation time for DIY work: 2 weeks for the husband, 1 week for the wife.
Both are skilled with crafts and handiwork.
The following tasks must be done:
More tasks will probably arise once we move in.
Work to be carried out progressively after moving in as DIY:
In addition, there are preparations for moving, the move itself, and possible renovation of the old 80m² (861 sq ft) apartment (first occupied 2.5 years ago).
As mentioned above, I definitely plan to do some of the work myself.
Is it still realistic to handle the sanding and painting without overextending ourselves? I honestly doubt it. What would be a reasonable cost per m² to budget for the second part of point 1?
I look forward to your opinions, tips, and information.
Best regards,
Stephan
we are about to purchase a mid-1990s terraced house in the middle of a row.
Living area: 125m² (1,345 sq ft) – distributed over 2 full floors and an attic floor (plus a fully finished basement)
- Ground floor: Living room (30m² (323 sq ft)), Kitchen (7m² (75 sq ft)), Hallway (6m² (65 sq ft)), Guest WC (2m² (22 sq ft))
- First floor: Child’s room (15m² (161 sq ft)), Bedroom (20m² (215 sq ft)), Landing (3m² (32 sq ft)), Bathroom (5m² (54 sq ft))
- Attic floor: Office (15m² (161 sq ft)), Guest room (10m² (108 sq ft)), Landing (3m² (32 sq ft)), Storage room (5m² (54 sq ft))
- The open staircase extends from the basement to the attic (4 levels) with a footprint of about 3m² (32 sq ft)
The wall surface area is approximately 400m² (4,306 sq ft).
I am somewhat apprehensive about doing the work ourselves (about 2-3 months from start to moving in).
Both of us work full-time (40 hours/week), we have a toddler (2.5 years old), and our parents-in-law live 600 km (373 miles) away.
Potential vacation time for DIY work: 2 weeks for the husband, 1 week for the wife.
Both are skilled with crafts and handiwork.
The following tasks must be done:
- Walls / ceilings renewal Remove textured wallpaper, fill large holes and cracks (DIY)
- Wall breakthrough for new door between kitchen and living room
- Completely new flooring (vinyl) plus baseboards (DIY with 1-2 friends)
- Remove and reinstall 9 interior doors (definitely DIY)
- Install satellite and LAN cables in all living areas (partly routed vertically through service shafts or channeled horizontally into plaster) (DIY)
- Attic office – one wall side Remove old wood paneling from sloped ceiling and ceiling (DIY)
- Remove kitchen backsplash tiles (to be replaced with glass or wooden panel) (DIY)
- Add extra electrical outlets in kitchen
- Replace roller shutter straps and possibly the winding mechanism (DIY)
- In basement – cover 20m² (215 sq ft) room with a simple, wipe-resistant floor (DIY)
- Dismantle and reinstall kitchen (DIY with 1-2 friends)
Sanding, fine filling, and painting (directly on the plaster)
Replace ceiling and sloped sections with drywall
More tasks will probably arise once we move in.
Work to be carried out progressively after moving in as DIY:
- Paint exterior window frames
- New roof for 2m² (22 sq ft) storage shed
- Clear out garden (50m² (538 sq ft))
- Redo patio paving or install wooden decking
- Attic guest room – replace skylights (not urgent)
- Install baseboards (possibly routing speaker cables etc. at the same time)
In addition, there are preparations for moving, the move itself, and possible renovation of the old 80m² (861 sq ft) apartment (first occupied 2.5 years ago).
As mentioned above, I definitely plan to do some of the work myself.
Is it still realistic to handle the sanding and painting without overextending ourselves? I honestly doubt it. What would be a reasonable cost per m² to budget for the second part of point 1?
I look forward to your opinions, tips, and information.
Best regards,
Stephan
I also believe it will be very tight, depending on how many helpers are available.
For example, we had to hire a professional for the wallpaper (just for removal, mind you) because the old wallpaper was multi-layered and extremely firmly attached. Otherwise, we would have fallen seriously behind schedule.
Today and tomorrow, the screed is being ground down and then leveled (including vinyl).
In my opinion, the most time-consuming part is always the preparation. And a huge time waster is when materials are missing.
Then there are everyday tasks that also need to be done.
Whether we will make it by September is uncertain. However, with our own labor, we are roughly on schedule.
Coordinating the tradespeople is challenging, and not everyone is always available!
For example, we had to hire a professional for the wallpaper (just for removal, mind you) because the old wallpaper was multi-layered and extremely firmly attached. Otherwise, we would have fallen seriously behind schedule.
Today and tomorrow, the screed is being ground down and then leveled (including vinyl).
In my opinion, the most time-consuming part is always the preparation. And a huge time waster is when materials are missing.
Then there are everyday tasks that also need to be done.
Whether we will make it by September is uncertain. However, with our own labor, we are roughly on schedule.
Coordinating the tradespeople is challenging, and not everyone is always available!
H
HilfeHilfe22 Jul 2017 08:06They must be really good friends to sacrifice their time like that... Can you otherwise pay semi-professionals to help you? I would also only do the necessary work to move in and then finish the rest later. Moving is more important. What major work needs to be done in the apartment after 2.5 years? Just a white paint job if the walls are colorful.
Hello everyone,
Today I received confirmation from the owner. I am so relieved and happy
[emoji2]
So the points mentioned above are now becoming concrete. Thanks a lot for the contributions so far! I will respond to the individual comments later.
The initial idea is to have the drywall and painting work done professionally, provided the price is reasonable.
Do you think €20,000 (approx. $22,000) is enough for the items mentioned above?
Doors €3,000 (approx. $3,300), flooring €5,000 (approx. $5,500), with the rest for small jobs, openings, and drywall/painting work.
Today I received confirmation from the owner. I am so relieved and happy
[emoji2]
So the points mentioned above are now becoming concrete. Thanks a lot for the contributions so far! I will respond to the individual comments later.
The initial idea is to have the drywall and painting work done professionally, provided the price is reasonable.
Do you think €20,000 (approx. $22,000) is enough for the items mentioned above?
Doors €3,000 (approx. $3,300), flooring €5,000 (approx. $5,500), with the rest for small jobs, openings, and drywall/painting work.
My brother is a master painter and offers Q2 skim coating at 6-8 per square meter (around 0.09 per square foot) in bids. Q3 is four euros more, as it is quite labor-intensive. Wall paint like Sto Basic in old white applied twice is also around 5 per square meter (about 0.46 per square foot). All prices are net but include materials. Karsten
W
winnetou7823 Jul 2017 13:27But it is cost-effective for a company, especially for the filling and smoothing.
nelly190 schrieb:
That was a tough time with only 2 weeks of vacation. My wife had to work.
And she packed the moving boxes.
On weekends, there were always at least 3 extra people helping out.There is definitely a difference between just working on the house as a couple (husband and wife) during the week and having three strong helpers join in on the weekends, possibly with some construction experience.
We had the problem that the hardware store was 15 km (9 miles) away. We always had at least one trip per day, sometimes two, because we didn’t have a mobile phone back then.
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