Sydenham Place (September 2009)
Our Goals for Sydenham Place
Stella and I bought bought Sydenham Place as a home in 2009. We chose it because it was large enough and cheap enough to provide us with an income, as well as giving us both space to be able to do the things that we wanted. It is situated in Bradford, West Yorkshire, which is a small city, rather run down and little investment goes on here, as opposed to its neighbour Leeds. This has the benefit of creating diversity in the population and definately a great deal of diversity on our street.
The house was pretty run down, and no money had been spent on it in 20 years. We recognised that if we re-designed and renovated ourselves it certainly could provide us with rental income from lodgers, increased capital gain (even if the market fell, which it did as soon as we bought it!) space enough for our various activities such as self employment, glass making, cycling and the desire to have our own garden.
The house was renovated mainly with cost in mind. Sustainability was not a priority at this point as we did have the funds to do it, or the knowledge at that time to carry out the work. It really was a case of ' right we have 10K to transform this house and 4 months in which to complete it'. Those were the initial parameters we set and stuck by. This was due to our intention to sell within a year and move on. This didn't happen we are still here.
Our Resources;
The house was pretty run down, and no money had been spent on it in 20 years. We recognised that if we re-designed and renovated ourselves it certainly could provide us with rental income from lodgers, increased capital gain (even if the market fell, which it did as soon as we bought it!) space enough for our various activities such as self employment, glass making, cycling and the desire to have our own garden.
The house was renovated mainly with cost in mind. Sustainability was not a priority at this point as we did have the funds to do it, or the knowledge at that time to carry out the work. It really was a case of ' right we have 10K to transform this house and 4 months in which to complete it'. Those were the initial parameters we set and stuck by. This was due to our intention to sell within a year and move on. This didn't happen we are still here.
Our Resources;
- £10,000
- The majority of the work was carried out by me, I took time off from Decorating for others for 5 months.
- Stella also helped with the plumbing, did all the Tiling in the bathrooms, and went to work 3/4 days a week.
- We employed Steve to do the electrical work as we had the house fulled re-wired.
- We employed John the Joiner to fit worktops, fit new doors throughout, and build the partitions in the attic.
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1. The old suite was removed and replaced for £600 (including taps + over the bath shower 2. Stella and I did all the plumbing work together 3. Old built in cupboard was removed to give a luxury feel 4. I plastered all the walls as they were artex, plus dot & Dab new plaster board on the shower wall 5. We had this window replaced for a double glazed unit 6. Flooring is plywood overlaid with vinyl wood effect strips 7. Stella did all the tiling & put up shower rail 8. The pressure is very strong so a simple tap mixer shower is adequate |
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The Attic
This was by far the biggest job in the house, creating 2 x double bedrooms and a bathroom.
1. Remove the partition into the eaves 2. Bring in Floor joists x 5, which were 5m in length!, (knock down wall in smallest bedroom, so the joist could come through the bedroom window and up the attic stairs) 3. Build Bathroom 4. Build new partition walls, insulate & sound proof 5. Plumb and move radiators 6. Lay new floorboards as old floor was out by 3" in parts 7. Insulate & plaster board ceiling 8. Pay someone to put in double glazed window in Bedroom 1. 9. Pay electrician to re-wire 10. Pay John to put up partition framework & fit doors 11. carpet tile throughout with free tiles from Interflor 12. Decorate throughout |
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