House renovation questions

[Captain Jack]

Ahoy there homies!

OK, with the stupid credit crunch upon us and absolutely no chance of selling the house, I thought I'd try renting it out instead, so I can move in with my girlfriend next year. Unfortunately, it needs a little renovation here and there. So I'll start with the living room.

Previous owners had a million paintings on the wall, which left the nail marks on it. These have been filled in with a filler, but now we need to paint over them. The room itself doesn't NEED repainting, so I was wondering if it was possible to paint over the filled areas without leaving noticeable patch marks. I have no idea what colour it is - is there an easy way to find out?

The bathroom could do with repainting as it's a pale orange colour, which looks old. There are already off-white tiles over where the bath is, so I just want to match the colour of these. Do I need some special paint for the bathroom, or special preparation of the wall due to increased moisture?

The kitchen is pale green, which looks rather naff. Any suggested colours for that? I am thinking off-white/magnolia type colour to make it lighter...

General question: Can I just paint over the existing colour coat or do I need to strip it down? I will obviously wash it prior to painting and smooth it out etc., but do I need some special primer for it? How many coats are realistically necessary for a decent looking wall? A lot of paint can say "Single coat is all you need" but last time I repainted a bedroom, I could still see the previous colour. Although, it was blue and the new colour was off-white... I guess with a similar colour, it won't be as noticeable?

Oh, another question - how hard will it be to rent out a whole house? Do I need permission from my mortgage company (C&G)? Will I better off with multi-let?

Cheers my dears!

CJ

[mjb]

I have no idea what colour it is - is there an easy way to find out?

Hole saw - take a sample to Do It All... or look if there's a can stashed away in the loft/shed/airing cupboard/etc

Oh, another question - how hard will it be to rent out a whole house? Do I need permission from my mortgage company (C&G)?

Considering there's a LOT of people around who don't have £30k-£100k+ depending on location in spare change for a deposit on a house, and 100% mortgages aren't going to be happening again for years (F**KERS!), the rental market's thriving. You should check the small print of your mortgage - you might need to switch it for a buy-to-let mortgage

Will I better off with multi-let?

As in renting to multiple people? You're probably going to get less money for it, and only find students interested, which is a right can of worms - trust me I used to be one!

One thing to consider though is avoiding agencies - they're expensive and offer no practical value. However I can't say I've ever seen a private ad on rightmove.co.uk (my current hunting ground while I'm looking to get out of this hellhole of a house). Could be worth slapping an ad on gumtree though

[DaiRees]

I'd get hold of a letting agent and ask them any questions about mortgages etc. And unless you want the place treated as a student house (we know all about that eh? ) I'd go with a single let. It's the right time for it with the credit crunch, house sales are down but rentals are waaaay up at the moment. I've even considered releasing a bit of equity from my house to fund deposits on a couple of buy-to-let properties myself.

Right the living room, unless it's been very recently done and you have the exact match it'll end up patchy. Best thing to do is match the colour as best you can, then touch in the filler marks a couple of times and feather it in so that there aren't any sharp edges, then give the whole room a coat to even it all out.

You can get kitchen and bathroom paints which are supposedly waterproof and washable, but silk emulsion is waterproof too, once it dries the water just runs right off and you can wipe it down with a damp sponge with no adverse effects (I even paint the outside of my house with "value" silk emulsion ).

I like nice, bright colours in a kitchen, how about a pale yellow?

I never bother stripping old paint on walls unless it's peeling. If you're painting bare plaster at any point you might want to give it a coat of size to seal it, and then water down the first coat by 50% or so otherwise it might peel. Coats, I'd say at least 2, maybe 3 depending on how different the new colour is to the old one (my record is 5 ). "Once", "Solo" etc - all lying bastards!! , don't waste your money.

[DaiRees]

Hmm, seems me and Matt have differing opinions on the letting agents thing. I agree that they take a sizeable chunk of your money, but I also reckon doing it yourself is leaving yourself open to a world of potential problems.

[DaiRees]

OOOOh and another thing. Treat it as a business. Keep all your receipts for the materials you buy, and when you start renting keep records of all the income and outgoings (including the mortgage payments). You'll be liable for income tax on any profits.

[mjb]

Hmm, seems me and Matt have differing opinions on the letting agents thing. I agree that they take a sizeable chunk of your money, but I also reckon doing it yourself is leaving yourself open to a world of potential problems.

How so? As a tenant there's no difference besides the extra cost of estate agency fees and who the standing order goes to

Apart from the fact I'll be bloody lucky to find a house through an agency due to my credit rating and cats.

[steve_earwig]

I have no idea what colour it is - is there an easy way to find out?

Hole saw - take a sample to Do It All... or look if there's a can stashed away in the loft/shed/airing cupboard/etc

I've never managed to match paint convincingly (although, if you're renting maybe it's not worth worrying too much.

Will I better off with multi-let?

As in renting to multiple people? You're probably going to get less money for it, and only find students interested, which is a right can of worms - trust me I used to be one![/quote]Students usually loose their deposits...

One thing to consider though is avoiding agencies - they're expensive and offer no practical value. However I can't say I've ever seen a private ad on rightmove.co.uk (my current hunting ground while I'm looking to get out of this hellhole of a house). Could be worth slapping an ad on gumtree though

Go through an agent. True you'll loose a bit but it'll be worth it. Mate of mine rents his flat in N London, the agents have spent 5 years fending off stupid problems from the tenants, only contacting him when they can't sort it themselves. Then, a few months back, they earned their salt: he had a family of Africans who started creating, it looked like they were going to squat but they legged it in the end, they trashed the place too. The agents and the insurance sorted it though.

[DaiRees]

Hmm, seems me and Matt have differing opinions on the letting agents thing. I agree that they take a sizeable chunk of your money, but I also reckon doing it yourself is leaving yourself open to a world of potential problems.

How so? As a tenant there's no difference besides the extra cost of estate agency fees and who the standing order goes to

Apart from the fact I'll be bloody lucky to find a house through an agency due to my credit rating and cats.

Agreed, but as the owner you don't have to deal with the tennants at all, no hastle over non-payment, no stroppy 'phone calls about imaginary problems, they don't even need to know who you are if you don't want them to. Plus some agencies are doing guaranteed deals whereby they pay you the fixed amount each month, even if the house is unoccupied. If they can't find a tennant for your property that's their problem, not yours

[mjb]

Agreed, but as the owner you don't have to deal with the tennants at all, no hastle over non-payment, no stroppy 'phone calls about imaginary problems,

Or you could be like my landlord and just not bother dealing with the imaginary problems. Imaginary problems like:

a water leak under the kitchen floor, meaning the room's practically flooded
a toilet that doesn't hold water
a broken central heating pump (which was fixed after 2 weeks, by Happy Shopper Value Plumber who soaked the side of the house (all 4 rooms have mould growing on the wallpaper), causing all the electrics to short out which was fixed another couple of weeks later)
tiles missing from the bathroom wall, meaning water's got under the bath and soaked the floorboards to the point the bathtub's gone 2 inch through them...
the fact my rent's about £150 more than going rate for a house like this but in decent nick
the fact my gas bill's about £100/month more than going rate for a house like this but in decent nick


*sigh*

God I wish it weren't just the c*nts that rent privately. You're truly screwed if you've got cats and bad credit history

[DaiRees]

Tell you what Matt, if I do buy a buy-to-let you get first dibs

[mjb]

Haha I'll take a 3 bed semi with grey stuff only in the gardens (no green stuff) and a nice BIIG garage... ;)

[teamster1975]

General question: Can I just paint over the existing colour coat or do I need to strip it down? I will obviously wash it prior to painting and smooth it out etc., but do I need some special primer for it? How many coats are realistically necessary for a decent looking wall? A lot of paint can say "Single coat is all you need" but last time I repainted a bedroom, I could still see the previous colour. Although, it was blue and the new colour was off-white... I guess with a similar colour, it won't be as noticeable?

Give the walls a good wash down with sugar soap and give any bare plaster a brushing over with diluted PVA.
After the walls have dried you should give them a coat of white emulsion or undercoat if you're going much lighter, otherwise two coats of your chosen colour should do it.

Good luck CJ!

[Captain Jack]

Thanks all for advice!

MJB, my house doesn't have any of your problems but no garage. Cats allowed - we even have a bird feed tray thing in the garden for your cats to feed on

[Captain Jack]

Matt, if you're just renting, can't you easily move out elsewhere. I am sure a lot of places don't mind cats etc...

[steve_earwig]

Oh yes, anything that says it only needs one coat is likely to be useless. They do stuff here for painting over flakey pastr.. paint/plaster, it's bluddy good stuff but I don't think I ever saw anything like it back in Blighty. Pva? Maybe, best wait for it to be properly dry before you do anything else.

Does it really matter what colour anything is anyway? Tenants are likely to trash it whatever colour it is... Magnolia is a good colour, it's light, easy on the eyes, goes with almost anything and, best of all, comes in massive buckets. Use it everywhere, apart from ceilings which people expect to see white (and not dark blue with stars on - yuk!)

Tip for ya: Ever noticed what a bastard it is to paint the walls up to the ceiling and leave a nice, straight line? How many times have you splodged it and had to get the ceiling paint out again? They don't bother here - paint the ceiling (start with the roller, finish with the edges) and paint a couple of inches at the top of the wall. Then, when it's dry, mask the top of the wall with about 30mm masking tape and paint the wall, it leaves a lovely straight line. (No, it doesn't strip the paint off)

Get a big lump of that thin plastic dust sheet, put it up to the skirts and use masking tape to mask the top of the skirts and hold the plastic, you can drop paint everywhere and it doesn't matter, just wait for the paint to dry before moving your dust sheet. Proper bathroom paint for the bathroom (and kitchen) 'cos it doesn't (shouldn't?) go mouldy with condensation.