Oh that’s awful for you. Old house throw up so many surprises. Get a builder in and ask how to stage works.

Your first question needs to be “are there active termites”? If not, you don’t need to do anything quickly. The house has survived this long, it will last a bit longer. You don’t have the funds to do anything to the floors at the moment., including sanding so that’s an easy decision. I live in a 1959s house with a lot of wood and don’t bother with termite treatments. The advice you’re receiving from the full asbestos removal to the concrete rip up suggests from a distance that you’re being taken advantage of for being inexperienced. PS wooden floorboards are not structural and don’t hold your house up. So are the termites active?

I have confirmed with the pest control and he said from his inspection the termites are not active

All good advice, important that you have the underfloor ventilation checked, these are usually a brick size you might need extra vents to improve this which is important.

Ok so termites are not a current problem. BUT I would get a second opinion on the stumps. Get under the house - are they timber, brick, concrete? If they are as bad as the flooring person said you should be able to see the damage. As above you can make low cost diy changes to improve underfloor circulation. Get a spade and make sure no subfloor exterior vents are blocked. If there’s an under house access door it can be left open, and remove any vegetation that’s up against the house. Your most pressing problem, after stump condition, remains your plan for the kitchen and bathroom. What are the plans for these? PS given your budget and the current state of the house - if you need a full restump I’d be spending your $25k on clearing the block and selling it for a rebuild.

Thanks Big reader. I got a plumber in for the bathroom but I’m still waiting for him to give me a quote and I am going to fit out my second hand kitchen next week with the help of a carpenter who is charging $60 an hour. I just got really worried about the floor and so I didn’t think I could put the kitchen in but I think I will just go ahead and try and save the floors

By your description of the termite assessment, it is the floor joists, beams, and supports which may be affected by termites. Not the floorboards that you can see. As bigreader has mentioned, get under the house with a metal bar or screwdriver, and start poking at the joists, beams and supports, if they crumble into pieces, then yes you have a problem with them. Then go inside the home and do the same with the floorboards, in a corner somewhere, can you put your screw driver through the floorboards. I would be checking this myself first, or physically next to a termite inspector. If all trades are so busy, how come this particular flooring person had time to just “drop by” unannounced. I would be getting a second opinion and consulting an independent builder, not one recommended by the flooring or termite person.

Sorry also in regards to the kitchen I decided to keep it where it is. I really do want it at the back but the plumber said to keep things in the same place.

I would not put the kitchen in until the floor structural issue has been dealt with.

You might be paying $60 an hour for work that needs to be taken back out, if the floor does need major works.

I hope I can save these floors

Re the kitchen, I thought you had plumbing at the back, where the laundry is. Or did someone take away the plumbing when the asbestos removal was done???

I still have plumbing but when I asked him he said where did i want to move the laundry and I told him just outside the kitchen room in a cupboard sort of style and he told me the concrete is way too thick. But I really still want the kitchen at the back of the house but he advised against it.

Don’t take design advice from a plumber. Trades will always tell you the easiest way for them. I wouldn’t do anything with the kitchen until you’ve resolved the stump/joist issue.

1. finalise the health of the underfloor 2) do a plan!!!! You are getting yourself into more and more trouble. 3) finalise the bathroom quote and plan first before spending any money on doing the kitchen.

And get more than one quote if u can.

Jenna B, STOP….you need to stop. Get three quotes for all the work that you can not do yourself. The structural integrity of the home is priority one. Joists, beams, floors, including concrete and timber flooring repairs, roof, ceilings, walls. Have a design drawn up, that you would like. Get quotes on plumbing and electrical for fixing in the current positions, and a quote for your desired positions. Then, assess your true budget, and see whether a future with this house is possible. But STOP, and reassess NOW.

Hi Jenna,

I completely agree with Dreamer. STOP, take a breathe and make a plan of action before you start anything like the kitchen or bathroom.

Sadly, the termite and poor underfloor ventilation issues and any other serious matters should have been spelt out for you in your pre purchase inspection. As it was not, you have available to you a course of action against the provider of the pre purchase inspection. If you did not get one, then just take a deep breathe and address the serious issues first as these must be addressed and will determine what budget you have left for the rest or perhaps the time frame you need to save or borrow a bit more.

I think you need some professional advice in the location of the house to help you make the overall plan. As mentioned previously, don't take design or overall planning advice from a tradesperson. They can help you with their trades and will almost always consider their scope of work as a priority. Plumbing will not be a priority over structural issues or the overall result you would like to acheive with this house. Try to stick to the plan you want, even if you have to do it slower than you would like otherwise you will forever regret it. If this is your home for the forseeable future, take your time to get to the end result. Good things take time and need to be well planned.

Good luck.

C.

Jenna B, looking at the real estate site, you had a liveable home prior to the asbestos/demolition company removing all asbestos and the kitchen cabinets. “The presence of asbestos in home building materials generally does not pose a health risk unless the material is broken, deteriorating or disturbed in such a way that airborne asbestos fibres are produced.” ( health Victoria). On this HOUZZ thread, there was very good advice back in Aug 2024. “Live in the home before doing any changes”. When renovating, have a FULL report done for structural, electrical, plumbing issues. Get quotes to fix these issues. Complete repairs by priority. Don’t pull out a working kitchen until the priorities have been ascertained. You have now learnt the hard way, both financially and emotionally. Renovating homes are not about getting everything aesthetically nice. You need to start from the structure of the home, then worry about spending money on making it look pretty. For example: the $2000 you spent on the second hand kitchen, would be very handy if re stumping is required…..? You have a wonderful double brick, two bedroom home with large verandahs. I hope you find a path to making it YOUR home.

I got my good friend to help me work on the house. He was about to remove a lot of the wooden framing to create a clean space for the plumber to start work. I decided also to move the kitchen to the back of the house. But more importantly the floors. I got a builder to do an inspection on Tuesday and I’m waiting for his quote. Meanwhile my friend took a few rotten boards off to have a look and the timber holding up the floor is flaking away

Have you done a whole house plan yet? This whole thread gives me anxiety. Which room is that “flaking” joint under? Hopefully a wet area so there’s a chance it’s localised. If you have that level of deterioration across all the joints and supports for the entire house then it’s a mega mega buck fix. Did you determine what the stumps are made of?

Hi Bigreader I have done my house plan and I am moving the kitchen to the back of the house and keeping the 3 rooms in the front with the kitchen being the new 3rd bedroom and the room off the lounge being the new sunroom. The kitchen at the back will then open up to a outdoor eating area (in the future- currently a concrete slab)

Sorry not sure how that picture posted again but I need help with the floor. Apparently there is only one brick stump in each room holding up the floors and all the joists are rotten. So he is suggesting extra stumps be added with ant caps and joists replaced and new timber flooring being done. He went to the local hardware store and he said it would be approximately $2k per room for all materials. He also has a friend to help at $60 per hour. Can you please tell me if I should go with a floating floor or do hardwood again?

Sorry in regards to the floor they have opened up 3 rooms already. The dining room (which was the picture I sent before) bedroom 1 being the main bedroom and the former kitchen and all floors are flaking in the same condition. So it seems that its not just the wet areas that are being affected but everywhere

I did contact a local builder for a quote but they told me that they are so busy that they can’t look at it till the new year.

I would get the builder’s prices in writing. It may sound a good deal to be charged cost for the materials (which seem cheap) but it’s not if the labour is a blank unlimited cheque. So my back of the envelope looks like at least $5k per room. Plus any delivery of materials and the removal of the old. Is any hire equipment necessary? Plus the skirtings will need to be replaced or carefully removed for reuse. I think budget will tell you whether you use hardwood boards or a substrate that you can add flooring to at a later stage. Thank goodness you’ve done a plan but how does that match to your $25k budget. I would carefully think about budget before doing any more demolition. Does the builder have experience in restumping? You don’t want the house to fall down totally.

And you need to address the ventilation and drainage issues that cause the joists to rot in the first place.

Yes I have $25k but in talks to sell my $2k kitchen so I can get my money back hopefully. Then all of this will have to go to doing the floors and addressing any issues that come up. In the 4th room they just took out one floor board and there was white ants everywhere.

So I’m going to go back to a builder for a written quote as you suggested. Then pest control quoted me $2.5k and a ventilation company quoted me $2.2k to run ducts and a timed fan under the floor. It’s so hard to get trades in Mudgee.

I’m not sure what to do about the bathroom and kitchen now. I don’t think they will get done until next year when I can save up some cash

Is the pest control quote from the same company that told you there weren’t active termites? And then you found some? What is the quote for (barriers, treatment)? If you’re in a high termite area you need to consider using concrete stumps when replacing the existing. Are the joists damaged from damp or termites?

Yes the pest control quote is from the same company that told me that there were no active termites and then when we lifted up the floor boards they were crawling everywhere. The quote was only to spray the soil under the house with a chemical what gave an 8 year guarantee for no termites. I believe we are in a high termite area. The joists seem to be damaged from damp issues and when taking out the floors they are just all breaking.

I had hoped to move in with my 2 sons in December but i dont think its possible. I asked a Mudgee carpenter contact for someone who does floors (for a second quote) and he gave me the same contact of someone i already called who advised me to consult a builder. I seem to be going in circles. But i found another builder online who may be able to give me a second quote

I don’t think I’d use a pest control company that told me there were no active termites when there were. You can do DIY termite treatments with products like Termidor. If you are planning on having the under floor areas open, access to spray will be easy. I would def spend the money on resolving drainage. And (from a different company) termite baits with monitoring but this doesn’t need to be done straight away.

I got a quote today from a Sydney builder that can service Mudgee for floors and he said it’s going to be about $10k per room ($50k) for restumping, bearers, joists and putting in a subfloor so floorboards can be placed down plus subfloor ventilation system. Is this insanely expensive or is this what it costs?

There is a price guide on Archicentre. You can search it but you’ll need to know your linear meterage. The only way to know in the real world if a quote is reasonable is to get another quote or two. Does this cover the whole house? $50k for restumping and a full floor replacement for a full house is not unexpected.

Hi Bigreader yes this covers the entire house including the extension on the side of the house. It’s abit of a shock but i guess things can’t get any worse than they are now so it can only be upwards from now on (well once I can the floors and termites sorted) 🙂

Before you spend that type of money have you had the rest of the house properly inspected. Ie roof, gutters, damp damage to the walls, bricks & mortar, sewer connections etc?

To be a voice of experience and a bit of tough love. You are in the position you’re in because you started ripping apart a functional house without a plan or budget to put it back together. You need to be realistic about your current position and what you can realistically achieve in the future.

Yes. Too many mistakes. The asbestos removal was a push from lots of family and a friend who said they would not help me renovate anything with asbestos in the property. Then while I was at hospital with my son (he was allergic to nuts) I got a friend to meet the asbestos person to go through exactly what to do with the removal with the quote being $14k but somehow after my friend handled the walkthrough of the work he managed to add a $6k variation to my quote bringing the total to $21k and also the sunroom roof got torn down too which my friend said he did not realise would happen. I’m not blaming anyone but myself. I should have better project managed and been more tight with the finances.

The pest and build report said the issue areas with the house was the side extension. I actually spoke to the inspector and he said everything related to the cottage was structurally sound. So it I pulled down the side extension and removed the asbestos in the front window panels the house was good.(not sure if he just meant the walls and not the floors).

My vision was to restore the cottage. Open the veranda, rip the carpet and polish the floors, paint, new second hand kitchen and new bathroom and open up the fire places DIY with the help of my friend. But I myself sort of didn’t realise how hard it was to do myself while looking after a one year old and three year old on my own and I started relying on too many other people to take control for me and yes I have now learnt my lesson

Ok. We all learn lessons. But you’re now in a pretty tight situation. I can see you had a vision but that’s not a plan. And I sympathise reno-ing on your own with young kids. I’ve been there. Mine are now early teens and can load and handle a wheel barrow on their own but there was a time when I had to grab two years olds from the top of ladders and out of paint trays. When it comes to money and assets, and you’re on your own you need to be on top of things. Before you spend anymore money on the house you need to be absolutely sure (and not by the same inspector that said there were no termites) that the rest of the building from top to bottom, from electrics to sewage is sound enough to make the investment in the floors worthwhile.

Floors $50k, Skirtings, $3k, Kitchen trades $8k, Kitchen cabinets $2k-$20k, Kitchen appliances $1.5k-$5k, Bathroom trades $12k, Bathroom fixtures $5k, Basic laundry $2.5k, Plaster repairs throughout $12k (2-3x that if it’s not repairable)
Plus the DIY things - Paint and prep $2k, Rubbish $600, tools and sundries $600
Plus Fixtures - light fittings, blinds, carpet/rugs
Plus undiscovered things when working on an old house - $$$$$ Electric, Plumbing

Have you sat down and planned the items to take you from unliveable to liveable to desirable. And then allocated dollars to them.

Hi Jenna,

Wow, this is going to be a huge learning experience for you and you have been given some great advice from many sources and some advice that has not been helpful. Some of which you have followed and some you have not.

As mentioned in a previous post, asbestos is not really a problem unless it gets broken and creates dust which can be breathed in, which is a problem. Given your budget, I probably would have left it in place for now and worked around it until you could have afforded the removal. That may have been part way through the renos in a year or two when you had saved more.

That was just one of the mistakes, but as I said, this is a great learning oportinity should you ever want to do this again.

I would not suggest that you sell the kitchen you bought. It was one of the better deals you have struck in this process and what would it cost to replace it later??? Bound to be much more. Once the house can be secured, store it in the back room and locate the sink bench portion roughly where you want it and plumb that in. You can then at least 'camp' in the house when the floors are up to a livable/camping standard.

A one and three year old will not remember the tough environment as a hardship if you treat it as a fun camping adventure.

Take a week or so to sit down with a professional or experienced renovator to make a serious plan to move forward. A week or two in the big scheme of things is nothing, but it will help you understand how you can proceed to get into the house. You want to limit the time you are paying two sets of rent/mortgage etc.

Be realistic about how much you can save each month or how much more you could afford to borrow and pay back each month. That will determine how fast you can proceed.

Also, the pest inspector, if it was the basis of your purchase, should at least give your money back, but I would also seek to make a claim against them for costs incured. If you were told in writing that there were no termites and no rot in the subfloor, you could be compensated for the majority or all of the costs you have incurred. If it was not in writing or not as a pre purchase inspection, then you stand little chance of being compensated for it.

Take a deep breathe and move forwad slowly.

C.

Hi Everyone, i moved the kitchen to the back of the house where the laundry is. Because I’m changing the plumbing I was told I need to get all my plans drawn up and get DA approval from council. Do any of you know how much this approximately costs? I got a quote from a draftsman for $6k and I was very surprised.

These are the items on my quote

I can’t comment anymore.

Hard to know without detailed scope but doesn’t seem bad. Get another quote to compare. Make sure you get all your wall changes. Was there

A permit for the previous wall removals? Old houses like yours are a can of worms.

Okay thank you. I tried to avoid it but I was told I would be in trouble from council if I didn’t do things the right way especially since I moved the kitchen to the back of the house and so the plumbing has to change a little (that’s what I was told).

I got my subfloors fixed which I’m just so relieved about but which took up basically the rest of my funds. I’m going to do all the patchwork of the walls over Christmas and paint the 3 rooms with discount paint I purchased from a store that recycles old paint. These are the things I can do and they will make me happy once I get them completed because it’s been hard to keep positive.

Then my plan of attack for next year is:

1. Get plans drawn and notify council
2. Get bathroom done (got a quote for $25k and waiting on a second)
3. Electrical done (got a quote for $15k because I was told the wiring is illegal and my kids could be electrocuted if they cut the exposed wires)
4. Put the kitchen and laundry together (this is the exposed part of the house so am waiting on a quote which I believe will be the most expensive part to do)
5. Put in flooring (plan to do this myself)

Hi Jenna,

Try to keep positive by focusing on the vision you have for what the house will be when you have completed everything. It will take longer than you originally expected, but good things take time and are almost always worth the effort and lessons learnt along the way.

Please do get a second quote as mentioned by Kate. Usually I would advise to get three quotes if you don't have a friend that is doing this work for you.

I'd also check with the council if the quote includes everything that they need to assess your application. Confirm also with the companies quoting that their price includes everything that is required to get approval.

Are there any structural changes that the drafter can do for you to include. These may not be big ones but any opening you want to make bigger/wider and therefore require a new lintel to support the wall and roof above, need to be approved. If these are not large, the drafter should be able to do these for you without the need of a structural engineer.

Have you thought about insulation? Both the cost of it and where and how you will install it. The roof will provide the best value for money, both in winter and summer. The walls are a bit more complicated in existing houses but well worth it if you can. Underfloors are easy to do and you should be able to do the whole house in one day. There may be government grants available to help you with this if you are insulating existing houses, especially with young children as residents. It's worth a search. Good insulation will cut your power bills substantially over time.

Good luck.

C.

As a rule of thumb, a change of purpose of a space always requires approval - redoing a bathroom or a kitchen in the same room you can sometimes get away with it if contained to cosmetic non structural work........but this is clearly a significant scope of building work..... for your own benefit and reduce risk of potential further issues/expenses you are dealing with really would advise you to pursue properly in accordance to the applicable regulations....https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/housing/building-and-renovating/checklists/extensions-and-renovations-costing-more-than-10000

good luck!

PD

Another link that may provide some helpful information, relevant for your state/location https://ownerbuilderclub.com.au/insight-posts/do-i-need-an-owner-builder-permit-in-nsw/

I'm a planning and heritage consultant and the quote you have for the Statement of Environmental Effects and Statement of Heritage Impact is very very low. Is the draftsperson writing these for you? The SEE is probably going to be OK but I would question the quality of the SOHI at that price.

I would recommend going and talking to the duty planner at council and run through your wishlist. You don't have to say whether you have done the work or not, just take your mud map plan in so you can talk it through and mark areas to change. Planning rules are more stringent in the heritage conservation area and you don't specify whether the site is listed. This doesn't mean you can't do anything, just the the design, colour and materials need to respect the heritage of the existing development on the site and in the surroundings.

Don't be scared to talk to council to clarify what you need to do. They do not keep a running list to chase up, they are genuinely there to ensure that you get the consents you need. It is quite possible that you don't need consent for what you are doing but the onus is on you to check.