Hello, I have just moved into a California Bungalow, although quite possibly the oldest one in the country!! It is a fibro house built, I think, in the 40's. I am in my 77th year and have bought this property to renovate as a project and am very enthusiastic but I do realise this is going to be a challenge for me. Firstly, I am unable to do most things myself, apart from the garden and painting the gloss on the woodwork within. Everything else, I will have to pay tradies to do. I moved from Sydney to this very small country town and am now realising how difficult this project is going to be as there seems to be a huge lack of tradesmen in the area. Some are willing to travel from further away but not many! I'm having lots of knock-backs due to distance. However, after lots of research and talking to people, I've found a carpenter who will do my first two jobs, ie install new Bunnings kitchen and level the floor of a small room which was laughingly called the third bedroom although it only has three walls, not four, so open to the hallway. I've found out that this little room was, in the past, the back verandah and this is why it slopes downwards. It was used to connect the original house to a new extension. My new best friend (Tradie Ben) has told me the only thing he can suggest is pulling the old carpet up and grinding down one side of the floor as the other side is flat and level but he thinks the mess it would cause with the sanding/grinding is something to consider so I've opted for the three white storage cupboards I've brought with me for linen storage (there's no linen cupboard) to be screwed into the wall and he's going to grind down the concrete just where the cupboards sit and that will level them up and allow me to use them. If anyone has any other idea, would love to know.
The previous owner attached this extension to this tiny back verandah. It was sealed off when I first moved in. The extension was meant to be a little flat but without bathroom or kitchen. However,I can't afford to put in two kitchens and two bathrooms so it will become part of the main house.
The other thing I should mention that is worrying me a little is that the whole house seems to have some asbestos in it. I believe most houses of the 40's did, especially in rural areas. I want to remove the battens on the wall so that I can hang my pictures up (have loads of them and pictures make a home, I think) and don't know what to do about this. Some locals tell me leave them alone and others say rip the walls out and/or resurface with gyprock. Bit drastic? I think doing the whole house is going to be too expensive for me. Perhaps I could just tap in some picture hooks. I've been told to spray the little hole I make with water and washing up liquid, is that right? I've been reading up on all of it but everyone has a different idea. Some say don't touch the walls, others say they lived all their young lives in a fibro house and nothing happened to them. Any advice for me at this early stage?
The other thing is I've inherited a decent sized back garden but it is full of what the locals call Bindi Eye, the most ferocious things I've ever come across. My pets can't walk five steps without hopping back into the house. My shoes are covered with them whenever I venture out to start the huge job of clearing up. No grass because of the drought and also because the old lady who owned the house previously had not lived in it for five years so it's been empty ever since so very neglected garden.
Oh well, hoping for a suggestion or two - oh, the bathroom has to come out. It's tiny, it's all asbestos of the worst kind, I've been told - some kind of surface that looks like old laminex, shiny, but the whole bathroom is covered in it. Should I rip it all out and have it resurfaced with gyprock or should I cover it up with gyprock or something?
Thank you, anyone that has bothered to read this. All suggestions, if any, will be appreciated. No pictures just yet. The other thing I've noticed is that at night my house seems to make banging noises. My sister says it could be Dawn coming back again (Dawn is the lady who passed away!) Seriously, though, could it be the fibro walls expanding at certain times?
