What home improvements have you made?

Hi Denton, congratulations!

The house was designed for plasterboard throughout but when they came to build them there was a shortage of plasterboard and they relaxed the rules to allow hardboard to be used instead upstairs. Perhaps your house was built before the plasterboard shortage developed or perhaps it has been done later?

Mine is plasterboard downstairs and hardboard upstairs.

I would think the glazing was removed later above the windows, as it's something people seem to like to remove, though I think it gives more interest and a lighter and airier feel.

I'd be interested if you could post some photos as I'm interested in the original details like internal doors, built-in cupboards, staircase etc.

Hi Ed,

Thanks :). I will return to the property later with a handy wallpaper scraper and a tub of paint so I'll be happy to take a few pictures.

Here a few pictures, as promised.

My grandparents live in a local 'traditional' 30's semi, and have done for 50-60 years - I'll ask if they remember when their local BISF's went up.

Apologies about the pics, the old Galaxy S2's sensor seems to yellow the whites somewhat. I'll get proper shots tomorrow.

Rear bedroom:

Hallway - never seen a sliding door like that. I'll replace it, instead of changing my name to Spock:
Front bedroom:

Hallway :
Lounge:

Congratulations Denton!

I don't think you will be dissapointed, I bought my house three years ago and there is so much that you can do to them it's brilliant.

It can be daunting at first but just take each room one step at a time.

I wish you every success in your new home.

Sindy x

Hi Denton
What a very interesting set of images.(I have resized them for you and removed some of the yellowing)

Rear Bedroom
It has been a long time since I have see original fitted cupboards in the rear bedroom in fact I'm still trying to figure out the location of the boiler cupboard. As there is a door on the left hand side, does the boiler cupboard back onto the bathroom and if so does it take up any room in there?

Hallway
I would imagine that the sliding door allows for quite a bit more room in the bathroom. I have never seen that small panneled area by the side of the sliding door before. Is it another cupboard?

Front Bedroom
Now this is a first for me. A fireplace in the front bedroom and it looks original too!

Lounge
This also appears to be fitted with another original fireplace but not one that I am familiar with. Most were fitted with coal fired back boilers, can you see any remnants of old pipework around the sides of the fireplace.

I can see by the location of the living room fireplace that it is mounted against the party wall so am I right to assume that you have a brick built flue and chimney?
If that is the case then I assume that the bedroom fireplace is also mounted on the first floor party wall along with the cupboards too.

Are there any storage cupboards in your house Denton that are located on the front and rear bedroom dividing wall?

Your images have revealed some surprising variations, thank you so much for sharing them.

Marc

Hey Sharon, do you have any piccies of your removed wall in the Kitchen and dining room?

Would love to see them if you have.

Teresa

Hi Marc,

Rear Bedroom

Yes that is correct. The boiler cupboard backs onto the bathroom but I'm not sure if the bathroom is smaller than other BISF houses. From the pictures Ed has uploaded, it looks as though the front and rear bedrooms are smaller. The doors to both rooms are in line with the dividing wall of the little front room, making for a large square hallway.

With regards to the cupboards/bathroom - the estate agent said that in many local BISF houses he had seen, the bathroom had been knocked into the cupboard space.

Hallway

Yes that is correct. The small door is a cupboard, and the section at the top looks as though it once held some sort of water tank. The sliding door does save space in the bathroom, but as it has been converted into a "wet room" that isn't so important. I want to remove the little cupboard and replace it with a doorway to the bathroom so that the door swing doesn't take up so much room (that's when the time comes to replace the bathroom).

Lounge

I can't see any pipework around the fireplace. I forgot to mention that all the downstairs doors are sliding doors - no idea if they are original or fitted afterwards.

Yes, the flue is brick built and against the party wall, and yes the upstairs fireplace is also on the party wall. There aren't any fitted cupboards on the front/rear bedroom dividing wall, which is also different to other BISF houses I have seen.

It would be nice to see what the Scotland BISF's are like inside as they also have the brick built chimney.

Spent a bit of time on the smaller bedroom over the weekend. It's the first room to be renewed before I move in, so it's vital I get it done ASAP. As a result, I'll skip any remedial work such as removing walls and adding insulation and revisit this room in the future.

This is the only before picture I have, taken around 5 months ago:

The colour scheme reminds me of a war room, the floor boards are a deep brown (the camera phone hasn't reproduced the colours correctly):

I have filled over the exposed wood to the sides of the window:

This is the corner of the room at the corner of the house, it had been papered over:

I found this etched into the plasterboard underneath the window. It's really small, but it's there:

Wow, that really does look like a war room! I quite like the colour combination, but definitely not suitable for a bedroom!

Mine has a large built-in cupboard over the stairs that looks as though it has been added later (it sits on top of and flush with that corner that is just poking into your second photo, near the radiator). Below are two drawers that may be original.

Is that a wooden strip in the corner? All my rooms have one, it's the same as the one at the ceiling/wall interface and at picture rail height too.

From experience I would not dot n dab over fibre board. Rip it out. It's a fire hazzard. Screw in new plasterboard and skim over. Same with ceiling really. I'll be getting a plasterboard lifter before I do any more rooms. I broke my back n other half dad doing it by hand. 99 quid of fleebay. Worth every penny.