A Labour of Love
Some renovation projects are straightforward, but others can be like scaling Mt Everest; and while many would shy away from an undertaking of that magnitude, there’s the occasional brave soul like Dianne Udy who seizes the challenge and reaps the rewards at the end.
Taking a major leap of faith, Dianne transformed her Hamilton house of horrors into a dream home. In late 2003, she found herself at an auction bidding on what she described as ‘the ugliest house in the best street’.
Situated close to town and right by the river, the house’s location and aspect appealed to Dianne, who says she had a clear vision of what she could do with the place.
‘I wanted to give the house a whole new look because it had had such a sad past,’ she says. But moving beyond reality to achieve her dream home was going to take a lot of courage and a great deal of time and hard work.
‘It was just terrible,’ she says, remembering the sorry state the home was in when she first saw it. ‘Every aspect of the house was faulty. It was constructed of polystyrene panels and didn’t meet the Building Code requirements. The panels were butted up against the decking with no drainage, no seals and no rebating. It was your typical leaking home.’
The house was rotting and falling apart so it was necessary to get back to basics, removing all the interior wall linings. Eventually 90% of the internal framing was replaced, as well as a whole structural beam.
But after her purchase, Building Code issues stalled the project until 2006, and it was during this period that Dianne feared she’d bitten off more than she could chew.
‘At the very start I began to think I’d made a big mistake. When I bought this property, people made comments like “What on earth were you thinking?” and “I hope you know what you’ve got yourself in for”, so I did start to doubt myself. Luckily, I spoke to a prominent real estate agent, and instead of selling me another property across the river that I was looking at, he encouraged me and told me to stick with it.
And once construction was under way, this plucky homeowner just went with it. With the help of building company Holah Homes, Dianne got stuck in – literally.
‘I was there most of the time, helping out and getting my hands dirty, but I did stay out of their way. With a renovation project, you have twice as much mess as building a new home. You have to destroy before you can re-create,’ she says. ‘It was great being on site. I could discuss things with them as they happened. Things change in a renovation and it’s important to be able to make decisions quickly.’
Dianne attributes the success of the project to the great relationship she had with her builders.
‘Grant and Phil really tuned into what I wanted and helped me with a lot of the design aspects. The relationship with your builder is paramount and their personality has to suit yours. You know instinctively who’s right and who will work well with you.’
Based on their advice, Dianne chose to re-clad in fibre cement products using a combination of Linea™ Weatherboard and Titan® Façade Panel – a somewhat surprising decision from someone who came from a timber background.
‘We owned a timber company for 20 years, but I never even thought about using timber weatherboards or brick or anything. It was an easy decision – I never deliberated.’
With the old cladding removed and the Titan Façade Panel and Linea Weatherboard installed, Dianne was finally able to see the home she’d envisaged.
‘Every day I have this huge smile on my face. I’m so happy with the whole package, inside and out. I love the simple, modern, earthy ambience of the interior, and the location and external environment – it all makes living here worth the wait. The whole project’s been really amazing, because it’s my own touches, my personality.’
As an energy therapist, Dianne works from home and the response from her clients has been really positive. People passing in the street stop to chat and congratulate Dianne on how wonderful her house now looks.
Even the guys working on the building team were really proud of it,’ she beams.
When it comes to advice for would-be renovators, Dianne offers this: ‘A lot of it is about your approach to things – especially the problems. You have to keep your sense of humour and just enjoy the process.’
PRODUCTS USED
Linea Weatherboard by James Hardie
Titan Facade Panel by James Hardie
