Anyone live in a very old farmhouse? Am I mad to consider buying one??

[Whatser]

We're house hunting for a bigger house at the moment and I've fallen in love with an old farmhouse we went to view last week. It's late 18th century and in very good condition considering its age. I've lived in old houses before and I loooove the charm and character that they hold, but I've never owned one.

Obviously I know that they come with their own expenses, are costlier to heat and require regular maintenance etc. Thankfully, DH is very handy and enjoys a project/challenge, so I think we can tackle a lot of these things ourselves.

Am I mad to consider it? Give me your honest unblemished experiences please 😄

The house is something like this, but isn't this exact one:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/134373674#/?channel=RES_BUY

We live in a very similar house but we are very rural and our situation is probably different as I grew up in the house. We don’t get spiders as I use Indorex twice a year, flying insects are a different story though! Our house is very cosy in winter as we have wood burning stoves in three rooms, open fires in all bedrooms as well as the large reception hall, a solid fuel Aga in the kitchen and oil fired heating. The house is never cold in winter and is cool in summer.

If it’s your forever home look ahead to having to drive your children everywhere as they grow up. It was our choice to live here and we felt it was our responsibility to pay for driving lessons and cars for our children. We get a lot of snow in winter and also paid for advanced driving lessons for winter conditions.

You say 15 mins to the school. What about secondary? What are the schools like?

I live in ye olde farmhouse. It is expensive to heat and regular maintenance is necessary. I’m in Scotland though so if you’re handy with a chainsaw and you’ve got storage there’s enough windfall to save you a couple of thousand a year.

sanding and painting cast iron drainpipes and gutters

repainting wooden sash windows

maintaining ancient slate roof

its all expensive and / or time consuming

Also all the trades charge a bit more when you’re rural.

It is lovely though and my children were very young/ born after we bought it ten years ago and I haven’t found it difficult to babyproof etc.

Agree with PP. They are gorgeous, but absolute money pits - especially as tradespeople see the size and location and, I’m convinced, add an extra zero to every quote.
However, I love mine. It may be hell in winter but it’s heaven in summer. I could never move back to suburban living.

you'll be fine provided you don't mind spiders, slugs, mice and ants sharing the house. Impossible to keep on top of the wild life and cobwebs! However, wouldn't move anywhere else (lived here over 25 years). Love it despite it being a money pit and expensive to heat in winter.

Weirdly, we hardly ever see spiders indoors - I'm terrified of them. Lots of other wildlife though - ants, flies, slugs, mice, shrews, humongous wasps nest in the attic...it does feel like you have to be in your guard against mother nature!

I suspect spiders get eaten by bigger things!

Not mad at all, I actually know the house you posted, even though it is not the one you are thinking of buying!

All houses need maintaining, older ones you just have to make sure you use the right materials and treat them with a bit of tlc.

Old houses need to breath, so that means using breathable materials, such as lime plaster, certain types of paint and not doing things such as injecting damp proof courses, irrespective of people telling you it should be done.

You spend your money on the important things, the roof is sound, window windows are properly maintained and renovated, guttering doesn't leak.

It is easier to heat stone, older houses for longer at lower temp than to just switch the heating on for an hour and expect it to be warm quickly. Let them get too cold and it will take an age to heat it. We use our CH as background warmth and have the AGA (you can do the same with the Rayburn), woodburners and open fires in the rooms we spend most of the time in as the heat sources to provide the "comfortable" warmth.

Things like interlined curtains and blinds, and original shutters are great for warmth.

The plus point of old stone houses, is they are wonderfully cool in hot weather.

You mentioned being a custodian, this is exactly how you need to think, you are just passing through living in a house which has loads of history, embrace its quirks.

If you're wfh, you do need to think about heating outside high summer. I don't have the heating on all day if it's just me at home. I'm like Bob crachett- fingerless gloves, blanket on my knees and a little oil filled radiator...

Ours is 1600’s I love it an hate it in equal measure! My friend is selling her 1800’s house forever home after several years living there, don’t underestimate how expensive they are to heat and maintain. You need deep pockets and nothing is ever straight forward.

I share the house with two bees nests in the eves we can’t get them out without damaging the house so we’ve left it. The family of field mice comes back every winter, how they get in I will never know. The house It creaks most nights, I suspect it’s due to the temperature dropping. But it sounds like someone bouncing a basketball on the tread of the oak stairs and it freaks the hell out of me especially when it happens during the night. And spiders lots of fucking spiders!

Love it and hate it in equal measure...that's exactly right.

I couldnt imagine living in a suburban semi again though.

Can you afford to gut it back to bare walls, re-insulate/plaster/floor? If so it'll be so worth it. If not it'll be a never ending money pit

Also 15 mins to school
But what about things teens will want to do?

Old houses are not money pits per se as long as you invest in keeping the important things maintained, roof, windows and guttering. There is no need for any house to be damp, that normall occurs due to one of the 3 above having problems or an old house has been packed full of modern materials - insulating old houses has to be done very carefully in order to maintain its breathability, if that does not happen, problems will occur. They will never as be as easy or cost effective as a smaller, modern house - some people want to leave in new homes, others accept living in historic properties which take a little bit more looking after.

Our house costs more to heat than a new home but even though parts of it are over 500 years old, I wouldn't say it is a money pit as the money which has been spent on it ensures it is not damp and can breath.

We have oil CH, a septic tank and no mains water - wouldn't change it for the world. Monitor oil prices and fill up when they are low in the summer. We use 2 oil tanks per year (1300ltr tank), one for CH the other runs the AGA which is on 24x7 365 days at it is the only source of cooking, plus electricity costs. Septic tank is emptied once every couple of years at a cost of £100.

DP live in 1700s farmhouse, have central heating & real fires/stoves.yes it's more costly to heat but none of family would change it! Have put in secondary double glazing in past 5 yrs which has made a big difference in winter. Main con is it being listed which makes any alterations more time consuming to organise

Like most pp, it's costs a lot to heat, though it has been lovely and cool during the heat.
The the drafts, it's a waste of money putting the heating on when it's windy, I can't find where it all comes in though.
No straight walls, floors or ceilings which means bits of dirt always seem to fall thru the ceilings. Clean as much as you like but it's never really clean or stays that way.
The kitchen ceiling fell down and hundreds of years of dirt came with it, along with chaff, used for insulation.

This.

Is it in any sort of conservation area? Check this very carefully

I would also suggest you start making friends with the local reclamation yard (slates or roof tiles), the oil delivery company who covers the area, the septic tank emptying company, anyone who can handle lime plaster/render/limewash (because there is a very high chance the walls will be limed), the local village busybody and the postmen and binmen if you have a huge long drive and want them to come up it.
However if the roof is thatched you either want to run away PDQ or become best mates with whoever you can find who does thatched cottages. They're usually booked up YEARS in advance and it's getting harder and harder to find one.

My sister lives in a 400 year old farmhouse- this is all her advice.

My experience is that they’re lovely in the summer and miserable in the winter; ours was 400 years old. No damp course, sweating flagstones, very draughty, doors a windows ill-fitting and extremely expensive to replace (listed building too).
It took ages to warm up and a fortune to heat. Mice in the walls/attic and mahoosive spiders.
Never again!

I used to live in one and loved it.

check the roof. If it is stone tiled it can cost a fortune to replace.
mine was quite damp - cool in the summer but it never really warmed up in winter.
if you have flag stone floors, invest in some serious slippers.

I loved mine. We have a Victorian house now. It’s still a money pit, but I don’t want to live in a modern house yet.

My parent’s house was listed Grade II after they bought it, so just be aware that things can change.

That is literally my dream house 😍😍😍

Yes and I love it. I wouldn’t consider a new house now- living somewhere so old and with so much history is a privilege.

Our house is listed, which is a pain, and we have spent a lot of money on it, but we bought it as a renovation project so that wasn’t a surprise. Get a really good survey and as much info from the seller as possible about what works they have done and when.

Is it standard construction? if not then insurance will be £££ and you'll be limited in your choice of insurers

Our home is not as old as this (150-180 years old no one quite seems sure), but we love it and wouldn't change it unless we were forced to for any reason. We find the oil heating means our bills are currently lower than many of our friends in newer homes and having the option of a fire in just one room at times has been fantastic too. It doesn't take a lot to make it cosy. Nice and cool through the summer too as we have stone floors and walls. Yes there are some maintenance costs but fortunately nothing too major so far. I would make sure that it is structurally sound as a starting point. All homes will eventually need money spending on them, older homes just tend to start off with it!

One thing no one has mentioned - more house work. More little corners and nooks and less wipeable so cleaning takes much longer, not so easy to do a simple blitz through compared to a modern house.