What work does your house NEED?

[Trycod]

Am I the only one living in a hovel?

Kitchen is 25 yo, poor condition. Doors falling off and bowing due to water damage.
All the cream carpet is stained (embarrassingly carpet is only 5 years old bought super lux before having kids/dogs)
Outside crazy paving is actually dangerous - needs replacing entirely.

Getting me down. Have had to delete instagram.

I’m confused by the word NEED (especially in caps). Most of the things people are listing here, like new carpets and kitchens are not ‘needs’, they are just nice to have. I would consider ‘need’ to be something like an expired boiler, a failed roof, structural damage, damp damage etc.

The carpets that need replacing are literally threadbare and the stair one in particular will soon be a trip hazard as a result. I do think a floor covering that's not full of holes shouldn't be considered a luxury.

30+ year old bathroom and kitchen both need replacing. 30+ year old carpets do too. Garden needs napalming...

On the plus side we have had the place rewired and replastered so that is all great and I gaze at our new fuse box with adoration, either it is a thing of beauty or I'm easily pleased. Meanwhile I'm ignoring the boiler that also needs to go...

Same for ours. It's worn, it's permanently stained and it stinks.

I need a drop curb and driveway put in as parking has become impossible
Leak in roof over lader and down wall (which has a crack) from ceiling above loo
Guttering is old and needs replacing as is bowing
Tree in garden needs a good tree surgeon on again
Ideally whole house would be re-pointed
Re-plastering after had electrics replaced and they screwed up/blown a lot of the plaster around the sockets and switches
Loft needs re-insulating and properly boarding (can see daylight through roof corners) 😬
Hallway floorboards need re-sanding and varnishing
Carpets need replacing upstairs as put in in 2006 and have had a few DC and a puppy

I don't want to think about it any more! 😱

Needs a new driveway, windows are starting to blow and ensuite could do with a revamp. Got some rotten decking out the back. Probably all could do with a fresh coat of paint. Kitchen is 7 years old and doing ok. Carpets only 4. Boiler even newer. It's endless.

New kitchen which is getting done this year. New garage door and the front landscaping which is the next job after the kitchen, then it’s just general decorating.

Kitchen hodge podge of units front and curtains due to breakage. Floor has a dip and one window is plastic. Sink leaks. Bathroom toilet leaks, Sink is almost off wall and one window is a single pane of very old glass, bath takes forever to drain as waste pipe flat to the floor. All other windows second hand and poorly fitted (we've used so much filler to stop the gaps) took carpet up for bare floorboards due to how ooor condition it was in. Can't open any windows in front room yet the rain can get in. There's more...much more. The joys of being poor with a house you own, especially as the bodge jobs came as a preference to having no house at all.

It's all subjective but I need:

Some form of heating other than fires
Hot water
Render taking off the outside of the house and replaced with lime render - water is getting behind it, and it's causing damp on all outside walls
Something to stop the random waterfall down our chimney. We have tried and nothing seems to work!

@GivePeaceAChance
Your house sounds like ours - just got rid of an akro prop when we discovered an oak lintel had split in two and the whole house was going to fall down.

It needs the chimney cleaning.
New soffits, and gutters cleared while they're up there.
Some of the double glazing is fogged & needs replacing.
Master bedroom is way overdue for new wardrobes and redecorating.
All the woodwork in the entire house has gone yellow and needs repainting.
New carpets downstairs plus stairs & landing (open plan so has to be done all at once).
Radiators in lounge and bedroom need swapping over - they are different sizes and were installed the wrong way round years ago.
One of the pendant lights in the bedroom doesn't work and needs rewiring.

Nothing, really.

Insulation needs removing from one side of house that has created an awful damp problem - scheduled for July.

Repointing at front of house needs doing.

Ridge tiles on roof needs doing, a few tiles need replacing. Guttering needs attention.

Interceptor trap in main drain needs removing (discovered when major drainage work done to try and sort out blocked soakaway causing damp issues)

Front bedroom window needs replacing (had a notorious double glazing company put the windows in (Watchdog investigated them)) - cowboys installed it.

Upstairs bathroom (over 40 years old) needs replacing. Upstairs toilet needs reinstalling - original 1920’s pan split.

Downstairs bathroom needs replacing, had a leak during lockdown, leak fixed but damage wasn’t so have a wobbly toilet pan (overweight DH told not to sit in it)

3 bedroom ceilings need removing and re plastering and re decorating.

Hallway needs re decorating (still have stair gate marks in wall - youngest is 19!)

Lounge needs re decorating but can’t be til wall has dried out (been told to wait at least a year from insulation removal)

Limited funds so having to prioritise works and live with the rest.

Is this some new external insulation causing the problem

I'll turn this around and tell you what I've successfully done in the last 15 years to show it's possible

• 2 storey extension
• roof turned
• new front path
• new boiler
• back decking
• new garage
• garden office

At the moment the carpet areas are absolutely disgusting and on the list, the front garden is overgrown, need new blinds etc
Whole house needs redecorating

Encouraging post appreciate that but we want to finish ours in a year 🤯🤯

Thanks for showing what's possible if you have the money 👏

GivePeaceAChance No it was instabead that was put in about 15 years ago when we were given a full grant to do it🤔 Should never have put it in our house due to its coastal position, the affected wall gets the full south westerlies and needs a cavity. Our neighbours new extension doesn’t help matters, the blocked soak away made things even worse.

Our neighbours up the road who had the insulation put in at the same time as us have also had to remove the insulation in the same wall.

My list is more of a want than a need as we moved around a year ago into a newer house that needed much less done than where we lived.

weve managed to replace the tatty carpet that was a bit grim and we had to have a new boiler as the other one was pretty much condemned.

id love a new kitchen as this one is probably about 15 years old. I’d just like a better layout and use of space plus the floor tiles have got big chips in them from stuff that’s been dropped. Can’t afford a new one at present.

we also need to sort the garden. The grass is awful with big bald spots from the dog who thinks digging is a sport!!

We live in a rental who tried to increase our rent by 15% until I pointed out:

Mouldy front door
3 rotten single glazed windows
Bath surround needs replacing
Both showers need regrouting and the silicone needs replacing due to leaks
Damp patches in the attic rooms as the lead flashing on the chimneys is loose and needs replacing
Damp patches on the dining room carpet because the floor is floorboards with no protection between them and the cellar below,
The dining carpet needs replacing because it doesn't actually fit and is wrinkling when I try and hoover it.
Funnily enough, they didn't raise the rent and wrote everything into our tenancy agreement - so far, 15 months down the line, they've done the front door and windows....

Got new kitchen last year it’s gorgeous but makes the rest of the house look shabby.
Need en suite shower replaced. Sink enamel has crack in it. Need new flooring in the hall and a stair carpet. Our French doors need fixed the locks are all knackered. Need a new front door it leaks. Want a new family bathroom. It’s old and shabby. Need chimney repointed and painted water leaks in when it rains heavily. Half the house needs rewired 3 rooms the lights don’t work and some of the sockets. I could go on..

We had the same problem,previous owners had it installed and it caused massive damp problems all over the house.

A new kitchen, bathroom, downstairs loo. Our bedroom and the office needs decorating and new carpets. Garden refurb and the roof and windows need replacing in the next 5 years.

We've already spent a fortune on new heating, electrics. New front and back doors, oak and glass balustrade. Fully gutted and finished living room, hall and DD bedrooms.

New siding and outside window trim plus the retaining wall to the basement is cracked and leaning so that needs redoing.
Had my kitchen, main bathroom and hall totally redone 2 years ago ( kitchen from the 90s, bathroom from the 70s and the hall plaster was cracked and it had swirly ceiling). Had all the plumbing and electrics brought up to code at the same time so most of the expensive stuff is done now.

We're completely having the house done, the upstairs floor is made from chipboard and it needs to be replaced before someone falls through it. The only room that doesn't need too much work is the bathroom.

In a few weeks were decamping to my late in-laws house to give the workmen space