Have I made an expensive mistake????

[Daydreaming]

Just feeling a bit down about my new house tonight.
A while ago I posted about living in a house that needs a complete renovation, and you were reassuring... I need some more hand holding tonight!!!

So... For ages I dreamed about selling my flat and buying a house - not an easy thing in central London. I looked at some nice houses but outside my preferred area, but realised that being in the right location, close to my dd's school, was the most important thing to me. So when i found a house that I could afford, I went for it, even though I knew it would need lots of work.
Over the last two months we have settled in, but the house will need a complete renovation at some stage - rewiring, replastering, dealing with damp, new windows, etc. I am so up and down - one day I am happy that I have a house in a great location, or like today, I feel like I hate it. It was a lot of money for what is a small Victorian terrace that looks like it's about to fall down!!!

Has anyone else been in that position? Did it have a happy ending?

hi -I commented on your last thread and I can remember feeling how you are feeling very clearly

I was fed up of things not feeling clean (either damp or dusty)
I was fed up of not wanting to have visitors
I was fed up of it not feeling like home

I was fed up of alot more things too but I sharnt depress you further

I had 2 small DCs and really couldn't see how I was ever going to afford everything or find the time

I took advantage of sale items, discontinued stock etc (eg my entire house is plastered in out of date plaster that I would buy for 50p a bag, only a few days out of date and it went on fine)
used tradesmen at their quietest time as usually their bills were lower (kitchen and bathroom fitters do very little work in january as everyone buys in the jan sale and gets them fitted end of feb and into march -they are more open to negotiation on price if they are quiet)

and all of a sudden, it started to feel like home -small satisfactions like getting my front door painted -such a little thing but visually made a huge impact

it's not easy living in a house that needs lots of work but you will get there and then you will have a house to be proud of -and it's all yours!!!

Yes I've been in that position and yes it was worth it.

We sold our lovely Edwardian semi, with a brand new lovely kitchen and new bathroom etc and bought quite honestly the ugliest 1960s detached house you've ever seen. We had the original kitchen/bathroom/outside loo, metal single-glazed windows, swirly carpet etc etc. The only way to wash your hair was to use a plastic measuring jug. The only way to keep warm was to keep your hat and coat on indoors(and we did!). We cooked on the oven that was there - a tiny thing that one man had cooked his meals on for probably twenty years. It was horrendous. We lived like this with our two small children for five years whilst we saved the money and frankly had the courage to "go for it".

We bought it because it was in the loveliest road, one that we couldn't ever have thought we could live in, surrounded by beautiful houses and trees, it had a beautiful garden and what they call "potential". When we did finally "go for it", we replaced EVERYTHING; windows, roof, wiring, plumbing, floors, doors. We insulated it from top to bottom, putting insulation on the outside of the building and then rendering it. We painted it a beautiful creamy/beige colour, put a slate roof on, brand new darkish grey windows and now I can't believe it's mine. We did it in five months (moving out for four of those). It was scarey as we'd never done anything on that sort of scale but you have to believe in what you're doing. Have courage that the house you will end up with will be better than anything you've ever lived in because it will be "brand new" albeit in a period style that matches the facade. You will have a boiler that works, radiators that are fantastic, LED lights that use tiny amounts of energy, showers that throw out good pressure etc etc. You'll go on a massive learning curve and google everything that comes your way that you don't understand whilst you are in the build process - there are answers out there at our fingertips. It was a massive help (as was things like Mumsnet as someone will always have discussed each topic!)

I am envious because your Victorian terrace will tell you what to do really - ours was so bland we had to invent a style. Yours is there telling you what to do and you can make yours the best Victorian terrace in the street because it will be what YOU want and you won't be "making do" with what somebody left behind. Yours will tell you what to do with the skirting boards - you can match them in with what's already there, you can put in contemporary bits around the period features.

My one piece of advice is, if you have the money to get going then do so asap. Maybe live with it as it is for six months (if you can cope), then you'll know what the house needs and what you want. Don't, if you can help, wait five years like we did - it felt like we were marking time and couldn't get on with living our lives.

It will be worth it - the "journey" (!) isn't easy but it's ever so nice once it is over.

Work shy and newgirl - thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Sounds like you've been through what I am feeling!!
Feeling better now. Thank you.
I think part of the problem is that I have had a difficult few years - things better now - and it doesn't take much to get me down!

Hi daydreaming I would echo what the others have said. We are around 90% of the way through our renovation which has taken 3 years to date. The house we own I used to drive past and literally think who ever lived in it was very lucky! its a 3 storey Edwardian semi in the most beautiful location with a 140ft long winding gravel drive. It came on the market and after much reduction on the price we bought it, it needed renovating top to bottom. We had no budget to do the work and so I have been doing major overtime to pay for it all, is it worth it? Hell yes!! I drive up the drive and still love it, I'm currently surrounded by dust with a makeshift kitchen in the back room and it's freezing as the kitchen is being done but it's still worth it and so will yours be. Location is as important as the house itself and your sounds fab. I promise that once you have done some of the work and you see a finish line you will love yours too

Watching with interest as we are about to do the same... Rewiring, new central heating, knocking down walls, redoing every wall and ceiling, loft, basement, moving shower out back of the kitchen to upstairs, damp, woodworm, rotten windows and floor joists... The list goes on. Maybe we are mad

We've put an offer in on a Regency terrace house that will need about 100k spent on it. I'm petrified.

The thing I'm most scared of is opening it out. Ours is all separate rooms and nasty little kitchens with curly lino. It's empty though, so I'm hoping to get a lot done between exchange and completion.

I'm also really worried about the dankness and smell - we have a toddler and teen.

Is this shaping up to be a support thread for people with projects

We can't do any work between exchange and completion - are you sure you can?
Yes def need the support if it goes ahead (see my other thread) arrrgggh

Well the estate agent has said it should be fine to put the heating in then. It has storage heaters but they are all melted and condemned. Nice!

He said he'd never seen a sale fall through between exchange and completion and we could sue their pants off if it did.

What's your house like?

It's grade 11 listed terrace gorgeous on the outside in amazing area which is subsequently ridiculously overpriced.
However massive issues with the stairs- see my other thread- so we may pull out.
Our contract- which we have signed -says we are not allowed to do any work between exchange and completion.
Also beware insurance will be pricey for an unoccupied house having building work

Sounds lovely. Can I ask, when the surveyor from the mortgage company goes round, can you be there to ask him questions?

Did you use an architect for planning?

Ours isn't grade II listed, which I suppose is good news. It's absolutely the only way we'll get that much space in the area we want to be in - unfortunately DP is a bit like Frank Spencer in the toolbox department.

Thanks ladies!!

Lidldarling - Speaking as a lawyer, please be careful, as you don't actually have any right to do work in the house before completion, and it could all end in a big ugly mess...

Yes our surveyor called us to Arrange a time and I was there at beginning and end of survey

We used an architect- where are you? If you are near i would recommend ours

daydreaming It will be worth it I am sure.

Lots of the jobs you mention mightn't take as long as you think. Here are some time frames from our place:

Central heating installation (from scratch) took 4 days start to finish.
Major electrical upgrade took 4 days (not rewire, but there was some really dodgy and unsafe wiring in the garden and elsewhere).

Replastering (skimming) throughout the whole house save kitchen and bathroom took 10 working days, and that included most of the ceilings.

Let's not mention the decorating.....we're still looking at bare plaster walls. But at least they're very smooth bare plaster walls!

lidldarling just a cautionary note - old storage heaters can contain asbestos and are immensely, unfeasibly heavy. One of the ones we had removed weighed more than 140kg. If it's an option, pay the heating installers to remove them from the walls and dispose of them (but just make sure they are licensed to dispose of stuff). And as staverton says don't do it before completion.

Hi daydreaming - I could have written your post 5 years ago... And I'm happy to say it was well worth it!

Now the most important thing to remember is that this is a forever house so you don't need to do ALL the work right now... The electrics/underfloor plumbing would be the priority for me, as those are jobs where the whole house needs to be ripped apart. And it will look truly bloody awful when you've finished it and it will be absolutely filthy - don't even think about going in there until the industrial cleaners have been booked! It'll break your heart.

Presumably being a Victorian it's got lots of lovely space for you to work with - we did musical rooms for a couple of years as we worked our way round the house decorating each one. So for example, we had one bedroom which was a massive storage depot for all the freecycle stuff we'd blagged, stuff which might come in handy, bits of wood, paint pots, ladders, stuff which we'd need eventually for different rooms etc. It's worth sacrificing some space in order to have a door you can close on the building site. It's also well worth having the builders do any messy work in there, rather than dusting up each room as they work in it.

Windows can be patched, smothered in weatherseal paint and windproofed with thick curtains for a little while rather than replacing immediately.

Another top tip: Create a sanctuary. Get one room painted and looking nice and properly cosy so that you have somewhere to retreat to when you need some sanity away from the builders. DO NOT LET HUBBY DO ANYTHING IN HERE!!!!

We are currently putting a new kitchen in our Victorian terrace.

We have lived here 7 years and have no option but to do all the work gradually because dh is self employed and we cannot remortgage.

In 7 years we have:

done £1,000 worth of landscaping in the garden
replaced the boiler
extended and replaced the bathroom
replaced knocked-down walls and doors in the two main living rooms
replaced the aluminium windows
redecorated the hall and stairs (cost £2000 alone mainly because it was previously decorated in that hideous textured wallpaper)
redecorated two of the bedrooms (one of which needed entire replastering)

currently doing the kitchen (major major major unpheaval and we aren't even having anything particularly fancy)

we still need to do the main bedroom, two living rooms, front garden, front door and all floor coverings in the house except the kitchen.

You have to be sure you really truly deeply love the house itself and its location to live with it while it is shabby and/or being renovated, especially if you don't have the money to do it all quickly.

daydreaming thanks for that advice, maybe the estate agent just wanted to make it all sound possible. I will definitely take your advice, although I'm not now sure how we can manage the move with two children. THe house is uninhabitable. Perhaps I'll have to take the kids on holiday and leave DP to camp out
Narmada thank you so much, that is massively useful. It's the heating installation that was most worrying me as it will be January, if we get the house. Thanks for the heads up about the storage heaters.

baubley we are in the same mortgage position. I'm self-employed and have had low income due to having a baby. I really think it's gender discrimination that the mortgage company won't take this into account. DP is a pro gambler - try saying that to the retreating back of the broker

We had to exchange, do £10k worth structural work and then complete a month later. The bank refused us a rentention and this was the only way we could get the funds released for the mortgage so that we could complete. The only downside was that the structural engineers who carried out the works originally quoted us 6k then when they finished the work they charged us 10k. They held us over a barrel because they knew without the certificate the bank would not release the money and we would not be able to complete.