Buying a Victorian house

[rebeccamg]

We are buying a Victorian house in a gorgeous location. I love the location - not totally convinced by the house. We've never had an old property before and I'm really concerned about draughty rooms, cold, damp and just general maintenance. My husband loves the house and thinks it will all be fine! Please someone say positive things about their Victorian house! And say how much better they are then modern houses! I actually think it could be Edwardian as it's red brick?
Can post link if it would help!

Okay - bigger rooms, higher ceilings, brick internal walls, character, cellars (often), attic space (often). Let's face it, it's been there all that time so it's solidly built.

High ceilings are lovely.

Easy to make cosy and stylish - much harder in a new build.

Lots of alcoves for built in shelves/wardrobes.

Neither of mine have been damp or draughty.

I have a listed Victorian tenement

It is a drafty money pit

I love it

I live in the ground floor of a Victorian terrace and it is huuge. Seriously, more square footage than a newbuild 3bed.

Ive never had bother with damp, and we have origional sanded floorboards and no drafts come up.

The only problems we ever had with our flat was the shite job the BTLet owner did before we bought (plaster over woodchip anyone!?)

Yy to links - love a bit of house porn.

I have always lived in Victorian/Edwardian houses; I would never consider a new build. The ceilings will be high, so you will have much more feeling of space. You will love it!

Cool! Me too! I'm worried about cobwebs and dust in the high ceilings
It's going to be fab!

It might be draughty but it will be beautifully proportioned draughty home that will make you smile when you come through the door. You can also cure draughts - but you can't sort out the proportions of a boxy new build.

Oh my gosh ladies you've made me feel a million times better. The location is gorgeous. In a conservation area so really is beautiful and all old houses so no chance of my ideal modern box! My husband loves the period charm. It needs work but been a long term rental so new kitchen etc just odd layout and needs extending as you'll see!
Would love to know thoughts though!! No pictures of inside has a floor plan though so you'll see what I mean about layout! Xx

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44286133.html

Beautiful ..but three words..money,money money! We had to leave our much loved home because we simply couldn't afford everything that needed doing.Remember they were built for different lifestyles and living standards ..everything you will need to do to bring it up to modern day comfort will be expensive.Even if yours is in a better state than ours just day to day maintenance is more expensive ..Not trying to put you off though..if you have a stretchy budget go for it! All I mean is think about a figure and then double it every time!

Oh I love it OP!! I live in a Victorian house and we are slowly renovating, insulating and cosying it up. The upstairs of the house is very warm now and we're getting there with the downstairs. Make sure you take advantage of all the free insulation you can get, and reinstate the fires!

Your layout is quite mad though, but I'm sure there will be something cunning you can do to move the bathroom upstairs. You need Sarah Beeny!

See that's my big worry too... That it will be constantly costing us money... Extension will be all new though so at least I guess that should be ok and sort the layout problem. Do you think it is Victorian? All the Victorian houses I found on google looked nothing like this one...

We bought a Victorian house last year after living in an Edwardian house for 10yrs prior to that.
We are finishing off doing some work to this one as the last family lived here for 25yrs and hadn't done much.
Both houses are/were warm & not draughty (we have insulation & double glazing), modern boilers, electrics, kitchens & bathrooms. We have lovely big rooms, beautiful fireplaces, mouldings and bags of character. I love the high ceilings & huge windows which make the rooms light, airy and elegant. The age of the house hasn't compromised our standard of living just given us a fantastic base with which we have created a fab home.

We had the upstairs of a house almost identical to that as our first flat when we were 22. It was recently renovated and we had not a moment's trouble with it. Warm, dry, cheap- a dream.

My parents have a big Victorian villa that I grew up in. It is always too warm but I don't know how much it costs them to keep it that way. It is glorious though. Big rooms, high ceilings, character, massive garden, full length cellars and loft. If you put a ball down in one corner of the living room it rolls to the other because of the subsidence but we'll gloss over that!!

Victorians seem to have been so human and practical about their house design, I think there is something uniquely 'livable in' about Victorian housing stock.

Not sure if Edwardian or Victorian as detached and kind of cottagey. Probably late Victorian!

I love our Victorian terrace. High ceilings, thick walls and original fireplaces and sash windows. Full of character and it feels solid.

Looks gorgeous at Christmas and you can fit in the tallest tree available. Seriously they do cost a bit but nothing compares in my view.

Sadly the period features have mostly been taken out and fireplace blocked up. Doors inside are lovely old wooden doors though and one of the bedrooms has a nice fireplace. Downstairs the fireplace is in the middle of the room? All a bit odd! It's the location that I love! The house has a great feel to be fair. I'm just always been the practical one and worry!

My house is 160 years old.

There isn't a straight wall in the place which makes decorating and fitting kit hens interestng, I have mostly sash windows, fireplaces and very high ceilings.

We are north/south facing on top of a hill. No draughts.

The brick seems to keep the house warm and cosy in winter and cool in summer. I'm sure there's a knowledgable bod that can explain why.

Lovely house! Enjoy it.

Lovely house OP!

We are moving into a semi edwardian property in less than 3 weeks and I can't wait! I had the same reservations as you too, but turns out previous owners have damp proofed, put in new windows, electrics etc so we're very lucky. All original features are still in too, like the fitted cupboards and clothes dryers! First thing we're going to do is get a lovely wood burning stove put in ready for the winter.

Victorian upstairs flat in converted house here. High ceilings, covings,fireplace in bedrooms etc. Have put in new boiler and new windows. Still Baltic in winter lol.
Rooms are big but cold. Next project is to replace illegal ancient fusebox. Love the sloping eaves in the rooms. Wouldn't swap fore new build

Victorian 2 bed here and it feels huge because of the high ceilings. It's really cosy in winter and almost too cool in summer

I would love to have a Victorian house. I love the look and feel of them and they are so fun to decorate.