3 bed house gone to rack and ruin - talk me through sorting it out

[doitanyways]

Long story, but my dads house is in a bad way.

I am moving into it in february to try and get it sorted.

Hardly anything works, apart from the shower. The oven does work but there are no lights in the kitchen

Carpets are filthy and smelly.

Fencing has fallen down around the garden. One toilet won't flush. Strong smell of urine on the floor of the other one.

Where would you start, bearing in mind it's going to be a slow job of getting it sorted - around six months, at a guess.

Thank you :)

If the flush is limp it probably just needs a hook to connect the handle to the mechanism inside the cistern tank. Have you removed the lid? A very quick plumber job if you can't manage yourself. If your db still lives there would he be willing to move out for a short time, which might enable you to be more radical.

I would start with getting an electrician to check the safety of wiring. If the house needed rewired it could cost several thousand £, and disrupt carpet/walls etc.

I guess the financial information is relevant because it depends how much you are planning to spend vs how much the house is worth, but not if you don't plan to sell.

You have to keep a business head screwed on with renovations - and not go all Sarah Beeny with delightful 'features' the cost of which is totally disproportionate to the value of the house.

Work top to bottom. I mean that literally in every room: remove clutter, then start with ceilings and electrics, walls (replastering/painting etc) and then floors.

Tackle one room at a time, kitchen and bathroom are a priority.

Carpet last.

Sticking to a single colour thoughout for paint and carpets is cheapest. Do not use white paint on walls. It gets grubby looking very quickly and also highlights any minor imperfections in the plaster and paintwork. Use something like Eqyptian Cotton by Dulux. It's very neutral but not yellowy like magnolia or as stark as white.

Finding tradespeople and arranging them to come at the right times can be tricky. If you want new kitchens or bathrooms and to get them done quickly use a company with a design service to do both kitchen and bathroom. IKEA, Wicks, B&Q etc offer this sort of service and can usually add on any extras like replastering walls, sorting electrics/plumbing etc.

Buy parts and things like tiles and flooring online. Amtico and Karndean flooring is durable and easier to look after than real wood in kitchens and bathrooms and massively cheaper purchased online than when provided by fitter.

Thank you, this is all really helpful

You have already had good advice.
I thought Samantha's questions were very reasonable, to help us understand your objectives.

Small issue in relation to the rest, but for the smelly loo buy some pet urine cleaner from a pet shop. It contains enzymes to break down it down and reduce the smell. You could also try biological washing powder.

If you think that in future, the floors may go a long while between hoovering, hard floors will stand up better to that than carpet.

Hard floors do show dirt more, but it's fairly easy to just mop spills or go around with duster thing to get rid of most dirt. Carpets do have to be vaccum cleaned and stain a lot more.
I found laminate flooring fairly easy to install after getting the hang of it. If you have a limited budget it could be worth checking how to do it. Between you and your brother it should be doable.

It might be that you need to completely replace the floor in the loo because the urine might have leaked under the carpet/vinyl flooring and soaked into the floorboards.

TBH, if you don't understand why my questions are relevant , then you really really need to get yourself some RL advice . The fact that you suggest that new carpets are the priority tells me that you don't have the knowledge or experience to carry out a project. So you need to get some RL support, before you spend anything .

I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying it to save you potentially tens of thousands of pounds and months of your life .

Eg if you own this house jointly with two siblings, the you should not be funding or doing all the renovations.

What you do to a house you are going to rent out might be very different from what you will do to your forever home.

If you don't know how much the house is worth, or how much your mortgage or outstanding loan debt is , you shouldn't be spending a penny on it . How can anyone advise you if you've not even begun to think about money - how you will fund it, what your long term objectives are ?

Thanks Bunbaker I suspect as much.

Samantha I just don't want to get into it all again; the house needs sorting and that's the end of it.

You don't need to answer Samantha's questions on here, but she has made some very valid points that you need to ask yourself.

Bunbaker, it's a unique set of circumstances and I would really prefer to keep it off this thread.

You do need to consider Samantha s points, OP. Presumably then, you'll have already worked out budget and timescale and where the funds are coming from...its very easy to go over budget and time. You'd be surprised how things add up. I'd start by ordering kitchen and bathroom if you're replacing them as they can take a while. Then move into wiring plumbing and plastering.

OP, I think Samantha has raised some very good points. You're asking for advice but not gving the full story, so it's hard for us to undertake what you're trying to do. I appreciate that you don't want to go into details but that means you won't necessarily get the most appropriate advice.

If your brother is going to be living in the house long-term, surely he should be the one making the decisions re kitchen, bathroom etc. And funding it maybe?

Whatever you do, do not make carpets a priority until you have sorted out the rest of the issues.

ok so

1. Safety first: anything like gas and electrics as a priority. It may need a full rewire or just a new fuse box. So get professionals in to survey. Estimates are free.

1. Look into grants for the boiler - even if you and your brother have pots of money there may be schemes to help fund energy saving installations.

1. Structural survey if things are really bad. Possibly not necessary.

1. plastering.

1. kitchen and bathroom. Do you need new? or just cleaning up and renovating? for example , you may gfet away with just replacing doors if the carcasses are strong.

What you intend to do with the house is relevant at this stage. If you need to sell then keep any decoration neutral. Paint everything white. buyers will find it easier to see themselves there if there is less of you in the decor. go for wooden floors rather than laminate if you can afford it (you may prefer carpet if you intend to live there or your brother does thats personal choice) it will be one of the last jobs though. id carpet the stairs.

Lastly -enjoy it.

He can't, he's disabled.

Many thanks, LEM, it's just a bit daunting thinking about it all and what needs to be done and in what order.

Can you at least tell us how much money you have to put into this? Never mind where it's coming from.
Electrical and gas safety (including the boiler) first priority.
Decent toilets and bathrooms next. (Esp if brother is disabled - if he is registered, there may be some help available with this via local authority but this can be a long process, time may not be on your side)
Somewhere safe and clean to cook and eat (is this going to be a rehash of existing, or is there budget for new)
Somewhere warm and comfy for bro to live whilst all this going on. May be necessary to set him up a bed sitting room for the duration.
If bro is to live there long term, everything should be as strsightforward, easy to maintain and clean as possible - so vinyl/laminate/carpeted stairs, easily accessible cupboards etc. If the plan may be to do the place up, sell it and buy bro an apartment from the proceeds, then think of things that will help sell the house in the longer term.

Total, I'll just have to spend what needs spending on an as and when basis. He isn't registered and there are currently no plans to sell the house.

Financially it could make sense to split the house into flats, let one and your brother could stay in the other. That's if you don't need all the rooms.
But that would take longer, as you'd need planning permission.

Honestly, the situation isn't any more complex than - my brothers house needs sorting, he can't do it, so I have to.

I've no intention of living in it, or dividing it into a flat () it just isn't really habitable right now and it needs to be.

Knowing very very little about the circumstances, it was just an idea that you might not have considered and could help financially in the long term.
No need for the .
You could simply say nothing or that it's not necessary or that you'd rather keep the whole house.
Good luck with the renovations.

The signified just confusion and bewilderment, Lweji - I'm honestly not in any way here to be difficult or argue or be obtuse in any way, but I've explained the circumstances - there is a house that needs work.

With respect, why do people need or want to know any more than that?

If it's curiosity then a search on my name will explain all, but I don't understand (at all) this 'need' to know exactly why I am doing the things I am doing, isn't it enough that I want to do them?

doitanyways i am in a similar situation.My bro lived with my Dad who has alzheimers and is now in hospital following a steep deterioration, we have been told there is no prospect of him ever going home and a care home has been found. He is now doubly incontinent, for years had done nothing to the house, the place is dirty, smells, my bro has lifelong mental illness (psychosis) and is clueless as to how to run a house. When he's done with something (book/ clothing/ whatever) he just chucks it on the floor. Mum died 21 years ago and i very much have had to support every vulnerable relative ever since, starting with DGPs. Oh and Dad and he were/ are borderline hoarders. Anyway I have resolved to do the following:
De clutter, hire a vanette, do trips to dump (bro has agreed)
Get stuff cleaned where possible eg steam clean mattresses
Consider clean carpets if it looks like bro is making an effort
Do a file of useful trademen for him
Contact his mental health worker, GP with my concerns
Basically support him for 6 months.
If after that the place is still hopeless I will take pictures on my phone, send to GP , mental health and social services, and start to pull back. After 21 years of supporting every vulnerable relative in the family I feel i need to put myself and kids first. Otherwise i will be his housekeeper for life, and i'm not happy to take that on.