Would you spend a huge amount of money making alteration improvements to a housing association property?

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Hi all, please help.

I have a lovely HA property I would like to make improvements to. i.e. Upgrade the hollow ugly internal doors and put in a new garden patio door. I am aware that permission needs to be sought in advance however, I have been quoted £1300 for the patio doors alone including fitting. They are really awful dated wooden doors with horrible wiring inside which I've been told are for safety.

Also, I always wanted to get internal panel doors to add character to the house but am now just thinking to do the downstairs part of the house and just be creative and using moulding for the top part of the house for the internal panel doors effect.

My question is given that this is not my own home am I just wasting money, I would love to own my own home and I'm working towards this however in the meantime I really want to improve the appearance of my home.

Please share any ideas, my garden is not overlooked by anyone hence I did not want to cover the doors with blinds which would have been a cheap option to conceal the ugly appearance of the doors.

Not sure when I get your opportunity to purchase my own home but for the meantime as I reside in HA I would like to make it my own.

Thanks in advance

Typo not sure when I get the opportunity

If you are saving for a deposit on a mortgage my answer is no don't do it!

Thanks for your straight to the point advise SoleBizz lol.

My next door neighbours have done it. They say that it will be about 6 years of living there before they are able to purchase theirs. Before they moved in, the previous tenants had left it in a terrible state. (They had 2 dogs and bare floorboards which had rotted and it was filthy.) It looks beautiful now. I think it does you good to live in a place you feel proud of and invest in it.

For me I think it would depend on 2 things:

A) how long I was likely to stay there
B) how far these improvements would set me back in saving for my own house

If you're going to be there a good few years and these improvements will drastically change how you feel about your current home then I would do it.

If these improvements set me back too much from saving for my home I wouldn't do it.

It's about striking the right balance I think.

Please be aware that you can not change any doors that are fire doors in the property as it's rented and the landlord quiet rightly will not approve this

I would only do relatively cheap and superficial things like decorating and replacing carpets and light fittings (particularly since you could take the light fittings with you).

Could you paint the doors and maybe change the handles instead of replacing them?

I wouldn't spend any money improving a house I do not own.

Thank you all for your responses it's been very helpful.

Miss Cherrycakeybun, I'm ahead....I have already spoken to my HA and they have sent me the relevant forms to complete, which requires information re: the materials that will be used etc. My intention is to replace all doors with fire doors which currently the existing bedroom doors are not. My fears of non fire doors have been raised to the HA, however they informed me that as it is a house I live in and not a flat sharing communal areas fire doors in the bedroom are not an obligation. I however am planning to replace with fire doors if permitted. The rest of the doors are fire doors.

Mynamesisjane. Thank you for sharing your neighbours experience. I too have a neighbour who has also done wonders to her home making a number of adaptions, her home looks lovely.

Sittingonacornflake, your advice is exactly how I've been trying to weigh it up. Great minds lol

Wowfudge the doors are soooo bland and lack character, however I am considering getting creative with the upstairs doors and perhaps using moulding to create a panel effect look. The handles are nice but the doors will need painting. The only issue is they're not fire doors which is a concern.

Cloudtree and Emma I totally understand where you are coming from hence my dilberation....hmmmmm

I used this tutorial www.prettyhandygirl.com/add-molding-panels-flat-door/ to update my “flat” door and I thought it looked amazing! (If I do say so myself!) It was my own door so I don’t know about permissions but I was really pleased with it!

Thank you @iamconfused. I really quite like the striped panels. Did you use this? and if so where did you purchase?...I've already seen some moulding from b&q and homebase. I plan to get thick and wider moulding for the outline.

Also Did you find it difficult to do?

I'm off to read the rest of the article. 😀

I got everything from Homebase - I used these panels www.homebase.co.uk/easipanel-tongue-and-groove-mdf-standard-wall-panel-915-x-516mm_p880113 And then the picture moulding that they have. I used “no more nails” rather than nails. I’ll see if I can post a photo online and send you a link. 😊

I am waiting eagerly to see them too, @iamconfused18

Are you sure the doors are as much of an issue as you think they are? I don't think I ever notice what a door is like - this thread has just made me notice that our downstairs doors have moulding and our upstairs ones don't. Can honestly say that in 15 years I hadn't registered this. I wouldn't notice in anyone else's house either.

Why not invest in something you can take with you, a lovely rug or picture or an antique that will draw people's eyebinto the room.

Iamconfused thank you for the pictures, and the link, you may have just saved me money. I don't know how you made the panel look less protruding but I like it! I think the raised element is good.

Annarex thank you for your post. Unfortunately my interior eye notices all flaws. I love a bit of character to a home and find the hollow plain doors lack this, whereas panel doors add that little extra punch. Perhaps I can either store the old ones somewhere, loft or garage, and take the purchased ones with me or sell if they Dont fit. Though I won't be moving just yet😀

Dont forget to figure in how much time, effort and cost it might be to put the doors back to their original state at the end of your tenancy.
You may well get permission but it will probably have a caveat at the end about putting back the originals if required.
I wouldn't bother and to be brutally honest, I'm not sure that sticking moulding on flat doors sounds very classy. It would be the first thing I prised off if I moved in after you . Well painted, clean, flat doors sound nicer to me.

What's the actual issue with the patio doors?

Hi Sluji.

Good points raised, however, if I'm granted the permission from HA it will be on the basis that I use materials that meet regulation and replace like for like in that I must replace a fire door for fire door. Hence, if I move it would not be imposed that I change the doors but rather choice. I hear you on the cost this might cause though.

I hear you on the thought of moulding seeming tacky, though I have seen some really good examples both on YouTube, Pinterest and
others. If I attempt this it will be far from tacky, otherwise I wouldn't bother, though whether I have the patience is an entirely different argument lol. I will say this you cannot beat the real deal though.

I can only explain the garden doors as atrocious. It is a single door with a side panel. The side panel is double glazed the door itself is not and has some sort of wiring inside the glass which I'm told is for extra security. As well as the not so very appealing image it is also very poor at keeping out cold weather even with draft excluders. And I thinking a patio door will allow me more view of the garden.