Priorities when renovating and order of work

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We're going to be moving into our "forever" home soon. It doesn't need any major works doing, but everything is very dated and the whole thing needs painting, new carpets flooring etc.

I have an impulse to want to do everything immediately, which in the past has proved to be a false economy as we've ended up redoing the works that we rushed into at our current property. However, there are also works that I'd wished we'd tackled immediately, because it would have made our time in this house better and we never ended up getting round to them.

The biggest works that need tackling are

1. New kitchen (at some point we'd possibly reconfeand put sliding doors where there is currently an external wall, or even extend).
2. New kitchen floor
3. New bathroom suite
4. New windows

These are all things we can't currently afford to do, but will be wanting to do at some point in the future (out of all of the above I would put windows lowest down the list of necessities)

Thing we'd like to do as soon as we can

1. Painting everywhere

1. Resanding the existing floorboards on the bottom floor (Out of interest, would you rather have the original wood floors or new engineered wood floors, possibly with underfloor heating)

1. Removing carpets upstairs (we will need to check out the state of the floorboards and replace if terrible).

I'm just worried that if we spend money doing this lot of work, it's just going to be a waste if we ever do the bigger jobs.

Budget is limited at the time being. But so as to avoiding making bad decisions and wasting money what do you think would be the best order to tackle things?

Any advice?

I bought my house and planned to change a few light fittings, the carpet, the bathroom and kitchen. When I started with the light fittings, it became clear that the wiring was very old and needed updating. Re-wired the entire house because I was told the current wiring wasn't 'safe'. This required drilling into walls, ceilings, pulling up the carpets and some floorboards, etc. Later I decided to redo the bathroom. It transpired that the plumbing was all outdated and needed replacing. So I had that done. Again, huge mess and expense. Replacing the kitchen seemed cheap and low hassle after all of that.

My point is, if you buy an old, dated property you never know what will need doing until you move in and start making it your home. It can get very messy, extremely expensive and never ending. However, if you love the house and plan to stay there for years then it will all be worth it in the end.

Good luck in your new home!

whynotgetalong has hit the nail on the head. You've said that the house doesn't require any major works, but that doesn't seem to tie in with the fact that everything is very dated. To me, you should be confident that all the whole house systems (plumbing, heating, electrics) are going to be fit for purpose for a good number of years, so that you don't get any nasty surprises when you start on the kitchen and bathroom.

Obviously if it is going to be ages before you can afford the kitchen and bathroom, then resanding floors and painting can be done as a (relatively) inexpensive job to cheer things up in the meantime.

I would concentrate on the technical aspects of the property rather than the decorative ones. So make sure that the house is correctly wired, free from damp and is warm. Live with the house in its current layout for a year so you can get an idea of what rooms get the sun and at what time of day.

We are hoping to buy a similar kind of property. The owner has lived there for over 50 years.

I'm going to start with the heating system, new boiler and radiators. Then all the old wiring. I won't get the kitchen rewired yet though because I hope to do completely re do the kitchen eventually.

I'm so hoping that there are beautiful parquet floors under the carpets.

How long till you could do the bigger jobs?

We did a cosmetic "tart up" when we moved in. Repainted, new carpet to replace the filthy top floor ones

I'm going to try not to do anything twice, especially expensive things!

Decorating is last!

Same here - I need everything doing - windows, plumbing, heating, rewiring, and a couple of walls knocked down into the bargain! Then a new kitchen & bathroom.

Wouldn’t worry me at all to live with bare plastered walls and floorboards for however long is necessary and I certainly wouldn’t be decorating when I know it’s all got to happen.

It’s my forever home too (although I think my forever may be quite a bit shorter than yours OP)

I'm on the same position. I asked them to rip the carpet out as part of the contract and remove old sheds in the garden.

I'm planning in the next month to:

1. Add some plugs and ceiling points. (electrical check was fine.)

1. Plaster everywhere except bathroom and kitchen. (I'm stripping the wallpaper everywhere myself. If walls are good then I save on plastering.)

1. Do a support highlighted in the survey.

1. Move washing machine plumbing.

1. Change the bathroom suite, they are staying in the same position.

1. Repaint everywhere by myself including all woodwork.

1. Have flooring laid throughout or sand boards if there is any. (sanded boards myself twice in last house.)

House is dated but luckily had a new Worcester boiler and rads a couple of years ago, new windows and new roof.

I have 5 weeks after completion to be in by the 22nd Dec. I'm hoping anyway.

It's not my forever home though, I'll be there 3 or 4 years (no matter what) and then can look at moving or staying if I love it, as moving nearly 100 miles.

Luckily have my tradesmen lined up.

How dated is 'dated'?
Are you sure the roof / chimney is sound?
If you think windows need doing I would prioritise that actually.
My approach when pricing up work has always been to do the messy and essential stuff as early as possible to minimise disruption - roof, windows, plastering, electrics, plumbing before considering anything else.
I wouldn't consider paying new flooring until I was 100% confident that all of the above would last a good 5 years.

Ok this is so helpful. I think windows are such a huge expense that we'll only be able to do them if we get some kind of windfall. ( huge conservation area sash windows). And I think I'd rather have a new bathroom first. Is that short sighted?

So get the electrics checked first right?

There was a new boiler put in 3 years ago so that should be ok, but don't know about other plumbing stuff.

Are these things an electrician and plumber can easily check? I always feel like they're going to just say rewire / replumb the whole place even if it doesn't actually needed.

The house is definitely just a bit dated as opposed to "hasn't had anything done to it in 30 years" type dated.

We need to do a bit of work on the roof but nothing exceptional.

I guess if you need to have scaffolding up anyway to sort bits of the roof it might be economical to do other work while it's up... eg. Any chimney flashing that needs repair, etc.
It's not unusual to find things that need doing along the way!

If you had a full survey it will have information on the electrics. Haven’t you looked at the distribution board ?

The location of the sockets will give you an idea of how old they are.

How old is the house ?

Re short sighted. Depends if your windows are sound or not. If you want new ones to get double glazing put it, it can wait. If sills are rotten etc, it can’t wait, it can affect whether your property is watertight. That kind of thing can usually be sorted with a refurbishment though, which is a lot less expensive than a replacement. In a conservation area, there will likely be a local sash and case specialist.

But generally speaking, do technical and structural things before decorative.

As boiler is ok and recent, have a good look at radiators. Look for patches of rust, turn on system and see how efficiently they heat up. You might need something like a powerflush, or radiators might need replacing.

As regards other things, best to start at the top and work your way down. I.e. paint ceilings and walls before you do floors.

The survey said we needed a new consumer unit but otherwise ok.

The house is 1900s

@JanetLovesJason does starting at the top mantra include if you're sanding floors?

Yes, I would think that if you're painting rooms you want to do this before you sand floors.

Sanding is very messy, I would do them after electrics and any plumbing has been done.

Before walls and painting.

Then just put a plastic sheet over them before painting.

Yes.

If you plumbing/electrical work, sometimes floors have to come up.

If you’re redecorating sometimes skirting boards needs to be sanded, or replaced. That can damage finish on floor.

When you get kitchen/bathroom etc replaced, there’s going to be a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of workmen in safety boots and big appliance etc getting carried in. That increases chance of damage. A friend of mine got engineered wood flooring put down in her hall as soon as she moved in. A couple of years later, re-doing kitchen. Delivery men from well known retailer dropped washing machine on engineered wood floor and damaged. Retailer also sold flooring, offered to replace damaged piece with something it sold. Except nothing they sold matched and it was endless back and forth for a solution.

And before any replastering.

Thanks so much everyone. Is s full rewire / plumbing necessary for older properties? I don't know when it last got done but pretty sure it won't have been for a while.

It’s not necessary for every older property, but it might be the case in your one. Might be best to find out before you do the floors.

Worth finding out. You can get an electrical check for about £500 iirc. Worth it if you have doubts. Thing about rewiring is that it requires replastering afterwards so very inconvenient to rewire after you have already decorated.