Anyone renovating a house bit by bit and want to share the pain?

[Bumblenut]

I’ll start. I thought - I’ll either buy a house at the top of my budget which needs no work, or I’ll buy a house less than my budget which needs work and have some cash left over.

I think you can see where I’m going with this. In my defence I needed to move in a hurry and there wasn’t much choice.

We’ve been here almost two years and is say I’m about half way through.

Have done:
Kitchen diner
Living room
Bedrooms

Still to do:
Downstairs loo
Bathroom
Showeroom
Playroom
Office
Outside (way down the list)

I got halfway through the hall last and then gave up. Does anyone else find they’ll have a blitz for a few weeks and then collapse for months?

Thinking of doing the downstairs loo or decorate playroom next, mainly as it seems cheapest.

Yep. We have been in nearly 18months and have put in central heating, new windows part way through a rewire and have only finished decorating the downstairs loo and dining room. Kitchen is being fitted early July and then I am having the summer off but will start again in autumn. If you don't have breaks you will go insain!

If you are two years in, is there any option to borrow more?
We're doing this, we've already replaced the roof, boiler and windows (along with a number of other smaller jobs eg new job as the old one gave up). We've run out of funds, but are remortgaging and borrowing extra to replace the kitchen and bathroom. We plan to overpay the money we would have otherwise saved each month towards the work, so in 2-3 years we'll have paid off the extra borrowing.

The last 3 houses I’ve had I bought because they didn’t need anything doing- and then I promptly changed everything!

This one, nearly done.
New kitchen, 2 new bathrooms, utility, fireplaces, decorating.
Back garden has new patio, but still needs work, front needs new driveway, but that’ll have to wait.
It’s the finishing off that gets me, I have edging and siliconing and little jobs that need doing.
And a terrace on top of the garage roof that really needs sorting, was under 3 inches of water last week, because roofers messed up the gutters

New boiler, new electric fuse box, wasn’t planned

It’s never ending
But I’m never leaving

Been here 4 years. Heating and rewire done as soon as we moved in because one eas kaput and the other was dangerous.
Just had a new bathroom and the whole house is in the process of being plastered. Part way through 2nd of 3 phases.
Still got the kitchen to do and more than likely windows.
I know we have done things in the wrong order wrt windows but that is just an expense too far at the moment.
I doubt we will have the new plaster decorated any time soon.
The joys of buying a house that was bordering on derelict

I feel your pain too! 5 years in to a major doer upper ( think nearly derelict, only just mortgagable).
Done rewire, new water main (across a field) new windows, front and back doors, new oil tank and boiler, taken ceilings down, installed 4 sky lights ourselves, kitchen, bathroom, 3 bedrooms for DC, installed log burner, made a utility room out of what had previously been an outhouse etc.
Still to do: hall, stairs, landing, our bedroom, sitting room, re render and paint outside of house, re roof, have old chimneys taken down, and major work outside to make a garden from a multi level wilderness! Not to mention deal with various ramshackle outhouses!
We never thought it would take so much time and money- totally over it now - never doing another doer upper!!!

Twoheaped cross posted with you! - the joys of plastering- 😬 xxx

4 years in and have rewired, new heating system, kitchen 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms finished still have living room, dining room, 2 bedrooms, hall stairs and la ding to go but life and lack of funds seriously get in the way!

Did this with our first house. Then got pregnant and sped up the time we did it in Haha.

Just bought a Reno project and we are doing it all at once but luckily not living in it.

Just think itll be worth it in the end!

Oh I forgot about that - rewire was the first thing. Then had to replace the boiler last summer which was another unexpected couple of grand.

Is there any logical way to tackle it if you can’t afford to do it all at once? I did the rewire before we moved in then a couple of bedrooms (decorating and flooring) before getting the furniture moved in - we slept on camping nats for the first six weeks! There was nothing worse than having nowhere to ‘flop’ after a day’s DIY.

Having the kitchen done is fantastic - can finally have something that’s actually cooked in an oven! I found the planning and fitting of it to be hideous - surely nothing can be worse than that??

Out if ready funds again now and took a five year fixed term so can’t remortgage for a while. The bathroom is minging but functional. I’d love to get that done though.

WBEIFE you’re just showing off now. Doing it all at once AND not living in it!

I’ve bought a lottery ticket today so I expect all my reno problems will be over by tomorrow though

Yes us! We've been here for 2.5 years. So far we've:
Decorated lounge
Dining room
Playroom (needed loads of work)
Hallway up and down
Our bedroom
DD1 bedroom
Nursery bedroom
Downstairs office (twice)
Completely refitted a new en-suite (got plumbers in to do this)
And have just completed a 4.5 month kitchen, downstairs loo and utility extension (got builders in to do this but we have decorated).

Plus have had a new DS baby and a toddler!

Hard going and awful at times. But slowly feel like we are getting there.

Left to do:
Spare room - haven't touched it at all
Carpet upstairs landing and stairs, lounge and dining room
Family bathroom - but we are broke for now!
Continuing in the garden

We are!
About to move in and have had:
New boiler
Moved rads
Replaced 4 rads (2 still need to go on after decorating)
Rewire

Still to do...
Everything else

Moved in last week, 4 bed Edwardian semi which needs everything doing.

Next week a roofer is starting work on the roof as it's leaking, OH is planning to utilise the scaffolding to give the outside render a paint.

Waiting for quote from a heating engineer for new relocated boiler and connection up of CH system as the upstairs currently has no water or heat.

Also gathering quotes to get the front 2 reception rooms opened up with double doors, wood floors sanded, platstered and decorated throughout..that's enough for now I think!

We still have, after 9 years, the hall, stairs and outside front to do (the bits that take a battering from builders coming in and out so intentionally left till last) and 3 windows to replace and we will finally be done!

7 years in and some of the stuff done earlier is in need of repair! Kids massivly affected available funds so loft, extension, new windows, front door and bathroom still to do. Whilst frustrating I am thankful for being able to afford a house, not just a flat.

This year I will get the windows done!

I think if you are living in it you just have to do it in an order that works for the family. Although I think there is a lot to be said for finishing a room completely so that you can go in, close the door and pretend the rest of the house is done. Our first room was the downstairs loo which wasn't the most spacious sanctuary.

Yess!!! Me! 5 years in but can finally see and end 😁 my sister is now considering doing the same but she is super impatient and I can't stress enough her to hard it is to live in a tatty house for so long. I can now see the attraction of new builds where you don't have to do anything. But... I HATE new builds! And I love my house. Still need to do the outside (eg new front door, garage door, landscaping, new driveway). Long slog but definitely worth it 🙂

Yes i can totally see the 2 weeks manic work and 2 weeks can't be bothered. I we bought 4 years ago and were enthusiastic at first, them did an extension up to plasterboard level, now carrying on with the DIY. But it takes a lot of enthusiasm to get on with the next step each time.

We moved in 2ys ago but spent a total of 12m living outside the country. Now back and getting started on renovation (redecoration and a few bits of light building work), but I'm unexpectedly pregnant so suddenly there's a bit of a rush...! Unfortunately we're leasehold (never again) so cant get started until the freeholder agrees to fix a roof leak so we can replaster and paint the first room on the list. Hoping that'll be done very soon! It's going to be fun but expensive and time consuming... argh!

We've been in 4 years and only done decorating and a couple of new carpets.. we've just remortgage and starting in a few weeks is:

Completely re-render
New outside doors
Fencing painting
Masonry painting
2 rooms plastered
A fake fireplace built and log burner installed
New living room ceiling
Downstairs toilet
Carpeting as much as we can afford

I'm looking forward to and dreading it in equal measure.

Oh we had a new roof 2 years ago.

Three years in and we have had a new boiler, partial rewire, knocked down the asbestos -filled garage and removed 7 skipfuls of concrete from the back garden and put a lawn down, redecorated all 3 bedrooms and had new carpets. Kitchen and bathroom have had a basic makeover - painting, new shelves and cupboards, new light fittings and new flooring to make them usable whilst we save up. Front room and hall are still pretty much as we moved in. We need to knock down a coal shed/store that was badly converted into part of the kitchen, downstairs loo and utility room many years ago before it falls down, rebuild so we can have a larger kitchen diner, paint the vile brown pebbledash, replace all windows and doors, new bathroom - our house is c60 years old and we still have the original toilet and bath and redo the front drive as it’s crumbling. We would like a loft extension but it’s way down the list at the moment!

We struggle with having to spend money on patching things up to make them ok in the short-medium term until we can afford the bigger changes. Anyone else experience this? For example the crap extension had a leaky roof and mouldy ceilings when we moved in so we repaired the roof and had the kitchen ceiling replaced for around £1k when we moved in to make it usable, as we can’t afford the £50k to knock it down and rebuild. It feels like we’re often throwing good money after bad and living with temporary solutions. I think it will take us c10 years to save up and do all of the things listed above. I’m quite scared about borrowing loads more money and we’re trying to save and do it bit by bit.

I’m quite scared about borrowing loads more money and we’re trying to save and do it bit by bit.

This was me for the first 18 months - but I then thought, I could spend the couple of years saving for a new kitchen (really does need doing, already had to replace the hob as it broke, rest of appliances on last legs,and the floor is crumbling away under lino and needs levelling) or I can borrow extra on the mortgage, have the kitchen now, and use the money I would have saved to overpay the mortgage. I also wouldn't be spending small amounts (they add up!) on patching bits up.

The current mortgage interest rates are low so it will cost me an extra £130 pcm to borrow £30k for the kitchen, utility, moving bathroom upstairs and some other works - if I overpay what I would have saved we'll clear the extra borrowing in 4 years.