Renovation Tips for Victorian House (Novices)

[optingout]

We are in the process of buying a large Victorian house. It has been in the same family for around 35 years and seems to have had very little spent on it in more recent decades and not much TLC.

It was previously surveyed (sale fell through as buyers pulled out when they missed stamp duty deadline, according to the agent). I've spoken to the surveyor and there is some damp in the basement for which the cause seems clear. He says the roof doesn't appear to need immediate replacement (5-10 years) but advises a specialist roof survey (do they always say this to cover themselves?). Also advises specialist drains and electrical surveys. Fairly minor repairs to sash window (condition generally okay). The sellers haven't serviced the boiler in several years but I think they have agreed to do this. The boiler looks very old. There is no certification at all for boiler, electrics or building certs for garage which was constructed 30 years ago.

So far, we are thinking the following will need doing:
*Treatment of damp, replastering, surveyor has advised a positive pressure pump

• New Boiler
• ? probable rewire due to age
• Replastering whatever is damaged by above/ stripping off old wallpaper *? Internal insulation (EPC is very poor)
• New kitchen and bathrooms. *New flooring throughout *Full decoration throughout.

Possible knocking down full/ part of wall to make kitchen-diner if budget allows
Possible knocking down between upstairs toiler and main bathroom
?.Replumbing- not sure who advises whether this is necessary.

We have lived in an old property but it didn't need any major work all at once. We are therefore renovation novices. We have decided to view with a recommended local builder for advice/ approximate costings.

Obviously it will be a very expensive project which we do have a fairly healthy budget for.
Does anyone have any advice about things that we should check before buying or major things that I have left off the list. I would prefer to avoid lots of nasty, expensive surprises.

Also, tips for actually managing a renovation project, order in which to do things, what to do, what to avoid, etc?

No idea but I'm following along for similar advice! Our first home was a newish build conversion which was really well done and we've not had any issues for several years. Viewing two victorian tces at the weekend, one of which looks like it will need fairly extensive work just to get it back to 'baseline' nice!

Ours is an edwardian semi, still gradually working our way through after 4 years.
The original windows were already replaced with upvc, crap conditions, so replaced those with upvc sash (not a conservation area or anything so fine).
New roof, plus had to fully strip out & replace loft insulation from scratch as it was full of pigeon shit. Got a company to do this due to it being a potential health hazard.
Repointing about 50% of the walls - scaffolding makes this pretty costly.
All our lightswitches etc had boxed in wiring, so lots of chasing in and making good.
New boiler.
A lot of the coving turned out to be polystyrene so replacing it with plaster coving & swapping badly glued-on dado rails for picture rails.
Found the original doors downstairs had been panelled over, had those dipped & stripped then replaced the broken door handles.

Watch out for lead paint - personally I use Peelaway for anything I strip myself, as using heat to remove lead can be hazardous. Plus I'm scared of burning things

Very old paper (Victorian) can have arsenic in it. If the house is untouched, get expert advice there. Also be aware that if they had any modifications in the 50s-70s (putting in gas fires etc) there may well be asbestos which needs removing professionally. You might need to check if your water pipes are lead - ours were, in the Victorian house we had, so they had to be replaced.

Definitely get the roof survey. It can be extortionate to replace the roof. I’d also get a quote for restoring the windows (or replacement if not listed) as that can also be really expensive. I would say make sure the place is watertight and warm (roof, windows, insulation) and live with what you can for the first year. Try to wait to do big jobs until you work out what needs replacing and what is cosmetic. Get recommendations off local Facebook pages and not my builder/ check a trade etc. Also bear in mind that doing work at the moment is very slow and expensive so don’t assume a quote from a friend’s similar job 2 years ago will still be accurate.

Full renovation you won't get much change out of 200 grand

If the EPC is bad and you are going to reinsulate, it would be worth swapping out for new upvc Sash Windows if budget allows. Otherwise you will lose all your lovely warmth straight out of them!

We did a full strip out of an edwardian terrace and every tradesperson who came to do work said take it right back to brick was the right thing to do (full rewire and full remplumb) as otherwise you'll be forever patching things up.

We are in the same position with a Victorian house and nothing changed since the 1970/80s

You will need to rewire most likely (ours still had sockets in the skirting boards), it is definitely worth getting an electrical and drain report. We got both and have used both extensively.

We have just recently got the quote on refurbishing our sashes - they can only fit us in in April 2022. We are in London and the availability of workmen and materials is really bad.

Just bear in mind that you might have to wait ages to get everything done.

We got the roof repaired - it was leaking - but the roofer needed scaffolding to get up and do the repair. Not much change from £3k just for a repair.

Work is expensive and takes a long time. We had to pay over the odds and get someone to come from NW London to us for the roof as no one in our area could do it for months.

Re the plastering check what is behind the wall paper. I think ours is still lime plaster which I'm keen to keep as it's much better at letting the house breathe. Also check if your ceilings are plaster and lathe as the surveyor will probably recommend they are replaced if you are doing redecoration (you can fix boards over them but depends how old/crumbling they are and what you are ok with keeping - I think the wallpaper is holding our ceilings up!!)

We are in an Edwardian house that had not been touched for years. And had been empty for a long time and was full of junk.

We had a full rewire
Central heating fitted
New roof- it was in the end cheaper to replace than keep on fixing it. And the leaks meant we delayed upstairs.
Kitchen
Bathroom
New front door
New back door
Most of the room have now been replastered
Our windows are uPVC and we are replacing when we can afford. (Will be to UPVC sash)

It has been worth it over all. Although it is taking longer to do than we thought.

If I did it again I would just get the roof done. It would have saved the patching up costs and the leaks. The sound of drops on a rainy night is really stressful. And there is no point getting on with a room while there is a leak.

And we had rats, so that had to be sorted out.

Take the amount you think it will cost and multiply it by 3.

Save the damp treatment money and get a proper survey from someone who actually understands older properties.

Ensure that any pointing, rendering and plastering is lime or you will be creating your next damp problem.

Don't install plastic windows. Don't remove original features.

We are doing similar and focused on getting the interior dry and weatherproof first. I.e. check gutters are working properly, no leaks in underground pipes, no leaks in roof, paint window frames if it hasn't been done for a long time. And check underfloor ventilation and that nothing is breaching the slate damp proof course. Then let the inside dry out. I would consider replastering downstairs and any bits that are a bit damp in lime plaster as it lets the house breathe and won't need replacing if it gets damp again. Then we have done all the messy stuff like rewire, replumn, take walls down. Then you can do all the fun bits. We have had double glazed glass put into the sashes and a ventroller (not sure on spelling) system installed to make them have less gaps and they are pretty good now. Even just the ventroller made a difference. There is also lots of good advise on period property forum especially if you have damp issues. The roof probably won't need replacing, just repairing and the slates can be reused.

Don't rush it either. Sometimes it takes ages to work out why something is damp/broken and rushing it just ends up with extra problems later on.

Many thanks for all the advice.
I hadn't thought about things like the possibility of lead pipes. Hopefully not the case but worth checking.
I will make sure the surveyor checks all the things listed and it seems worth paying out for extra surveys. I'm a bit worried what we might fin but I guess we can try to renegotiate the price if additional issues are discovered.

We've made the same mistake twice doing up old houses. We've asked electricians and plumbers whether the houses needed rewired and replumbed. They've always put us off doing it and we've always come to regret it later.

That's interesting @Rainbowshit. I would have thought they would encourage you to get the work rather than put you off! What happened later that made you regret not rewiring/ replumbing?

@optingout

That's interesting *@Rainbowshit*. I would have thought they would encourage you to get the work rather than put you off! What happened later that made you regret not rewiring/ replumbing?

Yeah you would have thought so wouldn't you!

So many issues with the wiring. Many lights constantly blowing, none on a proper circuit so WiFi boosters won't work. We had an extension built and electrician couldn't do what he originally planned so had to put in a new circuit or something (hazy on details here)

Leaking radiator pipes ruined brand new carpets. Realised half of the heating pipes were of a different bore to the rest which caused issues when we had a new boiler installed.

Honestly whatever they say just redo the whole lot.

There’s an excellent book called The Victorian & Edwardian House Manual by Ian Rock. It’s a Haynes manual and is full of really, really good information. It's been quite a lifeline on our project.

And what other people said about lead/asbestos!! It can feel a bit like the house is trying to kill you.

Ten years in here! We bought ours when the kids were small, thinking we could slowly do it up. In hindsight I wish we had just gone back to brick and worked from the top down, it’s dominated our lives for such a long time! We did the patch up approach. In hindsight big mistake, would’ve been cheaper and quicker to just gut the place.

This is all really helpful advice, thank you. I will have a look for that book at some stage.

I doubt we will have the budget to do absolutely everything at once but perhaps it is better to do things properly once.

Big Edwardian semi.

We are living in ours where nothing had been done to it for 25/30 years. It's not great living in it while its being done up. so think about costs of renting somewhere while big work is done.

Much easier for new pipes, wiring etc to be done while you aren't it.

Previous owners had put new roof on and replastered upstairs ceilings which was good (cost them £30K).

The walls are all lath and plaster as are ceilings downstairs. One already came down when getting work done in the room above - you wouldn't believe the mess that made.

We should really get all the walls hacked back and replastered but ... are trying not to.

Wiring .... needs a new circuit board in order to take moden oven etc in kitchen - the plugs are all ones without switches.

Plumbing - when the central heating went in they used small bore pipe that had all silted up - we had to have floorboards up to replace and replace the radiators that had all silted up.

So much dust....all the time... everywhere.

You need a builder who will project manage it and manage the trades and the sequencing.

We got a new boiler put in before our main builder started and a new bathroom. We tiled the bathroom floor not realising that pipes would have to go in downstairs and they either had to take the tiles up or open up the ceiling downstairs.

We are 2 years in - with lockdown etc. Just starting to hope that by the new year we'll be able to get decorators in.

With an extension it's going to cost us about 240k by the time its finished.

If rewiring, you might like to consider putting the every growing clutter of Router/ modem/ hubs/ NAS/ Switch etc in one place like under the stairs. and running ethernet cables to out to the key areas such as TV, office and additional Wifi Access points

The cost to do it now is minimal, but a right PITA to do it later!

@StCakes

There’s an excellent book called The Victorian & Edwardian House Manual by Ian Rock. It’s a Haynes manual and is full of really, really good information. It's been quite a lifeline on our project.

And what other people said about lead/asbestos!! It can feel a bit like the house is trying to kill you.

Second vote for that book. We have a 20's/30's construction house, and our surveyor recommended we got both that and the 1930s one. Invaluable, both of them.

When you say new flooring, I assume you mean floor surface coverings like carpets, and not all new floorboards?
Another vote here for rewiring before you do anything else (so you don't have to redo other work, like plastering).
If you can do it with the house empty, it will be cheaper and faster. But I know that's a big if, and you'd have to plan it very carefully. OTOH, you live in a house first, it can help you work out where you really need sockets etc.
Good luck with it. Our doer-upper has been a headache at times, and all houses bought to 'do up' get a lot worse before they get any better, but it is coming together a bit more now and I'm very hopeful it will be great when done. Another house we looked at which was a 'move in and do nothing' wouldn't have been anything like as good as this will be (and would have been much smaller- we can only afford this space because we are doing the work ourselves for the most part).