Have a house you can't afford to renovate?

[Fishtankerous]

Anyone else?

My house needs so much doing to it that I am feeling completely overwhelmed.

We bought it as a fixer upper a few years ago, but you know how it goes - savings got decimated by issues that were worse than originally thought. Yeah yeah, naive first time buyers we were.

Currently the pressing issue is a rotten leaking old conservatory that likely won't survive another winter, annoyingly a toilet is attached to it which is actually part of the house so just demolishing it isn't straightforward and we've already got a quote for 9k to get rid of it, that's not even replacing it.

We don't even have 9k so fuck knows what we'll do. We could borrow against mortgage or get a loan but we're scraping by as it is, especially with the recent rise in energy costs etc and the general cost of living going up but our wages remaining stagnant.

(Ironically the state of the conservatory isn't helping us to save on energy bills because its causing the rest of the house to lose a LOT of heat - because it doesn't have external entry doors as the damn thing predates building regs!)

That's not to mention all the other issues in the house that we're ignoring because we're having to work on order of importance (i.e. If somethings gonna collapse soon that's gonna have to come first!)

Sorry to have a moan, I know things could be a lot worse especially with what's going on in the world. It's important to have some perspective I realise.

But after another quote for works for 10-15k today I'm just more and more annoyed, and needing some stories from others in a similar position!

What needs doing in your home that you can't do yet?

@Fedupbuyer Yep, roofer contacted. Now sticky bum time while I wait for a price.

Lol, squeaky bum time not sticky..... 🤣

Get a plumber to stop the water pipe up at the house and do whatever needs doing with that. Then demolish the rest yourself and get a skip. Or am I missing something?

edit, did not realise asbestos

Perhaps get somebody remove that first?

I bloody hate conservatories with all of my being.

@Fishtankerous ,I wouldn’t have thought it would cost too much,put it back in its place an add a bit or mortar?hopefully

@TheRealistBub It's quite a complicated job, more than it sounds. If I could just take a sledgehammer to it and leave it at that, I would, believe me.

@Fedupbuyer Hopefully! Though we had a very bad crack letting water in on the other side, last year..... And had to replace the lot, £300.... And that was the cheapest option!

I have a feeling we will be the people the future owners of this house will give out about 😬😀

I am thoroughly enjoying the creative and colourful parts of doing up the house but we are only doing necessary repairs, we aren't doing a full refurbishment, so it is all a bit higgeldy piggeldy.

The previous owners made some interesting choices when they did work over the last 70 years, I am fully aware of the irony of my giving out about their DIY attempts while at the same time adding my own. We don't plan to move out for another 15-20 years though, so who knows what works we will end up needing in that time.

We're mostly sticking to doing superficial work ourselves to avoid being the people whose DIY is cursed in the future :D
Not that we're planning to move any time soon.
On our living room redecoration so far we've managed glosswork and applying stain blocker to the ceiling. Still to do is emulsion, light fitting and shelves. It'll be nice to unpack my books after 2 and a half years...
Will also be attempting to put a blind up in the kitchen, maybe this weekend.

MY PEOPLE! I've got a rickety Victorian garden flat where we thought the work was mostly cosmetic, but it turns out the 2006 renovation was a bit ropey and things keep going to shit. At the moment:

• Spendy Lumos lighting system is on the blink and there's a long wait for a qualified electrician to come and fix it.
• Giant American fridge also on the blink -we have a repairman coming today, but the entire kitchen was built around it, so we can't replace it without ripping half the kitchen out.
• The solarium is leaking and according to our contractor, the glass won't last much longer.
• There's a broken Miele coffee machine installed in one of the walls. Lved here 2 years and still haven't fixed it.
• A worrying hole just appeared in the deck and our fence is about to fall down, but there's a lumber shortage where I live, so the prices are through the roof.

Not urgent, but the bathrooms are HIDEOUS and not well suited to family life at all. Before we bought this place it was a swingin' bachelor pad so it has both a jacuzzi bath and a jacuzzi shower and out toddler is terrified of both of them.

Hello… I found this while looking for matching stories of woe. Really curious to know how the OP is coping (and others) 1 year on..!

Maybe you need to improve ventilation.

We've had this problem in both of our houses,it's so annoying when you think 'oh well,at least the bathroom's done' and then someone has a shower and water cascades down the kitchen wall.

Nope - that can definitely stay for now - it's not amazing, but it's functional and works OK with the dog and kids combo. I really wish that our vendor hadn't removed the lovely mature garden previously here (you can see it going back through Zoopla listings) but it's an "OK for now" job.

The last house we bought we stretched ourselves to buy - and then had so much stuff we couldn't get fixed - we had to really prioritise what needed doing to keep the building watertight and structurally OK versus what we would love to have sorted out but can't afford to right now and was liveable. It took probably 10 years and we still hadn't done it all exactly how we'd have liked to but we got it to an OK place before we moved and have to do it all again.

This place we have no working bench sockets (the ones for appliances are OK) in the utility room, a toilet that needs refitting because it's like sitting on a wobble board, and a lot of sloppily done cosmetic things, and of course the plastic grass - but that comes very low down on the fixing list and I'm inclined to leave it now while the kids have the last couple of years where they really want to play outside in the garden before working on a phased removal of it all then. We have bathrooms that are the epitome of all the late 90s/early 00s fads like his and hers sinks, waterfall taps everywhere (which are fucking brilliant when you have kids who bang them on full constantly - as is the jacuzzi bath where if you don't fill the water high enough you get some banging water cannons firing out across the tub!) - but again, they're functional so can go on the list of improvements when we get time and cash.

We got incredibly lucky really buying our old house - yes it was tired as hell, but it was structurally relatively OK (had some damp issues we knew could be a quick fix - we lived in the street already and a builder lived next door who knew the houses inside out) and an avocado bathroom suite might be grim - but it's something you shit and shower in at the end of the day.

It’s great you’re getting the conservatory demolished. I was reading an article recently that they don’t add much value to a property these days (even if in good condition) because they are seen as old fashioned & take a lot of energy to heat.
I guess all you can do is one job at a time …

Oops just realised how old the thread is!

Try claypaint for the walls, it will let water dry out through it. Might just work.....

Urrrh....we're just having one put on....😊
A lot of getting a conservatory to 'work' is getting it specced right- solar glass, plenty of opening lights in the roof, and so on. I've missed having one here, the one we had built on our last house was great (though north-facing, which is easier to make work). This is south-facing, so will be more of a challenge to keep usable in hot weather, but we don't get all that much hot weather up here. 'Up' as in, 600' up in the Pennines.😏

I feel the same. I am on my own. I bought the house 2 years ago and everything has changed since I bought. Conservation area issues and planners have been a nightmare. Had a year out with BC although now recovering. I have a demanding job, plus two other weekend/eve jobs so I work long hours, I am knackered and have no practical skills. Had the house valued so could let it go now and I won't lose out, but I can't find anywhere to go to and I'll be stung on my mortgage exit fees. I am planning to try and do what I can to each room myself and get in what help I need but materials costs have more than doubled. I need a new roof, whole house needs pointing, total re-wire and plumb, re-plaster. Its a total gut job. Sorry to rant but feeling really low about it and life at the moment. What was I thinking?! :(

@Nipper2020 I am so sorry to hear this. Is it possible to port your mortgage?

Feeling the pain of everyone on this thread.

This our 6th...or 7th (I can't remember!) money pit renovation project. Not sure why we keep doing it - certainly not to make money!

It's a very old house that would be some people's dream. My first thought on viewing was 'nightmare' but my DH convinced me to take it on. We're not new build people but I often lie awake at night dreaming of brand spanking houses 🙄

We used up our (what I thought was fairly healthy) budget in the first few months, partly because we ended up having to have a borehole drilled as the farmer on whose land the water supply originally came from had a falling out with our previous owners and pulled the plug...literally. We weren't privy to this info as the property we were buying had been repossessed, so no answers to our questions and as the water supply was 'turned off' we failed to realise there was a problem.

Over the years of doing up houses we've gained loads of practical experience and - contrary to what a previous poster said regarding all of us here contributing to exactly what we're complaining about - I firmly believe our personal improvements are just that...improvements. Tbh, it would be difficult to do worse than our previous owners had!

Instead of putting in cheap fixes, we're saving up to do things properly and use quality fixtures (so not the £2k kitchen one idiot acquaintance suggested!) It just takes a lot longer, especially if we need the services of experts.

Our place had numerous issues but the worst was possibly the hybrid conservatory/extension. Recently we spoke with someone who knows the woman who had it built almost 25 years ago (not the person who was repossessed) and she told us that what was built was not what the home owner had specified, but that as an older woman on her own she didn't like to question what the bodgers builders had put up!

By the time we saw the house the 'extension' roof was a cobbled together hotchpotch of tarpaulin and odd bits of polycarbonate with soggy plasterboard underneath. As you'd imagine it leaked like a sieve. Having had a structural engineer check that the foundations were sufficient to take the weight, we had new joists and a slate roof added in our first year here.

During 2022 we removed the shoddy, single-glazed frontage and rebuilt it ourselves with oak framed floor-to-ceiling windows (which we made). The twats had also very obviously not mist coated the walls so all the extension paint internally was bubbled and flaking off.

It took most of the year but the whole lot (including the roof) came to less than £5k 😁

Lots still to do but the end is in sight and fortunately the majority of the bigger ticket items are done/paid for. Hoping to sell next year and buy somewhere we can afford to do up!

@LibertyLily a bit late for you now, but isn't there any mention of the water supply in the property deeds? Usually it is written into the deeds and you then have a legal right to the supply.
At least you have you're own now, shame it had to come to that though ☹️

Yes, I've just sold and am moving to a newly renovated house. Not getting a mortgage this time as I'm buying a share of something that hopefully won't need loads doing to it. Fed up of maintenance costs on this 60s/70s shack.

I've scaled back my plans - was going to put a new kitchen in (the original 70's kitchen is literally falling apart).

Just going to do what I can cheaply to make it nicer whilst I can, before my fixed rate mortgage comes to an end.

I don't think I'll ever be able to afford to move from here. Can't really face seeing my days out in this place, but at least I won't need to downsize in the future (it's a ground floor flat).

!920s- probably lath and plaster ceilings, so don't try to get the paper off unless you have enough spare money to have the ceiling replastered if it comes in when you do it. I have one such, with woodchip on (which had been painted pink😳) Painted it with white, very matt paint, with a thick sheepskin roller. That took the edge of the texture of the woodchip a bit so it's not as bad.
Our plasterer said with lath and plaster below a loft (as this is), he generally reboards on top, putting screws carefully through the laths into the joists, rather than taking the old ceiling down, then skims. A lot less messy. But we have old plaster covings, so I'm not keen- some of the coving would disappear. Fingers crossed the paper and all the paint holds the laths up....

Thank you. Yes, can port it but still have to pay the exit fees sadly. I think I need to sit tight til the end of my fixed rate then get out. What a nightmare! So many of us in the same boat it seems ... x