Victorian House renovation

[jeffreyshouse]

We are doing our first renovation of a Victorian House which was in terrible condition and it has been stripped back to brick. Is there anything specific that we should consider doing now? Central heating and rewiring already in hand. TIA

Are you able to give a link to the house or photographs and floorplan so people can give you ideas?

other idea would be to look at similar properties in the area on rightmove to see what others have done?

Consider putting in as much insulation as you can - insulation materials have gone up but so have heating costs, so this is the best time to do internal insulation as you already have plans to rewire and presumably skirting boards are already off.

Thanks. Good idea especially as it's going to be a rental.

Thanks bilbodog
Yes:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110676752#/?channel=RES_BUY

Very sweet house.

I’d change the downstairs bathroom to a loo/utility, ideally with the loo to the far left behind a door. Then utility with sink, w/m, Hoover storage etc.

I'd put sash windows back in the front.

Make sure you use breathable materials- Victorian properties are meant to breathe so changing that may lead to damp in the future.

I hope you are retaining all the fireplaces and the cornice to the living room. Lovely features.

Beautiful house.

If it's going to be a rental then you need to be sure that it will meet the minimum EPC rating requirement. So I think the key things will be insulation, insulation and insulation (and of course electrical and gas safety). All this needs to be certified.

Look at woodfibre for breathable wall insulation. Is the floor suspended? You will lose a lot of heat through a draughty floor so look at insulating, again in a breathable manner. Also loft insulation. Consider energy efficient windows. If you are accessing the joists rockwool sound insulation between joists.

Depends on what you intend to do with it.

We bought an early Victorian property and have spent the best part of twenty years and a small fortune restoring it to it's former glory.

That included finding various craftsmen to sort the stonework, woodwork and plasterwork. We then had to find specialists to repair the sash windows and cast ironwork. We then uncovered all the fireplaces and replaced the tilework. Removed flooring to reveal the original checkerboard tiled hallway. Doors were dipped, stripped and repainted which included restoring all the brass fittings. All the servant's bells , the indicator board and the butler's pantry were restored from old photographs and pictures. The house also suffered quite extensive bomb damage so we had to correct temporary wartime repairs. Other things like the laundry with its original Copper and the outside khazi we could do ourselves, as all the plumbing worked perfectly. We even have an air-raid shelter, home to a million spiders.

The final touches were the oil and gas lamps ( gas lamps were converted to flame affect bulbs ) wallcovering and furnishings.

The kids have decorated their rooms as they wish but everything else, including bathrooms and toilets, are the original or from the Edwardian update. There is one room that we have kept as we found it, in all it's 1970's splendor.

I have no idea how much we have spent but it does look pretty magnificent.

I think you're in a great position because you're starting from it stripped right back. We had to move into ours with decades of awful decor and crap still in place and gradually rip out the shite and do things around living in it. Blank canvas is a big head start!

Consider removing some of the chimney breasts if they are unused. We did this in dining room and spare bedroom and it's made so much more room.

Oh please don’t remove the chimney breasts! Such a beautiful focal point

That’s a beautiful house.

My only advice is don’t skimp on insulation. I’d get it to the highest EPC rating you can. If you’re starting from scratch you can consider heat pumps etc rather than a gas boiler.

Definitely internal insulation on the outside walls.
Don't underestimate budget, by dd has just completed doing this with a very similar sized house in south east London. Knocked a few walls down, took 1 chimney out, full insulated external walls and all ground floors. Cost just under 75k, and most of that was before the material prices went crazy

@Pyewhacket let me see, let me see!!!!

@Pyewhacket That sounds incredible I’d love to see it!

Lovely house! Don’t for the love of god remove the chimney breasts, what’s wrong with people.

I’d consider knocking through the kitchen and utility and putting French doors to the garden at the end, makes it all more useable and could squeeze a little table there to make it an eat-in kitchen. Hide the washing machine in a cupboard and use the understairs for hoover storage.

Love love it, as others have said please don't remove chimney breasts, we have kept all ours with original fireplaces. Adore the coving in lounge! Good luck.

Absolutely insulation on the inside of external walls

New sash windows if you can stretch to it

If the chimneys may be used - get them smoke tested and swept

If carpeting: get any loose floorboards screwed down before carpeting so they don’t squeak, replace any rotten/broken ones

Draught strips round windows and doors

Oh yes, good extractor fans in bathrooms- especially if a rental.

Removing chimneys always divides people's opinions! I had to remove mine to allow for a staircase but I will reinstate (make a stud wall) in the living room, albeit not so deep. Original cast iron fireplace can then be installed. I'm happy with that sort of halfway house approach but I understand the sadness of taking out an original feature.

The chimney breasts we removed were no longer fireplaces with mantelpieces. They'd been removed and totally plastered over so were basically just wall. I agree if you have a lovely fireplace like in a living room to keep it!