Buying a fixer upper with a small budget to renovate, WWYD first?

[Animatorbum]

Basically looking at buying a lovely house that's been lived in for 60 years without a cosmetic update, 3 bed 1930s house, seperate loo and bathroom, 1970s kitchen cupboards, chinzy old carpets and textured wallpaper on all walls and ceilings. I may have £10k-£15k to tart it up (I'll need a £280k mortgage). Roof and boiler in good nick but the house may need rewiring. Only double glazed at the front single at the back.

What would you tackle first considering my budget, I have a DH and a 2 and a half year old too, (am I mad? No way I could ever afford a 3 bed house that isn't a massive fixer upper on this estate otherwise) I can decorate and do some DIY (ie lay laminate flooring, mitre skirting boards)

Thanks in advance! X

I’d do the windows first. It will help
with keeping your warm and your bills down.

How bad is the wiring? Unsafe or just inadequate?

Id probably live with the rest a whole
before deciding on exactly what I wanted. If requiring the whole house you’ll need to decorate afterwards so perhaps wait until you can afford to re plaster etc lMaybe new carpets for upstairs.

Probably not enough to do kitchen.

Therefore I would do lounge, kids bedroom and re-wiring. Therefore the main living areas are covered.

Rewiring if needed (best to do before you decorate anything), then some windows if you have money left (focus on bedrooms perhaps?), and put aside approx £2k for general DIY redecorating (paint, tools, materials etc). Carpet/ flooring if you have any money leftover, or save up until you have the funds. Do you need to buy furniture too? Budget is a little tight. Hopefully you can pick up some Facebook marketplace bargains 🙂

Rewiring, windows, brickwork repointing, plastering, kitchen then decorations.

Rewire and windows as top two priorities.
Then see what’s left of your budget and work out where that will make the biggest impact. You won’t have enough for a kitchen or bathroom refit so maybe living room or your bedroom?

I assume this is a long-term project and you plan to live there for 10+ years? In which case I would do the kitchen/bathroom last, assuming both are safe and functional now, as whatever you choose now might feel dated 10 years in.

Thanks for all the replies so far, yes definitely a long term project I think this could hopefully be the forever home, I'm selling and buying and have all the furniture I need thankfully. My current home was also a fixer upper but more livable initially but we didn't have a toddler, took 6 years doing a room a year pretty much.

I don't think the rewiring is necessarily urgent I'm just making assumptions based on the age of the house and lack of updating. But I think that may have to be a priority as it will knacker any decorating we do. Maybe also back bedroom windows.

As for the kitchen I'd probably like to extend in 5 to 10 years time (if we can get the cash together, hopefully I can earn more when DC is at school and we'll no longer be paying part time nursery fees by the end of the year) so wondering if I could do a cheapy refurb maybe second hand. The bathroom is more of an issue as it doesn't have a proper shower just a hand held and the bath is one of those accesibility baths with a door. (Sorry to drip feed) also carpet in the bathroom.

I'd really like to rewire, 2 bedroom windows, decorate DCs room, and redo the bathroom cheaply but not sure if thats all possible. 😅

@3peassuit oh God I didn't even think about brickwork repointing.... 😬

@TheCave good shout about facebook marketplace!

Definitely rewiring before you do any painting/taking down wallpaper. When my sister renovated hers they were able to save a bunch of money by routing out the new channels (lots of them!) in the walls themselves. Kitchen or bathroom can be saved for later, although I'd get a new shower head and attachment to mount yourselves.

Once you move in you'll be able to judge better what is the best way to spend your budget.
We said we couldn't do our kitchen for at least a year due to funds - but when we moved in we discovered it was basically the kitchen from hell and absolutely couldn't wait. I was genuinely worried we'd catch something horrendous by using it.

We ripped it out the first month we were in, and 2yrs later it's still not completely finished. But at least we've had something half decent for the majority of that time. You could try freecycle - my dad just gave away a lovely kitchen with almost new ovens etc so if you're lucky you could drop on something to put you on until you can afford to extend.

We bought our bathroom fittings at auction for very little and fitted everything ourselves so you could save a small fortune if you're able to do the same.

I think in your position I'd look to get the windows sorted quickly. Don't replace flooring until you've fully sorted the room it's going in. I hate living with our disgusting carpets, but needs must.

The biggest issue we've had is working around the kids. We have a toddler and since we moved in we've had a baby. It's so difficult finding the time to do any work on the house, especially now I'm back full time at work.

Start at the top, make it watertight and make your way down.
Roof.
Windows.
Damp.
Rewire.
Boiler.
Plumbing.
Bathroom.
Kitchen.

Windows and Rewiring if needed, and they will be if they've never been replaced/upgraded.

There is so, so much you can do yourself, and it's honestly not that hard. Walls, floors, painting, etc.

Rewire would be the first job I would do, probably be around £7k.

Congratulations on your new home!

Definitely a cheap ish bathroom refit as running an entire bath rather than showers will add up in terms of cost compared to a cheap bathroom suite. Then a proper rewire and rear windows first as the big jobs and get an electrician to survey the consumer unit to check you have adequate protection to avoid fires etc. Paint everything white to make it look cleaner and you can see how the light behaves once you’ve lived in it. Hire a carpet cleaner. Tidy garden so you can enjoy it as we approach the warmer months. Clean radiators thoroughly to improve efficiency. Don’t forget to install a CO monitor if you are inheriting a boiler and get the current one serviced. Install smoke and heat detectors. Change the locks. Keep an eye out for whole used kitchens on eBay. You can store the units until you are ready. For bathrooms also keep an eye out for new sanitaryware bargains on FB marketplace/ EBay.

Good luck!

The first thing I'd do is check your exterior doors, and if you can see daylight around them then get them replaced. I didn't do this to my back door for several years, I had other priorities, but when it was done the difference it made to how warm the house was was staggering. I'd always do that first now, and especially with today's fuel prices.

Having lived in a do-er upper for 20 years (perfectly livable but not yet finished). I would say warmth first. Double glazing and doors. Maybe insulation. Check the electrics but no rush unless they are dangerous. Get a shower fitted.

If you are handy then you can fit an Ikea kitchen. Ours is 14 years old and still looking good.

Replace carpet in living room and bathroom for laminate.

Warmth and watertight first – windows, gutters, roof, etc.
Then the wiring and any central heating changes eg radiators.

Basically the boring stuff! Then see what your budget is like. Carpets can be taken up and to the tip DIY and floors sanded with a hired sander. Wallpaper can be steamed off DIY – but only if you’re sure you won’t blow the plaster/have budget to plaster. I think it’s unlikely you’ll have bathroom money leftover let alone kitchen, so I’d pick one room to make really nice, like the sitting room, and do that. Save the rest for unexpected house maintenance and as a pot for the eventual bathroom and kitchen.

Be warned prices of materials have shot up and your £10-15k won’t go as far as it used to.

If money is too tight to actually replace the windows (and/or if they're nice original features that just aren't great from an insulation standpoint), consider secondary glazing them for now. You can get magnetic secondary glazing very cheaply, it's unobtrusive but will make a big difference in terms of warmth.

Are you me? Almost identical to our situation last year. Will you have a crossover period between completion on the new house and moving in? We had a month which meant the rewire could happen very quickly before we moved in. Do not under estimate this job! Our house was not liveable during the rewire. It was much less than £7k too.

Things to be aware of:

Every wall we stripped of wallpaper needed replastering and sometimes re boarding completely. If you have any rooms with the wallpaper still firmly on, just paint over unless you want most of your budget to go on plastering.

Everything costs more and takes longer than you think.

YouTube everything. Get the right materials and you can have a go at most things.

For our budget (same as yours) I've:

Rewired inc outside lights + sockets.
Re plastered 2 bedrooms, hall, stairs, landing.
Re carpeted 2 bedrooms, hall, stairs, landing.
Painted the living room, 2 bedrooms, hall, stairs, landing.
Painted kitchen cupboards, tiles, and changed worktops.
Had a small roof repair.
Stripped internal doors and painted them.

Plastering has been the biggest cost, then rewire, then carpets.

Pm me if you want any more info 🙂

Just to add we put thermal blinds on most windows, brush seal under doors and a heavy door curtain and draught excluder at the front door, rather than replace any of those yet. You won't know how cold or draughty it really is until you get in properly.

I think you're a bit mad as you have a 2.5 year old, but if you really want the house and you're willing to do DIY and to do all the work you want over several years, why not. Just don't get pregnant (Seriously, do you want another child?)

The first thing I would do (preferably before making an offer) is see if I could get an electrician to check the wiring and give a quote for replacing it all. To find out whether it definitely needs redoing immediately or not. As PPs said, no point redecorating until you've done the rewiring and plastering.

Apart from that, my priority would be the windows and a decent shower.

Good luck.

Do the safety bits first: have the electrics and boiler checked. You will then know if you need a rewiring then do the windows so you have a warm house and keep bills down.

I would say though have you really thought about the implications of taking on something that has not been maintained for such a long time?

Double glazed windows are quite expensive to put in and you only have a small budget of 10K. What happens if your roof also needs work? if the plumbing is faulty?

Not a criticism as I am also in a similar situation. I saw a 1920s house I really like but it has not been maintained for 30 years. The cost of building material and of workmen is really high at the moment and I am really concerned about taking this on in the current climate. Doing the basic cosmetic stuff is easy but you also need to think about how you will afford fixing more expensive issues.

Get any electrical work done first and any plumbing ( pipe work ) it’s the most disruptive as you need to be all over the house , after that you can do bits/rooms as you go along without to much upheaval .

The least sexy things first, definitely. Roof, insulation, windows, wiring, etc. The stuff you can't see, don't often think about, but which had a huge impact on safety, comfort, and liveability.

Then I would focus on the bathroom, after that the kitchen, then decorate elsewhere.

We have a very badly maintained 1920s house (and a baby). Some stuff that is saving us money:

• paid for electrical check. Turns out our fuse board was dreadful, but the wiring was sound. To replace the fuse board, change all of the lights and sockets, and add sockets and lights it's about £4k labour for ours (vs the way more than double that we had budgeted)
• we filled and lined the walls with lining paper instead of plastering
• what're the floors underneath like? We found hardwood downstairs and upstairs that you can sand and oil yourself and put rugs on so no immediate need for flooring

If it's not been maintained for decades, and you've a young child, would be worth getting a lead paint testing and doing two coats of oil paint to all the woodwork before moving in. We found flaking lead paint on the front door, stairs etc, and it's dangerous for young children. We used one of the home kits, and just cut samples of paint off with a very sharp knife