First things to do when moving into fixer upper

[splishysplash]

I am delighted to be moving! There was so much we did wrong last time so I was hoping to get some advice on what order to do things in.

The house needs a new main bathroom and completely redecorating throughout. There's textured wallpaper, popcorn ceilings and flooring that needs replacing the whole way through.
In the next 5 years we also hope to do extend and replace the kitchen and conservatory area.

As an example of an error from last time, we got the keys, redecorated straight away, then about a week later realised there were barely any plug sockets in the rooms and the ones we did have were terribly placed. So this time we want to make sure we have enough plugs in the right places.

Does anyone have any tips like the above to make sure we don't miss things? What do we do first? I feel clueless and like I need help making a plan before getting the keys.

Many thanks

Things to check:

Does the water system work/any pipes blocked?

Heating system?

Is the roof waterproof?

Any rewiring/ major electrical work first along with any central heating pipe work both these thing will disrupt the whole house and cant really be zoned off like other works can .

Thats what i do anyway.

How much work do you want to do? You could check all electrics, plumbing, radiators etc as first port of call.

Then add in important but nice to haves like plastering, additional lights, plug sockets, moving radiators.

Whatever you do, leave carpets until last...

Change the locks, you never know who has spare keys. Find the water stop cock. Depending what you had done with surveys, get the wiring checked and check for damp and get that treated if you find any.

• Reread the survey for a to do list. Check heating/wiring. Are the roof/guttering/windows ok - any damp/condensation?
• Install smoke alarm
• Live in the house for a month or so before starting to decorate so you get a feel for which rooms are sunnier/darker and can select colour schemes. We swapped the dining/lounge areas around after 3 months so we could have lighter daytime lounge in the winter. Wait until next summer before tackling the garden so you can see what emerges in the spring 🌱

As it is autumn going into winter you need to check the roof, gutters, pipework and brick work outside for damp then get that fixed asap.

You need to check the heating works and get that sorted so it at least keeps you warm this winter. (Also work out whether radiators are big enough and can be moved.)

You also need to see if window frame/seals are gone or need replacement.

You don't want to decorate a room then find out that the amount of condensation caused means that you have a damp patches on a wall.

One thing we realised last year, before having a lot of work done to our bathroom, was that the water tank in the loft was on a flimsy piece of plywood. We got the plumber to put it onto something much stronger, before he did anything else!

Obviously if you are planning structural work then that needs doing first, as does fixing any roofing or damp issues. Then electrics , plumbing and heating. It’s a sad fact of life but the super expensive important things that you have to do are the ones that eventually aren’t really visible! The only comfort is that if you do them first they are a lot less painful , and cheaper, than doing them later.

Make your home watertight first. Roof, damp course, windows, drainage issues. Then insulation.

Then get the electrics, plumbing and gas checked over. You can then discuss with the tradespeople about what work might need to be done before having a new boiler, new kitchen or bathroom. They very often need to change your fuse box and put in newer cabling for things like showers and electric cookers, and update or re-site pipes for gas boilers, cookers etc. If you need all that done, it makes sense to find out about it and what needs doing before you decide when to have a new kitchen or bathroom.

If you want to replace the flooring in any room, make sure it won't all have to come up again for plumbing or electrical work to be done.

Decorating comes pretty much last to be honest.

Roof
Foundations, drains, damp proof courses
Electric, plumbing, heating
Windows

Redecorating is cosmetic

I would make sure it's water tight first. Make sure the boiler works, electrics are sound (if dated) and the heating works. Make sure the windows are reasonable. Ours need changing but that's because I want white ones not be side they're failing.

I've got a partial fixer upper and this time I decorated the bedrooms first so we had somewhere to go that was lovely and calm. They are just white walls and carpets.

furiously scribbles notes.

Thanks all! This has been super helpful.
We're in the early stages and survey is yet to happen but wanted to organise my thoughts.

Last time was a bit of a shit show!

Wiring and associated plastering
Roof
Drains
Any joists or floorboards or woodwork that needs replacing
Bathroom
Other plastering
Decorating
Carpets/floors

Can I just check, by Popcorn ceilings do you mean Artex or similar textured finish? I've only heard the term popcorn in American properties, but if it's like I'm thinking you need to check the age and any potential that the product might contain asbestos before planning to remove.

From your initial post OP a few things I would check in addition to the excellent pointers other people have already mentioned.
’popcorn’ ceiling (artex in U.K.). Get a kit & check for asbestos. Depending on the type of artex, you may not be able to get away with having it skimmed. We had to have every room over boarded. The good news is that this seems to keep the heat in more. The bad news is that it very much adds to the timescale and expense. So establish what level of work will be necessary before blowing your budget on designer features.
On same theme, if you have textured paper do a thorough ‘knocking test’ on the plaster. Listen for a hollow sounds. Heavy wallpaper can hide a multitude of problems (if the building is older- if yours is newer, this may not apply). Skimming plaster is one cost, but if it needs a complete re plaster, it will cost ££££.
Good luck 🍀

Apologies- I had not read your post.
We unfortunately discovered this in our current property…

@Fifiesta no worries, it's something well worth drawing attention to. It hadn't cropped up in the thread I don't think and as you say, it can be a very unexpected and expensive situation to remedy.

All good ideas here. I would add try to get a good idea of where the drains are, any that are shared, where they join the mains and if there are any issues there

If I could turn back time; my priorities would be:

1. Roof
2. windows & doors
3. electrics
4. kitchen
5. boiler & central heating system
6. garden fence & external areas (making rear garden safe for the children, making front walkway safe as uneven paving slabs are increasingly frustrating)
7. everything else

Decor can be dire & carpets can always be "rug doctored" as long as your home is warm & dry the appearance is not important.

At least that's what I keep telling myself as I look at the hideous, ancient terracotta carpet, the walls that are nothing but stripped back to plaster with remnants of woodchip still to be removed, the wonderful art additions to the few walls that had been decorated courtesy of my children 😅

My architect friend always said a house needs to have its hat and its boots on first and then everything else can be done at your leisure, so start with roof and drains.

The house was built in the 80's so I'm hoping we're asbestos free but I definitely need to do some research on that!

I'm embarrassed to admit the American terminology is simply the result of too much time spent on bloody tiktok

We're borrowing more than we need so should have around 17k to spend. We'll know more after the survey obviously but I'm hoping that will cover all the immediate jobs that need doing plus the main bathroom which is only small.

Desperate to share the Rightmove link but i don't own it yet so that feels wrong!

Do the bathroom last so you can wash up messy paint trays without worrying about trashing it.

Electrics are messy, plastering is messy. Carpets absolutely last. In fact we may never get new carpets because I quite like having carpets I don't care about!

You’ve had good advice here

I’d say Asbestos check, roof, gutters, drains plumbing, heating, wiring.

then you can do some nice stuff if you have any money left. We ran out after asbestos, drains, gutters, painting windows, re plumbing and electrics. We have spent a bomb and done a lot but it doesn’t look like we’ve done anything!!!

This is all great advice. We are in the process of buying a 1970's house which has some signs of mould in wardrobes. Who do you get to check whether the house is 'watertight' as sorting this is definitely our priority. I think we need the roof, loft and all doors/windows checking...