Is it normal to feel like this about your home?

[stressedpetal]

Me and my ex husband bought a wreck of a (thankfully small) terrace house a few years ago. We had it renovated by a building team who sadly turned out to be cowboys, and since then it feels like everything has gone wrong. I feel like the house is cursed and will never be nice or finished. Despite a full renovation, 2 years on there is or has been mysterious rising damp in the kitchen, a mouldy bay window, leaking radiators, bathtub, and possibly heating pipes. Crumbling plaster, cracks everywhere, pipes that clog at the drop of a hat, badly fitted floorboards, grout that looks like a child did it. It's at the point where I just want to re-renovate the whole thing and probably will have to have absolutely everything redone in the not too distant future, which is so upsetting after spending 70k+ on the renovation. I bought it off my ex and now live here alone but a combo of this and the interest rates change has absolutely pushed me to breaking point financially and I can't afford to fix the things that need to be fixed. My friends say that there is always something going wrong with every house, but mine feels particularly disastrous. Or am I just in catastrophe mode? It's so stressful as I just want to relax and enjoy but the shoddy work and constant leaks, breakages etc are really upsetting.

I think many people have these issues and it a shock to the system to realise how much maintenance houses need!

I bought a 1930 terrace 3 months ago and so far: the boiler packed up on the day of completion, the toilet cistern leaked a couple of weeks after that into the living room ceiling, there was an old gas thingy in the living that was so dangerous the gas engineer removed it, I had to rewire the entire house, install a new stopcock, fix the flashing around the chimney on the roof, survey the drains with a camera which showed a broken kitchen drain gully and two days ago I found a leak in one of the radiator that caused my boiler to lose pressure and stop working today while it is freezing cold, I have asbestos in a cupboard...and on an on it goes.

Lots of shoddy work from previous owners and also a lack of maintenance.

So you are not alone. I must say I have grown to love my 'house of horrors'. I literally felt it was cursed in the first few weeks and wanted to put it back on sale.

My handyman, who has been a gem in doing a lot of work for a very reasonable price, was telling me that most people have regular issues with their houses, even the ones who went for new builts.

But like you I really wish I could have at least a period of peace with nothing breaking down!

Fairly normal I think. I've been in my house since 2011.

So far I've had to fix all the bodged jobs of the previous owners. have their DIY wiring replaced after it was declared dangerous, replace all windows, boiler, repair a lot of the pointing they had filled with bathroom sealant. The list is endless.

I know how you feel. It's a slog. But I draw comfort from the fact I will add value to the house. And I'm proud I've done it all properly. This house will be warm, dry, secure, well insulated & efficient.

Fix what you can do now, learn as many skills as you can to do some work yourself, and ignore the rest until you can fix it, one bit at a time.

Thanks for your replies, it's heartening! I have moments where I feel so happy to be here, it just feels like a struggle right now as thinking about future problems and all the things I want to do but can't afford right now can be overwhelming.

I hear you. I have a mid terrace victorian house i lived there for 10 years then i moved abroad and rented it out cue letting agency fees damp damp damp and as im technically a landlord i cant fix rate the mortgage so im having to subside the mortgage every month. 8.5 years left on mortgage and im viewing it as my retirement fund. No pain no gain right

@Startingagainandagain you have asbestos in the cupboard? 😬How do you know? Is it being fixed?

I think like everyone else, that this is normal with old houses.

You purchased it “a few years ago”. You and your husband separated fairly recently, then?

This isn’t the Relationships board but I think that maybe you are conflating your feelings about the divorce with your feelings about the house.

Give it more time.

Have you done any DIY yourself in the house? How do you feel towards that?