House problems recurring / never-ending

[blahblahblah76]

Is it just me or do other people have houses that constantly have issues, including ones that just seem unfixable? Over the last 5 years we've had damp, rot, broken appliances, and now a leak we thought was fixed has recurred. We are getting the guys out again to look at it but I am beyond depressed and finding myself completely consumed with the fear we will never get the house right and that we own a nightmare. Is it just us or are other people's houses a recurring problem too?? I really love my house in a lot of ways but feel constantly unsettled by all the issues and feel like noone else's leaks / breaks like ours does. Do other people just not notice / live with stuff??

Yep always something needs doing!

Appliances aren't really anything to do with the house.

I think the issue is houses need upkeep, some more than others and be careful about studying the survey when you get it. Surveys should be used as a means to negotiate the price with the seller.

I have a gutter where the main roof joins the back addition that is just a total bastard. Endless attempts to make it work effectively have failed. Wider scuttle, extra downpipe, it does not matter what I try - if we get heavy rain that fucker overflows.

Other than that there is always something that needs doing, but that is just the nature of home ownership.

Yes, DH is very good at diy and I often wonder how people that aren’t keep on top of the constant wear and tear and maintenance that’s needed on a house.

Yes ours is listed, constant worries and problems, not just you OP x

Me! I have a Georgian terraced cottage and the bastard always has something wrong. At the moment, despite spending ££££ on damp solutions, it's getting worse so I'm going to have to throw more at it - which can't be done until the weather has been dry for some time.

I've decided that owning a property is a 'lifestyle choice' rather than an investment!

I have a house I rent for holidays which makes a nice income...except 95% of that is eaten by repairs. This year a new bit of roof, new windows (part of an ongoing cycle of replacement), new oil tank and redecoration.

Next year new fencing, another bit of roof, more windows, probably more appliances and new carpets.

You are not alone: homes need maintenance and investment. I didn't believe my mum when I bought my first house when she said I should put aside £3k / year to keep things in good nick. But I do believe her now!

I figure with a new build it is 15-20 years they last before you need to start laying out cash.

Fortunately it tends to be more for stuff like appliances, bathrooms, kitchens and flooring rather than fundamental structural problems and damp.

I get they need ongoing maintenance and we did study the survey and we do have money set aside but we seem in groundhog day with some stuff and its just getting me down. I wouldn't mind new problems as much but a repeat of ones you think are resolved is really hard to take.

Sometimes it can be down to doing the cheapest solution to "fix" something (means it is likely to occur again) and other times it can be that the wrong "fix" was done and the problem is still there.
Alternatively it can be that things have just time expired.
Owning and maintaining a house has never been cheap and yes, there are always things that need doing (from just cleaning out the gutters to a new kitchen/bathroom). The only thing you can do is try to keep on top of it.

Adulting is very dull.in my experience. Houses just require endless.maintenance !

It's the nature of home ownership imo. We moved 3 years ago to a 30s detached with a non-scary survey. It belonged to a builder / handyman who turned to have been a bit of a bodger. There are lots of niggles and bits that need looking at.

However, DH is convinced we have bought a uniquely problematic house, whereas I think it's fairly par for the course that there's always something that needs fixing.

Plus we've done a lot of work that's uncovered stuff we wouldn't have known about if we'd left things as they were!

It's annoying (and expensive at times) but I don't think it's unusual.

My house is in good condition generally but it’s still constant- not necessarily actually doing the work but mentally adding jobs to the “to do” list.

Get one job off the list & another one pops up immediately.

We had a 'flat-roof extension to main roof pitch' bastard- there really wasn't room to fit the flat one under the pitch ( bungalow) and so the extension had a roof even I felt was low and gloomy, and I'm 5' tall. Our vendor was honest about it and told us he'd had the flat roof redone some 10 years before but it had still leaked and he'd had to have them back to fix it. Knowing that roof transitions from pitches to flat roofs make just the bastards you mention, in the end, we put a pitch on it. When we stripped the flat roof off (we took it all off- beams and all -and redid it with an exposed internal pitch) it was clear it had leaked quite a bit over the years. Now it's all nice and tight- with a pitch fitted sideways into the main roof and proper lead gutters. I reckoned in the end it would be the only way to sort it long term- cost a bit, but so would continually re-roofing the join.

I've made friends with the damp bits. My house is old and far from perfect. I love it for that reason but it does get me down sometimes.

Yes and really a house is more of a hobby than a physical thing, you have to either lean into it and get good at DIY, pay a lot of money to a good tradesperson forever, or get good at ignoring things.

Yep it’s never ending. When I first went into house ownership I was really optimistic and positive about fixing things and doing things and now nearly 30 years on I just think fuck it and turn a blind eye to many things unless they’re literally either a safety issue or going to cause terrible long term damage. I just don’t have the drive or finance for it anymore. Rather spend the money on holidays and days out. (And I’m really not rich at all).

A low maintenance home was one of my main criteria when looking to buy. I've lived in Victorian properties in the past and they've always been money pits. I live alone so can't afford huge repair bills. I've ended up in a 1960s maisonette which is in great condition. That said, the drains outside are partly blocked and I'll have to go halves with my neighbour on a new porch roof fairly soon. The general advice is to put aside 1% of your house value for maintenance and repairs per year. That feels about right for my little place, but I think an older house would surely need more.

Don't buy a property that is more than 50 years old. Preferably buy newer than that but also don't be the first owner of a property.

My parents had Victorian houses which were money pits. So all my siblings have brought newer properties.

I feel that the standard of work has gone down and costs have gone up. We've had our house for 20 years and in the first 10 we had maybe 5 big things needing doing, all of which were fixed and haven't needed work since. The last 10 years however we have had the same 4 things repeatedly needing the same work (having to try different tradesmen in) apparently needing different things each time. One eg is in a leak in the bathroom. 5 plumbers, way over 5k spent, 3 new pipes/corner pipes, 1 new shower tray, new shower enclosure, new bath...still bloody leaks! I do have to wonder about the quality when something all plumbers say is "oh so simple, they've not XYZ, which is the problem!" becomes so expensive and troublesome that seemingly no one can fix. Prices going up mean we simply have to sit on things needing to be done now as we know most "fix" jobs start at 1k since Brexit.

I don't completely agree with this "New builds are cheaper" either. One of my DC has a new build house that was build 2013. They've had way more issues than us in our Victorian house. You've got the settling for starters causing cracks for the first 7 years, most doors have also needed planing because the wood around the frames settles, cheap fittings that break within 5 years and no space for storage. The main benefit is the insulation if you are careful with what you buy, but even that can be hit or miss - you can see how many new build roofs don't frost in winter.

My house is 150 yrs old. We see it as elderly lady who needs extra care. It's a constant stream of issues - nothing massive but things that cannot be ignored as we know these issues can quickly get out of hand.
Also nothing is straightforward- we think it will be simple then ....arrrghhhhh

But we love the old girl - we have been here for 30 yrs and she keeps us warm ish and safe!

Yes. Never ending repairs, some big, some small. Always keeping water in or out!
Plus replacing consumer goods like washing machine that break.
I feel like we constantly work to replace what we already had yesterday.

Hello OP I am in one of those! Falling to frigging bits around me. Wanna swap?

You're definitely not alone—most homeowners deal with ongoing issues, especially in older houses. Sometimes it helps to tackle one thing at a time and accept that perfection isn't realistic. Maybe keeping a repair log could give you a sense of progress over time