multiple questions about my renovation - lost please help!

[RandomSuitors]

I've accidentally found myself doing up an entire little Victorian house. Don't ask, it is ruining my life. I've got a few decisions I need to make now and just can't work out.

1. Downstairs floors. I had imagined I'd get the boards sanded and varnished as I think it looks nice but I've realised there's nothing under the boards but rubble and outside. Plus the room is not level so will need to be levelled. The refurb people want me to bung down LVT or carpet, saying it will just be too crafty -- but isn't there anything I can do to make it wood and not cold? I can't afford under floor heating.
2. Kitchen. It's a dated but ok little galley kitchen, which I'm currently going to get a carpenter to chop a bit and move round to fit an oven where I want it, retaining the original wood doors. Then bung down some lino and wait till I can afford a proper kitchen. Is this ok, do you think?
3. URGH! I wasn't cut out for this. Single parent on a budget, but want it all to be usable.
4. Oh, fourth thing is that the walls are very patchy. I can't really afford to have it 'skimmed' - but will I regret this?

1. I'd be concerned about the lack of insulation under the floor. It must be costing you a fortune in heating? I'd be asking if there is a way to retrofit insulation underneath. You could then have the option of keeping the floor boards or laying something over them also.
2. In a previous property, we replaced the kitchen doors and handles. Everyone assumed we'd had a new kitchen installed and it was still looking good 10yrs after we did the doors.

4- what do you mean the walls are patchy? Do you mean gouges out of them so they aren't smooth or the painting is patchy?

None of is can really advise if you will regret things OP! You can only afford to do so much at a time. The house sounds liveable and sounds like you have a plan to get things done when money allows.

Thanks for replying. The walls have been patched up with little bits of filler by my builders, but I haven't actually had them flatly skimmed. When I paint them they're going to look lumpy ish.

Manage your expectations re time it will take longer than you think

I hated hearing this but it will be worth it.

Dont skimp on correcting the floor insila re hear be careful not to block off vents that some older properties need. I’d join a specialist FB group an get advice.

In my experience trades/builders will often ‘advise’ whatever is easiest or within their competency. If you want wood have wood. Be patient and get it done how you want it or you will resent it every time you clean it etc.

Do it right do it once

I can’t emphasise the following enough- do not underestimate your capacity to learn how to do DIY stuff. It can take a lot of time but you can save loads of money:-

patch up walls - buy ready mixed stuff and a large ‘knife’ and filling in then sand - buy a mouse sander- loads cheaper and maybe ‘enough’ worst case is it’s a mess and you own a sander.

kitchen floor- if it’s a concrete floor tile or yourself or add those faux tiles

architrave and skirting - buy the right saw and you can get these done and save expensive daily joinery rates.

Focus on one area at a time - get one room done and nice take an break then do next

Its so much more satisfying too.

Oh and kitchen- do the doors outside when weather is better sand prime and paint. Will cost you a couple of hundred

Id recommend watching loads of videos to see before and after to gain reassurance about what is possible to keep your motivation stamina topped up

Hi OP,

Is your home listed?
Re the floor: it’s designed this way so retrofitting with modern materials is going to cause fundamental issues to how your house fabric works. The best thing to do is fill gaps in the boards with scrunched up newspaper. Cheap and works. Do not sand them, you will make the boards to thin. Clean where required then Osmo oil. Do not seal them. Then use rugs. You can do all this yourself and it won’t cost much.

kitchen, in principle just tart up and it will be fine. Consider new cupboard handles as a way of notating it.

if you want more specific advice then do ask, old and listed properties is my area.

1. you have a suspended timber floor. What you describe is normal for the period. It was design with a big space for air flow to prevent damp. The Victorians would have put big rugs over it and built fires to keep it warm. Cheapest quickest solution is to fill in all the gaps in the skirting and the boards so there are no draughts. You can do this yourself. Then add thick underlay and carpet. If you really want wooden boards then you will need to insulate underneath. This will involve removing many of the boards so you have access and getting in there and inserting foam or wool insulation between the joist from underneath. Either that or remove all the boards and put it in from above and then re-lay all your boards. Either way it’s a big job and expensive.
2. Yes that’s ok if you are ok with it.
3. Sorry but Victorian houses are a money pit.
4. Depends what you mean by patchy? Is the plaster blown underneath? Does it need removing and redoing? Depending on its condition you may be able to just sand it down and smooth it over yourself with smoothing filler. If it’s bad over entire walls but the plaster is relatively sound you may get away with skimming. If it’s so bad it cracked and lose you might need it replastering.

@Tortephant Old newspaper - really? Under the boards?

We have an Edwardian house. Floorboards were not in good condition and extremely draughts so we went for wood effect LVT (Karndean).

We used thick lining paper in the master bedroom and living room. It was quite time consuming but a lot cheaper than skimming. That said I've had other rooms skimmed since as with a young child I could no longer spend as long on DIY. The more time you can spend sanding and prepping the walls before you paint, the better they'll look, but my motto is its an old house so nothing is going to be perfectly straight or flat!
Matt paint will mask imperfections better than silk.

Hi Op. I had similar flooring in my 1950’s house. Got a reputable flooring company to sand and seal. They gave me bags of sawdust to mix with polybond and pieces of wood to fill gaps (there were many). They could have done this at a cost. Despite my filling every gap, it was cold. Skirting boards were slightly raised off floors. Draughts came in from every angle. As previously advised, don’t block air vents for under floors (usually on outside walls).

If I’d stayed I would most likely have laid carpets. Rugs will not solve the problem because of draughts coming from under skirtings. You could put strips of wood around the edges ( forget what they are called). I didn’t like the look of them in my house, they could suit yours.

Don’t rush into doing floors now. By the time something is laid, summer will be here. Ask neighbours and experts before spending. You should have it sorted in time for next winter. If you are plastering etc, your lovely floors could be damaged so better to wait.

Hope it all works out. Take one step at a time. Using same trade to complete similar jobs e.g. if you need an electrician to fit oven, see what else electrical needs doing.

Between them to stop draughts. Yes. Works, is cheap, is recommended by Historic England and the SPAB

Yes. Our Victorian terrace has original parquet that is laid straight onto a thin bitumen layer on the earth! It’s fine. Lots of houses don’t have anything under the floorboards. I would sand the floorboards- it’s the cheapest way to get a classy look.

If you lift the floor to insulate underneath you will never get it back down again. As lots of other people have suggested, a carpet is the most sensible option unless you want to be very cold or pay huge heating bills.
You could try lining paper for the walls if they arent too bad but I would save up and get a room skimmed at a time.

I worry carpet will look bad. Especially since it has an open ish fireplace (weirdly no mantle, but I might get one). Or can you have carpet + fireplace? I won’t have a real fire in that one.

@AwkwardPaws27 that looks more convincing than I thought it would. Does it look quite real? What happens at the edge of the room?

Thanks for all the advice so far. I myself would be fine with the drafty option but I have tween/teens and I know they will complain it isn’t cosy.

I’d love to do the ‘slow renovation’ thing and get it right but I’m a lone parent and so so tired and realistically once we’re in that’ll probably be it. I just need to get it ok ish now with no huge mistakes and no more debt.

Excuse the chipped paint & dust - I'm 39 weeks pregnant so not really on top of it! Theres no visibile gap or anything. I chose a plank style and the sort wood stain colour I'd have chosen if the boards had been in good enough shape to uncover so I think it fits in quite well with the style of the house while being warmer and more practical for our household (pets & toddler).

@Tortephant No, not listed. Ironically the previous owner was a historic buildings expert for his job. Ironically because it is in quite terrible shape, original features hotch potch removed.

It might not be in terrible shape for an older property. You may think it is as its construction is totally different to what you are used to.
using the appropriate materials is what your home needs. Modern paint and so on will cause you damp issues over time. As will standard plaster.
Please do some research before wasting money you don’t have doing some “quick” fixes

It had wall paper on until we stripped it, @Tortephant. What sort of paint should I use?

I dealt with gaps between floorboards in an Victoria terrace with a product called Stopgap. Super easy to fit yourself.

@Magmum75 did you insulate under your floor? Or just go bravely cold?

I second this statement "In my experience trades/builders will often ‘advise’ whatever is easiest or within their competency"

I was rushed into a flooring decision by my builder and regretted it for the 10 years it was down.

There are a lot of renovation videos on youtube especially of older houses in the UK. I am also on the side of TikTok that shows floors being sanded. They either hammer in slithers of wood to the gaps, then sand or after sanding mix the sawdust with a glue/resin and then trowel that into the gaps.

Always try to research and YouTube is a great place to look. Lots of people in the comments weighing in too.

If you have removed wall paper from a wall I would highly recommend using Zinsser Gardz before you paint. It is clear and will stop any hazing from any adhesive left on the wall showing through the paint. A pole sander is also a great tool to use to sand down walls. Again, all this is on YouTube. It is how Dh and I learned and we have renovated 2 houses but not a Victorian house.

Depends on if you have lime plaster. Ideally you will have as that will allow your walls to breath. You need a vapour permeable paint, the recommended ones are Rose or Jericho or Inglbys. F&B, dulux and so on aren’t suitable.

If you have standard “modern” plaster then really you should be removing it and lime plastering. If it is standard then any paint is ok but in time you will cause the property big damp issues.
if you are on Facebook I suggest the group Your Old Home Uk restoration and conservation. You will learn a lot and save yourself a lot of money time and mistakes.

Modern plaster is less of an issue upstairs because there are less likely to be damp issues unless the gutters get backed up. Filler and lining paper downstairs are a good option if you can't afford to get the rooms skimmed. Lime is a lot more expensive than modern plaster and it is hard to find the right professionals to do the work.

I think LVT is cheap and modern in a period house. I’d always opt for wood or tiles.
With wooden floorboards
don’t install under floor heating as the heat won’t come though the wood
don’t put tiles on top as eventually they will crack due to small movements
engineered oak works well to insulate from draughts.
With solid floors both underfloor and tiles work well.

The underneath is design as a void for ventilation. Stopgap is easy to use plastic straps that seal gaps between floorboards- it does help and then just add nice rugs in places you want extra cosiness.