Anyone else lost all interest and motivation in their renovation?

[SoThatsTheWayItIs]

I’m done. Over it. Zero interest in spending anymore time and money on my house. It’s been a slow project over the last five years (which was fine as that was the plan) Everything we have done so far is now is being impacted by the fact we have discovered subsidence.

I was already on my way to just getting the last of the work finished to a sellable standard and then moving but now selling isn’t an option for the foreseeable.

How can I make peace with living here when it makes me miserable. Weekdays are fine because I’m so busy with work but weekends come round and I feel a dark cloud over me. I can barely be bothered to clean anymore.

I’m terrified that the subsidence issue is going to leave us permanently screwed financially if we try to sell in the future.

Advice (or a grip) welcome!

What’s the cause of the subsidence?

Still waiting for the insurance company to send out people to do a drain and tree check. I highly suspect it is due to a row of trees that border our garden. We’re also on clay ground.

Don’t lose heart yet — until the drains and trees have been checked, nobody can sensibly say what is causing it. Clay and nearby trees are a possibility, but leaks, old drains and seasonal movement can all produce similar symptoms. I’d photograph and measure the cracks now, note dates and whether doors or windows change, and avoid filling or replastering them until the insurer’s inspections are done.

Ask the insurer for the written findings and what monitoring period they propose. If movement is confirmed, an independent structural engineer should set out the cause and necessary repair; don’t let anyone jump straight to underpinning or major tree work before the evidence is clear. Keep all reports and photos together — it makes the next decisions much less overwhelming.

Thank you, we won’t be trying fix any of the internal cracks until we know what’s what. We tried that when they were just hair line cracks and they came straight back. Now over summer it’s gotten much worse. I guess we’re just at the stage where really we have no real info so no proper plan. I will take photographs and measurements tomorrow for our own records.

Do you not have house insurance?

Yes I already said we are waiting for insurance company to send out company to investigate drains and trees. Even if insurance pay for the fix this could take years and there is an implication for selling and house value in the future.

My friend had all this, on clay issue. It was fixed and they did sell at market value.

We're slowly renivating too, and totally lost enthusiasm for most of this year.... however, mojo has flickered back to life now.
Ive been convinced that we'll uncover a disasterous, house-falling-down issue, but theres instead been lots if fixable issues that we're chippjng away at.

View this as a break until insurance has made their assessment. Subsidence is fixable and theres no reason to panic about future sales values now.