Come and talk to me about moving into an old house that needs lots of work!

[rebelmulledwine72]

DH and I have just made an offer on a house which will need a lot of work done on it, and though we like the house itself very much, and the location, we are not entirely sure we're up to the job of redoing it, or really prepared to give up our lovely, modern flat with all comforts for the unknown of living in an old house! (We felt quite sure when we made the offer, I should add, but have gone a bit wobbly now)

The house is detatched, built in 1950 and hasn't had much done to it since, except the roof which was redone abou 12 years ago. It will need new heating and electrics, bathroom and kitchen, all new floors and repainting / decorating, plus some walls knocked down as the rooms at the moment are tiny.
We are having someone look at it this week re. the general structure, as there are a couple of cracks in the outside walls which may or may not be serious.

We have a limited budget, and if nothing major unexpectedly came up, we would be able to afford to do this (just).

But somehow we can't really make up our minds if it's something we really want to do right now. We know we want a house, and we like the idea of doing up an old house (plus we couldn't really afford anything brand new), but I cannot imagine living without proper bathroom/kitchen/heating etc, particulary in winter - I somehow feel it would be easier in summer.

Come and tell me your experiences about doing up an old house and what you wish you'd done differently! Oh, and what did you do with your toddler while all this was going on?

Our house was awful when we moved into it three years ago with DD (then 2) in tow. We've really enjoyed doing it up and making it our own.

Work out what needs doing straight away (heating & electrics maybe, although do get at least 2 opinions on the electrics because one company told us we needed complete rewiring purely on the age of the house, when we didn't need it at all!) and what you can live with.

In the first week we were in the house we had the boiler, bathroom, kitchen and upstairs carpets done, and then we've gone slowly on from there. Things like painting walls can wait. DD did watch a LOT of telly in the first year we were in the house!

Don't get sucked into all those property programmes which tell you your house has to be perfect and finished in the least possible time - that's only the case if you're doing it up to sell. It will be 10 years before we've finished our house I'm sure, but that's fine because we're not planning to move.

go for the big stuff(heating,damp proofing electrics etc) asap and if you can live somewhere else while they do it even if its just for a couplke of weeks.
Bathrooms can be out & in v quickly & just decorate round it.
As long as you have a micro, fridge etc you can cope without the kitchen while you do it.

Funnily enough, DH and I were talking about this last night - we're on our second 'wreck' and he was talking about the next one!! I said I couldn't imagine us moving into an immaculate place, despite all the hard work we've done (and have still to do). You just get a lot more for your money with a house that needs work, as long as you stay on top of the budget. I think you have to lower your standards for the moment - plan to live with the bad kitchen/bathroom/decoration but budget to sort out the electrics and heating asap as these will at best be costing you a fortune in bills and at worst be dangerous. My best tip would probably be to only start one room at a time, don't get tempted to start lots of jobs otherwise the whole house feels like a building site. Also to buy things from ebay - we've saved a fortune on taps and cooker hood/hob etc and they are the same brand/quality as in the shops. As for DIY + toddler, we have a 2yr DD and so one of us always has to be childminding while the other tiles/paints/curses under breath So if you can rope in some childcare, even better! However, the best way to progress for us has been aiming to do some DIY every week, even if just an hour or two. No point putting it off, and you get to the finish point eventually. Finally, don't get disheartened by watching too many property programmes in which they do the lot in 6 weeks thanks to an army of professionals. Paying skilled workers is EXPENSIVE so just keep them for the technical jobs, you will be fine with that paintbrush! Hope this ramble is useful and that you come to a decision that makes you happy

Shudder. Been there, doing that, it's not great living in mess.

I would ensure you keep some time and cash aside to spend just as a family and get away every so often. A day out for all of you, not a day doing the things you need to catch up on. Otherwise weekends disappear, you look round and your children are teenagers!

Good luck. It will be worth it. But your family life is more important at the end of the day, don't loose sight of that.

Oh, and see if you can get access after exchange to start getting some of the messy stuff done. We had our damproofing done then, and it was great.

You're going to have to get more excited about it if you are really, truly going to buy a doer upper!

We have just finished a year long renovation of a big, dusty old Edwardian house. We had the whole house rewired, new radiators and boiler, replastering & painting, new windows and doors in some rooms, a small extension to the kitchen, new kicthen and bathroom fitted and floors all stripped and varnished.

It was hellish, I will not lie. Forget all fantasies you have about being Sarah Beeny and wafting about in a hard hat smiling serenely. It was noisy, filthy, incredibly disruptive to our lives and more expensive than we had ever planned for. there were days when I cried my eyes out with the stress of it all. We actually moved out for a few months, too (added expense, argh! But I had come to the end of my ether with the brick dust and hanging wires...).

I would never, ever do it again...

BUT - No regrets

We now have our (pretty much) dream home in a great area. It was worth it, even if it did nearly give me a nervous breakdown

Make sure you get a full structural survey done - it will be worth it in the long run. You really don't want any big surprises when you have a limited budget.

FWIW, don't do anything straight away. Live in the house a while because what you think you might want to do may not necessarily be the right course of action IYSWIM. We bought a wreck 8 yrs ago, did the necessary work first ie roof, windows etc but left everything else and lived in the house. I have changed my mind a number of times about what I wanted to do and am pleased I didn't rush into things. BTW, will probably still be doing it up in 20 yrs time, credit crunch etc .

it will cost more and take longer than you anticipate. On the bright side you will have it the way you want, and really appreciate the changes you make esp heating!

Mmmmm, I've done it once and said never again.

DD was 2. when we moved here ( years ago) and the house was a wreck - new kitchen, new bathroom, new boiler, needed decorating everywhere as terrible orange wallpaper, awful carpets, back door falling off, walls needed knocking down, new gutters, chimmneys needed sorting out, new kitchen ceiling.

We got a man in and he was here for months - he did the chimmneys, the bathroom, the new ceiling and most of the kitchen.

We finished the kitchen off, decorated downstairs and the landing, new carpet downstairs.

Then we just got sick of it and haven't decorated upstairs, apart from DD's bedroom. Our bedroom is awful as is spare room. The bathroom still doesn't have a proper flooring, just oddments of mismatched lino patched together with ltos of gaps.

I cannot stand the thought of having to decorate another room - the thought of all the plaster falling off (again) and having to replaster fills me with dread. Though or house is Victorian so maybe a 50s house not as bad? I can't even face takign the furniture out the sitting room to have a new carpet put in!

We had no kichen for 6months - we had a microwave, a fridge with some hardboard balanced on it for a worktop and a £20 plug in hob. We always had heating though. I worked full time and dh got a job hundreds of miles away the week afetr we moved in and moved away and left me to it! He'd be gone for 4 weeks then come back for a weekend and moan about how much I was spending!

Been there. Bought this house as an old wreck and 8 years on it is fantastic after all the hard work.The comments make us feel it was all worth it but more than that, its a real family home that we have built ourselves effectively.

As long as you get that survey done so you know what youre dealing with, and can afford it even in small stages.

I say go for it.

Somehow it feels much scarier because it's winter - is that bizarre?

I have visions of us huddled in the cold and dark, eating microwaved fish fingers off our laps in the green-and-orange-wallpapered dining room while plaster slowly crumbles from the walls...

I guess I should be feeling more positive and excited, and instead I'm worried and feeling sad about leaving our flat. Maybe it's not the right time to move after all?

We did it too - it's fantastic now but was sheer hell at the time and I don't think I'd do it again. Our house was the one no-one else would touch but the only one we could afford in the road we wanted. We had a baby and a three year old and lived without a proper kitchen or bathroom for nearly 2 years - outside loo too. Rewired, replumbed, rebuilt the front and back of the house, extended, relaid drainage, replastered throughout, new windows...you name it, we did it. Agree with Mrs Mattie about disruption etc. It was hard on the kids, although thankfully at that age they're adaptable and have short memories so they don't remember a thing about it now - easier than doing it when they're older and need privacy etc in some ways. It's quite a strain on your relationship as well. I kept sane by recording it all in glorious technicolour on my blog and got a prize from an interiors mag. I would say only do it if it's in your dream location and is a house you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford.

We moved into our old Edwardian house 6 years ago. We thought it needed decorative work in the main (yes we did do a survey) but its needed a new roof, new drains, new electrics, new window, new damp proofing, new railings on the roof terrace and balconies. Next job is to replaster and new ceilings .

I wouldn't do it again. It will be lovely when its finished- but we have been living in a house that looks like a student let for 6 years. We have painted the boys rooms and decorated our front the room. The rest is hideous.

Not helped by really not being able to do the work ourselves (because of severely autistic ds1- can't do the work when he's around).

We moved into an itsy bitsy teeny weeny old house 6 years ago. Dh is very good at building/decorating and we had renovated a house years before. It was and is hell on earth, once ds came along it was impossible to find the time to do anything. 6 years on and it is still not finished and being a victorian house we have had lots of unanticipated problems with plumbing and sewers etc. I vow never to do it again! Putting your own stamp on a place is good though...

Is 1950 old now re houses?

I think of 1950's houses as old now, they tend to be quite traditional in design.

I've done four full renovations where everything had to be done. It is unbelievably hellish while it lasts and completely takes over your life but if you are interested in design and/or want more bang for your buck, it's the way to go. If you are having any doubts (and if your relationship is at all fragile), it might be best to walk away now. It will be very testing - things always go wrong, budgets really do always go up and stipulating a limited budget before you have really got stuck in if you haven't done it before is a bit chancy. Like childbirth it's all worth it when it's over but, my God, it hurts while you're in the middle of it.

Oh, it is so, so hard.

We did most of ours before ds arrived. After he had made his appearance it took three times as long to do anything.

Get a full schedule 2 survey and get recommendations for tradesmen.

Whatever you budget for, double it.
Same with time scale.

It is not for the faint hearted and you really need to think about how you will manage without hot water, heating, etc. As you say, it is easier in the warmer weather.

As for the toddler, we took things in turns or relied heavily on family!

You need to take a builder around with you and price everything up. For the time being whatever you do to the house you will not recoup should you sudden;y decide you hate it or can't afford it, so make sure you can finish what you start.

Personally I would go for a more finished house with a toddler, I wouldn't want to waste those years scraping wallpaper and cleaning dust after builders.

If you're wobbling about it then I would think you should maybe pull out now. It can REALLY test a relationship. It can be SOOOOO stressful. It's hell having a two year old wandering around in a house with wires poking out and power tools lying around. The dust is horrible. You can never truely relax. Tradesmen rip you off. Of course you do get to choose how the house looks, so in the end you have a house you've designed yourself, but by the time you get there you will have spent a LONG time being miserable. Life's too short. Don't bother with it.

It depends on what you want ultimately.

We lived in a modern house once and were miserable there with nothing to do.

We have always said we would never buy a house with proper corners in the skirting boards again!

Why not ask your RL friends and perhaps take one round it. They know you best.

tillyblue, you were miserable with nothing to do ??????

You fruit loop, how about living your life rather than redecorating the skirting boards, I have say you sound a bit sad (sorry if that's harsh but am really shocked).

I can see what Tilly means - I often think that we'll be bored once the house is 'finished'.

I'm now having serious thoughts about it all. I think that if it was really the house for us, I would be feeling much more positive and excited, instead of worried and unsure.

I've never done up a house myself, but my parents always did this, so I do know what it's like to live in utter chaos for months on end. But of course, that was different because I wasn't the one worrying about money and builders and god knows what else!

Thank you for all your feedback, though. I think this is something that my dh and I do want to do, but now is not the right time and this is perhaps not the right house.

You're probably doing the right thing. I had serious doubts about the house we're living in now. DH was very enthusiastic and I didn't want to "rain on his parade", but, like your parents, my dad was in the building trade and I had lived in various wrecks throughout my childhood. My DH didn't and also he is an accountant with no DIY skills so another reason for feeling worried. Also had an 8 yr old and 11 month old as well.

Anyway, 8 years down the line, now with 4 DC, the house still needs a lot of work and like I said in my previous post, unlikely to be finished for a while as we have run out of money (the kitchen is falling apart but I will have to live with it(already painted cupboards twice)). The house is in a good location and we got it for a very good price so in that respect it was worth it but, as I am primarily a SAHM, is does really get me down at times.

The right house always comes along