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?

do not, do not, undertake something such as removing woodchip, and consequently plaster, and ceilings in hallway, and getting it replastered, and decorated, with a toddler and heavily pregnant.....

unspeakable mess. whole house needed cleaning through with toothbrush twice.

next time, we are renting before undertaking that kind of thing.

We finished our house renovation two weeks ago. We knew it needed work when we bought it (which is why we could afford it) but I would not do it again.

It looks fab now but the stress was not worth it. It definitely put a strain on my marriage and the kids suffered (aged 5 and 18 months when it started). And my own mental wellbeing definitely took a battering.

As someone else said, double the time you think it will take and the amount of money you think it will cost.

We saved up for 4 years to pay for work on the house and then..

We camped upstairs on the top floor for 6 months and cooked off a stove for one month.

We dug 170 tonnes of soil from the basement.

I lived with 5 hairy dirty men coming out of my bathroom at 7.30am.

The bath fell through the ceiling twice, and then the toilet.

We constantly ran out of money!

The electrician started a big fire in the kitchen and the kids and I were evacuated.

A rumour went round town that a body had been found in the cellar hence all the digging! So the builders for a joke on me cordoned off the area with police tape.

I was pg with ds throughout.

Dh worked away an awful lot during that time..hmmm?

I would do it all again tomorrow!!

I am so impressed that some of you did this WHILE PREGNANT!!!! I sat around eating chocolates while pg and still felt quite tired at the end of every day

I am now convinced that it has to be the RIGHT house, and this is obviously not it, even though on the face of it it's perfect.
I do not feel ready to turn my life upside down for a house that I am not "in love" with.

Also, while wandering around our flat last night, lighting candles and switching on the christmas lights, I realised that I am not "finished" with this place yet, it is still home to me.
So we shall withdraw our offer and wait until the right house comes along, at the right time.

Once again though, I am so impressed at how many of you have undertaken something like this (actually, all of them sound like much more work that this would have been). I think I would have given up at the point when the bath fell through the ceiling the first time, tillyblue

Rebelmulledwine72.

I think you will know when you find your dreamhouse I really do.
Maybe this is not it.

i know you will already know this but; when you walk round a doer-upper you should be able to see past the decrepid decor and forward to the possibilities, like dd would love this little bedroom, and what a fantastic sitting room this could be etc. it should fill you with excitement not dread.

You are being very sensible and not rushing into anything. Maybe more will come on the market in the New Year.
In the meantime, enjoy your Christmas in your home.

I agree totally, Tillyblue, and the fact that I was already worrying more than being excited and sort of oooooh about it all really did not bode well.

So, we have indeed withdrawn the offer. I hope somebody buys it who really does fall in love with the place and will turn it into a proper home for them and their family.

And I also hope you will all be having a good Christmas in your homes, whether old or new, finished or still a total wreck or somewhere in between

I second all of the above, rebel, I take it you have kids? If you do it is a very different ball game. I would not worry too much about taking on a wreck if it was just me and DH or if the kids were older teens but if you have very little ones - well, it is vvv hard.

Ah yes you have little ones - well - I spent months sleeping on the floor while heavily pregnant - so not fun!

We are just this week coming to the end of a complete renovation of a 1950's house. We moved in nearly 2 years ago and immediately had it rewired and the existing house and bathrooms renovated but left the kitchen. In July we had a large ground floor extension giving us a brand new 30ft kitchen and a utility room, converted our old kitchen into a playroom and converted the garage into a study. So, we have taken a 3 bed 2 reception room house into a 4 bed, 4 reception room house and moved from a galley kitchen to a massive kitchen diner.

The house was horrific and completely unlivable and we have ended up with a truly stunning open plan family home. However, I will not lie, it has been hell on earth made only bearable by fantastic if slow builders. It has cost us a small fortune, eaten almost every penny we have, do not underestimate extras. Our builders were excellent but we did not anticipate issues with neighbours tree roots meaning that we needed much deeper foundations which was very expensive and small things we decided to add as we went along, nothing huge but bits here and there really add up ie we had planned an open plan kitchen playroom but when we saw it it didn't work so had to pay to have a new wall and doors put in to link the rooms. but it's totally worth it and I do not regret it for a moment but it's seriously hard. I would do it again in an instant but only if I could rent somewhere else while the work was being done. We have not even started on our garden yet which is currently a mudbath with no fences patio or lawn, but all in good time.

You need to be sure that you not only have the money, but also the energy and the motivation, to do the work that's needed. We have bought two "doer-uppers" because they were the only houses we could afford (although we do like character properties). In both cases we didn't realise just how much doing-up needed doing. It's amazing how much can be hidden until you move in - surveys my arse.

Our problem is that I work full time, DH is not well AND has to look after a toddler. Neither he, nor I, have the energy to take on the house at evenings and weekends. So we are making very slow progress. Money is very limited (non-existent?) and everything depends on everything else, consequently not a lot is getting done. We have tiled the hall floor, but the adhesive won't set - we think because it's too cold - brrr. The lights downstairs failed when woodworm treatment was pumped under the floor upstairs - we can only assume this disturbed mouse-chewed cabling. Two electricians later and still no lights. Horrible storage heaters that cost us a fortunate, and we're fighting a losing battle against draughty, rotten single-glazed windows. The kitchen is in a ridiculous place, upstairs, with no hot water supply. And there's no safe drinking water - plumber who's supposed to be sorting out everyone's houses with grant money hasn't been in touch for weeks.

If there's a next time, I'm moving into a well-insulated, modern box. I swear.

Storage heaters costing a fortunate - lol. More like very unfortunate. I meant, of course, they cost a fortune.

Ah, I see you have withdrawn the offer. The right decision I think. If we had forseen the problems with this place I think we might have done the same, if we hadn't been desperate!

hmmmmm we are 8 months into this. i was hugely excited at the outset - we hadn't intended to buy a fixer-upper but when i saw it, and the garden, and the larder... we were totally sold. it's not even that bad - we had the rewiring done between exchange and completion and the roofing and windows fixed up (not replaced) once we were in. we are decorating it ourselves. we will need a new kitchen (and ideally an extension) and bathroom but must wait for a couple of years to get on top of the mortgage. i love it BUT i had a major panic attack lasting a month about 3 months in, after the honeymoon period was over. So i would completely support the view that if you're not absolutely sure it's the right place then stay put! I've been thinking increasingly wistfully about the lovely bathroom and kitchen in our old tiny, badly located house, and the insulation, and the financially secure spot we were in.