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Can ******* do one! 🤨
That is all. I’m off to rummage behind the sofa for some desperately needed cash.
You'll be fine, from years watching Grand Designs they always manage to find another 100k seemingly out of nowhere.
Yep, for 3 years we rented a beautiful, but rough around the edges Semi built in about 1900, I even toyed with the idea of buying it... oh sweet Baby Jesus did we dodge a bullet. Our 70s 3 bed semi has thrown up a handful of unexpected £1000 bills since we started a mild renovation in Dec, but that old sod would was going to cost £50k to get it to "stable" according to our old neighbours, but double that if you wanted to modernise it.
It's an utter nightmare. I agree. I had no idea until I bought one.
1800s thatched, cob cottage here. Yeah it takes a bit of maintenance but after living in it for 20 years you get the hang of it, almost.
Tell me about it, main bit of house is from 1861. Had to re-roof it in Feb which was the end of my carefully curated pot of cash for a classic car plus sold my van to cover the gap in funds ! Between that and painting 200m of railings which needed stripped back, repointing a gable end and a never ending list of stuff i'd go for a sleek modernist house any day now !
G2* which we thankfully sold when we retired.
English heritage and local planning were a pain the arse so no double glazing, flat iron windows frames with leaded panes.
Thousand pounds to fill the oil tank twice a year for central heating and the Aga. £600 for wood for the stove which ran approx ten months of the year. Plus water and electric and the place was still dark and cold.
Our bedroom was the old chapel with three outside walls and a huge triple east facing pointy window.
Makes me shiver just remembering it. Freezing in winter boiling in summer.
We loved it but then we also like our 1970's redbrick house on a small estate by the sea.
My dad lives in an old house. He's pretty handy and can tackle almost any job...just as well as it's saved him £100'sk over the years. Alot of it is putting right dodgy jobs trades people have done in the past as everything is bespoke and jobs need some forward investigation, planning and thought because nothing is standard or as expected, which trades people are generally not willing to invest any time or effort in...they just want to get in, do as simple and straight forward a job as possible and get out which inevitably means cutting corners.
Every time you touch anything the job scale multiplies by multiple factors as you end up swapping out hundreds of years old stuff - old piping, old electrics etc. Also everything costs multiple times more as you need to preserve the character of the place and some of the traditional trades you need are getting thin on the ground and you have to scour the country sometimes to get someone who can still do certain traditional craftsman work. Looks nice and attractive from the outside, but is a constant and never ending project.
Kudos to those willing to take these projects on...would be a shame to see old buildings become derelict, always better to see them put to proper use, but not for me.
1890s terrace here. My current thinking is to fix it with a new house.
The last biggish job I considered was replacing the 1970s gas fire. Turns out the fire and back boiler are two cheeks of the same arse so I'd need a new boiler; changing the boiler would probably mean changing the rads; it's a one-pipe system so all the pipework would to be replaced; then I'd need to plaster and redecorate the entire house so I might as well get a rewire at the same time... and a couple of hundred quid job is suddenly ten grand and a shitload of work in a house I still have to live in.
The house a few doors up sold recently. Last time I walked past it {before the virus took hold} the front door was open and I could see straight through to the back yard, the new owners have taken it down to the bare brickwork throughout. Can't say as I'm totally shocked. I can't see them turning much of a profit on it though.
the new owners have taken it down to the bare brickwork throughout. Can’t say as I’m totally shocked. I can’t see them turning much of a profit on it though.
That's pretty much what every house in our old street did, it might have not even been the worst idea financially long term, you could never just pick something out of a catalogue because nothing would fit. None of the doors in our old house were even close to standard, or indeed the same as any other.
I knew we were never going to buy it when I walked up the street one day and realised that 3 of the 40ish houses in the street had scaffold on them, 2 additional ones had skips on their drive and seeing tradesman vans parked about the place was the absolute norm.
My friend bought farm cottage about 10 years back. Knowing it would probably need a bit of TLC he decided some pull some of the plaster off before moving his stuff in just to get get a look behind and get an idea of what would be in store.
A few months later I dropped by.... and he literally had four exterior walls. No roof, windows or floors, plumbing or electirciy and was living in a caravan next door to it.
Looks great now though.
I have never lived in anything less than 70yr old. The idea of buying a modern house just makes me want to die a little inside. small rooms, no nice timberwork, no character
Two 1810 weaver's cottages knocked in to one. Cold and dark with no loft, not a single straight wall or level floor and three interior door frames that are 1cm lower than I am. But it has character!
We love it.
1950 3 bed ex farmworkers cottage here.
Rewired and replumbed and replasrered when we moved in.
New bathroom last year and new kitchen as soon as we can get sparky and other required tradesmen in to get the rear dining room extension built.
Been here nearly 9 years
They don't build new houses in the locations I want to live(in my budget) .....ie not 300k+ and looking into my neighbours front garden with naff all private garden/parking for half a car. (Or 400k to sort all the above)
1900ish mid terrace sandstone bungalow, its far easier to keep than our last house, 1950s ex-LA.
It's about half the size right enough!, but garden is twice as big, and I like outside space, that garden has been a boon recently.
First house was 1890’s built, second 1930’s built and present house is 10yrs old. Definitely enjoying the lack of maintenance of the modern house rather than some of the surprises of the previous houses particularly the 1890’s one!
you could never just pick something out of a catalogue because nothing would fit
A mate of mine in a similar property once quipped that for doing DIY he needed to go and buy a Wrong Angle because there wasn't a right angle in the entire building.
1896 Detached storey and a half with a 1000m2 garden.
It’s been in a slowly improving state of managed neglect since at least 1967.
1920’s house for us - recently converted loft, inc new roof and rewired. Decorated extensively when we moved in (2012) and have had very few issues. It’s solid and has some lovely features. Most new builds I’ve been in are like a reverse tardis, e.g look spacious but are anything but. Also many seem pretty shonkily built.
Last place was 1800's (the original bit) with multiple floor and ceiling levels.
Owned it for 9 years and like to think we added to its improvement and preservation. I'm very much of the opinion you need to budget to own older places though, not expect to pop to Wickes when you fancy a spot of hefty DIY. Maybe I'll consider it again when I retire...
I work in old houses all the time. No way I'd want one unless money was absolutely no object. So many horror stories....
I have never lived in anything less than 70yr old. The idea of buying a modern house just makes me want to die a little inside. small rooms, no nice timberwork, no character
You're confusing a modern house with a developer built profit box.
1790 stone farm house. I threaten to sell it approximately every 3 weeks. It’s on a reprieve due to an oversize rambling draughty edifice being a pretty comfortable place to be locked down in. In the summer. I am not thinking about the winter.
I sold a London 1890s brick terraced house to buy it. Which was actually pretty easy to fix up. It lulled me into a false sense of security. Everything on the current house is ten times harder and I can hardly do anything on it myself. It’s built out of massive stones with a stone roof. Anything goes wrong and it needs someone with all the skills to work out what is broken and where to fix it.
I dream of a passive house with solar panels and a battery.
1870s house.
Re plastered throughout.
Electrics done.
Plumbing done.
New bathroom.
New kitchen.
Needs:
New windows.
New garden.
Re pointing
New roof.
Issues:
appears to constantly move.
Cracks appear.
Draughty.
Wonky. Really wonky.
Got a huge bulge in gable end.
I regret buying it. It's only small. We had two children not long after buying it and I haven't got the time to work at it until school starts again and what not.
On a positive note the garden is huge compared to a new build and the bedrooms aren't small because of unnecessary toilets.
Our house was only built in 1987 but in the 16 years we've lived here we've spent £120,000 putting it right, improving and refurbishing it. The day we moved in we pulled down the kitchen ceiling and for the first six months we camped in various rooms moving around behind the plasterer. It's beautiful now but we're building a new house in a much nicer, quieter place.
You’re confusing a modern house with a developer built profit box.
Which unless you're building it your self....your getting a developer built profit box.
I have never lived in anything less than 70yr old. The idea of buying a modern house just makes me want to die a little inside. small rooms, no nice timberwork, no character
Which as ever, goes to show we're all different. I'd far rather live in a new estate on the edge of town somewhere than a 3rd floor flat in the middle of a city.
Would that not make you just feel so "meh" everytime you saw it?
I have been looking at moving to a house but all those new builds - I just couldn't happily live in one!
1906 Victorian semi and I’ve hardly a diy bone in my body. Since we moved in we’ve decorated everything apart from the bathroom which remain. That, and a “handyman” list of gutter repairs, changing the bulb in an outside light, replacing the mancave windows, a plaster crack repair etc that was due to be done this year has been postponed by Coronavirus.
The worse one is that the children’s bedrooms were decorated by painting over the lining paper under some 1970s wallpaper. They need a fresh coat of paint (the only job I’m good at) which is easy but I’m worried it’s exaggerating the later need for skimming the rooms after removal of the paper, something I can’t even bear to think about.
No, not really TJ, I'm not a purist on stuff like that, it's just stuff tbh. We lived in a new build for 7 months (pregnancy changes circumstances!), was a 3 bed detached bungalow and I quite liked it tbh, I'd do it again.
A lot depends on the builder too, we have one locally, hope homes, who are building in Fisherton and Seamill at present, and they are stunning houses.
We're moving next week from a 1902 Edwardian detached that we've lived in for 27 years. The worst bit is the shonky 1980s rear extension that is built from thermally unstable blocks that means cracks aplenty; a cold uninsulated concrete floor, inadequate electrics.
We move out next week - we're having a modern, timber-frame house built in Scotland - triple glazed, air source heat pump, underfloor heating - hopefully it will see us out.
We live in a 1890's semi-detached. We drew up a list of everything that needed doing at the start of year - it was a very, very long list!! 🙂
But you'd never get me in a new build on a soul-less housing estate.
Long list and endless DIY for me anyday!
Would that not make you just feel so “meh” everytime you saw it?
No worse than 3 flights of stairs and no garden would .
Flat was fine when I was 21 and it was just a place to doss and being in town had its advantages . These daya I'll trade cutting grass and painting woodwork for the space and peace+quiet.
I'd certainly have something modern built if I walked into alot of cash or relocated to a cheaper area.... But off plans on a new build estate - that'll be if I end up with mobility issues - as nobeer says circumstances change ... Hell who'd have thought a private garden would be summer 2020s must have accessory .
Mine was built in 1914 and if I was to do it again i'd knock all the internals down and start afresh. It took about 20yrs to eradicate the lathe and plaster, if I wanted to rewire/relocte radiators half the house would have to be torn down etc etc..
I wouldn't trade it for a modern house though the "box" bedroom is 12 x 12 and the bathrooms bigger than most modern main bedrooms, also a large garden
1860's farmhouse, with much earlier bits. Wall are ok, roof is ok, so thankful for that. Have just got to unpick a century and a half of farmer make do and mend bodges and the last twenty years of pretty much neglect. Sigh.
Will be beautiful when it's done, just hope I can see it from debtors prison.
1890’s build here. I didn’t even think about the costs associated with it. I saw it, I fell in love, a few weeks later I moved in.
Now I’m in, Jesus it needs some money spending on it but then what home doesn’t?
1812 build here.
Brick built, of bricks assorted and quite random hardness and in some cases, size. Walls are definitely not cavity, and almost vertical. One of the less vertical is held up with a girt big iron bolt. Upstairs floors are disconcertingly bouncy. Roof has no detectable leaks.
Heating cost is a bit sharp but apart from that it's largely ok. Maybe we're lucky. We moved in after previous owner had a replumb and rewire done, so the facilities are of a standard gauge. Still, had to replace a load of pipework and rads and rebuild the airing cupboard pipe/pump arrangement before the CH worked properly.
We did have to replace the rotten staircase, that was 'interesting' when the plasterboard (which turned out to be holding it together) around it was removed.
"Mind you head" sign also required, it was built for midgets.
Late 19th century house, I've spent thousands on repairs, roof, chimney stack, cracked stone lintel and rubbish plumbing put in by cowboys when it was converted into a B&B, to say nothing of the swirly carpets and textured wallpaper in a style that Donald Trump would think is vulgar.
As it's likely I'm going to be in a wheelchair within the next 5 or 10 years, I alreday have diffciulty going up and down stairs, we are planning to find a plot and build a house to our own specifications, main bedroom downstairs and a lift to sitting room upstairs so we get the views, it's also an opportunity to build an eco house. I'm quite looking forward to the project and making sure everything is just right. Finding a plot and getting planning permission may take a lot of time.
Its the quality of the materials in an old house and the size of rooms. Mines a one bed flat but its bigger than a modern 3 bed and its got beautiful old wood and funny shaped corners. Sure its taken a lot of work to have decent insulation and modernish wiring and plumbing but its got soul in a way no modern building can
Location location location
1890’s build here. I didn’t even think about the costs associated with it. I saw it, I fell in love, a few weeks later I moved in.
Now I’m in, Jesus it needs some money spending on it but then what home doesn’t?
Newer ones 😉
Based off friends who did that new build thing .... After about 5 years the newness wore off and lots of maintainance revealed as many corners cut
Less structural more just shoddy work but none the less expensive
Our house was only built in 1987 but in the 16 years we’ve lived here we’ve spent £120,000 putting it right, improving and refurbishing it. The day we moved in we pulled down the kitchen ceiling and for the first six months we camped in various rooms moving around behind the plasterer. It’s beautiful now but we’re building a new house in a much nicer, quieter place.
The worst period for houses was post war 1950 through to mid 90's when building regs and standards started to improve things. A house built post 2000 will be small but well built. In the 1950 - 1990's period the technology improved but they just made them cheaper and ever smaller.
I'd argue certainly locally the 50s-mid 60s although the services are dated are solid.
From the 70s on to the mid 90s they seemed to be made from some kind of cardboard composite.
Even recent builds .... I rented what seemed like an expensive house on an estate on high Burnside Aviemore for the weekend...... Closing the front door made the whole house vibrate.
It's not really dependent on when it was built, rather who built it. There was a case recently of new builds in peebles that basically had zero cement in the mortar, canny recall the builder, but it was a biggie.
It’s not really dependent on when it was built, rather who built it.
Having said that.... the longer ago it was built then the less likely it'll have survived if it was poorly constructed.
In general, all the Victorian (or older) building that are still in use are usually the good quality ones.
Most of the shite ones didn't last the pace and will have been demolished.
My parents house is maybe 30s, bricks are made of compressed coal dust we think. You can push a biro through them! Mainly held together by the pebble dash as far as I can tell...
Ours is a Victorian Terrace, built to last with most original features intact bar the odd floor board which had rot.....
bricks are made of compressed coal dust we think
So, cinder blocks... Coal ash was everywhere, and used as a cheap, weak aggregate back in the day.
Pulverised fuel ash main ingredient if your house is built with thermalite probably half of England from '70s onwards , like grey aero bar . Maybe not so many now coal fired power stations have been retired
Well this thread prompted me to google “painting over lining paper”. And guess what, it’s all good so I might paint Juniors Bedroom this weekend.