An old brick house with trees in the background

Where Do You Start When Renovating An Old Property?

December 7, 2017

With house prices at an all-time high, getting on the property ladder for the first time is a real struggle. Buying a brand new house is all good, but it’s just not financially viable for most first time buyers. You’ve got two options in this situation, you can save for years until you can finally afford that brand new home, or you could buy an older house that needs work and do it up yourself. It’ll be far more affordable to buy an older home but it’s going to take a lot of care and attention to bring it up to scratch. The other benefit is that older homes often have a lot more character than new builds which tend to be built to a very standard design and look very similar to one another. If you think that buying and renovating an older property might be the best option for you, here are some great tips to get you started on the renovation.

An old brick house with trees in the background

Water Damage

This is probably the biggest challenge that you’ll face when you’re renovating an older property and it can cause you some serious problems if you don’t sort it out. When you’re looking at places to buy, be vigilant. If there seems to be a serious problem with damp and mould, don’t buy it. It’ll be too costly to repair and you won’t be saving any money. Even when you buy a property that doesn’t have existing water damage, it’s always a danger. As soon as you move in, get yourself a plastering machine from somewhere like https://www.plasterers1stopshop.co.uk/machines-c-206 and replaster all of the walls. That way you can protect against any water seeping through in the future. It’s also worth doing because the plaster is likely to be pretty damaged anyway.

Make sure you have a surveyor check out all of the plumbing before you put an offer in as well to make sure that there are no leaks anywhere.

The Roof

Water damage is often caused by rainwater seeping through the roof. Over the years, a lot of these properties have sustained damage to the roof. As well as rainwater coming in, it’ll also make it harder to keep the house heated if you’ve got holes in the roof and you might even get pests coming in. Fixing up the roof is one of the first jobs you should do when you move in. Visit http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/exterior/how-to-repair-a-damaged-roof for a good step by step guide on repairing holes and retiling the roof.

Windows

A building with a green door

The windows are another problem area in old houses but you’ve got to be careful about how you maintain them because they’re also one of the most unique features. Old wooden windows often let a draft in and make the house colder so you need to do something about it. But if you just replace them with PVC ones, the house will look awful. It’ll take a bit of time but you can use filler to fix any small holes and repaint the windows so you can keep the cold out while maintaining the traditional aesthetic of the house.

Once you’ve made all of these repairs, you can get to decorating the house and making it look good.

A sign above a door


Photo Credit: Mark Tegethoff

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