How long to prefect your house after buying?

Goldiegirl

Nothing is ever perfect and however long you've lived in a house you can always find something else to do.

Don't look for perfection, just think of it as an ongoing project for however long you live there. We still find things to do after 24 years here.

If you put a time limit on how long you've got to make it 'perfect', it's adding needless pressure. Just do things when you have to time and money

RupertTheCat

We bought our house 8 years ago and spent about £100k doing it up over 18 months. That included knocking down the world's worst kitchen extension and rebuilding, which alone took 6 months. And was no fun - dratted brick dust everywhere.

We really need to knock the loft down and rebuild that but the quote for it was £30k so that will have to wait.

And after 8 years, the place could really do with redecorating again so I'm not sure a property is ever perfect, it's more like an endless circle of work.

Bennifred

What made me smile was your point about the windows being "old wooden frames".
We've just had our "old wooden" windows (some still single glazed!! ) replaced with double- glazed hardwood. Some people prefer wood to uPVC even in this day and age...............

Dunroamin

Apart from slopping on some paint, it's always worth living in a house for a good few months before making any alterations. It's only when you've lived there for a while that you'll come to see what you really need to do and how best to do it.

WestonDave

We bought our current place 6 years ago - purchased (and priced!) in the knowledge that beneath the quick coat of paint and newish carpets in most rooms it was effectively a house stuck in the 1970's (think electrics, heating, kitchen, bathroom etc). However it was clean and liveable from day one.

So we've taken our time. The foundation stuff like new electrics and new heating system (entirely as we discovered that when we were working on the electrics some of the joints in the heating pipes just pulled apart!) was done in the first couple of years, but since then we've progressed things as money and time to research what we want has been available. Its always going to want decorating maintenance, but there is little point in my view in sticking a cheap quick kitchen in and then having to do it again 5 years later when its falling apart. (That said I did spend £100 on new doors and handles for the kitchen as the old doors were a shade of swamp green and beyond even short term tolerance! However having fitted them myself it cost virtually nothing and has bought us a few more years to decide how to sort out an awkward layout).

As said you also find out how you want to live in the house - we initially thought we might extend it but having lived in it a while we now feel its not worth the expense of building and then heating extra space when we don't really need it - if we could get tidy that is!

Angelicdevil

G_M wrote: »

A property that looks perfect when you view will not when youmove in.

There will be marks on the walls where the pictures were. You'll realise the carpets are worn unevenly, and are a different colour where the furniture was.

The paintwork will suddenly not look so good, and maybe you'll start questioning the colours.

But as you've paid top dollar for an 'immaculate' place, you'll have no cash left, and also be de-motivated from doing anything, so you'll live with it. For years. Not quite liking it all, but hey! it's not so bad that it has to be done.....

Far better to buy a place you know needs re-painting and new carpets. You'll get it cheaper, you'll throw some ££ at it, and quickly end up with a spanking new decor in a colour scheme you chose yourself.

G_M, so true!

I thought my first property looked immaculate on viewing. I viewed it three times with different sets of people.

Luckily I got it for an absolute steal because the day I moved in I saw it in all it's glory.

Every room has required re-decorating because of poor or mucky paintwork, it was unbearable. The kitchen is horrible but that will have to wait til next year.

Back to the OP, I thought it would take me c3 years to re-do my property but I'm almost there after just a year. Only the kitchen and hallway left to go now

Obviously if I had a bottomless pit of money I could have it all done now, but alas, that is not so.

lincroft1710

15 years since buying and still not quite finished. Garden is in its 7th (and final!!!) incarnation.

loracan1

lincroft1710 wrote: »

15 years since buying and still not quite finished. Garden is in its 7th (and final!!!) incarnation.

Nearly 21 here! I occasionally find old 'to-do' lists in the back of notebooks for jobs that have been done and need doing again.

Mojisola

The trouble is that by the time it's "perfect", the stuff you did first needs doing again.

lessonlearned

A house is a bit like the Forth Bridge. As soon as it's "finished" it's time to start again.

I also agree that apart from anything that is either unsafe or disgustingly filthy then it's better to just live in the house and get the feel of it. It's better to have a bit of "thinking time" before you undertake a major programme of works.

If you rush in with major structural works or even just a new kitchen you can make expensive mistakes. Better to see how the house works for you (or doesn't) before you get out the sledge-hammers.

A few gallons of emulsion and a thorough deep clean can work wonders. It will give you somewhere clean and fresh to live whilst you make any big decisions.