Does anybody do old-style house maintenance any more?

Mistral001

I have a 1950's house which still has quite a lot of external woodwork and metalwork despite having partial double-glazing (plastic window frames). Typically these gates/ downpipes doors and some window frames need painted every 5 or 6 years, but when I mention to friends that I have to paint my house, they almost snort and then go on to boast about how they have no maintenance to do. However, they probably have spent up to £10k replacing every piece of exterior wood and metal with plastic. It costs me about £50 in paint to paint my house, so over the course of about 20 years (the assumed life of plastic exposed to the weather) that is about £200 and I do not have to replace anything at the end of 20 years when the plastic has perished.


Admittedly I have to do the work myself, but even if I had to have painters to do the work, I cannot see how I would save money by trying to make my house so-called "maintenance-free".


Am I the only one that thinks traditional proper maintenance of houses is actually a good way of saving money?


Edit: £50 on paint might be a bit optimistic. £60-100 is perhaps more realistic.

good_advice

Yes, we have to have someone in to do DIY on our 1930's semi.
We have lived here 26 years and have updated alot.
New double glazed widows, CH, new roof with underfelt. New guttering and pipes.Lots of insulation.

The outside of house is painted every 2 years or so.

Floss

Another 1930's house here - although we have UPVC doors & windows, fascias & guttering (mainly because the cost was less than non-plastic replacements) the stone mullions on the front still need to be rubbed down & painted every 5 years or so.

We've also just spent a lot of £s on K-Rend rendering for the back of the house which faces west, and in Blackpool that means it gets 80% of the weather so the old bricks just weren't up to the job. The K-Rend means we won't have to paint it again in our lifetimes

However, there is still a lot of roof that needs checking every few years - the wind from the coast a mile away has a habit of lifting either flashings around the chimneys or slates just enough so they slip and reveal a tiny gap.

SailorSam

If i don't do all the jobs that need doing there's nobody else going to it.

Horace

I live in a 1950's house which had a new roof before I moved in. It had some double glazing but some needed to be replaced because whoever had bodged it before did not put lintels in. I had a new front window, kitchen window and front door, last year I had a new kitchen door (now the kitchen is warm and no longer draughty).

A painter and decorator was employed to strip the walls, put up lining paper and paint it all including the woodwork. The kitchen had bare walls to be painted. He came again to add putty to the shed window, to paint the window frame inside and out, paint the shed doors and the bit under the guttering.

I only have a drainpipe for my loo and sink - I have no drainpipe from my guttering as my neighbours have them (I am a mid terrace).

So whilst my house is old it has some new bits and some still old bits (like a pantry - I have kept the old door on the pantry as well as on the stair cupboard and the walk in cupboards upstairs).

Floss

Horace wrote: »

...
So whilst my house is old it has some new bits and some still old bits (like a pantry - I have kept the old door on the pantry as well as on the stair cupboard and the walk in cupboards upstairs).

We have kept all the original varnished panelled interior doors, including on the pantry /cupboard under stairs. The house next door has had all the doors replaced with modern ones, and has lost some character in doing so.

ERICS_MUM

Although I had new UPVC windows and back door installed I kept my wooden front door and elaborate surround and front step, they look so much better than the PVC doors neighbours have installed.

So my painting is confined to them and my garage door. A few years ago I paid someone to do it but the paint didn't last more than a year before it peeled and chipped off. It needs doing in spring and I plan to have a go myself.

I paint walls and woodwork indoors, even the stairwell. Time consuming but quite enjoyable and saves me hundreds of pounds.

thriftwizard

1900s household here, of "special architectural interest" although not actually listed, which means we can't replace wood with plastic, in practice. So OH soldiers on, painting bits here & there & hating every minute of it; he grew up in RAF quarters where you didn't dare do anything for yourself. I'd actually be perfectly happy to do it myself, & do do all the inside work, but he insists on doing the outside.

Every now & then he wonders out loud about getting the windows etc. "done" so I'll organise a quote; it's a biggish (but fairly ordinary) house and the sum mentioned is usually only slightly less than we paid for the house 22 years ago, as it has to be done in wood. So we continue to live with authentic Edwardian drafts & paint pots everywhere for another couple of years...

Heaven only knows why we have this "honour" as the house has been extended & otherwise monkeyed with many times over the last 100 years,and parts of it are in a very parlous state, but when we had to replace the old conservatory, the planning officers left us in no doubt that they were quite prepared to slap a grade 2 "listing " on us if we stepped out of line!

lessonlearned

I hate plastic windows and doors with a passion.

my next door neighbour had a pvc front door which was more trouble,than it was worth. It kept splitting and had to,replaced every couple of years or so. Apparently The damage was caused by the sun.

I retained our wooden front door, which was much nicer and I just gave it a fresh coat of paint every couple of years.

I mentioned it to my joiner and he confirmed that PVC has quite a limited,lifespan anyway, especially where it is exposed to the worst of the elements. I asked about FENSA guarantees and he just smiled......

So sort of defeats the object really.

It seems either you get out the paint pots out now and again, or you have to,replace the pvc after a while anyway........

I have always done regular household maintenance - my dear late 0H was useless at diy but I got to be quite good. I love doing it and I'm never happier than when I have a paint brush in my hand. Problem is my back is not so keen this days:rotfl:

Luckily Ive trained my sons well.

We make sure we check the house over before the winter to ensure that everything is ok and watertight. After a storm we pop up in the loft to make sure there is no,roof damage and when it rains heavily we just poke our head out the door to ensure the gutters are ok.

I open windows and air the house daily,

I know it all sounds a bit OCD but I think If you keep everything ship shape and check for leaks or damage on a regular basis you can spot little niggles before they become major and expensive problems.

Often an hour or so doing something like repacing worn sealants or cleaning out gutters can save hundreds if not thousands of £s.

kezlou

We tend to do the majority of our own and my fathers maintenance.
Its easier and for us cheaper.

Between myself and partner we can do pretty much anything, also means we can take our take and can any plans we have if they not suitable.

Linda32

OH does just about every DIY thing in the house.

We have had people in for double glazing, a boiler and carpets but thats about it.

He fixed something to do with the plumbing once that we had insurance to cover :rotfl: He didn't realise it was covered.