The joys of buying an old house

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Petal

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I'm having a really bad day today, so I need to rant!
I wanted to stay in the city and I didn't want to end up with noise from neighbour troubles in a new house, you read so much about, so I thought I buy an old house... I knew work would have to be done, but I am exhausted from renovating, organising, getting tradesmen in and never getting anywhere because of all these unexpected troubles. And I'm not extending or anything, just normal things like getting floor in, stripping wallpaper, connecting new washing machine.... I feel I was better off renting. I had to pay a ridiculous amount of stamp duty, which wiped out all my savings so now we can't afford a holiday or any luxuries as all the money is going into the house. I feel overwhelmed and I wonder was it really worth it!
 
When I was looking at houses in my price range a few years back the one thought that kept coming back to me was that the houses had reached the end of their economic lives and people were hoping to sell on properties they had neglected for the last thirty years to unsuspecting gullible punters.
This brought home to me the fact that I was in a sellers market, thankfully the tide is turning.
 
Petal said:
I knew work would have to be done, but I am exhausted from renovating, organising, getting tradesmen in and never getting anywhere because of all these unexpected troubles. And I'm not extending or anything, just normal things like getting floor in, stripping wallpaper, connecting new washing machine.... I feel I was better off renting. I had to pay a ridiculous amount of stamp duty, which wiped out all my savings so now we can't afford a holiday or any luxuries as all the money is going into the house. I feel overwhelmed and I wonder was it really worth it!
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If you're feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, of course you're a bit down and are asking yourself if it was all worth it.

Think of it as a temporary situation - the renovation is not going to go on forever and soon you'll have a nice, comfortable home to live in and be proud of.

When we renovated our first home and lived in dust and dirt for about 6 months, we made a list of all the things that had to be done and hung it on the kitchen wall. We crossed off each item as it was completed, which gave us a sense of achievement and we could see that, although we were also exhausted and overwhelmed working full-time, progress was being made.

We also took little breaks from it - took the odd weekend off did nothing and went off to the country - that way we couldn tackle it with renewed vigour when we came back.

So don't despair, it'll come good in the end. :)
 
Of course you're overwhelmed, what do you think you are.....abnormal or something!!!;) It's very stressful trying to organise builders, painters etc. On top of that you're probably doing a lot of work yourself. It will be worth it though and one day you'll be able to sit back and admire your handy work. One of the big benefits of an older house, is the space. You can't swing a cat in most new houses!:D
 
Petal said:
I feel overwhelmed and I wonder was it really worth it!
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Like others have said you definitely sound exhausted and need a break. Sometimes we can get too caught up in our workload and feel everything must be done now rather than later. This enthusiasm can have a very draining effect on energy levels so you appear to need some 'me' time. Even if it were only one 'duvet day' then it might help a lot.

I find making a list of work outstanding can nearly lighten the load. It might never get done but at least its on the list :)
 
Its a tough and draining time throughout , however trust me the satisfaction will come and it'll feel so worthwile-aint easy but nothing fruitful is
 
Im in the same boat and have everyone collecting those tokens from supervalue for weekend breaks for 200e i'm that flat broke with the house!

Look around you and think would I really swop this for a house in the sticks made from modified cardboard where I can hear people conversing (and more) through the walls??? If you will then move!
Good luck with the wallpaper, I don't envy you.
 
I'm in the same boat too! Our bedroom, bathroom and sitting room have been out of action for about 5 months!! It's a bit of a nightmare. The worst bit and the biggest delay for us has been trying to get tradesmen. We had one guy lined up to put in built-in wardrobes. He seemed really good when he came out to the house, gave us lots of ideas and promised us a quote including drawings within a week. Three weeks later (last Friday) and several phone calls later, we left a message on his phone that if we didn't have the quote by today we'd presume he didn't want the work. Have heard nothing yet!!
Nevermind the two tilers who promised phone calls and call-outs but never appeared!
 
I too am in the same boat, we are living in two rooms at the moment, bedroom and sitting room, bathroom is being built as we speak but we are doing a lot of the work ourselves at weekends and evenings and it is taking forever - I can't remember the last time I had clean clothes to wear, I am constantly covered in either plaster or cement or just dust. We spent all weekend making living quarters for the dogs in the stables so at least they are sorted out! As for us - I'm getting cabin fever and have taken to disappearing to my parent's house for a bath and a decent meal before coming home to our freezing, dirty home! (heating was working when we bought house - has since packed up) I keep telling myself at least it's ours and we will get there eventually. Thank god for the gym - at least I can get away for an hour here and there and not have to talk about feckin plaster and plumbers and drill bits - most importantly I can have a shower ;)

I must say it's reassuring to hear about other people's hardships as well :p
 
We went thorugh this over the Summer.

The house was built in the late 1960s and we've owned it for 6 years. We planned a set of iprovements and quickly realised that when you start to open up a house of this age, a whole load of other issues reveal themselves. Tjhe building work changed from being home improvement to giving the house the equivalent of an NCT and fixing the defects.

We're though it now and it is worth the grief.
 
Thanks guys for all the sympathy. I know it'll be worth it in the end. It's good to read I'm not the only one who goes a bit mental with all this!
 
have this tee shirt, prob. would have worked out the same to buy a finished house but I never would have learned the life lessons from doing up your own place, just take a deep breath
 
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