Purchasing a used home can be a highly dangerous escapade. As the famous proverb says, love is blind Indeed, having a new love toward the old house, some aspects of the house and of its small and large characteristics may not be seen. Knowing of this, as well as the renovations and the money we have to spend, will help avoid many difficult situations.
That is why today we want to learn the strengths and weaknesses of purchasing old house, and provides you advice to help you avoid making a mistake of having our house of our dreams turn into a nightmare.
1. The state
The first tip is rather straightforward what is the current state of the house? Will it need renovation? And if so, what kind of renovation, repairing, and alteration? From the outside it is possible to understand its condition, but it is necessary to be careful and not to be deceived by the external attractiveness and to conduct a preliminary check. It is also important to listen to our inner voice– if something looks or feels suspicious or off –check it out-because it is more than likely not right.
Thus, it is necessary to be rather detailed-oriented when it comes to the house either to get rid of it or to finally buy. If we go head the first thing that should pass in our minds is the amount of money which we are willing to put in it, the type of reform that we are willing to undertake as well as the professionals that are required. The picture is that of an old house that appears to have been remodeled in one way or another.
2. The roofs
The entire roof replacement is considered to be one of the costly exercises in a home improvement project in addition to being one of the most inconveniences since people cannot live in the building during its construction. While completing this task, it will be more appropriate to look for an expert capable of estimating the value of the previous roof and attempt to reuse the resources avaliable in the house.
If we have bought an old house it is for a reason and therefore as much as we would like to modify and refit we should never undue it’s previous form. Where there are wooden beams that can be used, do not discard them because irrespective of the modern touch that one may want to give the house later, the beams will look good.
3. The facilities
This is a very important point to consider when buying an old house or renovating it: the status of electrical and water in its installation. As for the pipes, if it has never undergone any upgrades, then it means new pipes have to be installed.
If they are really old, we will have to use copper and steel pipes which are again not fit for new materials. Such type of pipe is vulnerable to erosion and build up of minerals on the inner walls of the pipe. An assessment should be done on the existing pipe system as to the quality and expected useful life before buying the house.
4. The foundations
Most of the times older homes do not have concrete or cement foundations like a majority of homes being constructed today. Some, depending on the region, design their houses with hard natural materials like slate or limestone.
However, these stronger traditional materials also have their timespan up to which they can be used. The first that you can try to look for is the cracks since they present a significant area of weakness and could cause other unwanted incidents.
5. The possibilities
If after a critical evaluation, we decide to build a house, or whether it requires major overhauls or a mere sprucing up, once the more serious aspects of the constructional work is out of the way, comes the lighter aspects of the job. Interior design of an old house can present to us many opportunities.
The first one is to make an interesting interplay between the new and the old elements that are inherent in the aspects under discussion. Since your house is traditional, inherent tradition must be apparent to everyone. But that is not saying that one has to let go of comfort. Thus, achieving some balance is going to be crucial.