buying an old house, where is money best spent?

DanGerMus

So in in the process of buying a house built in the late 60s. No insulation double glaze aluminium windows, Central heating is an old gas air type with ducting. structurally sound.
so the question is where is money best spent first?
any advice on what grants are available?

rayjdav

Where is the money spent on old houses??
Dig a big hole in the garden and then proceed to throw all your cash into it....:D


Seriously, as you are only in process of buying, get an AT/Arch in for a visit and they can tell you level of upgrade required. You could easily spend as much again on this side of it so at least if your eyes are wide open before you sign, you won't get too much of a surprise when you have to do it.
Others here can give more info re grants etc.

riclad

Best to spend money on attic, window insulation , general insulation and rewiring .GET a full survey structural ,done to identify any problem area,s .
I think there s grants avaidable for general insulation, and installation
of solar water heating .
A good roof inspection is important,as theres bound to be broken,or missing tiles,
which will eventually result in leaks ,which can cause expensive damage to internal plaster, ceilings etc.

EPointer=Birdss

Looking at something similar myself.
Old house approx 2000 sq ft on real nice site.
I am mid architect selection & doing a survey shortly before moving ahead with anything.
My question is house is from looking at the house estimate restoration costs & would appreciate the thoughts of you guys. Im only asking for opinions & thoughts not hard facts as that will sort itself out over the next few weeks with builders etc

List of things I would like to do;
Change windows
Strip tiles, re lat & felt & slate
Re plump to decent spec with Solar, Oil, bb stove & radiators
Rewire
Kingspan external walls
All plaster works around windows & internal over kingspan

Optionals are stone front of house
Build on extension to side of house as new kitchen of approx 400sq ft.
Internal finish is a room by room approach

Would love genuine thoughts???

riclad

i,d rewire ,insulate, put in a modern heating system, and replace the windows first.Theres always loadsa pvc windows on adverts.ie ,buyand sell ,as good as new.
leave plastering, until rewire, heating system finished.
you are saving money ,from the day you put in new windows, on heating costs.

paddym3

riclad wrote: »

i,d rewire ,insulate, put in a modern heating system, and replace the windows first.Theres always loadsa pvc windows on adverts.ie ,buyand sell ,as good as new.
leave plastering, until rewire, heating system finished.
you are saving money ,from the day you put in new windows, on heating costs.

good advice. my two cent is seal house good ie windows insulation and full replumb. dont buy fancy oak doors buy a stove dont buy fancy tv buy new wiring. tv and doors can be replaced at any time wiring and heating akward to fit

DanGerMus

Thanks for the replies guys, ideally i'd like to install new windows and doors and get external insulation done.

What are the prices on external insulation at today? E100-E150 /m^2

I'm thinking of getting windows over from Poland as a friend would be able to help and the units are far cheaper and seem to be have much thicker panels. Problem then is installation but i'm sure i could get someone to help and figure it out. I'll price locally properly of course and weigh up the options/risks.

I hadn't even considered the wiring. I have someone that can help with that.
Plumbing will be done at cost by close family member in the trade.

Will have to get an engineer out to look at it now, offer has been accepted and finance approved, before i move on with signing contracts.

johnr1

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Looking at something similar myself.
Old house approx 2000 sq ft on real nice site.
I am mid architect selection & doing a survey shortly before moving ahead with anything.
My question is house is from looking at the house estimate restoration costs & would appreciate the thoughts of you guys. Im only asking for opinions & thoughts not hard facts as that will sort itself out over the next few weeks with builders etc

List of things I would like to do;
Change windows
Strip tiles, re lat & felt & slate
Re plump to decent spec with Solar, Oil, bb stove & radiators
Rewire
Kingspan external walls
All plaster works around windows & internal over kingspan

Optionals are stone front of house
Build on extension to side of house as new kitchen of approx 400sq ft.
Internal finish is a room by room approach

Would love genuine thoughts???

Not to be trite, but its too general in todays world. A few years ago you could roughly guess at renovation costs, and throw round numbers at stuff, but these days, its down to what the exact materials you want cost, and how much the tradesman wants the work.
Most of us in the trades jump at the chance to quote exactly for even work which 'might' be done, these days, and it'd cost you nothing to get your prices, apart from the time spent deciding on your spec.

EPointer=Birdss

johnr1 wrote: »

Not to be trite, but its too general in todays world. A few years ago you could roughly guess at renovation costs, and throw round numbers at stuff, but these days, its down to what the exact materials you want cost, and how much the tradesman wants the work.
Most of us in the trades jump at the chance to quote exactly for even work which 'might' be done, these days, and it'd cost you nothing to get your prices, apart from the time spent deciding on your spec.

See I fully get that & don't disagree with anything you said in theory.
Well bar throwing around prices in the good days as I don't see how it could be different. The difference maybe attitude by individuals overpricing even at qoute time which allowed for wiggle room when spec was defined. Now days manners have rightly been put on that approach.
The way I see it boards is a grouping of individuals with varying levels of skill & know how in various areas. If I wanted a definitive quote I'd be going the builder route for full BOM type quoting.
I personally work in medical device engineering & specifically auditing so being precise is a concept I fully get & will go to the experts as & when necessary.
I thought boards might be a good place to talk to lads in the know at a preliminary stage rather than wasting professionals time prematurely which would arm me to some level before dealing with auctioneers, builders, architects etc & I'd imagine a lot on here are in the same boat.
I take it lads on here are here for a chat & offer up their opinions like other forums I frequent & novices can pick their brains.
I have since spoke to a friend of a friend in the trades over a few pints who was great at helping me decipher & generate some sort of figures based on a house he recently worked on of similar nature. These married up with some PMs I got from here & other research which all combined has indeed armed me well & I'm learning exponentially as the days go by & the more people I engage with.
Generating a detailed spec for guys here to give estimates on may be more possible now but still way off & not really what I see myself using boards for to be honest...

Cheers - need any advice on orthopedic implants in the future give me a shout!

johnr1

Think you misunderstood my reference to throwing prices at things, - what I meant by that was that you (the client or an architect or surveyor) could say "seven grand for windows" and that if you were low by a grand, you'd probably be a grand or two high somewhere else. The builders who "threw prices" at things were usually the same guys who left shyte after them, then and now.

Also, I agree that boards is a place for kicking around ideas and definitely not the place for putting up a spec for people you've never met to price.

Precision in pricing is only possible though when you have even more precision in the spec, and then it still comes down to one guys opinion about how long something will take to do against another guy's.
There's no magic formula, and everyone's baseline costs aren't the same, so until a guy is actually prepared to put his money where his mouth is, and take on the job, his pricing is only his opinion, and not worth too much tbh.

1865

The definite things that have to be done are Rewiring, Insulation and Plumbing.

Rewiring is a definite, as is insulation. Plumbing/heating needs to be checked.

Get a good surveyor and specifically ask him to check for (as well as the usual stuff)
Woodworm,

best of luck.
Subsidence,
Asbestos - sheeting and old artex plaster
Lead paint
Lead pipes

Re where to spend the money, After you have done the safety stuff, insulation, inc replacing the aluminum windows , New external doors

Where you can save money: Leave the wallpaper and carpets as they will be back in fashion any day now! Actually unless you can do stuff yourself there isn't anywhere that you can save money but do the safety and moneysaving stuff first and if there is anything left you can spend it on redocaration etc.