Total refurbishment or rebuild

farawaygrass

Hi all, I inherited my grandparents old house and farm. The house is on the farm yard, a two-storey and built in the late 1890's. It is an old narrow stone built (plastered in the 60's) with an extension adding on to one end in the 1930's, that is made from concrete shuttered walls. It was my childhood dream to do it up and move in, as well as emotional ties, it would be very practical to live on the farm yard. I am really split between knocking it and rebuilding or doing up. I'm afraid if I do it up it will still be an old house and could be very costly. But as I said it was the dream. It would have to be knocked beck to the four walls too and everything redone. The downstairs ceiling are only 7ft 3 inches at the moment, which I would rise by 4 to 5 inches anyhow. I couldn't rise them much higher as the windows are low to the ground up stairs. Unless I rose the windows too but then I'd have to rise the sills so that could be a big job. I know I'm pointing out a lot of the problems but there is good potential too. Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice?

massey265

Hi farawaygrass, I was in the very same situation as you are a couple off years ago, even sounds like the exact same house on a farm, didn't know what to do toss or rebuild, was in a real dilemma over it all as I didn't didn't want to be the one to toss an old family home with so many story's but I just felt that I would be throwing good money after bad. Am in construction myself I decided to toss and rebuild the old part the very same from front elevation only higher ect, and added on a wing onto one end. I couldn't be happier wit my decision as I now have a very well spec house well insulated ect. With no worry off dampness and continuous up keep on an old building.

Freejin

farawaygrass wrote: »

Hi all, I inherited my grandparents old house and farm. The house is on the farm yard, a two-storey and built in the late 1890's. It is an old narrow stone built (plastered in the 60's) with an extension adding on to one end in the 1930's, that is made from concrete shuttered walls. It was my childhood dream to do it up and move in, as well as emotional ties, it would be very practical to live on the farm yard. I am really split between knocking it and rebuilding or doing up. I'm afraid if I do it up it will still be an old house and could be very costly. But as I said it was the dream. It would have to be knocked beck to the four walls too and everything redone. The downstairs ceiling are only 7ft 3 inches at the moment, which I would rise by 4 to 5 inches anyhow. I couldn't rise them much higher as the windows are low to the ground up stairs. Unless I rose the windows too but then I'd have to rise the sills so that could be a big job. I know I'm pointing out a lot of the problems but there is good potential too. Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice?

Was in a similar situation here, house wasn't near as old as yours though. A bungalow built in the 1960s, beside the yard where I'm farming. We were living in the house for a few years before we decided what to do. Built an extension,moved into that and then gutted and redid the old house before knocking the wall between both sides. A hell of a lot of work in it, but worth it in the end.

I'd get an architect to have a look and give you an opinion, especially when you're working with an existing building.

farawaygrass

massey265 wrote: »

Hi farawaygrass, I was in the very same situation as you are a couple off years ago, even sounds like the exact same house on a farm, didn't know what to do toss or rebuild, was in a real dilemma over it all as I didn't didn't want to be the one to toss an old family home with so many story's but I just felt that I would be throwing good money after bad. Am in construction myself I decided to toss and rebuild the old part the very same from front elevation only higher ect, and added on a wing onto one end. I couldn't be happier wit my decision as I now have a very well spec house well insulated ect. With no worry off dampness and continuous up keep on an old building.

Thanks very much for the reply. So from the front your house still looks the same but you built it all new? Cost is obviously an issue, and a couple of local builders told me it would cost as much to do up as build a new house.

farawaygrass

Freejin wrote: »

Was in a similar situation here, house wasn't near as old as yours though. A bungalow built in the 1960s, beside the yard where I'm farming. We were living in the house for a few years before we decided what to do. Built an extension,moved into that and then gutted and redid the old house before knocking the wall between both sides. A hell of a lot of work in it, but worth it in the end.

I'd get an architect to have a look and give you an opinion, especially when you're working with an existing building.

I had an engineer look at it and he said it's doable, but we seemed to have different ideas from the start! how long did all that work take and was it hard living in the extension while the work was going on?

Freejin

farawaygrass wrote: »

I had an engineer look at it and he said it's doable, but we seemed to have different ideas from the start! how long did all that work take and was it hard living in the extension while the work was going on?

About two and a half years, but we weren't in any major rush with it. The way it worked out we could get into the house from the road and any building traffic could access the back from the yard, and we didn't knock the wall between both sides until the real end, so there was no hardship from that point of view, probably explains why we were so slow at it.

massey265

farawaygrass wrote:

Thanks very much for the reply. So from the front your house still looks the same but you built it all new? Cost is obviously an issue, and a couple of local builders told me it would cost as much to do up as build a new house.

Yeah the front still looks the same just just higher and a extension on one end off it, yeah your local builder's are probably right as there does be a lot off unseen work making good an old house and still it's an old house, but you can make it comfortable to live in if it's done right.

BarneyMc

My gut reaction is to start new but build in a traditional way. Buildings have a natural lifespan and it seems like yours has reached it. You'll have a much better and comfortable building to live in. Just my thoughts.

Dudda

It depends on a number of items and it's near impossible to say without seeing the building, knowing the area and what local planners think. Without seeing the building I think it would be great to keep the original 1890's external stone walls and have a full height living, kitchen dining with new roof with possibly some rooflights. You could even create a mezzanine area for an office or childrens play area. I'd also look to create a new large picture window/sliding door and retain all the other small original windows. I'd also look at building a house within a house. You can build a new timber frame structure which would be airtight and fully insulated inside the original stone walls which would also support the roof. This way you could have a new modern house with modern comforts and full height living areas in an original 1890's family home. I'd probably build a new extension that would contain bedrooms, toilets, attached to the original house. Sounds like a fantastic opportunity to renovate it and no reason why it can't be a family home for another 130 years.