ᐅ Planning the Renovation / Refurbishment of a 20-Year-Old House
Created on: 19 Mar 2022 00:10
T
Trautes HeimT
Trautes Heim19 Mar 2022 00:10Hello everyone,
After being a silent reader for the past few months, I would now like to discuss our house renovation plan (possibly with some partial refurbishments) with you. The project isn’t very complex, but it doesn’t hurt to get other opinions—critical ones are welcome too 🙂
A few facts about the house:
- Detached house built around 2002, slightly above average standard and maintenance compared to other properties of the same age
- No major renovations since construction (i.e., gas heating, bathrooms, etc. are original; only floors/walls in some rooms have been replaced once)
- Underfloor heating throughout the entire ground floor (tiled) and parts of the upper floor (hallway and bathroom, both tiled); bedrooms on the upper floor (laminate flooring) have radiators, basement is unheated
Before moving in this summer, we would like to carry out the following renovations:
- Painting the entire house, wallpapering some rooms (idea: smooth fleece wallpaper)
- Replace flooring in the master bedroom (idea: engineered wood flooring)
- Replace interior doors
In the medium term (within the next ~5 years, partly quite soon), we expect the following to happen:
- Heating system replacement (gas again or heat pump)
- Redesign of outdoor areas (partly new fence, planting in the front and back gardens)
- Replacement of shower enclosure & fittings in the main bathroom
- Some basic smart home features (surveillance camera, window sensors, possibly manual roller shutters replaced by electric ones)
We would like to do part of the renovation ourselves (as academics, it feels good to create something ourselves, and it also saves some money), but we will probably hire professionals for most of the work rather than attempting it amateurishly.
Currently, we are talking to various tradespeople and friends for support and trying to coordinate the schedule as efficiently as possible. Our preferred order at the moment would roughly be:
1. Remove door frames*
2. Remove old textured wallpaper*
3. Wallpaper & paint (or 5.?)
4. Remove old flooring*
5. Install new flooring*
6. Install new doors (door frames & door leaves)
The items marked with * we might do ourselves. We haven’t done all of these ourselves yet, but none of these tasks seem too complicated to me, and we would have friends with more DIY experience helping us.
Some questions regarding this:
- Is there anything in these planned tasks that can be seriously messed up as long as we don’t do anything careless?
Of course, we wouldn’t use excessive force. As I understand, the new door frames should completely fill the old area anyway, the painter will probably have to fill and sand the walls before wallpapering with smooth fleece, and when removing the old floor, we would of course take care not to damage the walls (and vacuum well when cutting the flooring).
- Does this sequence make sense or would you do it differently?
If the new floor were installed before painting, the painter would have to tape off the bedrooms more thoroughly, but I’m not worried about getting dust on the walls while cutting the flooring.
Also, I wonder if it would make sense to add as steps 0–2 (starting with early floor removal) to mill underfloor heating into the screed in the bedrooms. Currently, our plan is to keep the radiators in the bedrooms. In the master bedroom, it might be possible to operate radiators with a low flow temperature (heat pump), as we currently only heat the bedroom on the coldest winter days at a low setting. However, I am somewhat skeptical about whether this will be warm enough in the children’s rooms, since the kids, especially as teenagers, will spend quite a lot of time there.
Until two months ago, I would have thought replacing the gas heating system would be cheaper over 20 years (also due to Nord Stream II). Nowadays, I rather think the opposite. Since the system is still running (energy consumption is about 90 kWh/m²a), we can postpone the decision, but currently, both politically and from a conscience perspective, a heat pump seems more likely. In that case, it might be worthwhile to have the whole house switched to underfloor heating. What do you think?
Thank you very much for your feedback!
After being a silent reader for the past few months, I would now like to discuss our house renovation plan (possibly with some partial refurbishments) with you. The project isn’t very complex, but it doesn’t hurt to get other opinions—critical ones are welcome too 🙂
A few facts about the house:
- Detached house built around 2002, slightly above average standard and maintenance compared to other properties of the same age
- No major renovations since construction (i.e., gas heating, bathrooms, etc. are original; only floors/walls in some rooms have been replaced once)
- Underfloor heating throughout the entire ground floor (tiled) and parts of the upper floor (hallway and bathroom, both tiled); bedrooms on the upper floor (laminate flooring) have radiators, basement is unheated
Before moving in this summer, we would like to carry out the following renovations:
- Painting the entire house, wallpapering some rooms (idea: smooth fleece wallpaper)
- Replace flooring in the master bedroom (idea: engineered wood flooring)
- Replace interior doors
In the medium term (within the next ~5 years, partly quite soon), we expect the following to happen:
- Heating system replacement (gas again or heat pump)
- Redesign of outdoor areas (partly new fence, planting in the front and back gardens)
- Replacement of shower enclosure & fittings in the main bathroom
- Some basic smart home features (surveillance camera, window sensors, possibly manual roller shutters replaced by electric ones)
We would like to do part of the renovation ourselves (as academics, it feels good to create something ourselves, and it also saves some money), but we will probably hire professionals for most of the work rather than attempting it amateurishly.
Currently, we are talking to various tradespeople and friends for support and trying to coordinate the schedule as efficiently as possible. Our preferred order at the moment would roughly be:
1. Remove door frames*
2. Remove old textured wallpaper*
3. Wallpaper & paint (or 5.?)
4. Remove old flooring*
5. Install new flooring*
6. Install new doors (door frames & door leaves)
The items marked with * we might do ourselves. We haven’t done all of these ourselves yet, but none of these tasks seem too complicated to me, and we would have friends with more DIY experience helping us.
Some questions regarding this:
- Is there anything in these planned tasks that can be seriously messed up as long as we don’t do anything careless?
Of course, we wouldn’t use excessive force. As I understand, the new door frames should completely fill the old area anyway, the painter will probably have to fill and sand the walls before wallpapering with smooth fleece, and when removing the old floor, we would of course take care not to damage the walls (and vacuum well when cutting the flooring).
- Does this sequence make sense or would you do it differently?
If the new floor were installed before painting, the painter would have to tape off the bedrooms more thoroughly, but I’m not worried about getting dust on the walls while cutting the flooring.
Also, I wonder if it would make sense to add as steps 0–2 (starting with early floor removal) to mill underfloor heating into the screed in the bedrooms. Currently, our plan is to keep the radiators in the bedrooms. In the master bedroom, it might be possible to operate radiators with a low flow temperature (heat pump), as we currently only heat the bedroom on the coldest winter days at a low setting. However, I am somewhat skeptical about whether this will be warm enough in the children’s rooms, since the kids, especially as teenagers, will spend quite a lot of time there.
Until two months ago, I would have thought replacing the gas heating system would be cheaper over 20 years (also due to Nord Stream II). Nowadays, I rather think the opposite. Since the system is still running (energy consumption is about 90 kWh/m²a), we can postpone the decision, but currently, both politically and from a conscience perspective, a heat pump seems more likely. In that case, it might be worthwhile to have the whole house switched to underfloor heating. What do you think?
Thank you very much for your feedback!
You can handle the small details at the top however you like. There’s nothing really important there.
Regarding the heat pump, 90 kWh is definitely not sufficient. For 167 sqm (1,798 sq ft), you would need about 15,000 kWh just for heating, excluding domestic hot water. With a COP of 3 (which you first need to achieve given this level of insulation and the required supply temperature), you would end up with around 5,000 kWh * €0.38 = €1,900 per year for heating. Keep in mind, that’s still without hot water. This is about €800 less annually compared to the currently high gas prices, but you would also have the investment cost of retrofitting underfloor heating everywhere. I believe that money could be better spent on something more useful (like photovoltaics?).
On the topic of heating: Even a bedroom should be heated continuously so it doesn’t cool down excessively. Temperatures below 16°C (61°F) are not recommended and can potentially cause mold due to condensation.
Regarding the heat pump, 90 kWh is definitely not sufficient. For 167 sqm (1,798 sq ft), you would need about 15,000 kWh just for heating, excluding domestic hot water. With a COP of 3 (which you first need to achieve given this level of insulation and the required supply temperature), you would end up with around 5,000 kWh * €0.38 = €1,900 per year for heating. Keep in mind, that’s still without hot water. This is about €800 less annually compared to the currently high gas prices, but you would also have the investment cost of retrofitting underfloor heating everywhere. I believe that money could be better spent on something more useful (like photovoltaics?).
On the topic of heating: Even a bedroom should be heated continuously so it doesn’t cool down excessively. Temperatures below 16°C (61°F) are not recommended and can potentially cause mold due to condensation.
Good morning 🙂
A property that is 20 years old isn’t really considered old, so a major renovation usually isn’t necessary yet. Why do you want to replace the doors including the frames already? Are they no longer in good condition, or do you just not like them? Given the current prices, I probably wouldn’t replace them right now.
Otherwise, for click-lock parquet flooring, I would first paint and then install the floor.
Best regards
A property that is 20 years old isn’t really considered old, so a major renovation usually isn’t necessary yet. Why do you want to replace the doors including the frames already? Are they no longer in good condition, or do you just not like them? Given the current prices, I probably wouldn’t replace them right now.
Otherwise, for click-lock parquet flooring, I would first paint and then install the floor.
Best regards
T
Trautes Heim19 Mar 2022 10:00Thank you all for your replies!
I just checked the energy certificate from the previous owners again: Pure heating amounts to about 77 kWh, hot water about 17 kWh. My assumption was that a newer gas heating system is somewhat more efficient (unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what is currently installed) and therefore the consumption might be slightly less (~10%). Also, I assumed that with continuous underfloor heating, the supply temperature can be lower than currently and thus the energy consumption would drop a bit more (~5%), whether with a gas condensing boiler or a heat pump. At a “normal” gas price of about €0.07/kWh, despite all CO2 pricing discussions, I would have generally considered the gas supply cheaper.
By the way, photovoltaics is a good topic: I’m also planning that for the next few years — I just forgot to include it in yesterday’s list.
We mainly don’t like the wood look of the doors. The frames are also partly not in great shape. This was originally something we were going to address in the coming years (or we had thought about simply painting everything white instead of replacing the doors), but we’d rather get it done now and have it look nice. However, we are still waiting for quotes from two door companies.
SoL schrieb:
Regarding the heat pump, with 90 kWh you're obviously not doing well. With 167 sqm (1,797 sqft), that amounts to 15,000 kWh just for heating without hot water. With a COP of 3 (which you still need to achieve with this insulation and the required supply temperature), you would be at 5,000 kWh * €0.38 = €1,900/year for heating. Note that this is still without hot water. This is about €800 per year less than with the currently crazy gas prices, but you would also have the investment cost to retrofit underfloor heating everywhere. I think there are more sensible ways to use that money (like photovoltaics?).
On the topic of heating: Bedrooms should also be heated continuously so they don’t cool down. Anything below 16°C (61°F) is not recommended and can even cause mold due to condensation.
I just checked the energy certificate from the previous owners again: Pure heating amounts to about 77 kWh, hot water about 17 kWh. My assumption was that a newer gas heating system is somewhat more efficient (unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what is currently installed) and therefore the consumption might be slightly less (~10%). Also, I assumed that with continuous underfloor heating, the supply temperature can be lower than currently and thus the energy consumption would drop a bit more (~5%), whether with a gas condensing boiler or a heat pump. At a “normal” gas price of about €0.07/kWh, despite all CO2 pricing discussions, I would have generally considered the gas supply cheaper.
By the way, photovoltaics is a good topic: I’m also planning that for the next few years — I just forgot to include it in yesterday’s list.
Ysop*** schrieb:
Good morning 🙂
20 years is still quite young for a property, so a major renovation isn’t really due yet. Why do you want to replace the doors including the frames already? Are they no longer in good condition or do you just not like them? Given current prices, I probably wouldn’t replace them right now.
Otherwise, if it’s click-lock parquet flooring, I would paint first and then install the floor.
Best regards
We mainly don’t like the wood look of the doors. The frames are also partly not in great shape. This was originally something we were going to address in the coming years (or we had thought about simply painting everything white instead of replacing the doors), but we’d rather get it done now and have it look nice. However, we are still waiting for quotes from two door companies.
Trautes Heim schrieb:
We especially don’t like the wood look of the doors. The door frames are also starting to look a bit worn in places. This was originally an issue for us to address in the coming years (we had also considered painting everything white instead of replacing the doors), but we decided to take care of it now to have it look nice. However, we are still waiting for quotes from two door companies. You could also use the forum search, just as an example... then you’d see that @HubiTrubi40 faced a similar decision not long ago 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Similar topics