Hello,
we are planning to purchase a single-family house.
Here are some details:
Year built: 1957
Living area: 130 m² (1400 sq ft) / basement
Plot size: 830 m² (0.2 acres)
Price: €85,000
Gas heating from 2005
Garage
Windows from 1980
Double-layer exterior walls
3-core wiring without RCD
Clay roof tiles / no insulation
That should be enough for now.
We really like the room layout.
- Upstairs, only a non-load-bearing wall needs to be removed to create a large bathroom.
- Downstairs, there is a guest toilet that also needs to be renovated.
- Inside, everything must be completely stripped out, meaning carpets and wallpaper.
- The subfloor consists of wooden floorboards that we want to sand and restore, at least in the living room.
- In the upper rooms, we plan to just repaint the floorboards for now.
- The windows need to be replaced.
- New kitchen (relocating connections)
- Blown-in insulation or ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system)
The electrical distribution panel dates from around 1980 and has 3-core wiring but no RCD. The question is whether to completely renew the electrical system while the walls are already open.
The pipes are galvanized and according to the realtor do not need to be replaced.
We have an inspection by a building surveyor scheduled for tomorrow, who will thoroughly check the entire house.
So far we have optimistically estimated renovation costs at around €70,000.
Basically, we have a shell and plan to rebuild everything internally.
What are your experiences with such renovations? What additional issues could arise that we might not have considered? Where can problems occur?
We have already agreed with the realtor that he will "hold" the house for us. We are happy to pay the costs for the surveyor because if everything is okay we get a good feeling. If the surveyor advises us against it, he will have saved us from a bad purchase. He should also give us an approximate idea of what costs to expect.
Do you have general experience with houses from the 1950s regarding structural condition or durability?
Best regards
we are planning to purchase a single-family house.
Here are some details:
Year built: 1957
Living area: 130 m² (1400 sq ft) / basement
Plot size: 830 m² (0.2 acres)
Price: €85,000
Gas heating from 2005
Garage
Windows from 1980
Double-layer exterior walls
3-core wiring without RCD
Clay roof tiles / no insulation
That should be enough for now.
We really like the room layout.
- Upstairs, only a non-load-bearing wall needs to be removed to create a large bathroom.
- Downstairs, there is a guest toilet that also needs to be renovated.
- Inside, everything must be completely stripped out, meaning carpets and wallpaper.
- The subfloor consists of wooden floorboards that we want to sand and restore, at least in the living room.
- In the upper rooms, we plan to just repaint the floorboards for now.
- The windows need to be replaced.
- New kitchen (relocating connections)
- Blown-in insulation or ETICS (external thermal insulation composite system)
The electrical distribution panel dates from around 1980 and has 3-core wiring but no RCD. The question is whether to completely renew the electrical system while the walls are already open.
The pipes are galvanized and according to the realtor do not need to be replaced.
We have an inspection by a building surveyor scheduled for tomorrow, who will thoroughly check the entire house.
So far we have optimistically estimated renovation costs at around €70,000.
Basically, we have a shell and plan to rebuild everything internally.
What are your experiences with such renovations? What additional issues could arise that we might not have considered? Where can problems occur?
We have already agreed with the realtor that he will "hold" the house for us. We are happy to pay the costs for the surveyor because if everything is okay we get a good feeling. If the surveyor advises us against it, he will have saved us from a bad purchase. He should also give us an approximate idea of what costs to expect.
Do you have general experience with houses from the 1950s regarding structural condition or durability?
Best regards
roadrun87 schrieb:
You don’t have to bring the whole house up to new-build standards.
That’s exactly what we thought as well. We wanted to “observe” the external insulation for at least one winter, and the roof too.
What definitely needs to be done immediately are the windows, bathroom, kitchen, floors, walls, and electrical system.
P
Peanuts7417 Aug 2016 14:14roadrun87 schrieb:
Regarding the roof:
You don’t have to bring the whole house up to new build standards.
You can save a lot here as well.
Remove the roofing yourself, have a roofer inspect the rafters and install the underlayment membrane, then reroof the house yourself. Possibly reusing the "old" tiles.I’m not sure how much standard concrete roof tiles for a roof this size cost, but I think I once saw an offer in a home improvement store advertisement where 130 m² (1400 sq ft) of Braas roof tiles were priced well under 10,000 euros. I wouldn’t want to put 60-year-old tiles back on the roof, only to have to put up the scaffolding again in three years and redo everything, especially if luck isn’t on my side...
R
roadrun8717 Aug 2016 15:31It’s always a question of how much you want to invest.
With my suggestion, the substructure is initially up to date.
That way, it won’t be a huge effort to replace the roof tiles in a few years if necessary.
Of course, it always depends on the condition of the current tiles.
In my case, the tiles are 37 years old and I will confidently put them back on the roof.
With my suggestion, the substructure is initially up to date.
That way, it won’t be a huge effort to replace the roof tiles in a few years if necessary.
Of course, it always depends on the condition of the current tiles.
In my case, the tiles are 37 years old and I will confidently put them back on the roof.
P
Peanuts7417 Aug 2016 15:42Then yours are almost only half as old!
Of course, you cannot really judge without having seen them.
However, assembling scaffolding is also very expensive, and I wouldn’t skimp on (I believe it was) 6-7k€ (approximately 6,600-7,700 USD), because whether you save money only becomes clear when it’s already too late.
Of course, you cannot really judge without having seen them.
However, assembling scaffolding is also very expensive, and I wouldn’t skimp on (I believe it was) 6-7k€ (approximately 6,600-7,700 USD), because whether you save money only becomes clear when it’s already too late.
K
Knallkörper17 Aug 2016 16:44Before we decided (and had the opportunity) to build a new house, we were close to purchasing a house from the 1960s with 190m² (2,045 sq ft) of living space.
The plan was: replace all windows, renovate two bathrooms, install a new kitchen, renew wastewater pipes, replace the roof, install new flooring, new radiators, update the electrical system, remove two or three walls, and just paint the facade.
At the end of the budget calculation, which already included some DIY work, the renovation costs totaled around 200,000 euros. Our bank advisor also mentioned that renovating an older building usually costs at least 1,000 euros per m². Later, it turned out that the basement was slightly damp and the chimney would have needed repairs as well. I am sure we would have discovered more issues, which would have pushed the final costs to around 250,000 euros, without having a truly new house. We only entered negotiations because of the good location and the plot; however, the house was supposedly bought by someone else at the asking price. That was a year ago. The family simply moved in there and are living in the house as they found it.
The plan was: replace all windows, renovate two bathrooms, install a new kitchen, renew wastewater pipes, replace the roof, install new flooring, new radiators, update the electrical system, remove two or three walls, and just paint the facade.
At the end of the budget calculation, which already included some DIY work, the renovation costs totaled around 200,000 euros. Our bank advisor also mentioned that renovating an older building usually costs at least 1,000 euros per m². Later, it turned out that the basement was slightly damp and the chimney would have needed repairs as well. I am sure we would have discovered more issues, which would have pushed the final costs to around 250,000 euros, without having a truly new house. We only entered negotiations because of the good location and the plot; however, the house was supposedly bought by someone else at the asking price. That was a year ago. The family simply moved in there and are living in the house as they found it.
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