**This is a collaborative post**
With house prices so high, a lot of people are choosing to buy an older property and renovate it rather than buying a new build. As long as there isn’t any serious structural damage and you can do a lot of the cosmetic work yourself, it’s a good way to save yourself quite a bit of money on a new house. A lot of people just prefer older properties anyway because they have a bit more character than new builds which often tend to be built to a template layout and look very similar to one another. However, it’s not all good news when it comes to buying an older property because renovating it can be a big challenge and if you get it wrong, you could ruin the building. If you’re considering renovating an older property, here are a few important things to bear in mind.
Preserve The House
When you’re looking at houses, you’ll probably fall in love with some of the features in older properties. The hardwood flooring, the detailed ceiling cornices or the grand staircases that you find in period properties are what gives them their charm, so it’s essential that you preserve these features as much as you can. If you just strip everything out and replace it with modern decor, what’s the point in buying an older property in the first place. If you want to make some big changes to the house, it’s important that you find residential architects that specialize in period properties and does a lot of work in conservation areas. They will have a lot of experience in updating older properties while still maintaining and incorporating all of the original features.
Tackle Hazardous Materials
Modern building materials are a lot safer than they used to be and if you’re buying an older house, there’s a chance that there are some hazardous materials that you’ll need to deal with. Things like lead paint and asbestos are quite common and they can be incredibly dangerous. It’s important that you find out if there is anything you need to worry about and if there is, having it removed by professionals rather than trying to do it on your own. You can get home testing kits for lead paint but asbestos will need to be dealt with by a professional company.
Get Creative With Space
The room layout in older properties can be a bit strange. This is often because the houses would be split into sections for the family that lived there and then separate areas for staff. That means that you sometimes find a lot of smaller rooms and not as many big open spaces. That does mean that you’ll need to be a bit creative to maximise the space in your home. You may need to knock some walls through to create bigger rooms but you should also try to come up with different ways to use these awkward areas. Don’t think like you would in a modern home, think outside the box and find interesting ways to use the unique spaces in the home.
Renovating an old house is a big job to take on but if you get it right, you can create a beautiful home for your family.