Is it normal....

[dalivar]

...to start improving the garden before the house? We been in the house a few months and even though the days are longer now we can't seem to get started on any of the jobs inside the house! Its all a bit overwhelming and I don't know where to start. Did anyone else feel like this or did you all just move in with power tools and get on with it!?

 

[MatthewC]

...to start improving the garden before the house? We been in the house a few months and even though the days are longer now we can't seem to get started on any of the jobs inside the house! Its all a bit overwhelming and I don't know where to start. Did anyone else feel like this or did you all just move in with power tools and get on with it!?

If the house is "liveable" then yes, why not, if you want to? However, many of us had to identify the real priorities and get things going quickly (for instance, I was in a rented house with a date to move out). What jobs are you looking at? Major or minor? Is the house damp? Needs new kitchen/bathroom/plumbing/electrics? Will there soon be some domestic dis-harmony if some things don't get done?

I've got an idea - give us some pictures!

 

[dalivar]

I feel bad now since its actually quite liveable which really explains the lack of momentum! Its just nowhere near what we'd like it to look like which is mainly due to some low level dampness (its a stone end terrace) and us wanting to do things properly with limited funds.
I think our pressing job list is something like:

remove surrounding concrete (probably not too stressful but labour intensive)
lower ground levels (almost impossible? due to shallow drains ~ 12-18ins below surface)
remove dry lining installed by previous owner (should we wait until the concrete has been lifted? Or expose it now in case of further damage?)

All the jobs in the house require the dampness to be addressed as we are living with crumbly gypsum plaster and horrid plastic conduit with lots of exposed service cables (phone/house alarm etc) which need to be hidden in the wall. I know there's no point considering replastering with any material while damp is still a problem. And there's no point replacing our grimy carpets or thinking about details until the plastering has been done! I'm feeling stressed again now :|

I also sort of dread living in a building site so I'm not pushing anything much.
I need to bite the bullet don't I! :?

 

[Zebra]

Its all a bit overwhelming and I don't know where to start. Did anyone else feel like this or did you all just move in with power tools and get on with it!?

I feel totally overwhelmed, pretty much all the time! I also often put things off and hesitate on starting because I don't know what to do. However, I find that once I roll my sleeves up and start, even if my first start is a false one because I get it wrong first time, I get those mistakes out of the way, momentum gathers and things become much more satisfying.
I believe you have to get started on something before you start to enjoy it and get into it. And you don't have to know exactly how you are going to do it before you start, because you learn as you go along, and you change your mind as you go. So if I were you I'd get those hammers and chisels out! I'd get started on that concrete, the weather's nice and you don't have to do it all in one go. And when it gets dark you can go indoors and rip out that drylining. Once you get going you'll be away!
The garden, pah!!!

(I should make clear however that I've been living in a building site with a temporary bathroom and temporary kitchen for over six months.......)

 

[Moo]

It's a good idea to do some serious thinking about the garden as soon as possible if your plans will involve things like hedges or trees. Get them in asap and then forget about them while you get on with the house.
You don't want to end up like some friends of ours, who spent several years painstakingly restoring their house and were then most frustrated at the prospect of spending several more years waiting for the "bones" of their new garden to come to fruition.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

dalivar,

There's a lot to be said for living with the house as it is for a while, so that you can really think about possible changes and improvements - give yourself time to consider options rather than rushing into anything major. I wish that I'd taken more time with our early projects here, and done more homework on best practice for older buildings. Some things would have been done to a much better standard, and with more appropriate materials.

If you can see things that need doing on the garden then why not crack on with them? There'll be plenty of time later for work indoors.

I'd recommend investing some time in drawing up some plans for the house - this can be a paper exercise or using CAD if available. Recording dimensions will be useful when you come to estimating quantities for jobs, and the act of drawing out the spaces will help you to think about the use of space and the way the parts of the house relate to each other.

Read some good books on restoration. Visit other properties for inspiration. And keep reading here to improve you knowledge of the kinds of defect and remedies that others have encountered.

We tried to keep to a 'one room at a time' rule, which worked for a while. And it's really important to have some 'finishing off' bits to play with as well as the bulk messy work, even if it's just fitting new door furniture or making curtains.

Finally, keep a good photo record. When you're feeling a bit despairy it's good to look back and see what you've achieved!

 

[Zebra]

I'd agree with everything that Andrew said, very well said too. I'd agree crack on with whatever you can see that needs doing, whether it's indoors or out, and give yourself some time to think about and plan the rest.
But if you know that you're only planting those flowers in order to avoid breaking up the concrete, then surely the concrete must be faced!
Achieving something, however small, can help with making you feel like you're getting somewhere. And you need those little moments of "tadaaaa!" to help when it all feels like it's dragging on forever. Repairs can be done without making any major decisions, and yes, finishing something, anything, is a boost. (And then immediately you're mired in the next agonising problem!)
As far as the grimy carpet is concerned, it's surprising what you can learn to live with. My place is a complete mess, you'd think "You can't live like that!" and yet you can. It does get to me sometimes but not much. The more I feel like I'm achieving something and getting somewhere, the less the mess bothers me.
I was thinking of starting a thread on here on "hardships endured" because whatever deprivation you go through I'm sure there are those on here who have suffered worse! You just have to bear in mind that you are going to achieve something amazing and that all the effort will be worth it!

 

[Flyfisher]

Is it normal . . . . to what? Buy a wreck of a house and then spend years of discomfort and a pile of money turning it into a comfortable home? Of course it's not normal - we're all barking mad! :lol:

More seriously, I would add my general agreement to the previous posts, but I'd also offer my view that the setting of our homes are as important as the houses themselves. A leaking roof will lead to deterioration, so we fix it with some urgency. Similarly, an untended garden will also lead to deterioration of the setting for our homes. Ignore the outside while fixing up the inside for a few years and we'll just be faced with an almightly outside mess to deal with due to its inevitable deterioration.

So, even though we still have masses of work to do on our house, I'm careful to spend time tending to the garden. Not in a Capability Brown sort of way but certainly cutting the grass, trimming shrubs and trees, fixing gates and fences etc.

I think this is perfectly normal, but then who am I to judge - I'm as barking mad as other PPUKers.

 

[Zebra]

we're all barking mad! :lol:

It's so good to know I'm not alone....

 

[MdB]

we're all barking mad! :lol:

It's so good to know I'm not alone....

Surely you should bray and not bark.....

 

[LadyArowana]

Normal? why would you want to be "normal"? I can't imagine there would be much fun in that!

 

[Zebra]

we're all barking mad! :lol:

It's so good to know I'm not alone....

Surely you should bray and not bark.....

Indeed, barking is a sign of madness, as is interacting with humans over the internet.....

 

[skier-hughes]

(I should make clear however that I've been living in a building site with a temporary bathroom and temporary kitchen for over six months.......)

Only 6 months....... try 6 years which we did!!!!!

 

[robgil]

I did some of my jungle whilst doing the house , simply to have somewhere to escape to on nice sunny days.
It's far from done but it's now nice enough to sit in.

 

[Zebra]

(I should make clear however that I've been living in a building site with a temporary bathroom and temporary kitchen for over six months.......)

Only 6 months....... try 6 years which we did!!!!!

Ha ha, yes, I'm sure whatever deprivations and discomforts I put myself through there are those on here who can top it! Also funny how standards change over time. I was just thinking, when I first moved in I made the rule that the bedroom must stay clean, and I took my boots off upstairs. I used to lift the mattress onto its side and cover it whenever I was working upstairs, and hoover afterwards. Gradually over time I'd leave the bed where it was and cover it with a dustsheet, then I'd stop cleaning upafterwards, just peel back the dustsheet and get in. Now it's no dustsheet, boots and tools on the bed.....

 

[MdB]

We are only 3 years into our temporary kitchen. Mrs MdB isn't too pleased...

 

[MatthewC]

We are only 3 years into our temporary kitchen. Mrs MdB isn't too pleased...

Just had a thought - does "MdB" stand for "Must do Better"?

 

[MdB]

We are only 3 years into our temporary kitchen. Mrs MdB isn't too pleased...

Just had a thought - does "MdB" stand for "Must do Better"?

That would be fitting. :roll:

(It actually stands for Maddog B which originated in my climbing days)

 

[dalivar]

Thankyou, thankyou! Its so good to hear how others are managing, I feel much better now after hearing your stories though I sincerely hope that nothing we need to do would take 6 months (or years!) to finish though!
Just what I needed.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

The only way we can cope is to do one room a year - very perfectly, ( wiring, lighting, plaster repair, floor and window restoration, decoration, furnishing) and for all the other rooms to be beautifully clean and tidy throughout that process even in their old 1980s decor.

As for the grounds, they're still at the chainsaw stage and I can't redesign until another 50 or so trees are removed, the ponds and hedgerows will have to come later. (2020?!)

I miss my gardening girl who swept and cleared for three hours a week, but it was £30 a week not to mention the other costs in undoing disasters ( like the time she sold rotting eggs with chicks inside to one of my best customers) - so we had to part company.