How finished is your house?

[Hedge]

We used to rent a relatively new property with nicely skimmed walls, new doors, floors, kitchen and bathroom etc. Everything was pretty tidy and it was a relaxing living experience.

We then bought a 1930s semi and I started a bunch of jobs and left half finished. Then we had a child and she became our priority.

Now our house is perfectly livable but its been about 4 years of jobs on and off. Money spent left right and centre.

I love the place but damn is it disjointed .

How do you find your house?

 

[Bickaxe]

Similar. We were renting and doing the place up at the same time. Landlord asked if we would be willing to leave 3 months early so a lot of planned house jobs never got finished as I only had enough time to get the house up to basic standards.

Moved in nearly 4 years ago and not really touched it since as our work and social lives took over.

 

[Jimmeh]

We own an 18th century farm house and it’s like the Forth Bridge. By the time we’ve ‘finished’ it’ll be time to redecorate again, or there will be something that needs repairing.
Love it, but it’s a money pit.

 

[tonys]

Been in our house 32 years and still not really finished one room properly, working, looking after in-laws, parents, injuries, putting right a builders slipshod workmanship, a dog, son and partner leaving home when he's 33, daughter and her partner moving back in with the granddaughter and moving out again and now age. I have managed to get somethings done as I have retired early.

 

[roboamigo]

We were lucky enough to be living with parents when we did our first house up, so finished everything bar a couple of socket faceplates before we moved in. 4 years later, these sockets were still outstanding when we moved to our current house!

It is much harder to do things when you are living there but we are working through room-by-room and when we moved in we spent a week painting everywhere and cleaning to make it nicer to live in. Currently working to add more sockets as one per-room was very difficult to live with! I would just say to prioritise and do things as you are able to!

 

[norm]

There has to be a sweet spot for owning a new build property and selling it on to buy another new build before any major redecorating is required, having gained on the sale price (assuming the market has grown in your favour) for little to no investment in maintenance.

Having said that buying a new build nowadays can be a minefield in itself with potential snags and problems.

 

[fobose]

My first house was an early 90's dump. Graffiti (glossed red/black) on one of the bedroom walls (altho under flaky wall paper that I removed), bathroom a real eye sore, kitchen falling apart etc. I mostly sorted it out before my wife finished uni and moved in and got 5 enjoyable years out of it after that.

Our new house I did not want another complete fixer upper so we looked at something newer without as much work needing doing (we were planning to have kids soon). However, although the main house looked in good condition (I am OCD, so I'd say it was about 70% of my standard), I've found myself a lot of jobs to make it my own. I needed to gloss all my lounge / hall way after I removed skirting/architrave to run network cables and then lay down wood floor. Now the rest of the wood work in my house looks a bit rubbish. I can't quite bring my self around to starting on it yet.

 

[Minstadave]

Never finished here. 90s build, in the last 2 years has had a new bathroom and ensuite, new kitchen/downstairs flooring/utility and loo recently, artex skimmed and loads of decorating left to do. Also had a new patio and its looking like drive needs doing next. It never stops.

 

[LeeUK]

Nothing wrong living in a house that is still going through renovation with no end date. Life isn't about living in showroom standards or having everything done at once. If you want that then buy a new build.

 

[norm]

(I am OCD, so I'd say it was about 70% of my standard), I've found myself a lot of jobs to make it my own.

Hah, I can relate to this I often find myself when doing any sort of job in my house having to reverse the poor effort by either the previous owner or the builder before I can do it to my satisfaction. Paint on door hinges is a particular bugbear.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

200 year old French farm house and converted outbuildings, so it will never be finished as the walls and roofs need regular maintenance.

I have 4-5 large fallen trees in some sloping woodland that I’ll never clear until I can borrow a bulldozer and a 100 metres of FOBG chains.

 

[fobose]

Hah, I can relate to this I often find myself when doing any sort of job in my house having to reverse the poor effort by either the previous owner or the builder before I can do it to my satisfaction. Paint on door hinges is a particular bugbear.

I was shocked at all the paint on my nice big stainless steel door hinges in my place too. I removed the paint from the hinges when I glossed the doors in my living room (3) as I took the doors off to prep them properly before painting. So much flexible filler had been used around the hinges too. I've also got in to the habit of sanding a radius on to any external corners of my skirting boards too. Gives a much better finish IMO. Helps protect the corner from being chipped too. I'll find a picture later.

 

[HangTime]

First house we had some work done when we moved in (DPC etc) and then we took about 9 months before we got round to painting the walls etc. The skirting boards in the kitchen I didn't even bother replacing until about two years later when we were selling the house.

Current home is a new build, been here about 11.5 years. I still have a few jobs we haven't got round to e.g. the blind fell down in my son's bedroom and it's difficult to put back because the attachment point has crumbled a bit. Never did fit the blinds in the kitchen, still got a rail somewhere I think.
Also got a couple of external lights that need fitting, again boxes been sat in a cupboard for over a decade. Got a stain on the wall by the stairs also where i tripped and spilled red wine, haven't really found a way to clean it off so probably needs repainting. Hall carpet has definitely seen better days, was ok for a few years until we had kids. In summary my home is not very presentable at all, all the houses round here are new and I'm pretty sure ours would b in the bottom quartile in terms of finish/presentation. So even with a new build it ends up a bit of a state if you don't maintain it.

 

[psd99]

nearly a 100 year old house and everything has been finished from A to Z

luckily I had the option not to live in here for around 12 months while all major works were being carried out. that really does help.

My neighbors are really jealous lol

 

[Semple]

Fairly new build (2012) although not original owners. The house hadn't quite aged well in those 7 years (moved in in 2019), it was previously a rental so wasn't particularly well looked after. Also the builders didn't do a particularly amazing job - when putting up the plasterboard on the ceiling the screws weren't driven in very deep, so you can see flakey points where they've just been filled.

Stripped off the skirting and tore up the carpet in all bedrooms. Also filled a few holes in walls and ceiling + painted. It's the odd jobs that you never get round to doing. I've gotta paint the architraves, and seal around some of them. The landing has some holes that I've filled but haven't yet sanded down.

The issue I find is that most of these jobs probably won't take more than half an hour each. But to prep the area (can't paint without putting sheets down) and also tidy up the area when you've finished takes twice as long as the actual job does. It also means that trying to do something in an evening after work isn't really viable. Also sometimes the weekends you just can't be bothered

 

[Junglist]

Does it count if our house barely has the roof put on?

 

[fobose]

Here is what I was talking about earlier with rounding off my external corners on skirting. So far I have done 5 external corners (3 downstairs hall, 1 living room, 1 in my office as I removed skirting to run network cables) I've still got 5 left in other area's of the house but they will get done when the rest of the rooms woodwork gets some TLC.

Finished external corner in lounge:



Example of how it looked before. This pic is of hall way on my middle floor but essentially was the same. Door frame to the right looks a little tatty in places too.

 

[Ninco!]

That looks a nice job @fobose. Never thought of rounding the corners but it looks good and nice attention to detail.

Purchased my home last year, got two-thirds of the work done before moving in.

Fortunately the vast majority of jobs completed, decorated, new heating, water and electrics, expensive, especially with a couple of double bills (rent and mortgage going out); but it paid off.

Now a few jobs for the electrician to sort out lighting and sockets. Just posted in the Checkatrade thread and have around three rooms and a few niggles need sorting out. I am to blame, started, stopped so now looking to bite the bullet and pay a professional decorator to simply finish the job as I keep putting off.

I look back and my parents were a nightmare, all the niggles and jobs were only finished when selling; so I don't want to ever fall into the same trap - you got to enjoy your home whilst you live there!

 

[Ninco!]

Was going to add, my bedroom had no carpet until we moved.

If the owners of my childhood home ever took up the floorboards they will find an arsenal of original 80's Star Wars figure weapons - Luke's lightsaber, Han's blaster...

 

[chorse]

I rented a snazzy place before buying, no expense spared on the finish.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I think they must have spend more on the kitchen surfaces than I've spent in 3 years on the house.

Renting isn't always a bad move!