It’s been 14 months since we started our search for our first home. We wanted a modern built, easy to make efficient house; just out of date enough to bring the price down. That way, we wouldn’t feel like we were throwing money away while painting a few rooms, redoing a little flooring and putting our own stamp on the place.
It’s been 10 months since we gave up and put an offer in on a 200 year old, part underground, damp, stone cottage with (barely) single glazed rotten wooden windows, an open-flame gas boiler, and a kitchen in name but not function.
Isn’t she beautiful?
Those 10 months were spent dealing with the world’s least interested estate agent, convincing the sellers that a boundary bisecting several rooms was in fact an issue, and prodding other people’s solicitors into navigating the labyrinthian British land registry system. Oh, and we found a stream running through the integral garage (soon to be lounge) that everybody seemed to have forgotten existed. After covering it up.
So here we are, having not at all strayed from ‘the plan’, feeling good and ready to live the dream in our beautiful new home. Not that we can actually move in yet; there’s the small matter of digging up and replacing the entire floor, replacing every window, replacing the garage door with a wall and window, knocking a doorway through a 600mm thick stone wall, containing/redirecting the integral stream, waterproofing everything, and installing a kitchen. At least then, the building site will be habitable.
Strangely, we feel excited about the prospect. Of course there’s still that background level or fear and dread for what’s to come, but we are very much looking forward to bringing a house that has been uninhabited for so many years back into use. We do hope to do a lot of the work ourselves.
However, having had very little DIY experience between the two of us (I have painted one wall and … oh no, that’s it. Ethan has held a lot of torches/tools for his dad), this may have not been the best first house to go for.
For those of you who are particularly worried for us, we will be employing a builder for the structural elements, and to make sure we’re water tight! As an engineer and physicist, we think we can learn, but we’re not willing to go completely unsupervised just yet!
We (read: Charlotte) have decided to attempt to document our experience and the inevitable lessons learnt; partially for our own memories, but there’s always the chance that someone out there might use this as inspiration to – or more likely a warning not to – get in waaaaaay over their head when it comes to buying a project house!
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