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In the future we'd like to purchase a house for its size and location and do a complete renovation.
I remember long ago reading a thread on another forum where people mentioned how many things they were disappointed in or regretted in building a new house or renovating an old one. Such as, not adding an outside door in their garage so when they take out the trash through the garage, they have to open the bay door. Or giving up a 4th bedroom in place of a bonus room that never gets used.
In our current house, which is a rental, the light switches are all very low. And this is an apartment and not designed for a handicapped person. I read that lights are supposed to be no higher than 48 inches per code but no rules on low. These switches all range from 36-40 inches. It's weird. The towel racks are all very low as well. I'd never think to tell a contractor heights of light switches ahead of time. But now I will.
The thermostat is even lower. Like it was placed for a small child to be able to adjust.
Then the sink is on the island which I always thought I'd like. But I find that I actually miss having a sink along the main cabinets. I'd take an additional sink on the island but my main sink needs to be along the wall.
I also don't like microwaves in the island. Maybe too many years of a microwave on upper cabinets has me in the habit of going high. But the low microwave just feels weird.
These are just things I'm noticing that I don't care for and I'd hate to have them in a house we renovate.
Any things that you don't like in your current house or regret having done in a new house or renovation.
my biggest regret when I purchased my co-op 30 years ago was not sounddproofing the party wall between my bedroom and the other apartment on the other side of me. I did however cenemtn the half bricks to make it look nice....but it didnt sound proof it.
ofcourse Im 30 years older and I wish I knew then, what I know now.
I would have done 4 layers of quiet rock, and cementer real bricks to the wall...
I regret buying this house entirely. Does that count?
Seriously though, we bought this thinking we could fix it up and it's turning out to be very $$$ and more importantly, annoying. I wish I had bought something in better condition that had more of the features we wanted
I think the biggest regrets we have has to do with the heating system. We have a heat exchange which was supposed to be energy efficient. After the last 3 years of having our heating guy out to rework it and rework it, he finally had a rep from the company come down from Canada-and 3 of them still worked on it for about 4 hours. It is supposed to be working the way it is supposed to but our electric bill is still really high. It doesn't seem that energy efficient to us. We are hoping when technology improves, we can install some kind of renewable energy. We can't put solar panels on because we have a slate roof and they don't put solar panels on slate.
We also regret our dinning room & kitchen lights. In the dinning room, we have 2 chandeliers that are on the same switch. We now wish that they were on different switches so we can only turn one on-save electricity. Same thing for our recessed lighting in the kitchen. We have 4 lights on one switch and only 1 light (over the sink) on the other. We would have liked two or three lights (in the pantry/hall) on one and the other lights which are over the stove & sink on the other.
I still hate our kitchen floor and I have talked to our contractor many times about it and he doesn't think that it can't be done the way I want it without raising the floor WAY up. I am afraid that it is just going to be something I have to live it-well, I have been.
I regret hiring the contractor who did my most recent remodeling, LOL.
I suggest making sure of your materials, don't let the contractor or architect pick out things like the faucets, sink, etc. I also suggest checking the work often to have things corrected before it gets too far along.
1. Hire an architect BEFORE you buy.
2. Spend 1.5 years planning with architect and chosen contractor.
3. Spec everything. Down to drywall screws.
4. Hold back at least 5% until the punch list is completed.
Biggest regret, in hindsight, was not scraping but doing a renovation. But, back then, no one scraped and no one would lend money to do so.
Regret not having a ground inspection to ensure we could install an in-ground pool. No one -- not town, not original owners-- knew that there's a drainage pipe running under 5 consecutive houses put in by neighborhood builder 27 years ago. No sign of it in plans, no town permits. And now no pool for us.
We found out when the old pipe cracked open at the "elbow" to the street, luckily not on our property. Unfortunately, the owner of the home where it did happen has not had one cent of reimbursement for the cost of repairing it and her washed out yard.
Pool was on our wish-list but we didn't do our due diligence.
I wish we had moved sooner out of our last house. It proved to be a money pit and a source of concern for too many years.
In our present house, I regret not have a second living area. I wish more of my floors were hardwoods. I wish my master bath and kitchen were not so big. I regret having a north facing house with a long hallway. I regret not having room for an ironing board.
But overall these are small things. I like my present house very well.
When thinking about remodeling a house, understand that the money you pour into a house might not be the best investment you can make. You need to know why you are doing this. If it is a labor of love, that is one thing. If you have found your house cheaply, and you are willing to do the work, then you could have something special. But count the cost up front. All the dollars you throw at a house could probably be more profitably invested.
My sister renovated a house over a few years, and no sooner than a new back splash was installed, they were transferred to another state. They did get a higher price on that house because the renovations made it stand out. However, they wish they had gotten it all done faster so they could have enjoyed it longer. THAT would be their main regret.
They have renovated the heck out of their current house and have done it faster. They've requested another transfer, but they also want to have time to enjoy their work.
Thank you everyone for your replies! I'm feel bad for anyone not happy with their house. I know it's hard. We've owned 3 homes and none were right for us. We enjoyed our time in each one but none were our retirement home that's for sure.
nightcrawler- that would drive me crazy! I'm sorry
bookspage, that is going to be our challenge. Finding something that might need work but is still in good condition. Some people just don't take care of their homes at all. They beat them up. I wish I could buy my grandparents' old house. They took such good care of it until they had to sell it.
Catwoman, is there is way you can split the lights to have more switches or is that a lot of work? I wouldn't like that either.
Flamingo, yes I plan on checking up on the contractors as they go. In the past we lived in our house so it was easier to check up on them. But if we aren't living a house while it's being renovated, we'll need to be popping in. Which I hate doing. I hate micromanaging. But we kind of have to.
davebarnes -good info! thanks! What does "scraping" mean in this sense?
joyeaux OMG that's horrible. How in the world could you have known that? Man stuff like that is such a bummer
silibran- the reason we want to do a big remodel is because we are thinking that maybe this time we'll get the right house for us finally. In the past we automatically eliminated homes built in the 50s and 60s because I hated all the walls and they were never really updated. So we ended up with getting homes that were too big for us because we bought for the fixtures and what we thought was updated. But then I ended up wanting to remodel everything anyway since stuff was still dated. What we really want is a house that is about 1500-1800 square feet and a ranch style. No more stairs for me. And I want an open floor plan.
It seems that 90% of the smaller ranch homes are from the 50s and 60s. We found a few neighborhoods with newer ranch homes but they were built on top of each other. We'd like a little more space between us and the neighbors. Trees that are grown not 5 feet tall. So we just came to the conclusion that we are going to be forced to buy and renovate. I'd love to find what I want in a newer, modern home and just pay more money for the house but I just can't find that anywhere. So we are going to focus on the neighborhood and the size of the house. And then of course, the condition of the house. But I don't want to get hung up on fixtures. If it's remodeled then great. But I don't want to lose focus of getting what we want.
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