Do I really want to remodel my house?

[tuftears]

All right, I've mentioned this from time to time in my comments, but basically when I let my parents stay at my house, ostensibly to keep an eye on me, they wound up cluttering the place. There are a bunch of repairs that need to be done on it, and the wiring is just old and not intended for modern standards - the kitchen breaker goes out if someone runs a TV in the dining room at the same time as the dishwasher, for instance.

So my initial plan was to refurbish the place. Repaint the walls, rebuild the kitchen, it should be like a couple months, right?

Well, had a contractor in today to talk about it... After I explained what I was thinking of doing - stuff like this SketchUp model - he said that it would be feasible to, as I wanted, remove the fireplaces and the kitchen side wall, but with all the demolishing needed and rebuilding - basic things like the wiring and plumbing - it would probably take some six months or so.

He recommended that I think about demolishing the entire house and rebuilding from the start, and having struggled with the floor plan as I try to figure out where I can put everything, I can see his point. The current floor plan is just tight and cramped. But that gets pricey!

Then we went down to look at the house that he was building for a client - not mock-Tuscan as I was trying, and failing, to emulate, but the real thing. It was gorgeous.

It was also intimidating as heck. This wasn't an ordinary house, this was a mansion. $2 million for the house alone on a property worth $5 mil. Dang!

But it was gorgeous, I'll give it that! Here are a few pictures.

The office:


The kitchen:


The kitchen sink:


One of the bathrooms, a small one:


The other bathroom, unfortunately blurry:


So what I'm currently faced with is a choice between these alternatives:

1. Scale back my plans drastically but go ahead with the remodeling. Stuff like faux marble walls or Venetian plaster go out the window. Fresh coat of paint, do what's needed but no more. I'll still be dealing with a wretched floor plan. Probably take 4-6 months to finish.

2. Demolish the house, build a new one with a more awesome floor plan. It will probably look a lot nicer. We could be looking at a year to be done.

3. Buy a new house, sell this one. Property taxes go up about 25% plus I go through the hassle of refinancing, but I don't have to do any remodeling, just furnish the new house, and I can move in nearly immediately.

I'm going to evaluate my options over the coming weeks. As some of you know, I am a misercat so I hate spending money... But my current house is falling apart visibly. And if I'm going to get significant repairs, why not go a little farther and make it look nice?

Oy! Decisions, decisions.

Comments

[kfops.livejournal.com]

If the "bones" of your house are solid it may be worth considering a gutting it and starting from there. You will have to consider things like the shape of the roof... if it is not good there is no sense working on the stuff below it until it is fixed or the weather could ruin any new build that you do.

You'd probably also want to bring in a structural engineer to make certain that you don't lose and load-bearing walls, or at least if you are taking them out you'll be making provisions for creating new structure to take the weight.

Our house was built in 1937 with a basement added sometime in the 80's (I've owned the property for about 13 years). The previous owner decided to remove a telepost and put a beam across the basement to supper the load with the basement walls. Needless to say the structure wasn't there, destroyed part of the front of the basement and helped the front of house sink 6 inches into the ground by the time I got to fixing it. It's surprising what you you get used to.

To fix the problem we had to completely gut the basement right back to the concrete walls, and the foundation guys took out the whole cement floor and did the work.

Long story short, with me doing most of the work (my Dad and uncle helped do the framing), we're about 3 years in and we've only just completed a laundry room and office downstairs. We still have a library, media room, and 2nd bathroom to finish. I've probably saved a fortune doing the work myself but at the same time you have to be prepared for the huge investment of time.

My lucky stroke was that I worked as an electrician's helper under my dad for 6 summers, so I'm not afraid of wiring... but it's incredibly important to be up on code in your area and make certain you've got the proper permits.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Oh lord. -_- That sounds like a real mess! No basement here, the whole thing is on one floor, but yes, not having wiring or construction experience, I'm not going to be saving a fortune doing my own work.