There are a lot of reasons why buying an old home is such a wise investment. Old homes tend to be larger. Old homes are usually less expensive. And if you take the right steps to renovate the place, it can also raise its property value by several thousand dollars, easily.
Yet in order to make sure that your “house upgrading” is a smart one (especially when it comes to your finances), we wanted to take out the time to share with you our top five old home restoration tips. By just doing even a couple of these, you’ll be sure to have your old house looking almost like new without losing any of its character and charm in the process.
Repaint the exterior and interior. Unless your home is made out of brick, there’s a pretty good chance that it looks more worn than it should simply because it needs a new paint job. Just make sure that once you prep it for painting that you try and go with the original color. When it comes to the interior of your house, it could probably use a couple of new coats as well; however, try and avoid using the loud or trendy colors. A variation of white, a neutral hue or something in a soft pastel would probably be best.
Sand and refinish your floors. If you have some hardwood floors, that is a great asset. In order to get them beautiful and shiny, make sure to sand and refinish them. You can either do this by paying a professional to come over or you can rent a sander/buffer yourself from a store like Sears. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that will walk you through the process.
Put some storm shutters on your windows. Sometimes, when people are in the midst of remodeling a house, the first thing that they will do is get some new windows or doors; however, because those two things are often a big part of an older home’s personality, we actually advise against. Instead, consider having the ones that you already have refurbished and then add some storm shutters to them.
Conduct an energy audit. A big mistake that a lot of people make when purchasing and then restoring an older home is that they don’t make a point to conduct an energy audit before doing anything else. But the reason why it’s such an important thing to do is that it will let you know where you may have some worn-out insulation, if there are cracks in your windows or doors or, if you’re prepping your home for a new heat pump, it can show you where you may have some plumbing issues. Although you can hire a professional to come out to your home, there are also websites that will walk you through how to conduct one yourself. One of them is Energy.gov. Just go to the site and put “DIY energy audit” in the search field.
Don’t go to franchise stores. The fixtures that can actually be restored, try and do all that you can do keep them. But if you need to get some new doorknobs or lights or even if you want a couple of pieces of furniture, we recommend that you put the more popular stores on the bottom of your shopping list and go to antique shops and estate sales instead. You never know what kind of “gem” you’ll find that could be from the exact era of your home which will definitely make your restoration process seem more authentic. For more old home restoration tips, visit This Old House.
