Are you thinking of renovating your old home? Here I suggest you a few useful tips

When do you start dreaming of a new home? When an old home becomes congested filled with damaged structures and it looks old fashioned, right? But if you don’t have sufficient money in hand to build a new home or if the main structure of your home has no serious damages, better idea is to renovate, giving a new and fresh look to your old home. Also, very often a lot of childhood memories are associated with old homes and it’s not at all easy for everyone to demolish their homes to scatter all those nostalgic moments in a single moment. For all those persons, renovating the existing one is the best solution. Also renovated homes often add an antique charm to your interior, if designing is done properly. You can give a fresh look  to your home by giving a new colour paint, quite different from the old one.

Have you put up your mind to renovate your home? If so, consult a structural engineer first to know if renovation is a feasible solution. If he says yes, next step is to calculate the total expenses and if you find that it needs more than half the amount needed for building a new home, it is better not to renovate your home. Otherwise go through my tips.

It’s a myth that renovating old homes give extra expenses not only today, but also in future. If everything is well planned, you can minimize the total expenses a lot. Also, make full use of construction items used in the old home instead of buying everything new. Bricks, furniture, wood or tiles – make maximum use of them all. Just think twice before throwing a useless thing out. Before beginning the process, take a copy of old master plan and mark everything you want to change now, as a part of renovation. If you are adding extra rooms, you need to seek permission from your municipality or corporation as you may have to give extra tax for that added space.

Now just follow this article to get more ideas for renovation. I have provided some basic ideas and 8 steps to note while renovating your home.

How to change small rooms to large ones?

The main trend change that has occurred over the years is spacious rooms and bath-attached bedrooms. Old homes have a large number of small rooms to accommodate a lot of family members. Now it’s the season of atomic families with one or two kids. So, everyone opts for 2-3 large rooms. So, a nice idea is to destroy the wall between two small bedrooms to make it a large single unit. If rooms are so small or if a corridor is present, you can change it to a bathroom to make full space utilized. Such structural changes should be included in your new plan earlier itself.

Roof – handle with care

If main structure of your roof is not damaged very much, retain old structure. But replace small wooden parts with metallic pipes, which resist pests also. If you have decided to concrete your roof, assure that basement of the building and walls are strong enough. If you want to increase the height of your building, you need to remove the roof first. Then increase the height of walls and replace the roof later. Before fixing the roof again, all damages of the roof should be cleared. Use preservative coating as well.

Efficiency is more significant

Old windows were made with wood which give darkness to your rooms. You can change them to glass windows by removing those wooden framed sheet. Fix old ventilated glass windows upside down and change old glass to add a colourful decorative glass. If walls have developed fissures, you should first find the reasons behind it. Perhaps your basement may be in need of an extra support. Use steel rods or chicken mesh to fill the fissures of your walls. Small fissures can be filled using substances like m-seal. Remove all such old fillings and use new ones while re-structuring walls and frames.

If you are restructuring walls of your kitchen or bathroom it’s better to remove old plumbing as whole. Replace old GI pipes with new PVC pipes. Replace old wiring system with new, as old wiring system gives extra electricity bill comparing new ones. Draw a new electronic diagram before staring the process.

It’s better to remove those damaged tiles only rather than renovating the complete flooring. Sometimes a polishing may be sufficient. Natural tiles, stones and wooden floorings are the best. If floor level is uniform, you can fix new flooring on its top without destroying the previous structure. Now such fixing gums are readily available in the market.

Now, A few tips in a snapshot

1. You need not renovate the whole home in one stretch. It can be done step by step according to your budget and time available.

2. Old heritage homes are really valuable assets and hence retain its antique feature even while renovating. Wooden floors and furniture are best for such homes and old things holding traditional values can be used for decorative purposes than throwing them out.

3. Give an echo-friendly approach while renovating such traditional homes retaining its antique beauty as such. Retain old ponds and wells also.

4. If you are not bringing significant change to your old home structure, there is no need to consider Vasthu again. Old homes are built giving importance to these factors. Inbuilt storage spaces can be destroyed without considering vasthu, if they were not used for worship.

5. You should go forward with renovation only if main walls and basement are strong enough to support the new structure. Also, you should plan everything in advance. A change in the later stage can give you extra expenses without adding any worthy reason.

6. Concrete homes are renovated mainly due to leaking. So, give preference to solve this problem than decorating it while re-structuring such old homes.

7. Even if an architect or engineer is designing your new plan, it’s better that you make a few planning and calculations earlier so that an architect can extend your dreams and plans and implement them in a practical way.

8. Last, but most important factor – newly added structures should have same height of the previous structure. Otherwise it may invite leaking in future.

So, I have briefly explained about a few things to be noted while giving a fresh face to your old home. Hoping these tips will be helpful. Please leave your comments below.

Image source: Pixabay

Also read a few more topics on construction & maintenance of your home. Click on the images in the gallery to read