What To Consider When Living In An Older Building

Some people love living in new, or at least relatively recently built properties. Some, however, prefer older building with a little more history and might choose something as old as possible.

While these properties certainly do have their charms and are often interesting and quirky, there are some things you’ll need to consider before opting for something older over something new. Remember that life was lived differently decades or even centuries ago, and you may need to make some changes or at least adapt to living in an older building. With that in mind, read on to find out what you’ll need to think about and how you can enjoy an older property to the utmost.

Open Plan Might Be A Bad Idea

If you like the idea of open-plan living, which is certainly popular at the moment, you might think that you can make the changes necessary in your old building and have exactly what you want. This may not be the case; some buildings have restrictions on them. In the UK, for example, you’ll find some older buildings listed (either Grade I or Grade II), which means there are some very specific restrictions on what can be done and how it can be done. Making changes has to be in line with the building, and in some situations, no new materials can be used. You might even have to find tradespeople who work the same way as those who built the property in the first place. This can be hard to do, not to mention expensive.

On top of this, since these properties were not designed with open-plan living in mind – in the past, rooms were very specifically kept separate from one another – the layout might just not work as well as you had hoped. Internal walls may also be structurally important. Plus, of course, you might lose some of the beautiful original features, which would have been one of the reasons for choosing the property in the first place.

Although there might be ways around this situation, such as by using half walls rather than removing them entirely, it could be that it’s best to leave things just as they are and learn to live with the layout as it is if you want an older property.

There Could Be More Problems in Older Building

If you are in love with older buildings and you know you want to live in one, it’s crucial to understand that, as opposed to living in something that was built much more recently, there are potentially more problems to deal with in an older home. That’s simply because of the age; the older something is, the more likely it will stop working, or something will go wrong.

It’s important to have this in mind and to keep a contingency fund to deal with the issues. You might have pests, for example, or mold, or perhaps the roof needs to be replaced. Maybe the heating isn’t working at full capacity, or perhaps it gets too hot in the summer because it’s hard to install air conditioning.

There are ways to deal with a lot of these problems. If your building is listed or it’s hard to install traditional air conditioning, you could opt for water cooled air conditioning, for example. If there are pests, you can call an exterminator. If it’s hard to keep the heat in, adding insulation or installing better windows could be (although those windows must be in the style of the rest of the property and potentially your neighbors’ properties, too, so it’s not always as simple as it might otherwise be).

The point is there are ways around most of the maintenance issues that an older house will bring. As long as you know you’ll need to spend more than you would on a newer property and you’re ready for the challenge, this shouldn’t put you off your dream of an old house or apartment.

There Will Be History of Older Building

If you choose a new house or apartment to live in, there won’t be much history behind it. There might not be any at all. This suits some people and they prefer to be the ones making that history rather than living in someone else’s creations.

However, perhaps you love history and want to live in a building with plenty of it. It makes sense if you then choose an older property. Yet not all history is good, and some upsetting stories or negative situations might occur where you are living. In fact, the older the property, the more likely this is to be the case.

The older a building is, for example, the more likely it is that someone – or more than one person – will have died there. Of course, there will be plenty of happy memories and stories as well, but it is something to consider, and if this worries you, an older building may not be ideal.

For those who love history, though, and particularly for those who enjoy research, an older building will be a treasure trove of information. You might be able to discover a lot of history online or at the library, and if you can, it’s great to know as much about where you are living as possible.

Find Government Incentives

Depending on where you live and the property you’re living in, it might be possible to find government incentives and grants to help you maintain the property. This is especially true when it comes to making buildings more energy efficient. Today we all need to try to find ways to save money on our energy bills, and the fact is that older properties cost more to heat and cool because they are less well-insulated and may even have holes and drafts to deal with.

This is where government or state help can be useful. You might be able to borrow or even be given money to make the adjustments you need to ensure your older home is more energy efficient. Using the help offered, you can find the right people for the job and keep your home’s period elements in place even when the work to make the building more energy efficient is completed. It’s always worth speaking to government offices about what they might be able to offer and help you with, as there could be numerous ways to get the help that you just weren’t aware of before.

Storage Might Be An Issue

In the past, people just had less ‘stuff’. Today, everyone can buy anything they want at any time, and it can be delivered the next day – sometimes even the same day. Not only can they do this, but they do it all the time. It’s no wonder that homes are full of things.

Although this might be seen as a positive – depending on your point of view – there is a downside to having so much stuff around. Where can it all go? Modern houses are built with storage in mind, and they have attics, basements, garages, built-in cupboards, and closets to help you store everything. Older properties may not have these things. As we said, people used to have less stuff and needed less storage. If you live in an older property, storage might be an issue.

This means you’ll need to get creative. Adding free-standing cupboards and closets is a sensible idea, but you can also use wall space for hanging storage, especially if you have high ceilings. Or you can use furniture with storage included. Do what you can to make your home feel less cluttered.