Renovating before move-in

[Anonymous]

Have you identified the house? What type of floors do you want? That will affect the timeline. Everything else can be done once you move in.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend real wood floors unless you have a dog because they can be refinished rather than ripping it up and replacing it every time for LVP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m hoping to buy a house soon and want to know how long it would take to upgrade a house that needs some (but not extensive) updates. We would try to avoid moving in before it’s done if possible due to having young children.

Hypothetically let’s say we wanted to install new flooring, update a couple of bathrooms and modernize the kitchen (new cabinets, countertops, maybe a new kitchen island but nothing beyond that). Maybe add some recessed lightings. No gut renovations.

Could this be done in a couple of months or is that overly optimistic? How often would we have to go check on progress? Will this all be a huge pain?

OP have you ever remodeled anything?

1. Adding a kitchen island. Most kitchens if large enough for an island have one. If the kitchen doesn’t, it’s highly unlikely that you have space to add one without moving something else. You need to keep the work triangle in mind as nothing is more annoying than tripping over a poorly placed island.

2. When you rip out cabinets and countertops, you are ripping out drywall too. This triggers permits so you have to bring electrical up to code and plumbing. HVAC..venting will come up too if you have a gas range and no real vent.

3. You need a good contractor or need to know what you are doing. Walls, ceilings and floors may not be level. You may need to add framing to mount electrical for new code requirements. You are screwed if your cabinet guy measures wrong.

4. There is an order to work and a delay in one step can screw up the whole timeline. Ie you have to pass your rough in inspection before putting the drywall back up. The floor repair or lacing if that is necessary needs to be done before you put up the cabinets. The cabinets and plywood need to be in place before they measure for the countertop. It takes a week at least for the countertop to be fabricated.

5. If you are refinishing all the floors , you’ll probably want to replace the baseboards.

6. It’s better to paint as the last step but you need to really protect your new floors!

[Anonymous]

I would say do floors for sure.

It's tempting to do the kitchen because it's such a PITA to live through a kitchen renovation, but I generally think it's better to wait until you've lived with a kitchen and know what you like/hate about it before you go to remodel. Maybe this wouldn't be necessary if you have an absolutely amazing designer ... but if you're doing any of the planning yourself it might be best to wait.

You may want to get extra flooring to have on hand if you do change your kitchen floorpan when it's time for that remodel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m hoping to buy a house soon and want to know how long it would take to upgrade a house that needs some (but not extensive) updates. We would try to avoid moving in before it’s done if possible due to having young children.

Hypothetically let’s say we wanted to install new flooring, update a couple of bathrooms and modernize the kitchen (new cabinets, countertops, maybe a new kitchen island but nothing beyond that). Maybe add some recessed lightings. No gut renovations.

Could this be done in a couple of months or is that overly optimistic? How often would we have to go check on progress? Will this all be a huge pain?

My guess is 6-8 months, depending on how extensive the renovation is. Also, consider that plans and a building permit might both be needed, which would slow things down a bit.