The whole point of a home renovation is changing things, right? When renovating a home, you want something to look a certain way, and that’s fine. There are, however, certain key components of a home that should remain untouched for a variety of reasons.
Homes can be transformed dramatically without having to change them completely. Let’s talk about the key house components to not renovate if and when you push through with your home renovation plans.
1. Windows
Unless you’re planning to renovate for bigger windows, don’t change a window. Bigger windows mean more natural light, and more natural light is always great for any home. Moving or closing off a window would mean cutting off a certain room’s natural source of light. So if the plan is the latter, the wise thing to do would be to find another way to bring natural light into that room. Sun tunnels and skylights should do the trick.
Then again moving windows or closing them off can also prove to be tricky structurally. This is especially true of single or double brick homes. There’s always the risk of collapse or cracking, so you will have to get the services of a structural engineer to make that very crucial assessment.
If the exterior of the wall of your single or double brick home is exposed, closing windows off also means you have to find bricks that match the existing ones for aesthetic reasons.
2. Walls
Is there such a thing as a major home renovation that doesn’t involve knocking down walls? In my experience, most major renovation work entail putting a sledgehammer to good use on a wall or two.
However, before making a decision to knock down a wall, you have to make sure first that it isn’t load bearing. As with moving windows, have a structural engineer assess how bringing a wall down would affect your home’s structural integrity. Your structural engineer will also ensure that the structural integrity of your home can be maintained if that wall is taken down.
You also need to check out if the wall you intend to knock down has electrical cables inside, or heating and cooling ducts near it so you can plan on moving them before the destruction begins.
3. Roof
The foremost question you need answered where it concerns your roof is, “Do I really need to replace the roof?”
You see, replacing the roof is one of the more, if not the most, expensive renovations to undertake. If your problem with the roof is just limited to leaks in the ceiling, such problems can be easily dealt with using minor fixes like replacing a tile or two.
Of course, if your roof is already pretty old and is causing problems bigger than minor leaks, that’s the time you have to consider replacing the entire thing. Otherwise, leave the roof alone.
4. Exterior doors
So you need to move an exterior door somewhere for your renovation. This shouldn’t be a problem. That is, if you have thoroughly thought this one through, with a carefully planned layout on hand. Moving an external door, after all, can prove to be real tricky.
A door has an overhead structural support that prevents collapse, so you have to have a plan to compensate for that before moving it.
You should also keep in mind that the door is key to insulating your home, which means you are going to have to mess with the door’s flashing and sealing if and when you move it. Hanging a door may also seem simple enough, but you can end up with uneven gaps in the spaces around the door if you do it incorrectly. You might even end up with a door that won’t even latch.
5. Your home’s special features
When you first bought your home, what made you fall in love with it? The wide timber floors? That classy-looking corbel jutting from that living room wall? Or is it just that decorative ceiling?
Whatever it is, these features played a huge role in getting you to buy that house.
However, now that you’re at a stage where you need some home renovation work done, are you willing to get rid of these features simply because they’re in the way of your new vision for your home?
Remember the fact that those features sealed the deal for you the first time around. That means they actually add to the value of your property. When the time comes to sell, these features could play the same role in convincing prospective buyers to sign those papers, and at a premium too.
Unless these character features have aged terribly or have become structurally unsound, you should keep them around for as long as you can.
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