What should you do with your house? Should you restore or renovate? There are three types of people who are thinking about what to do with their properties. The first one is the new homeowner while the second group is the owners who are about to sell their properties. The third and final group is the property investors. These are the people who are always looking for an opportunity to make money off their properties.
To which group do you belong to? Do you plan to sell your property and is thinking about restoring it to its old glory? Are you a new homeowner who wants to upgrade the parking garage coatings? Does the house have a specific feature that you want to retain?
Restoration vs. Renovation
People always use restoration and renovation interchangeably when they are very different. When your neighbors see you upgrading the patio, they’ll immediately say that you’re renovating your home. When they see a contractor fixing a hole in your roof, they’ll also say that you’ve been remodeling your home a lot.
The terms fixing, restoring, renovating, refurbishing, and remodeling are used interchangeably when referring to home improvement projects. Despite this widespread assumption, these are different approaches to improving one’s home. When trying to distinguish between restoration and renovation, understand what their root words mean.
Restoration
Restore means going back to its original form. Think of restoration in the concept of electronics. When you say you have to restore your laptop or smartphone, what does it mean? It means going back to your computer’s or phone’s original form. It is returning something to its original condition. When you look at the blueprint of your home, does it still look like that? Or, does it look different now?
There’s a lot of work involved when you want to restore a home. You have to examine the blueprint and figure out the original structure and design of the house. If it is an old house, you have to find old photos of it so you can determine the areas you need to restore. Maybe you can contact the past homeowners to see the original pictures of the house.
What does restoration entail? Restoration means repairing parts of the house, refinishing the original flooring, walls, and ceiling, and replacing old fixtures with new replicas. You can even look for furniture that looks the same as the ones in the house before it was sold from one owner to another. Restoring a home is a lot of work, both for the owner and the contractor. Don’t expect this to be cheap.
Renovation
This is the term people understand the most. Whenever you fix a part of your house, your neighbor will refer to it as “renovation.” It means making the current house look newer and better. Renovation involves upgrading the features of the house. For example, you can repaint the walls, replace the tiles, and install moldings. You can also upgrade the old garage door into an automated one. Installing a smart home system is another example of renovation.
When you talk about renovation, you don’t consider how the house looks before. There is no history to restore here. There is no deeper meaning to the house’s architectural design. The house is just a house, so taking down walls, replacing old fixtures, and making it look new are easier.
What to Consider
Between restoration and renovation, what will work for your property? It all depends on what kind of property you have. If you have a historical property, you can consider restoring it to its old glory. Older homes are cheaper only when they do not have a background story. If they are rich in culture and history, they are more expensive than modern homes you can find in the city.
What kind of story does the house tell? Restoring homes is a worthy project, but it’s also more expensive than renovating a home. You need to find materials that might not be readily available right now. You have to look for fixtures that manufacturers don’t make anymore. That’s why it’s harder to do a restoration on your own. You have to find a contractor who’s an expert in restoring old and historical properties.
So, are you ready to restore or renovate? Determine first the value of the property. Is it worth it to spend on fixing the property? Will a restoration project add value to this historic house? Or, is it too dilapidated and neglected that restoring it will be a waste of time and money?