A lot of the houses in Finchley, East Finchley, Hampstead, Muswell Hill and Crouch End were built between about 1870 and 1914. They’ve got the things people move here for – high ceilings, big bay windows, original fireplaces, a bit of character. They’ve also usually got the things people don’t see on the viewing: tired wiring, old lead or iron pipework, damp in the bay, and forty years of other people’s “improvements”. This is what I’d tell a friend who’d just bought one.
Keep: the things you can’t buy back
Original floorboards. Even under a carpet that’s seen better days, the boards are usually pine that can be repaired, sanded and finished. Replacing them costs more and looks worse.
Cornicing, ceiling roses, picture rails and skirting. Repairing and repainting is cheap. Ripping out and reinstating later is not. If you’re removing a wall, we’ll take care to match the cornice where the rooms join.
Fireplaces and chimney breasts. Even if you never light a fire, the chimney breast gives a room its shape. Taking one out means steelwork at every floor and often a gallows bracket in the loft – it’s rarely worth it.
Sash windows – usually. Timber sashes can be overhauled, draught-proofed and double-glazed with slim units. That’s often a better result than replacing them with uPVC, and in conservation areas replacement will need consent anyway.
Encaustic tiled hallway floors and stained glass. Irreplaceable. Protect them during the build – we board them over on day one.
Replace: the things that will cause trouble
Wiring. If there’s a fuse box with rewirable fuses, rubber-sheathed cable, or only a couple of sockets per room, plan for a full rewire. It’s messy, so do it before plastering and decorating, not after.
Pipework and heating. Old iron or lead supply pipes, a boiler on its last legs, radiators in the wrong places. Sort it while the floors are up.
Plaster that’s lost its key. Lime plaster on lath that’s blown will keep cracking whatever you paint over it. Where a ceiling is bad, taking it down and re-boarding is the honest fix.
The bathroom and kitchen. Almost always. And the kitchen usually wants to move to the back of the house into an extension – see our article on side-return extensions.
The roof, if it’s tired. Slipped slates, rotten battens, no felt. Check it before you decorate the top floor, not after.
Look hard at: damp
Nearly every Victorian house has some damp, and nearly every damp problem has a boring cause: blocked or broken gutters, ground levels raised above the damp-proof course, cement render trapping moisture in a solid brick wall, or a leaking bay roof. Fix the cause first. Chemical injected damp-proof courses are sold far more often than they’re needed.
The right order to do things
- Structure and roof – any steels, wall removals, roof repairs, the extension shell.
- First fix – wiring, plumbing, heating pipes, any underfloor heating.
- Plastering – then let it dry properly.
- Second fix – kitchen, bathrooms, sockets, radiators, doors, skirting.
- Floors and decoration – last, so nothing gets damaged.
Doing it in the wrong order – decorating before rewiring is the classic – means paying for the same work twice.
Budget honestly
A full renovation of a three or four-bedroom Victorian terrace in North London – rewire, replumb, new heating, new kitchen and bathrooms, replastering where needed and full decoration, but no extension – typically runs from around £90,000 to £180,000 in 2026 depending on size and finish. Add a loft or an extension and you’re into a different bracket. Always keep a contingency of 10–15% for what’s behind the plaster; on a house this age there is always something.
Planning and the conservation question
Internal work doesn’t need planning permission. External changes – windows, rear extensions, roof alterations – might, and large parts of Hampstead, Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End are conservation areas where the rules are stricter. Building Regulations apply to structural work, rewiring, new bathrooms and anything affecting fire safety or insulation regardless. We handle Building Control on every renovation we do.
How we approach a period house
We start by walking round with you and being straight about what we find – what’s cosmetic, what’s structural, what can wait. Then you get a clear written quote broken down by room and by trade, so you can decide what to do now and what to phase. We work with architects and structural engineers who know these houses well and can introduce you. And when it’s finished, we come back for any snags, because we care about how the work holds up.
Just bought a period house? Get in touch via the contact page or call Monday to Friday, 10am–2pm, and we’ll come and have a look before you commit to anything.