We all know that a farmhouse can be the coziest and most comfortable home in the whole world. The properties tend to be traditionally built and come with a rural landscape that can offer a breathtaking view.
And whether you like cluttered living or the minimalist lifestyle, a farmhouse is the perfect property to experiment with your style. Plus, with a dash of spring cleaning and some summer fun, plus some fall decor and a fire in the winter, that all makes farmhouse living sound quite nice!
However, farmhouses don’t become the amazing places they have the potential to be without a lot of work first. There’ll be a lot of jobs to tackle from the moment you first move in, so you shouldn’t underestimate just how arduous this kind of living can really be.
In fact, there’s at least four things you should get to work on right now, to ensure you can actually relax and enjoy the farm-scape sometime soon! Go through the checklist we’ve made of them below and make sure you get them ticked off.
Are There Any Dangerous Materials Anywhere?
If the farmhouse you’ve bought really is quite old – and by that we mean from 60+ years onward – it could have hazardous materials in the rafters. And the walls, and the floors, and really any part of the building itself.
All kinds of toxic substances could make up any portion of your new house, including asbestos, lead, mercury, and even just a touch of regular old mold. None of them belong in a home, however, so head round and test for them early on.
Have You Got a Reliable Water Source?
Older buildings can have funny utility systems. The plumbing could be zig-zagging all over the property, and depending on the materials the pipes are made of, could already be blocked up, rusting, and bent out of shape. Investigating to see if this is the case should be the first order of business.
From here, you can check on the way your water is heated – and if your farmhouse has only a tank or a furnace, you may want to upgrade with a water heater installation to an automatic unit. In doing so, you’ll have access to hot water as and when you need it, and in a house that potentially has little to no insulation, a room like the bathroom is much more likely to be frigid anyway!
Is it Well Sealed?
When you first stepped foot in your new home, did you notice anything about the walls, windows, and doors? Traditional farmhouses can struggle to retain their sealing over time, and the caulking/plaster used to pack the walls and set the panes and frames could be overdue for a renovation.
That’s why one of the bigger jobs to tackle up front is scraping all of this old sealing off and replacing it. As you do, be sure to check for signs of damp or rot below; you don’t want to seal them back into the wall and let it fester from the inside out.
Similarly you may want to replace or rehang the door, and if the windows are constantly whistling at the seams and letting in the breeze, it’s time to caulk down the sides of those too.
Are There Pests?
This is a worry any new homeowner will have to tackle when moving into a new home, but when you’ve bought a farmhouse, the potential is a little more pressing. Indeed, there could be rats, mice, ants, spiders, wasps, termites, and every other kind of little critter already calling your home their own.
If you’re adjacent to a lot of free land and it’s a little overgrown by now, it’s only natural that the wildlife would start to move inside as well. Because of this, be sure you know the signs of an infestation and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. That might be the pipes in the wall rattling as the heating comes on, but you can’t be sure until you check!
Got a farmhouse to call your own? Let’s make sure you actually end up enjoying living there! Jobs like these can’t be done in a few minutes, but they do need to be at the top of your moving in to do list. Make sure you get to them sometime in the first couple of weeks of living on the farm – ticking them off will make life a whole lot easier!
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