There’s a certain look and feel which identifies haunted houses such that they make people feel the jitters by merely passing them. The house seems old, the brush is overgrown, and more often than not, the door hinges squeak of fear.
On the other hand, most often these are the kind of houses banks would love to get rid of as fast as possible, thus lowering the price to rock bottom. Now how do you one-up those banks by flipping these seemingly old houses to profit-worthy homes?
Here are some tips and repair hacks that won’t cost you much and make those creepy old houses seems sunny and bright once again.
Cleaning
As you open the front door, you jump with fright for there’s nothing scarier than realizing that pieces of trash, suddenly stood upright then ran freely towards every direction of the living room, rats. But there are always a couple of more things to top that when it comes to old houses. Cracking floorboards that sound like something’s about to come bursting out. Stained glass windows, so grimy that they obscure light and turn them into frightening shadows. Cobwebs so thick small birds are dangling dead on it, not to mention the question of “what killed it?” Then you hear small six-legged critters tapping on the thin ceiling.
Start stomping on those floorboards, not only will that identify the loose ones, but it would certainly drive out those pesky rats out. Now all you have to do is to wipe and clean up those floorboards just before you re-nail them. Plus to make them look shiny and new add a few layers of wax.
Next, wipe those windows clean letting more light in, thus enabling you to find those nooks and crannies that need further cleaning. Better yet, spray some liquid soap along with your glass cleaner to enable your stained glass to have some deep-seated cleaning, thus letting more light in and making those stained colors more vibrant.
As for those cobwebs and those that made them, best to use an industrial vacuum to suck in all those spindles and dead carcasses. Then mopping the ceiling with liquid cleaners mixed with a small amount of insecticide, thus when it dries off it leaves a protective layer that prevents those critters from coming back.
Repair
Of course, old houses need repairs, due to the neglect and lack of cleaning. But the question for every Flipper is how to make those repairs less costly?
This is where experience and a keen sense of attention to thrift shops come in handy.
Reviewing the damage then assessing it’s position with regards to where it is in the room and the possible position of other materials to be placed in that room, could spell the difference between buying new hardwood floors or simply obtaining low-cost replacement board.
Let’s say a heavy metallic bed frame, that would probably never move from its position, is where you could try to get some pieces of your matching hardwood floor, in its place you could then put some low cost but sturdy plywood. But just to keep a bit of authenticity you could always paint that plywood with the same color of the surrounding hardwood. This will enable you to use the hardwood flooring as replacement wood from some of the damaged wood that are on exposed positions inside the room.
Using prefabricated tiles are also a new way of lowering the cost of repairs. Instead of using old bricks for the walling. You could then use these low-cost tiles, you’d even have a myriad of styles to choose from, thus not only will you be repairing the old house you’d be giving it a new look as well.
And you don’t even have to get new parts for your repair, you can always salvage old materials from thrift shops. Broken stained glass, no problem, a lot of thrift shops sell these, sourced out from old churches or broken down buildings. Just make sure you have the right sizes for the replacement part that you need.
Gardening
The swooshing of the air making that horrifying sound is most probably done by an unkempt pine tree. Or worst a howling sound echoing around the garden could simply mean that you’ve got a hollow tree stump lying in the garden.
Many a haunted house are pre-perceived due to the unbelievably unkempt look of its garden or front yard, from the overgrown bushes to the dead leaves all over the garden and even a small swamp caused by lack of proper drainage.
The thing is, from simple trimming of the trees to clearing out the dead leave and letting the bottom grass show. These simple actions can turn your swamp into a fairytale garden in no time. All that is needed is some simple gardening tools and some back-breaking hard work. Not too costly at all, right?
Re-establishing the house’s old charm
Most haunted houses never started as such, every single one of them started as a dream home for those who once thought they could live there and have a happy home.
Thus these houses were once vibrant filled with the sound of happy families living in them and the feeling of warm cozy embrace that calls upon its inhabitants to return every time they leave.
The problem is time passes and neglect steps in, as such, bright and sunny houses becomes old and grimy. But you don’t have to push a bulldozer on it just because of that. Look upon it, give yourself some time to see what it would have looked like when it was first lived in.
A Flipper doesn’t have to fully refurbish an old house, he could just clean it up and let the old charm of that house shine again for its new homeowners.
Even the creaking hinges could still provide some old charms, no need to remove them, just add a bit of oil to fine-tune that creaking sound.
