What to do with an old house

By Caroline AribaIf you have a house, but feel it is old fashioned and needs a revamp, do not lose hope there are many ways you can achieve a new look without completely breaking down your house. You can actually extend your house and make it look almost new.

Many have done this to create more space as the family gets bigger or older and some after buying old property. Whichever reason you have for revamping your house, a lot has to be taken into consideration.

When Maria Agona, who leaves in Mutongo, a Kampala suburb was expanding their family house to accommodate her fully grown siblings, she  was advised by her builder to do so with care. “He said that the best thing to do is always contact the people that originally constructed the house for they knew the safest way to do it,” she says.

First she had to ascertain the material that was used to build the house, and this way, the strength of the foundation that holds the house could be gagged. Any builder can tell the material used in building a house, but the one who would know the detailing of the house is the one that put it up.

Idea: You can break down the house walls and change roofing material

Agona’s family home was built with strong and pure concrete and the pillars even stronger than expected, but still care had to be taken. Jamil Mbalire, Agona’s builder says that despite the fact that the pillars were still strong, they wouldn’t just start breaking walls without caution. He advised her to break one side of the wall as breaking two sides of the wall would risk collapsing the whole structure.

“The lowest one can pay to have a wall fully broken and built up is a minimum of sh1m for a good job.” Mbalire says. He says that it could cost a hundred times more if the house is bigger and the material used is stronger like in the case of the concrete used in Mariah Agona’s family house.

Peace Adong who leaves in Luzira, a suburb in Kampala had for so long wanted to maximise the space behind her house by putting up more rooms. The tiny house had about two rooms and yet had idle space in the back yard that needed to be put in use.

The house was designed in such manner that the kitchen and the garage were at the back. That way, she had fewer walls to break because the kitchen’s door (also the house’s back door) was easily plucked out and so were the garage’s wide doors.

Emmanuel Serwadda an independent architect says, extending houses should not be a problem for as long as the same material used to construct the house is used in renovation. He also advises that when breaking down any walls, especially those made from soil bricks, moderate force should be used to avoid cracking the other walls.

“When I calculated building another house with the two rooms that I wanted, it would have cost much more,” says Peace said. Since her old house had a design, no new design was needed, she just gave the architect an original copy of the architectural design of her rooms and they got on with the work.

Serwadda says that adding extensions to a house is not as complicated as adding a floor to an existing house. “If the foundation of house is suspected to be weak, do not tamper with that house. If the walls are weak, do not tamper with that house,” he stresses. He says that many people have gone ahead to put structures atop weak buildings in the name of storied buildings, and as you walk on the building you can feel it shaking.

Jonathan Nsubuga, director of J.E Nsubuga Architectural firm, says that before one starts to dismantle and revamp their old house, they ought to have the original structural information of the house. “They should also clearly state to the architect what they are proposing to change.” He adds. Serwadda couldn’t agree more, he says that many times people get random builders to tear down walls and add structures without any professional consultation.

“Yes, it is the cheap way out, but it could come back to bite you a few years later.” Serwadda insists. British Architect Jonathan Hale in his article, “What to do with the old house” says that Placement is a key consideration when planning an addition.

“Adding onto the back preserves the public façade of the house, thereby maintaining the historic character of the home and the context of the neighbourhood” he says.

He believes that if work is done in the back of the house, the front doesn’t feel the pinch and if any awkwardness arises, it can be quietly tucked away. He further argues that each house has a story and each story is unique, and, therefore, any artist, builder or architect should be able to see the story.

So he advises that when making changes, people should keep the face of the house, so that the new additions help it look correct in the finished project. Everything needs a sense of belonging, so no matter what you do with the old house, don’t take away its face.