This renovation mistake could be devaluing your home by £27k

Period features bring loads of character to a property and anchor a home in history, be it an old fireplace or a ceiling rose. According to a property expert, period features removal to make way for modern home decor trends could devalue your home by a total of 10%.

Tap Warehouse asked 1,000 people about which historic features they would remove or alter, and found out the impact of changing the top period elements people admitted to changing.

Top period home features and % of people who would remove or change them

• Traditional radiators - 26%
• Timber or sash windows - 25%
• Coving, ceiling Rose, dado rail and architrave - 22%
• Wooden beams - 14%
• Original fireplace - 11%
• Original flooring - 10%

Only 5% of homeowners stated they wouldn’t remove anything. So the overwhelming majority would do away with some historic features.

But property expert Jonathan Rolande at HouseBuyFast, says this could devalue our homes by as much as 10%, or £27k. This is based on the fact the average house price in the UK is £269,945.

It comes as no surprise that traditional radiators top the list, as a low EPC (energy efficiency) score could devalue a home and increase heating bills. When replacing radiators, consider a traditional style in keeping with the character of your home.

Likewise, old windows are notoriously energy inefficient. However, according to CompareMyMove, 'replacing timber with UPVC in a Victorian home would be highly discouraged.'

Using UPVC could devalue the home by as much as £12,000 as buyers of period homes prefer wooden windows. Budget allowing, wooden double-glazed windows in a period property will add to the house value and help save energy at home.

If you're part of the 11% who would remove an original fireplace, it's worth knowing that keeping it could add 5% to the value of your home.

White classic dining room with stone flooring and sash windows

Tiffany Ratcliffe, Head of Design at art art art has some tips for making beams and dado rails work for you. She recommends ‘painting beams a slightly darker shade of the paint colour in the room' to bring warmth.

Dado rails are a great way to split a wall in half. Simply, ‘paint the top half of the room lighter than the bottom half. The wall looks taller, and it adds character to a room,’ says Tiffany.