| Author |
Message |
    
chocoholic
Citizen
Username: Shrink
Post Number: 244
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 3:19 pm: | 
|
I have been in my home for almost 2 years now. Although, it is beautiful and structuraly sound, it just seems like there are an unending number of issues to deal with...leaky Yankee gutters, deteriorating windows, as well as a leaky shower pan. I am wondering, is this par for the course in an old house? Or are most old houses in better shape? |
Bobkat
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7134
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 3:31 pm: |
|
We have owned old houses for 25 plus years and there is always something. I swear the next house we have is going to be brand new.
the above was written while nursing a bad back brought about by lugging old house stuff around this morning |
Deidra
Citizen
Username: Deidralynn
Post Number: 85
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 3:31 pm: |
|
Welcome to the money pit of homeownership in good ole' Maplewood!  Just curious...when was your house built? We have a 1935 colonial. Hang in there...MOL is great for information and referrals. |
chocoholic
Citizen
Username: Shrink
Post Number: 245
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 3:39 pm: |
|
My house was built in 1928. I just had another home inspection because I saw a crack in the basement when I took down some dry wall. The crack was nothing, but whoa nelly, did he see other stuff. He kept saying, the house is sound, its a nice house, it just needs some attention. All the while he is pointing out flaws and problems ( which he was supposed to do; he was excellent- Brett from foresight engineering). But, my list of to dos has expanded exponentially. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 3584
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, December 31, 2004 - 4:13 pm: |
|
Yup. You fit right in. 1927, here. We even have a garage that is being lifted by an Oak tree.
If it makes you feel any better, I know people with new construction who have lots of problems, but they are different. Especially in developments. |
tulip
Citizen
Username: Braveheart
Post Number: 1874
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 1, 2005 - 12:36 pm: |
|
You guys!! My house was built in 1889. Even after Hurricane Ivan left six feet of water in the basement, our well pump, water heater and furnace (after some repair) are still working. The thing about old houses is that the wood is terribly strong. Our roof survived a well rig falling on it when the rains made the rig sink into the yard last summer. (The well is antique, so we have to buy bottled water, but we'll be building a new one soon.)
Our house has a lot of character, with nine foot ceilings and five foot stained glass windows.
When the house was first built, of course, there was no indoor plumbing, so the floor design is maybe a bit awkward, and the stairs are "Jersey winders" that look from the top like a hand of playing cards, but we raised our two boys in it (the house, that is) and they used to love sliding down the stairs on blankets.
Lots of great memories, and it was a Methodist parsonage for 100 years, with lots of families floating through it. "If walls could talk!!!" |
Mergele
Citizen
Username: Mergele
Post Number: 228
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 1, 2005 - 3:11 pm: |
|
There are always issues, but for me it's about 75% labor of love/hobby, and 25% sound investment (given the way the local market has moved in recent years), and new houses just don't do anything for me. I love the wavy glass in my drafy old windows, and the funky post-light halfway up my staircase, and the original shutters, etc. ad nauseum.
My SO colonial revival was built in 1921 and suffered a whole lot of benign neglect before I bought it 3 years ago. I spent the first two years fixing big stuff: electric, plumbing, etc. and then this year I got to start un-remuddling. There were times last year (when I was still looking at pepto-pink and 1970's paneling in every room) that I got fed up from time to time, but having kept a whole bunch of before, during and after photos, I get a great sense of accomplishment from what I've done thus far. |
tulip
Citizen
Username: Braveheart
Post Number: 1876
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 1, 2005 - 4:05 pm: |
|
We live on a street with three stone houses, one an eighteenth century mill. Our basement is the same kind of stonework, and we're going to have in repointed soon. I really look forward to that, because it looks so good when old stone is fixed up.
The foundation of our little house is interesting because at the center of the basement is a HUGE cylindrical concrete pillar, about four feet in diameter at the base, and one foot and a half at the ceiling. It really holds everything together, with the help of some metal pillars installed recently. Although there are definite hills and valleys on the first floor, we still feel like we're living in an armored vehicle. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 4640
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 2, 2005 - 2:15 pm: |
|
Its par for a house. Old houses have different needs from new houses but there is always something that needs doing. |
mogli
Citizen
Username: Mogli
Post Number: 20
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 2, 2005 - 7:58 pm: |
|
Five years in an 1880-something Queen Anne style Victorian for me. Winter project is replacing both chimneys (contractor finished one yesterday, work on the other starts tomorrow) and restoring all three fireplaces (two down, one to go). Next is drywalling an unfinished attic room, and my wife and I spent the New Year's Eve post-fireworks champagne glow walking around the third floor saying things like "a dormer here and here and the claw foot tub here and a skylight here..."
Sanity will be preserved (and the good things appreciated) by back-burnering the long of list of imperfections in its entirety. Worry about only the the things that will benefit from worry (read, talk to people and use MOL - it helps!), and just sort of track everything else. I try to work one or two things off the list every season, though I freely admit that the current level of activity is far above the historical average. That third floor bathroom? Who knows, but after five years we're starting to think that we might actually know a little bit about the house and are getting a feel for what will work and what won't. Remember that you live in an old house, and that, thankfully, no matter how much time, energy, and money you put in to it, it will still be an old house. |
thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 717
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 3, 2005 - 9:20 am: |
|
Even brand new houses have problems, particularly when they're built quickly by developers who hire low-paid workers with no dedication to craftsmanship. My aunt and uncle bought a new 7500 sq/ft house outside Annapolis, and within weeks a connection to their jacuzzi broke sending water down through the light fixtures in the kitchen below. Their son had similar problems with his new house.
Oh, and to the credit of old-house homeowners like us in M/SO, new houses rarely have any character.
|
themp
Citizen
Username: Themp
Post Number: 1343
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 3, 2005 - 9:27 am: |
|
But it is dispiriting sometimes. FOr instance, in order to inspect and repair the sag in our floors, I will need to remove the plywood ceiling that went up in our basement in the 50's. But lo, there are asbestos insulated pipes above the plywood that no one knew about, and electrical conduits running all over the underside of the plywood, so suddenly a simple thing is a big deal - not to mention the ever-present worry about lead poisoning from our old windows. |
Hank Zona
Citizen
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 1895
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 3, 2005 - 9:35 am: |
|
Its all trade-offs I suppose. My house was built in 1904 and we bought it from people who had lived in it for 50 years. We've put alot of time and effort into the house but there will always be something to do. Alot of the work isnt even all that visible or cosmetic, but structural/infrastructural. I suppose the one downside is I dont take much satisfaction in completed tasks since theres always something behind it to do. But Im happy to have a house with its own character and charm.
An old master carpenter has done some work for us over the years and he says he prefers to work with old houses with old wood. According to him, new homes use new wood that is farmed and because steroids are used to make the trees grow faster, they are knottier than old wood...not sure if its true or not but it seems plausible. I also have a cousin who lives in a McMansion that is five years old and when visiting once on a windy winter day, I said, look, your curtains blow around just like mine do because of drafts! |
xavier67
Citizen
Username: Xavier67
Post Number: 443
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 3, 2005 - 12:10 pm: |
|
I just visited with relatives who just moved into a $1.5 million new home in Bronxville. Despite the cost, all their interior doors are vinyl! Vinyl!
I've lived in several brand new constructions in NJ and PA. Every single one of them started having problems within 5 years. That's all it takes...5 years...before new constructions become homes that need constant care.
|
Derek
Citizen
Username: Derek
Post Number: 68
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 1:03 pm: |
|
My house was built somewhere in the mid to late Twenties. True, there is always something that makes you roll your eyes. The house has puzzles, clues to the past, weaknesses and strength. It's got depth.
And I can't get enough of the dark wood on our first floor. The wood still hasn't lost its staying power with me.
After living here for a year and a half, I know a lot more of what I like, dislike and want for my old house.
And everything remotely upgrading will cost in the thousands rather than the hundreds!
My kingdom for a week to do all that I want inside and out of the house. Having an overactive two year old who demands our attention squeezes all of my house improvement ideas/plans into two-hour windows of quick-fixes while my little one sleeps. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 3604
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 1:21 pm: |
|
I'd forgotten about this conversation until this thread came up.
When we were house-hunting way back when, we'd been thru about 3 foreclosures in one day. (Believe it or not, only 8 years ago, you could spend weeks looking & deciding on if you wanted to be bothered fixing up a house around here & the house would still be there).
As we walked into #3, I casually said to our realtor, "My mom warned me not to buy an old house because it would become a bottomless project".
The realtor stopped dead in her tracks and said "if you are going to listen to your mother about that, then we don't need to bother looking in this area anymore".
Both were right, but we adore our house. |
weekends
Citizen
Username: Weekends
Post Number: 43
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 2:03 pm: |
|
This is a great thread. It's comforting to see other people have conflicted feelings about these old houses we live in.
On the weekends last spring, while friends from work were dusting off their golf clubs, I started renovating the 100-year-old wooden casement windows in our livingroom. On summer weekends my friends continued playing golf, some went rock climbing, while I continued to replace broken panes of glass, strip paint, and reputty. In December friends from work were taking weekend ski vacations in the Adirondacks, while I was installing interior storms for those dang livingroom windows.
It was worth it. The windows turned out beautifully. After decades of neglect, they open and close once again. They don't leak anymore. And the interior storm windows make the livingroom toasty for the first time since we've lived here.
The rest of the house is still a mess, there's no end is sight, and THAT's what kills me! |
Travis
Citizen
Username: Travis
Post Number: 57
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 7:11 pm: |
|
Don't pine for the McMansions. I mentioned to a contractor that there'd be an industry in a few years salvaging materials from the McMansions to build smaller more energy-efficient homes. His response was that he saw what was going into those homes, and there was nothing worth salvaging. I heard from someone else that, whenever they tear wood out of an old house, they save it for reuse later. The wood being used in the US today is garbage.
These old houses aren't perfect, using ordinary wood for the sill plate was probably the biggest mistake they made. But the biggest problems we've had with our house are the careless, sloppy and sometimes criminally negligent stuff done by remodellers. Pulled out the fridge today: receptacle box is unsupported and behind DW (they cut the hole for it in the wrong place), there's a hidden junction box in the stud bay, on and on it goes.... |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page