Old Houses
- Thread starter Kiwi cop
- Start date
TheHobbyist
Member
First, best wishes to your wife on a speedy recovery.
Our home was built in 1850...then in 1925 they did an addition. My wife wants to do another addition at some point, but it is going to be a few years out.
You are correct that maintaining an old home does cost a lot. In fact, many people cannot afford it, which is why a lot of them fall into disrepair. I won't say how much I invested into our house--that was in great condition--over the past few years.
It is truly a labor of love. We will never move and I will buy up all the land around it when I can and it is available.
The downside may be the maintenance, but on the plus side, the saying 'they don't make them like they used to' is especially true. The boards under my sub-floor are hand hewn beams/logs that are almost 40' ft long in sections. My sub-roof is all hand hewn and varies in size, by the width of the logs.....even after 150+ years, the wood is solid and better than anything I could ever replace it with. All floors are hardwood and some rooms have woods that would now cost a fortune...all tongue in groove.
I figure a few thousand a year in maintenance no matter what. But you couldn't buy a place like ours and yours today if you wanted to. Now it's all plastic everything and particle board.
Our home was built in 1850...then in 1925 they did an addition. My wife wants to do another addition at some point, but it is going to be a few years out.
You are correct that maintaining an old home does cost a lot. In fact, many people cannot afford it, which is why a lot of them fall into disrepair. I won't say how much I invested into our house--that was in great condition--over the past few years.
It is truly a labor of love. We will never move and I will buy up all the land around it when I can and it is available.
The downside may be the maintenance, but on the plus side, the saying 'they don't make them like they used to' is especially true. The boards under my sub-floor are hand hewn beams/logs that are almost 40' ft long in sections. My sub-roof is all hand hewn and varies in size, by the width of the logs.....even after 150+ years, the wood is solid and better than anything I could ever replace it with. All floors are hardwood and some rooms have woods that would now cost a fortune...all tongue in groove.
I figure a few thousand a year in maintenance no matter what. But you couldn't buy a place like ours and yours today if you wanted to. Now it's all plastic everything and particle board.
My farm house was built in 1850. The "new" part was added on in 1870.
Never owned an old house. We're on our 3rd and they have all been built in the late 60's or early 70's,
The house in St. Louis my parents owned when I was born was from around the turn of the century. Crown moldings, lath & plaster, 9 foot ceilings, wide milled ornate wood trim around all the door & window openings, basement/foundation of hand laid rock with a dirt floor, complete with an oil furnace that had been converted from burning coal.
It started out as a 4-family "flat". Two side by side 3-room "shotgun" apartments upstairs and two more downstairs. My dad installed stairways between the upstairs and downstairs floors to convert it into a two-story duplex with 6 rooms per unit. That was in about 1965 or 1966 when I was 3 or 4 years old. I can just barely remember him working on it.
It was a nice neighborhood when they bought the place in 1960. By the time Dad sold it in 1974, the neighborhood had turned into a slum. Within just a couple of years after we moved the old house had burned down. The neighborhood underwent "gentrification" in the late 1980's and last time I drove through there it was still looking pretty nice. Pity the old homes were mostly all gone though.
The house in St. Louis my parents owned when I was born was from around the turn of the century. Crown moldings, lath & plaster, 9 foot ceilings, wide milled ornate wood trim around all the door & window openings, basement/foundation of hand laid rock with a dirt floor, complete with an oil furnace that had been converted from burning coal.
It started out as a 4-family "flat". Two side by side 3-room "shotgun" apartments upstairs and two more downstairs. My dad installed stairways between the upstairs and downstairs floors to convert it into a two-story duplex with 6 rooms per unit. That was in about 1965 or 1966 when I was 3 or 4 years old. I can just barely remember him working on it.
It was a nice neighborhood when they bought the place in 1960. By the time Dad sold it in 1974, the neighborhood had turned into a slum. Within just a couple of years after we moved the old house had burned down. The neighborhood underwent "gentrification" in the late 1980's and last time I drove through there it was still looking pretty nice. Pity the old homes were mostly all gone though.
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My current house was built in 2005. I'm the first owner. When does it become an old house?
I was lucky to find a great builder in Hanover, PA, who did a fabulous job on it. My aunt and uncle came by the job site every day and my aunt took pictures of the construction and settlement which she put into a beautiful album for me. Having the construction album was a help whenever I refinanced my mortgage. I helped design the house and my late mother was the inspiration to put in handicap and senior citizen amenities with the initial construction. Those came in handy when I had my knee surgery.
I was still working when I had this house built with the intention of it being my forever house. When I lost my job in 2009 my first priority was to make the house payments and not lose this wonderful house. I'm retired now and my plan is there will only be two ways I will leave this house, in a straightjacket or feet first.
I was lucky to find a great builder in Hanover, PA, who did a fabulous job on it. My aunt and uncle came by the job site every day and my aunt took pictures of the construction and settlement which she put into a beautiful album for me. Having the construction album was a help whenever I refinanced my mortgage. I helped design the house and my late mother was the inspiration to put in handicap and senior citizen amenities with the initial construction. Those came in handy when I had my knee surgery.
I was still working when I had this house built with the intention of it being my forever house. When I lost my job in 2009 my first priority was to make the house payments and not lose this wonderful house. I'm retired now and my plan is there will only be two ways I will leave this house, in a straightjacket or feet first.
I like old houses. This year I'm planning to buy a house near the coastline in Fethiye, Turkey. I've found local company in London which offers perfect property in Fethiye at affordable prices. I want to make some renovation and lease this house for summer
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BearBio
Member
Playing around with Google Earth to learn how to use it for work and zoomed in on my house and my big male pointer was in the back yard (He's passed over the Bridge last year).
There is another web site called showmystreet.com. Type in an address and up comes a clear picture of that property. When I was asking the HOA for approval of my home generator, I told the agent how to look up the picture of my property so that she could see where I intended to put the generator. She was impressed, and I received my approval within a few days.
Bullseye 2620
Member
My farmhouse, built in 1928. Beautiful oak trim throughout and all of the original glass. I love the ripples in the windows and they way they rattle during thunderboomers. Of course, there is nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof.
ParadiseRoad
Member
...when my in laws bought a new farm in central Nebraska in the late 1970s...they had to decide between refurbishing the 1880s farm house that was there or bringing in a double wide modular home...
...my father in law was concerned with the old house being so far from the code at the time...and they decided on the modular home...
...I helped my father in law and brother in law tear the old house down board by board...pulling all the square nails...and stacking the lumber...
..when my father in law was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma...they had to move up here and he brought that old lumber up and built a really nice addition to the house up here with it...
...after we tore the old farm house down...reflecting on the amount of work it took due to the good original construction...and realizing that the house had been standing for nearly 100 years at the time...I came to the conclusion that we probably should have refurbished the old place...
...20-20 hindsight...
...my father in law was concerned with the old house being so far from the code at the time...and they decided on the modular home...
...I helped my father in law and brother in law tear the old house down board by board...pulling all the square nails...and stacking the lumber...
..when my father in law was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma...they had to move up here and he brought that old lumber up and built a really nice addition to the house up here with it...
...after we tore the old farm house down...reflecting on the amount of work it took due to the good original construction...and realizing that the house had been standing for nearly 100 years at the time...I came to the conclusion that we probably should have refurbished the old place...
...20-20 hindsight...
OP
Tarting up the old girl
After several months of every day off (when it was not raining, which was often) removing old broken and soft weatherboards, window surrounds, barge boards etc and replacing with new timber the painter finally arrived last week.
Of course, the day he turned up to water blast the outside was the same day the council had shut off water to the entire end of the street to replace the water main
, so he had to be content with half a day doing some of the repairs I hadn't done (I hate working up ladders). 
So far he is about 1/4 of the way through with the main colour on the front and down one side. The barge boards on the same side have been painted (a little brighter red than the missus would like) and part of the roof started.
But it is starting to come together.
After several months of every day off (when it was not raining, which was often) removing old broken and soft weatherboards, window surrounds, barge boards etc and replacing with new timber the painter finally arrived last week.
Of course, the day he turned up to water blast the outside was the same day the council had shut off water to the entire end of the street to replace the water main
, so he had to be content with half a day doing some of the repairs I hadn't done (I hate working up ladders). So far he is about 1/4 of the way through with the main colour on the front and down one side. The barge boards on the same side have been painted (a little brighter red than the missus would like) and part of the roof started.
But it is starting to come together.
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jag312
Member
My house in San Jose was built in 1926. It needed extensive repairs and remodeling after the 1989 earthquake. I would make an educated or semi-educated guess about how many hours a particular job would take for me to complete. It always took about 4 times as long.
The plumber disappeared for 4 months in the middle of the job. I was replacing all the old iron pipes with copper. The reason he disappeared for 4 months? Because he had 2 months reduced from his 6 month drug possession sentence. Wonderful.
The electrician disappeared in the middle of the work. I had to finish it. I was told that the electrician was in jail. Why was he in jail, you ask? It seems that he was driving around San Jose one night and saw an attractive young lady standing on a street corner. He pulled up in his car, rolled down the window, and offered to trade drugs for her "personal services". She was a decoy, he was immediately arrested, and he got to be a guest of Santa Clara County at the Elmwood jail. Wonderful. Almost a year later, I get a phone call at 6:00 AM. It is the electrician. He just got out of jail and would like to come by to do some work. Not just NO!, but Bucking Bell NO!
About a year after that, I get a call about the electrician. Guess what, he got arrested again. San Jose PD thinks this is hilarious. It seems that he was driving around San Jose one night again and saw an attractive young lady standing on a street corner. He pulled up in his car, rolled down the window, and offered to trade drugs for her "personal services". She was a decoy, he was immediately arrested again, but this time he got to be a guest of The State of California for 5 years at San Quentin.
I think I did a good job, and I was very proud of the finished work. It hurt me when I sold the house to escape from The People's Republic of California and move to Nevada. I knew the buyer would demolish the house to build a new McMansion, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.
The plumber disappeared for 4 months in the middle of the job. I was replacing all the old iron pipes with copper. The reason he disappeared for 4 months? Because he had 2 months reduced from his 6 month drug possession sentence. Wonderful.
The electrician disappeared in the middle of the work. I had to finish it. I was told that the electrician was in jail. Why was he in jail, you ask? It seems that he was driving around San Jose one night and saw an attractive young lady standing on a street corner. He pulled up in his car, rolled down the window, and offered to trade drugs for her "personal services". She was a decoy, he was immediately arrested, and he got to be a guest of Santa Clara County at the Elmwood jail. Wonderful. Almost a year later, I get a phone call at 6:00 AM. It is the electrician. He just got out of jail and would like to come by to do some work. Not just NO!, but Bucking Bell NO!
About a year after that, I get a call about the electrician. Guess what, he got arrested again. San Jose PD thinks this is hilarious. It seems that he was driving around San Jose one night again and saw an attractive young lady standing on a street corner. He pulled up in his car, rolled down the window, and offered to trade drugs for her "personal services". She was a decoy, he was immediately arrested again, but this time he got to be a guest of The State of California for 5 years at San Quentin.
I think I did a good job, and I was very proud of the finished work. It hurt me when I sold the house to escape from The People's Republic of California and move to Nevada. I knew the buyer would demolish the house to build a new McMansion, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made.
We just looked at a house with a little over 10 acres around it last evening. It was built in 1888. There is a nice bank barn on the property, also built in 1888, a 3 car garage, and a pond with a small beach area. House and barn are metal roofed, and the house has propane and a new outside wood burning stove for heat. Asking price was $260,000. House needed lots of work, too much for me as I'm turning 75 in December. Basement floor is concrete, but breaking up and should be replaced, along with plumbing, electrical, and windows. Basement also has water seepage and smells damp. We declined to even make an offer.
I get the "down under" but isn't there a easier way for flipping a house
?
OP
I get the "down under" but isn't there a easier way for flipping a house
Something in the picture order does that. It is right side up in my photo album that I upload from.
