Fixing up an old house [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

awakenedsoul

11-7-12, 11:04pm

Today I talked with my plumber on the phone about fixing my bathtub. I really like him. He's old school. He repaired my 20 year old toilet and scraped out all of the old rust that I couldn't get off of the bowl. It took him an hour on his hands and knees. How many repair people would do that nowadays? He's afraid there may be some mold behind the fiberglass tile walls of my tub/shower. We're going to rip out the walls tomorrow. He told me today that he may be able to sand down the wood and bleach it. The last owner put in one of those cheap fiberglass kits, and the walls are cracking. Also the caulk space is really wide, and it looks terrible. I'm going to replace it with real tile so that it looks nice.

I really love older houses. I like their charm and style. So many people where I live tear down the old homes or gut them. They replace everything with brand new materials. I like to restore and keep the period feel. How about you?

iris lily

11-7-12, 11:53pm

I"d have a hard time living in most things built after 1950. However, classic ranch houses are terrifically in vogue right now, and they are sort of cute I guess. I can see how they would be great for simple living, so maybe I could make an exception and live in a ranch built in the 1960's. But I draw the line there, 1970's+ is crap.

It's mainly the 8' ceilings of modern houses that I can't stand. I am fine with a 9' ceiling although my own house has 10' and 11' ceilings.

My own house is a good mix of old and new. It's a complete gut rehab. It was stripped down to the studs. There were no interior staircases (it was originally a 2 family duplex with exterior staircase. It was just walls and floors on 2.5 stories. Of course we are missing all of the great old woodwork, but DH is a carpenter so we have pretty nice woodwork ad fab crown molding.

I am completely in love with old houses, I am a house hugger. I brake for houses. haha. Anything that threatens my little Victorian village here earns my immediate and undying scorn. The latter comes about due to many assaults on this neighborhood over the years and we have learned to muscle up to push back threats.

ctg492

11-8-12, 6:12am

Ah, fixing up an old house aka money pit. I have been there a few times. It all depends on the bones of the home.
The worst case for us was the old farm we bought. All the character with the Big red barns one of them even having logs instead of boards. The home with the cobblestone Michigan Basement. The idea was back in the day the water would drain to the gutters in the basement. That is the reason there are now drain tiles and sump pumps. It flooded so badly. That house was the quintessential money pit sadly. In the end we would have been better to tear down and start fresh. But it looked so sweet from afar.
The best case old homes were from 1869 and 1890. The 1869 home had been redone to historic looks before we bought it. It had a cistern even, which we were told had to be filled in for safety. The 1890 home was left as original through the years amazingly. However radiator steam heat and the thought that heat rises (Mi winters) left much to be desired. The lovely crank windows with metal frames from 1890, so pretty...so cold. My neighbor at that home had a lovely 1890 home, he took so much care and love with it. He had carved each radiator cap to match the originals, everything had to be original.
I love old homes yet modern features are done for a reason as we learn as the years goes by what works better. I do not think husband will ever move to an old home again. That is all I look at as I am a slow learner.

goldensmom

11-8-12, 6:57am

The home we live in is well over 100 years old. We’ve updated the electric and plumbing and reinsulated. We’ve replaced most of the windows for economical reasons but have kept a couple of the old ones for aesthetics. We just replaced the 60 year old shingles with new that we don’t expect to last nearly that long. We’ve removed all the lathe and plaster and replaced with drywall just because we wanted to not because there was anything wrong with the lathe and plaster. In doing the walls we found that the bones of the house are full 2 x 6/8's and the walls are 10” thick inside, 12” outside. The hardwood floors throughout are 1.5 inches thick. My mother-on-law lives in a new house that has water in the basement every time it rains and our basement is always dry. I don’t see our house as a money pit but as an investment in a sturdy, well built structure. Affording the choice, I would choose an old fixer upper over new construction.

awakenedsoul

11-8-12, 2:11pm

Thanks for the replies....in Europe I fell in love with the older homes and the old cities. I loved the cobblestone streets and the quaint shops. My plumber is in the bathroom right now ripping out the old "tile" right now. So far it has been clean and dry underneath. Phew! It does need some carpentry work, but it looks better than I expected. He says that once it's done, having been done right, I won't have to worry about it again. He was worried about getting the fixtures off, and they came off easily. So far, so good.~

Gardenarian

11-8-12, 3:18pm

My house is 66 years old and was originally a church. It's built like a rock; all solid redwood. It was re-muddled when it was deconsecrated in the '70s and still could use a lot of work, but I love it. The wood floors are worn, bathrooms are small and ugly, the few closets are teensy, there is no furnace, no garage - oh, there are a million things we could do (and we have done a lot of work) but I love it anyhow. I kind of like having all these possibilities - never at a loss for something to do when you have an old house!

Spartana

11-8-12, 3:52pm

The house I'm buying is 55years old and much of it is original (probably why we got it so cheap!). Lots of funky old weirdly colored tile (mint green, pink, baby blue - all in different rooms of course) in the kitchen and baths from the '50s, original bathtubs, sinks and toilets and floor tile, etc... Will have to make some minor repairs but plan to leave as much original stuff as possible. I really like the 50's retro-vibe. Makes me feel like I'm living in 1950's Barbie's Dreamhouse. Just need some pink appliances to go with the mint green tile in the kitchen :-)! Mrs. M would love it! Where is she by the way? Haven't seen her around her for awhile.

Spartana

11-8-12, 4:06pm

I"d have a hard time living in most things built after 1950. However, classic ranch houses are terrifically in vogue right now, and they are sort of cute I guess. I can see how they would be great for simple living, so maybe I could make an exception and live in a ranch built in the 1960's. But I draw the line there, 1970's+ is crap.

One BIG drawback to older houses - even from the 1950's - is not enough electrical outlets. There is only one 2-slot outlet in the kitchen of the new place - one for the fridge and one to switch between your 1950's style stainless steel coffee perculator and toaster because (I'm assuming) that's all that there was to plug in back then! The original gas oven has a contant buring pilot light but if we wanted a new one with the electric pilot light, we'd have to plug it into one of the outlets in the dining room - which has 2 double sloted outlets. The same is true for almost every other room - maybe one or two outlets per room. Not too functional these days and probably expensive to update. We'll leave it as is ourselfs.

awakenedsoul

11-8-12, 4:49pm

Thanks for all the replies. I love colored tile and bathrooms. I might buy a pink Smeg fridge once my Kenmore dies. I guess I'm lucky, I have lots of outlets in my old house. Well, the plumber finished his work in two hours. It's weird...everyone (realtors and contractors) had acted like it was going to be such a mess under there, and it's just fine...clean and dry. The last guy put one of those cheap fiberglass shower tub kits in from Home Depot. The caulking was really thick like toothpaste.

Am still waiting to hear back from the tile guy. I'm excited to have real tile, and to have it done professionally. Wish I had a second bathtub, but I'm so relieved that there was no mold or rotting wood. I told my plumber that I always dry the shower walls and seams after I take a shower in there. I use a dry washcloth. He told me that made a big difference.

iris lily

11-8-12, 5:13pm

Rogar

11-8-12, 5:58pm

I can't imagine living in a new house. They don't have much character in my opinion and just don't feel homey.

I live in a ranch style house build in 1950. It seems like a decent compromise between huge outlays of time and money to rehab some thing older and still has some quirky character. The walls are plaster and coved ceiling. It was a project when I moved in. I have some regrets about getting rid of a few thing now that Mad Men retro is back. The pink toilet and sink went, but I kept the pink bathroom wall tiles and harvest gold kitchen tiles (got rid of the harvest gold appliances). Got rid of the harvest gold carpet, which revealed wood floors, some of which never seemed to have been walked upon. I had to replace the sub floors in both bathrooms and the drywall in one. There are still plenty of cosmetic projects left but most of my last projects have been to upgrade the energy efficiency.

Downsides? As best as I can figure there is no wall insulation and it is very expensive to add. The kitchen is tiny and no reasonable way to expand. I've gotten used to it sort of. Smaller bathrooms, but two of them. Tiny single garage. Basement laundry.

Quirky personality things that I think are cool: A pocket door to close off the kitchen. Huge metal wash tub in the laundry. Natural wood built in book shelves and cabinets in the living room. One of the cabinets opens to the garage so I can crawl out to my car in case of zombies. Honest to goodness knotty pine paneling in the basement.

awakenedsoul

11-8-12, 8:29pm

How fun. I'm getting that retro pink tile for my shower. It's the small squares. I think it will look nice with the white American Standard toilet and sink. I've got some Retro linoleum on the floor. My mom put this cool foil type wallpaper in our bathroom back in the late 70's. It was really pretty. She has three bathrooms. Pink, blue, and green. She's having a hell of a time finding a blue toilet now. Hers is leaking. When I went to Home Depot, all they offerred in tile colors was white and bisk. I found a place in Van Nuys that has the pink. They've been in business for over 50 years.

I guess I'm lucky that my house has a really big kitchen. The window over the sink looks out into my orchard. There's plenty of space for all the cooking and baking that I do. The kitchen is the same size as the living room!

The tile guy is coming tomorrow to give me an estimate. I'm so excited! Have any of you reglazed your tubs? That's next on the agenda.

SteveinMN

11-8-12, 9:16pm

Hmm ... I'm an absolute fan of modern architecture, but that's primarily because they're simple and clean and light-filled.

Our current house is a mid-70s rambler. It's an incredibly efficient layout; I don't think there's 20 wasted square feet in the floor plan. Everything fits together like Tetris. It's also modern enough that we don't have to deal with the -- er, charm -- of inadequate wiring, basement-filling octopus (gravity) heating systems, and the token closets houses came with back in the day. We've been working on making the place more light-filled -- bigger windows in doors, possibly a tube skylight in the future, ... I wanted a "machine for living" and I got it. It's a very economical house for its 1800 square feet. It's what we put inside it ourselves that makes it a home.

My other house is an 85-year-old bungalow. My wife thinks it's a cute house. My mom (who lives there) is still coming around to that point of view (it helps that we modernized an inadequate "rental property" kitchen). I don't find it particularly charming, but, then, I'm the one who has to fix 85 years of service life, cheap landlord fixes, and the like. Spending money just to catch up to "good" kinda takes the charm out of an old house. JMHO.

Tradd

11-8-12, 11:15pm

If I could buy a house, I would get one of the 1920s bungalows that are plentiful in Chicago and older suburbs like Oak Park. My friends just outside of Milwaukee have one. These are the folks I stayed overnight with before the brokers exam. I want their house! Lovely old woodwork. Wood floors throughout. Bullt-in cabinets and bookcases in DR and LR. Original tile in bathroom. Original cabinets in K. They have lovely old sturdy wood furniture from the 1930s and 1940s from relatives. It goes together wonderfully.

Blackdog Lin

11-9-12, 9:53am

I love the IDEA of quirky old houses.....but nope, love love love living in a more modern one.

Our first "real" house ('80-'93) was a story-and-a-half farmhouse style, built in 1906, in decent shape, but ugly and dysfunctional. And one never has the money to do even half of the real upgrades that an old house needs. Drafty windows, ugly storm windows, no electrical outlets, one closet in the entire house, the world's ugliest kitchen, and get this!: there was only one sink in the whole house. The kitchen sink. The bathroom had no sink.

We budgeted for expanding the bathroom when buying the house, first thing, but there was always something that needed modernized that we didn't have the money to do. Electrical, air conditioning, insulation, windows, forget all about the necessaries that always come up like hail-damaged roofs or the front porch disintegrating or the plaster falling down or the sewer line collapsing.

The energy-efficiency alone makes having a newer house worth it, to me. If I'd known then what I know now, I could have been making 2/3rds of a larger house payment with what we'd have been saving on utilities.

I'll forgo the charm and quirkyness of an older house in favor of (1) central heat and air, along with the insulation and windows that make them efficient; and (2) TWO bathrooms!!!; and (3) an attached garage (with AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER!). These are the three things I have now that I still marvel at, 19 years after we built and moved in. Modern marvels indeed.

:)

iris lily

11-9-12, 9:58am

In my Best of Both Worlds (all new interior of old exterior) we've got electrical outlets galore. DH wired the house for more than the minimum requirements of the building code. Everywhere I turn there is an electrical outlet. He even put an electrical outlet on the staircase landing.

The Plumbing is great, too. A neighbor watered our garden when we were on vacation and comments on how great our water pressure is. Well yeah, it is all new pipes!

And closets: well, we certainly do not have Victorian closets, we built in a decent number of typical closets for 20 years ago. But the current building trend is for giant walk-in closets, and we do not have those.

awakenedsoul

11-9-12, 12:00pm

I guess it all depends on your experience. It sounds like some people have nightmare experiences with older homes. That can be very expensive. I went down to Building and Safety and got copies of all the permits for work done on my house. The original owner had it in the 1940's and he redid the electrical in 1964. He also got permits for the plumbing then...(a water closet.) I have the large schoolhouse windows: three in the living room, and three in the kitchen. The house is full of light. I love the floor plan. I actually have to use curtains in the summer to block the sun and let in the light! My electric bill is between $10.00-$40.00 a month. I use window air conditioners and ceiling fans during our triple digit heat. My gas bill is only about $25.00 a month. I guess I lucked out! The pipes are original galvanized pipes. The have been trouble free. My plumber tells me that people with new copper pipes have a lot more plumbing problems than I do. I clean the drains once a month with baking soda and hot vinegar before I go to sleep. The water pressure is excellent. This cottage just seems to have good bones. The roof is excellent. The previous owners were conscientious, and the only renter in its history was me! Also, from my research, it sounds like the men who lived here were all very handy and took pride in ownership. I don't think this place ever got really run down...

Spartana

11-9-12, 3:01pm

Spartana, I am swooning at the thought of your 1950's tiles! Now I am compelled to take a little trip to Pink Bathroom land. Someone here on this site showed us this url years ago and I am hooked:

http://savethepinkbathrooms.com/

OMG the pink bathtub and toilet the woman in the brown hair is standing in front of is EXACTLY like mine with the molded shape! Well my toilets area bit bigger and more rounded on the bottom but the molded tank is the same - matches the tub and sink (will take some photos once I move in). Except my is in white (in both of the tiny 60" X 90") bathrooms. They are heavy cast iron and very cool. The tile in one of the bathroom (mine) is pink and my sister's bathroom is baby blue (mint green in the kitchen which has white painted cabinets and appliances - although a pink fridge like Awakensoul wants would be cool). All the tile is huge and thick. I've never seen anything like it anywhere. Will have to look online at vintage places to find anything that matchs as I wouldn't want to replace it with something more modern if repairs had to be made. but so far everything looks good. Had the inspection yesterday and was able to go thru the place with the inspector since it's vacant (and bank owned so will have a very fast escrow since we are paying cash). Got to take measurements and check everything out. Just waiting for the termite report and then, if everything passes, will have the place soon. It desperately needs new carpeting or some kind of flooring. Will NOT be getting lime green shagg no matter how much you beg ;-)! I guess that is circa 1960's and not 1950's though. What exactly is the "right" floor covering for 1950's? Linolium in the kitchen and baths? Wood Parkque flooring elsewhere? I'll have to look into that. Fortunately all the walls except my sisters bathroom are white (sis bath is also painted baby blue like the wall tiles with blue and white checkered floor tiles from the 50's and I have pink and white checked tiles on the flooring in my bath) so will be easy to match everything. I'd like wood floors or laminate rather then carpet so will probably go that route. kitchen has pale green ceramic floor tiles that are newer.

Spartana

11-9-12, 3:16pm

Downsides? As best as I can figure there is no wall insulation and it is very expensive to add. The kitchen is tiny and no reasonable way to expand. I've gotten used to it sort of. Smaller bathrooms, but two of them.

Ditto for me too. The attic is insulated and has several vents (done when a newer asphault roof was put on a few years ago) but the walls aren't insulated at all. But since it's in coastal SoCal where the temps are moderate it probably won't matter. No AC and no central heat either. Just a double gas wall furnace between the living room and dining room and will have to use plug in electric heaters in the back of the house. AQll the rooms have ceiling fans though to circulate the heat and the heater puts out some serious heat very fast. Tiny closets too and 2 of the bedrooms are small - 9' X 11'. The big bedromm (which will be sis's along with one of the small bedrooms as she needs more space) is around 12' x 15' with a bigger closet. Place is 1050 sf (plus a 2 car garage with a "anti-zombie" door into the kitchen as well as to the side yard. No automatic garage door opener so either sis or I will ahve to open the door by hand and face the zombies :-)!

Rogar

11-9-12, 4:49pm

awakenedsoul

11-9-12, 7:49pm

Well, the tile guy came out and gave me my estimate. I'm under my $3,000. budget to do everything I wanted. Yay! Thank goodness I said "No thanks" to Home Depot. They quoted me $10,000. or more! My plumber thought it would cost five or six grand, so I'm happy that I did my homework. Next year I will put white tile with a pink border on the floor. Here is a photo of the bathroom tile and colors I'm using. (It's the first photo of the handicapped bathroom.) www.rbtile.com (http://www.rbtile.com) I will no longer have crumbly walls around my tub! He'll put a pink border around the bottom. There used to be a yucky space under there. This will be much cleaner and more elegant. It's so nice to find talented, creative people when you need work done on your home!
Spartana,
Your bathroom sounds gorgeous! I can't wait to see the photos...

Spartana

11-13-12, 1:13pm

Spartana, I added a bunch of insulation to my attic on top of the little bit that was there, and it helped a lot in both winter and summer. It cost about a thousand dollars. Maybe in the S. Cal. climate it really doesn't matter that much. Sounds like a fun place.

I suspect with your firearm collection the zombies will not pose a problem. They will meet their match:)

Ha Ha! My sister is armed security for a big defense contractor so we are prepared for any immenint zombie attacks. Although being that armed doesn't seem to help the dating life much - what with men running screaming from us all the time :-)!

The attic insulation is pretty think so will be OK and we might get insulation blown into the walls if it's not too expensive. But we will probably do very little upgrading other then needed repairs - most which we (I) can probably do ourselves.

Spartana

11-13-12, 1:20pm

awakenedsoul

11-13-12, 3:18pm

Cute bathroom awakenedsoul. I always like the pink and white look. My bathrooms and kitchen aren't exactly "gorgous" but sort of funky. They ARE old but in good condition. While I love all the new granite counter tops, new fiberglass showers, etc... I really prefer the funky old retro stuff. Well... if it didn't cost anything to replace the funky old retro stuff with new updated stuff then I might actually like it better :-)! NOT spending any money DOES influence my decsions. Alot!

It's coming along really well. The last owner did his own work, and it was very poor quality. These guys are doing a terrific job. The old shower walls were hollow and the floor boards were crumbling. They've reinforced it and put in a brace to hold the shower in place properly. The nice thing about tile is once it's done, you don't have to replace it. (As long as you like retro...) I would love to find a porcelain clawfoot tub and a pedestal sink.

I normally don't like spending money, but this feels awesome! It's something that I will enjoy and use every day.