Old Houses SUCK!!!

[scr8p]

now don't get me wrong, i like them. the old charm, woodwork, etc. but they SUCK to work on. nothing's level, plumb, or square. so many people have had their hands in it over the years, and you only find out exactly how much when you open up the walls/ceilings.

my house was built in 1931. you can tell it was built during the depression. they just used whatever they had laying around (or found) to put it up. thankfully, it's still solid and still standing. but when you look at with exposed studs, jeez.......

i've been remodeling my kid's bedroom for what seems to be all of this year as time and money allowed. it's only been the last couple weeks that i've been able to start putting up drywall. the goal was to have him back in his room by spring. then by the end of school. then by the beginning of school ( ). now, the goal is christmas. it might happen.

but as much as i like my house, i kinda wish i had been able to buy something about 40 years newer, or whenever it was that building supplies/construction became standardized. after dealing with all of the crap in my kids room, i REALLY don't feel like gutting any more rooms in this place.

[scr8p]

really, it's no different than restoring old cars. you don't know what's under the paint until you strip it down to bare metal. but, old cars are no problem to me. old houses, different story. i'm no master carpenter. can i do it, ya. just takes a lot longer to get stuff right.

[transamman908]

The wire lathe and plaster is the worst ( most likely what you have/had). It's heavy, dusty and hard to get rid of, along with the clean up after you tear it off. The only good thing about old houses is the lumber was mostly good quality wood, unlike todays crap you get at home cheapo from forced grown trees. You actually have real 2*4s with nice tight grain. Todays doug fir is total garbage. Hang in there, You'll get it done, just have the cooler stocked as thats the most important tool on the job

[Charlie don't surf]

really, I can i do it,( Masami replica ), ( Fusionspeed Tub ) ya. just takes a lot longer to get stuff right.

(Years)

[rctenracer]

I here ya. Mine was built in 1928. Have you started on the plumbing yet. Rusty pipes , cracked waste stacks. Wiring that the insulation crumbles when you touch it. Moldings that you have to have custom made. Hardwood floors . Old houses do suck . But on the good side they where made to last.

[scr8p]

The wire lathe and plaster is the worst ( most likely what you have/had). It's heavy, dusty and hard to get rid of, along with the clean up after you tear it off. The only good thing about old houses is the lumber was mostly good quality wood, unlike todays crap you get at home cheapo from forced grown trees. You actually have real 2*4s with nice tight grain. Todays doug fir is total garbage. Hang in there, You'll get it done, just have the cooler stocked as thats the most important tool on the job

it has all wood lathe and plaster. easy to take down, a pita to get out of the house.

a couple pics from after i gutted it................. in march.

I here ya. Mine was built in 1928. Have you started on the plumbing yet. Rusty pipes , cracked waste stacks. Wiring that the insulation crumbles when you touch it. Moldings that you have to have custom made. Hardwood floors . Old houses do suck . But on the good side they where made to last.

the only plumbing that i had to replace was 2 40 foot sections of galvanized water pipe in the basement that went to the kitchen sink on the first floor. other than that, everything else is newer copper. once my kids room is done, i'll be replacing the cast iron drain pipes from the second floor bathroom to the basement floor, as well as installing a toilet in the basement in preparation of gutting the bathroom. plus, it doesn't hurt to have more than one toilet.

the electric in the house when we bought it was split, fuses and breakers. a couple years ago we put in a new 200 amp panel with plenty of room to add to it. a lot of the wiring in the house seems fairly new, but there's still alot of knob and tube wiring, and some of the newer wiring is tapped into it. so, with doing my kids room, we ran new wires (for every room on the 2nd floor) from the panel in the basement, all the way up to the 3rd floor attic. now, when it comes time to do the other rooms, all we have to do is tap into the dedicated boxes in the attic. then all of the knob and tube will be eliminated on the 2nd floor.

[ROH73]

but as much as i like my house, i kinda wish i had been able to buy something about 40 years newer, or whenever it was that building supplies/construction became standardized.

I managed to get a house like that. It's a split level, built in 1960, and like most mid-century homes, I think it's got the perfect combination of old and new. The walls are drywall (although you can tell the contractors were kinda new to dealing with it ), the wiring is all modern 2/1 and 3/2 and the plumbing is all copper, but, like most older houses, it's built to last. For example, my upper level floor joists are 4x12, 48" on center with a 1-1/4" plywood subfloor. You could park a car in our bedroom and I don't think the floor would even groan .

That being said, I just finished a major kitchen renovation (everything, except for appliances was original to 1960) and it's amazing the things you find: slanted floors, non-square corners, old water damage, funky wiring, etc. Gotta love home repair!!

[purpletimbo]

You youngsters, we live in one half of a Cottage, dates roughly 1650 first build, tiled the Kitchen with 12" tiles on one end, in 10 feet went from a 2" cutoff on the tile to a 3" add on at other end, luckily the front and back walls are square, just the divider is 10 degrees out or so

[Lowgear]

We're still using the same wall oven (manual light RCA Whirlpool) and stove top thats been here since the house was built in the 50's.

[scr8p]

I managed to get a house like that. It's a split level, built in 1960, and like most mid-century homes, I think it's got the perfect combination of old and new. The walls are drywall (although you can tell the contractors were kinda new to dealing with it ), the wiring is all modern 2/1 and 3/2 and the plumbing is all copper, but, like most older houses, it's built to last. For example, my upper level floor joists are 4x12, 48" on center with a 1-1/4" plywood subfloor. You could park a car in our bedroom and I don't think the floor would even groan .

sounds like my grandmother's house. it was a HUGE 3 bedroom ranch built by my grandparents in 1969, and it was SOLID. when she passed away in 2004, the 6 of us grandkids each had a shot to get the house. but at the time, none of us were financially able to afford it. so it was put on the market and sold. i ending up getting the house i have now the following year.

i took a couple quick pics of my slow progress. the ceiling and 2 of the walls are pretty much done. the closet wall still needs to be finshed, along with the outside "bump out" wall. the recessed area to the right of the clost is gonna be a built in computer desk with a cabinet above. i couldn't finish the drywall there because i didn't have the cabinet here for fitment (just got back from lowes so i do now ). it's going to have an under-mount light on the bottom so i need to know where to bring the wire through the drywall. i figured i'd save it for last since i think it's gonna give me the most headaches.

[Toasted Coastie]

my eyes started to itch just looking at this......

[Hotshotman]

I rent but I love the old woodwork in the old houses. The rest is usually a mess.
I've heard some pretty scary stories of people hanging sheetrock on the old studs. After all the hard work of taking out the old plaster and lath.
But you've made some serious progress on your house and it's looking superb. Too bad none of your carpenter freinds can help you with that project. I suppose they are too busy building wood trunklids for cars or putting woodgrain on crappy 80's chrysler products.

[losiXXXman]

Looking good scr8p. That DOES look like he** to demo. You know with the shoddy construction and cookie cutter houses of today, you don't even have to have an old house to have problems. My house was new in December of 96. The stuff I've come across in it is just unbeleivable. Example, our water heater (gas) is located in the attic. It has an overflow pan with a drain pipe straight down to the crawl space, where it terminates right above the main double floor joist in the center of the house. When my WH started to go, a slow leak was draining right onto the main structure. ( I've now replaced the heater, oh and diverted the pipe!!)

Also, I never have minded hanging drywall.... its the taping, mudding, and sanding I hate!!

[N2Deep]

Man, that looks like a lot of work that was put into it. Older homes are always a pain to work on and I told myself never to touch one unless it was going to yield some big bucks back. The biggest and most dangerous part about older homes that I worry about is lead and asbestos. Lead is in the paint and in a lot of the materials they used. When demolishing, this lead can and will become present. A more hazardous material besides lead is asbestos. In these older homes, asbestos is almost everywhere. They use asbestos in insulation, flooring material and etc. Asbestos is much worse then lead because it can airborne easily and without proper disposal method, it can stay within the house after you have already completed the remodeling. Well Scr8p, you are a hard worker. A house is easier to fix then a nice vintage 1:1 muscle car I think, but that's because I'm in that trade.

[Bormac]

Bane of my life! But still the cool factor is there with old houses and the rich history that has and still does get preserved at times is nice to see. Hanging doors can be the most fun when everything is as mentioned 'out of level, square and plumb'.

A carpenter's rant over......LOL!