https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:14:23 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1015270 Tue, 27 Aug 2013 23:59:22 +0000 elpgal 1015270@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks Beth, I'll be in touch should we come across another in our area. It is almost Fall and the market has slowed down considerably. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1013712 Mon, 26 Aug 2013 03:11:55 +0000 Beth 1013712@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>LOL Gaylene! Yes, the wallet doesn't just hurt, it screams in agony. I'd have a hell of a wardrobe if I didn't have the neediest house on earth. Hope your son and DIL are enjoying their "project." I'll bet it's going to be gorgeous!</p> <p>Elpgal, the right house is just out there waiting for you. And if you're looking for any online resources, I'll share the ones I have. The old house community is fantastic, both IRL and on the web! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1009470 Tue, 20 Aug 2013 06:06:58 +0000 Gaylene 1009470@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Beth, I had to pass on your comment "it makes my heart sing and my head hurt" to my son and DIL who are in the midst of renovating a 100 year-old house that they just bought. My son suggested substituting the word "wallet" for "head". </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1009407 Tue, 20 Aug 2013 04:16:04 +0000 elpgal 1009407@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks Beth. I had seriously fallen in love with this house (I know it is very I savvy of me). We have a home inspector and an asbestos inspector lined up<br /> In case we run into another old house. Since my first post, I have done a whole lot of reading and I am sold. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1008975 Mon, 19 Aug 2013 16:27:38 +0000 Beth 1008975@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh Elpgal, I'm sorry it fell through.</p> <p>I've lived in old houses since my early 20s; our current house is 170 years old. There's something really special about old houses, but you have to love them. Someone I know once said, "it makes my heart sing and my head hurt" and truer words were never spoken. </p> <p>Our house is a&nbsp;home, a hobby and a passion for me. We have all original restored wavy glass&nbsp;windows, floors, moldings and fireplaces.&nbsp;If you decide to look at another old house, your best first step would be to find a home inspector that knows old houses well. Look at wiring, plumbing and possibly asbestos. I'd be less worried about lead, honestly.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1004657 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 03:48:01 +0000 elpgal 1004657@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Sorry, I didn't get a chance to reply in detail to all of you as I very busy getting an offer together. Unfortunately, our offer was not accepted. Our agent told us that the buyer did not want the hassle of lead and asbestos contingencies that came with our offer and more importantly, there was a cash offer from a builder who wanted to do a tear and rebuild. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1003277 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 23:13:30 +0000 fern 1003277@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Same experience as Echo, above. <br />Asbestos is fine unless you need to move/disturb it, and then it will cost to contain it, but it is very doable. Lead paint is much worse - it comes off as dust when you open old windows. New paint over lead paint does encapsulate it - mostly, until the new paint breaks down somewhere. It's most dangerous for kids who ingest it - eating paint chips or transferring window sill dust to their mouths.<br />We have done tons of work to our 1890 Victorian. For us it's totally worth it - we love living here: fun historic neighborhood, nice room sizes, 10' ceilings, 6' tall windows, built with 1890 (better quality) lumber. But we know first hand that renovations of older houses can balloon into more work &amp; cost more than new building.</p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1003181 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:55:14 +0000 Echo 1003181@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Our house is very old, and was originally built without running water, so the one bathroom it had was in an addition. In the years we have lived here, we have added another bathroom (extensive work, as the interior walls were not thick enough to hold modern plumbing pipes), gutted the kitchen down to lath, ripped out all carpeting and refinished all floors, moved a wall upstairs (all plaster, so it needs to be decided in advance whether to replaster or to use wallboard), replaced every window, resided and reinsulated. Oh, and we had a new roof put on and removed the unused chimney.</p> <p>Ultimately, a very old home that needs major renovation is a LOT of work. I never would have done it except that this is the home that my DH grew up in and he was NOT going to tear it down and start over (with everything we've done, we really should have). Have any older home inspected before you buy and be sure of what you want to take on.</p> <p>Small things can add up quickly. Asbestos was mentioned, for example, and a lot of older homes either have asbestos siding or asbestos flooring. Neither of these are dangerous provided they are not broken and the dust inhaled, but no professional will remove them without wearing full suits and ventilators. They need to bring in a special dumpster and you need to pay for hazardous material disposal. That means that just replacing the floor in a kitchen can run into the tens of thousands of dollars unless you do it yourself. And asbestos tiles can often be hidden under newer tile, so you can be in for surprises sometimes.</p> <p>Anyway, old homes can be gorgeous and well worth the work. They just aren't worth it if you don't know EXACTLY what you are getting yourself into. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1003172 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:39:27 +0000 DonnaF 1003172@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Our house is from the late 1920s.&nbsp; The plaster is much, much thicker and solid than anything you find these days.&nbsp; We still have a bit of old electrical along with mostly new electrical.&nbsp; We replaced the windows but paid more to have trim look like original windows and changed out sliders for the original look of double-hung which is actually much, much, much more comfortable.&nbsp; We also renovated the kitchen.&nbsp; Our kitchen is small, but our living room is enormous.&nbsp; The bedrooms are huge and both have walk-in closets with built-in dressers.&nbsp; The baseboards are thick and the molding is great.&nbsp; You can get the stuff custom milled by pulling out a sample from inside any intact closet.</p> <p>The big thing I haven't seen mentioned is the hassle of simple maintenance.&nbsp; Our bathroom is original with a left and a right faucet in the sink.&nbsp; The washers are a weird size, and for anything related to plumbing we have to go to a special store that sells vintage parts.&nbsp; No running out to Home Depot at the last minute.&nbsp; CFLs don't work in the light fixtures, so we will have to redo all our built-in lighting at some point.</p> <p>IMHO, the bigger danger from really old houses is lead from lead paint and not asbestos which is found in newer houses. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1003147 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 19:07:14 +0000 MsMary 1003147@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, and by all means make sure all the work was permitted.&nbsp; If it wasn't, walk away!! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002968 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 14:17:10 +0000 cinnamon fern 1002968@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Some other things to think about: &nbsp;<br />- closets - old houses tend to lack closet space<br />- insulation - you want to make sure the utiliities aren't horrendous and that the house won't feel cold or drafty in winter<br />- the basement - does it leak? this is super common where I live<br />- are the walls plaster? &nbsp;I think plaster is lovely, but it makes renovations way more expensive (if you want to preserve it)<br />- is the roof slate? &nbsp;again lovely, again expensive to fix</p> <p>I love our 1920s house, but I also love the fact that it was totally rehabbed before we bought it - new plumbing, new electric, walls moved around, etc. &nbsp;You can ask the sellers what they've had done. &nbsp;They have a fair amount of incentive not to lie, since it's easy to get caught - you can check the permits as well as asking the inspector.</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002936 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 13:18:22 +0000 Jules 1002936@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My house is 100 years old but that's pretty normal in Toronto. Is it in a neighbourhood of old houses built around the same time? If so, your potential neighbours are a possible source of info about possible issues. Local realtors and contractors should also be familiar with the houses. Insurance companies may also have concerns/rules about things like old wiring, oil tanks (from oil furnaces), and termites. These of some of our local pitfalls, yours will be different, but just calling your house insurance co. and finding out what questions they ask before insuring might give you an idea what to be on the lookout for. If you can meet some neighbours, ask what work they've had to have done. Replace wiring? Plumbing? Etc.<br /> I love my old house but have found renovating to be more difficult than I would have hoped. Everything seems to have a domino effect, for example can't finish basement without replacing 100 year old drains which means redoing concrete floor, at which point the bill is so high that we might as well dig down as the ceiling isn't really high enough down there. Suddenly "finishing" the basement is an 80k job before even putting in a bathroom. I've seen many neighbours start the basement Reno THEN realize they need to replace the drains (at 10-20K!), I am not sure why their contractors didn't warn them, so I really recommend talking to as many people as possible about the area homes to find out the specific issues. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002817 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:35:42 +0000 lyn* 1002817@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Asbestos is the bane of my Condo looking existance - every place i've looked at (1970's to 1990's) have asbestos. And one relator even told me, "Then just don't touch it!" I quickly found another relator.</p> <p>I am not going to move - I like my place and it's a good fit for me right now. I will look again when I am a staff physician and maybe look for a house or a swanky bachlorette pad </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002813 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 05:26:51 +0000 elpgal 1002813@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Mary, thank you for your thoughts. The house comes renovated but I am worried the renovations are mostly cosmetic. The home inspection will tell us more. I am also worried about things like asbestos but I am assuming we can test for them. </p> <p>Lyn, what a disappointment re. the house. I know you we're thinking of buying some property, what have you decided? The house comes with 3 beds and 2 baths - a number I am happy with. There is a very creepy cellar that I am very worried about but has Nice tall flowering trees that made me very happy. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002756 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 02:47:46 +0000 lyn* 1002756@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>In my former engaged life, we put down a deposit on a 1905 stone home - it had no upgrades done, but my then fiancee was a tradesperson and knew all the appropriate people to do the upgrades.</p> <p>We had someone come and inspect -everything-: keep in mind that old homes are generally smaller than new homes, and that you may need to gut the whole thing.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ours had sat empty for approximately 30 years, so there wasn't much aside from the outside stone walls that we were going to save - there was a large staircase that took up a lot of room, so we were going to do a spiral staircase to the second floor (only 2 rooms, and a sitting room upstairs); kitchen + parlour downstairs. We also wanted &gt;3 bathrooms, so we needed to make room for that.</p> <p>Obviously, once our relationship broke down, I pulled out of that deal ASAP. He continued with the renos and now lives there with his new wife. It looks very beautiful. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002717 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 01:47:44 +0000 MsMary 1002717@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I've only ever had old houses -- first a house from the 1920s and then one from the 1950s.&nbsp; The key is to get a professional inspection before making the offer, so you know what you are getting into.</p> <p>Unless I were really good at renovations, I would look for already-updated electrical and plumbing.&nbsp; Obviously you want to make sure it's structurally sound and free of dry rot or insect infestation.&nbsp; Roofs, floors, and windows can be big-ticket items, as can bathrooms and kitchens.</p> <p>On the plus side, my experience is that older houses tend to have been built much better than new houses. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/buying-an-old-house#post-1002703 Sat, 10 Aug 2013 01:29:50 +0000 elpgal 1002703@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>In our search for anew house we have come across a 1930s house that we love. We never considered an old house before we saw this one and I am furiously researching to see if it is worth making an offer on this house. I figured I would check here and see if you wise women would have some advice, pros and cons of older housing. </p>