Renovated an old house, anyone?

[gijanet]

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

Your wish is my command... a couple of photos attached. One during the thatching and one after. It makes a hell of a mess

Fantastic~! Just wondering..........do you have to mow that roof? Hugs. J>

 

[gijanet]

IJanet,
Have you lost what's left of your mind! Have you forgotten that Katie had to paint a portion of her bedroom? What do you think she will do with an entire house to remodel? It boggles the imagination just to think about it!

I'm worried about you. I'm going to track your butt down, and overnight it back to Texas. Your loss seems to be affecting your other center of reasoning! Who says you need to be looking for a new house in Texas anyway? Why don't you move up here, and let us provide you with some needed R&R from Miss Katie? (contingent upon Trip's presence)

Well, yes, in fact I have lost my mind.............my body parts seem to be abandoning this sinking ship.

I was trying to find the picture of Katie "painting" her room, painter's cap - actually, I think it's a Dora one - and all, but can't find where Don downloaded those....................sigh! See, my mind really is gone.

Oh, so this is what it takes to get my butt back! Problem with Missouri is Katie would insist on living under the golden arch in St. Louis.


Many hugs. J.

 

[gijanet]

Hey, Gina........

Hey, Gina........

Hey Janet,

As soon as my winning lottery ticket shows up - I am there!!!!!

Seriously, I don't know about 2 years but a shorter visit just to tell you how crazy you are might be in line.

It sounds like you are covering all bases and the locations are great. I know you are familar with adventure so I say, "Go for it". You only go around once.

If you get that winning lottery ticket, we can kick back and drink beer and watch someone else renovate it.............I AM assuming you'd share...........heehee! I'd share with you. My lottery winnings so far add up to $5.

and if you only go around once, why do I feel like I've been around the block numerous times? Hugs. J.

 

[geebee]

Janet,

Some of those blocks are REAAALLLLLYYYYYY long.

And, of course, I would share my lottery winnings. You are first on the list (after my family) especially since no one else has asked.

 

[Mb]

Hello:

I own and manage a general contrcting company in Massachusetts, so needless to say, we've renovated many an old house.

You have received some excellent advise here.

However, one piece of advice needs to be emphasized. Lead paint is not a joke. If you have children under the age of seven (Federal regulations), it is of particular importance to have the lead removal done by a professional.
Lead is poison. If your child gets lead into their system, the liver has not developed sufficiently to filter it out, and mcuh physical damage can occur.
I have seen children with lead paint poisoning, and believe me, the physical and mental (brain damage) that can occur is devastating. The treatment is heinous.

There is no doubt in my mind that homes that old contain paint that was lead based. Probably on the windows, and the interior trim/walls. If you demo walls, the dust gets into the air, and gets breathed in. For a child........as dangerous as heart disease.
Everything needs to be vacuumed with a hepa-filter. Windows.....replace them all. The "dust" that comes off when the window is open and shut, settles into the sill or bottom of the window. Sticky little fingers pick it up, and of course at some point those fingers go into the mouth. Poison.

Just my two cents, for a mom with a very valuable child!

Marybeth

 

[catwoman]

Janet:

Is the 1940 house in the Waxahachie area? If you like seafood, there's a wonderful seafood restaurant there on US 287, just west of the intersection where there's a Walmart (I think it's Bob Luby's Seafood Grill). It's worth driving 45 miles or so from Aledo to get some good shrimp!

When John & I married in 1980, we bought a home built in 1948 in the Arlington Heights area of Fort Worth. It was tiny (about 1,000SF), no dishwasher or disposal, only 1 bath, only floor furnace, no AC. Two years later we contracted some upgrades (central H/AC, better ventilation in the attic, dishwasher & disposal, other stuff). They found some surprises -- no connection in the attic from the main part of the house to the back bedroom, which had been added in 1960 over a patio. There were a lot of other surprises.
The house had been rental property when we bought it. Lead paint, asbestos cement siding. When we bought it, you could tear off the siding, but by the time we built our current home in 1996, that was illegal.

Arlington Heights area of Fort Worth is an older area -- street behind us was used for Cavalry stables at the old Camp Bowie during World War I, hence origin of Camp Bowie Boulevard on Fort Worth's west side. We were able to see residents come and go and often wondered why some houses changed owners/tenants so often and why some were vacant a long time. Sometimes paying a professional engineer to assess a property will give you the answer.
My supervisor was house shopping last year and saw a fabulous buy. House was vacant. Inspection found a ton of problems. Lot of repairs needed and some that had been done were not done right. He passed.

Have you checked out the Ellis County Appraisal District website? Just run an msn search for Ellis County Texas and it should come up. You can find existing and usually previous owners.

 

[ClickerTicker]

Fantastic~! Just wondering..........do you have to mow that roof? Hugs. J>

No, the mower is far too heavy to get up a ladder with
Thatch does look "pretty", but has a number of disadvantages even without having to mow it...
- fire insurance is about twice that of a normal house
- as there are often gaps underneath for ventiation, it's not uncommon to find we have the odd four legged visitor scratching around the loft looking for a warm spot. Hope my doctor isn't listening, or he'll guess what I do with all that spare warfarin
- it is expensive to maintain - ours is in water reed which should last 40 - 50 years, but our recent total re-thatch was over 30,000 us dollars . Many are in "long straw" which only lasts 15 - 20 years. Both need to have the ridge on top, which is bent around, replaced every 10 - 15 years.

Still, it beats being in a modern box!

 

[gijanet]

Well, Marybeth..........

Well, Marybeth..........

Hello:

However, one piece of advice needs to be emphasized. Lead paint is not a joke. If you have children under the age of seven (Federal regulations), it is of particular importance to have the lead removal done by a professional.
Lead is poison. If your child gets lead into their system, the liver has not developed sufficiently to filter it out, and mcuh physical damage can occur.
I have seen children with lead paint poisoning, and believe me, the physical and mental (brain damage) that can occur is devastating. The treatment is heinous.

There is no doubt in my mind that homes that old contain paint that was lead based. Probably on the windows, and the interior trim/walls. If you demo walls, the dust gets into the air, and gets breathed in. For a child........as dangerous as heart disease.
Marybeth

You sucked the wind right out of my sails! But thank you for this information. I did not know about the age seven guideline..........and never really thought seriously about it all..............I mean I was raised in a house with lead-based paint.........as many of us were, and I'm okay..........uh, well, maybe that IS what happened to my many missing brain cells. I just thought they were Katiefied all this time. I really do appreciate the info. With Katie's health problems, she definitely does not need anymore or even a risk of more. When did they stop using lead-based paint? If we had to contract it out........AND the plumbing and electric, I'm afraid we are pretty well back to the total cost being too high, then. Well, shoot............course if they'd drop the price another $50K......... May just have to hide and watch....................THEN get an inspector.

Thank you so much for this info. Hugs. J.

 

[gijanet]

$30K for a roofing job????

$30K for a roofing job????

No, the mower is far too heavy to get up a ladder with
Thatch does look "pretty", but has a number of disadvantages even without having to mow it...
- fire insurance is about twice that of a normal house
- as there are often gaps underneath for ventiation, it's not uncommon to find we have the odd four legged visitor scratching around the loft looking for a warm spot. Hope my doctor isn't listening, or he'll guess what I do with all that spare warfarin
- it is expensive to maintain - ours is in water reed which should last 40 - 50 years, but our recent total re-thatch was over 30,000 us dollars . Many are in "long straw" which only lasts 15 - 20 years. Both need to have the ridge on top, which is bent around, replaced every 10 - 15 years.

Still, it beats being in a modern box!

Yegads, man! It is pretty, but for that price, I'd have to live on my roof!
Hugs. J.

 

[gijanet]

Yes, Marsha....

Yes, Marsha....

Janet:

Is the 1940 house in the Waxahachie area? .

Have you checked out the Ellis County Appraisal District website? Just run an msn search for Ellis County Texas and it should come up. You can find existing and usually previous owners.

they are in Waxahachie. We have been looking out your way, though, too. Found one last year we should have bought in Weatherford. It was a repo and a steal. ($50K under CAD and anything on acreage in these here parts, the CAD price is usually way under the market price)...........but it went on the market right before Katie's surgery and we were obviously preoccupied. 'Course it was gone by the time we got through with our surgical "adventure." There's another one out in Aledo on 10 acres, but the house also needs A LOT of work; the view is to die for, though. You can see for miles and has a huge ranch on the other side of it...........and it's only 5 miles to the Weatherford hospital. They would have to come way down on the asking price, though. Guess we'll just hide and watch. I don't think they'd take what we want to offer.............heehee! NOt unless it has been on themarket for quite some time..........like a year or so.......

I think I know what restaurant you are talking about........we have spent many weekends out there looking at houses and land. Guess we will have to stop sometime for a bite.

And thanks for relaying your experience. That is my biggest fear.............getting an inspection and thinking you know what you are getting into................and then finding out there is much more wrong than that...........meaning many more $$$$$$, which, of course, we don't have or we wouldn't be looking for a fixer upper.

Hugs. J.

 

[Cris N]

Janet,
They (?) supposedly stopped using lead paint in & on RESIDENTIAL properties in 1978. However, until 1993 virtually all commercial paint contained lead. Who's to say what paint may have been applied at any given time. There have been numerous instances of homes built after 1978 that have lead paint - because the painting contractor used paint designed for an office building. Buys in quantity for large job & uses leftovers for smaller home jobs.

Please be careful!!!
Cris

 

[tobagotwo]

Be sure the bank will float the mortgage on a fixer-upper. Sometimes they require some work to be done first, to protect their investment.

I have worked extensively on two homes that were built in the early 1930's. I have to admit that when I wound up in the second, 70-plus-year-old, needy house, I did whimper, just a little. Fixup has included wiring; plumbing; painting; sheetrocking plaster walls that had separated from moisture damage; redoing bathrooms (including moving and replacing a tub and replacing two toilets and sinks); running new bannisters down stairs; much wallpapering; installing vinyl replacement windows; cutting two new windows into outside walls (done from the outside with a chain saw); framing and placing garden ("greenhouse") windows in two different kitchens; putting in wall-to-wall carpenting, including stairs; finishing a basement room; installing a vinyl sheeting kitchen floor; designing, gutting, and "cabinetizing" two kitchens, including sinks and countertops; reroofing all of one house and parts of the other; fireplace work; removing and installing gutters; fixing brick stairs; replacing every outside door and storm/screen door and most of the inside ones; installing garage doors; mixing and pouring a concrete sidewalk. Obviously, I didn't start out knowing how to do all those things.

It helps if you have some understanding of electrical and plumbing, as it can be prohibitively expensive to have pros doing all of that work. Fortunately, most of it is common sense and taking care. There are excellent books available.

Wiring in particular is common sense. Generally, it's where you want to start, for safety's sake. Old wiring is cloth and wax, or cloth with crumbling rubber. It should be replaced early in the game, grounding installed, and GFCI outlets put in the kitchen and bathroom (at least). Take your time, and you'll find it's really not difficult.

Tackle things in small, doable chunks. Always take the time to completely plan the project and supplies and understand what you're going to do before starting. You buy good tools once: you buy cheesy tools over and over. Measure everything at least twice, and write it down. "Close enough" is not close enough; "good enough" is not good enough; if you're ready to say, "I don't care - just get it done," it's time to stop for the day. For walls, use paint two shades lighter than what you think you want. You can't wash all the paint out of a roller - it's impossible - but you can cover it with plastic wrap and it will stay wet enough to use again the next day. Buy extra wallpaper and carpeting for later repairs. Where possible, use screws, rather than nails.

Ack! It's worth it, I guess. Just don't let it completely take over your life.

Best wishes,