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    Old houses suck.

    My house is probably a century old, or close to it. Maybe more. Nobody really knows. My friend works for the county tax assessor's office, and he said that the listed year for my house is basically what they say for every house of unknown age.
    Anyway, I'm slowly trying to fix the old place up, and I swear... everything is odd-sized, custom, or simply ancient. My doors are all weird sizes. Door knobs are from the Civil War era (not really... maybe.) Wiring has been converted from oldschool knob and tube to modern stuff, but I'm pretty sure the electrician that did it was drunk or senile. Walls are almost all plaster, with cracks emerging (that'll be fun to fix...) Even my fairly new furnace requires an 18x18 filter, which is in stock NOWHERE. Had to order it online, which is annoying, because changing the filter was the thing I was going to do today!

    My wife and I are always looking at houses to get an idea of what we want when we move in a few years. We both love the older styles, but man... old houses are such a pain in the ass, unless you want to spend a lot of time, money, and effort doing a full update! Even then, room sizes and layouts are often weird when compared to modern houses.

    Just venting.







    #2
    Newer ones ain't so great either. Mine was built in 1993; the windows leak like sieves, the siding is rotting and falling off, master bedroom entry and bathroom doors are so checked that they don't latch anymore, kitchen floor (linoleum) is pulling away from the walls, ...

    We've signed up a contractor for new siding and windows, but they won't get to us by Christmas.
    90 LX 4dr 5 spd 396,014 (sold 1/1/2022) - MRT: http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=201450
    08 Element LX FWD AT 229,000 - MRT: fleetw00d : 2008 Honda Element LX - CB7Tuner Forums

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      #3
      Ours was built in '63. It needs work...the foundation is sagging in spots, the furnace is ancient, one of the bathrooms has blue tiles (ewww), but they feel like homes and not products. That's just the feeling I get from most modern houses.

      YouTube Clicky!!

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        #4
        Originally posted by sonikaccord View Post
        they feel like homes and not products. That's just the feeling I get from most modern houses.
        Same here. You've got these completely characterless, slab-sided boxes erected, what, ten feet apart these days? And HOAs would just love it if you kept the noise to a minimum, please. Yet people pay $3-400k+ for this lifestyle. Granted, '60s neighborhoods aren't much different in terms of separation, but modern houses are sad to look at for me.
        Last edited by CyborgGT; 12-10-2016, 06:12 PM.

        Accord Aero-R

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          #5
          Old house owner here, too. We wanted a house close to town with a little acreage, so all we could afford at the time was an old fixer upper. We've heard that the first 2 rooms were built in the 1890's, and then additional rooms were added throughout the years. So, the layout is not cohesive, and like yours, there doesn't appear to be rhyme or reason to room or door sizes. However, it's built solid as a rock with the walls being 6 inches thick of tongue in groove (or ship lap as they say on Fixer Upper).

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            #6
            New vs Old

            I was looking at houses in 2014, which is when i bought this house i am currently living in; new houses of course have up to date electrical standards, new plumbing according also to new standards(pvc vs old tubing) and all the bells and whistles with all the new technology has to offer however i was really disapointed at the minuscule size of properties. I find it ridiculous that a 2-3k sqft house sits in 3-4k sqft property, some houses only had a single car garage because of how close together the houses were, imagine townhouses and that describes them perfectly. I would like to be able to have a decent size dog and a yard that they can run around on and new houses simply did not offer that for me, my house is not huge at 1595 sqft but my property is a few feet shy of 9k and a chore to mow.
            [url=https://flic.kr/p/2hFNC7Z]

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              #7
              i always helped my parents around the house, and theirs was built in 1920. The wall studs are lined with wooden slats, with metal screen over it, and plastered (no drywall!). The electrical was non-grounded and had fabric insulation on the wires. It was a major pain installing the ducting for central AC and network wiring.

              Had to run all new wiring throughout the entire house, which was 4 floors including basement and attic. But the walls are staying as is - can't really make any modifications without major work. Redoing the kitchen turned into a crazy hassle of trying to find a door that fit our odd door frames, etc. The handles are all crystal and brass and use skeleton keys! And every room is heated by an enormous iron radiator (as big as a dresser)

              Its weird, but typical of the north east, and definitely a huge pain in the ass to work with!


              - 1993 Accord LX - White sedan (sold)
              - 1993 Accord EX - White sedan (wrecked)
              - 1991 Accord EX - White sedan (sold)
              - 1990 Accord EX - Grey sedan (sold)
              - 1993 Accord EX - White sedan (sold)
              - 1992 Accord EX - White coupe (sold)
              - 1993 Accord EX - Grey coupe (stolen)
              - 1993 Accord SE - Gold coupe (sold)
              Current cars:
              - 2005 Subaru Legacy GT Wagon - Daily driver
              - 2004 Chevrolet Express AWD - Camper conversion

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                #8
                Same here. Size of property was more important to us than quality of the house, which is why we settled on this house. It's quite large itself, about 2300 sf and sits on 2.4 acres. There's another small old house on the property and a large workshop. While they're not pretty, there's no way we could have afforded all of that new.

                Originally posted by Crankshaft View Post
                I was looking at houses in 2014, which is when i bought this house i am currently living in; new houses of course have up to date electrical standards, new plumbing according also to new standards(pvc vs old tubing) and all the bells and whistles with all the new technology has to offer however i was really disapointed at the minuscule size of properties. I find it ridiculous that a 2-3k sqft house sits in 3-4k sqft property, some houses only had a single car garage because of how close together the houses were, imagine townhouses and that describes them perfectly. I would like to be able to have a decent size dog and a yard that they can run around on and new houses simply did not offer that for me, my house is not huge at 1595 sqft but my property is a few feet shy of 9k and a chore to mow.

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                  #9
                  try fixing a ghetto rigged house like I have. lol



                  93 Accord LX Sedan (sold)
                  01 Civic LX Sedan (sold)-93 Accord EX Wagon (totaled)
                  93 Accord SE Sedan (sold)-92 Accord EX Sedan (sold)
                  93 Accord SE Coupe (sold)-97 Accord SiR Wagon (sold)


                  95 Accord LX Wagon (CURRENT)-05 Impreza WRX Sedan (CURRENT)-02 Ram 1500 (CURRENT)-20 VW Jetta (CURRENT)

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                    #10
                    house

                    Originally posted by SEgirl View Post
                    Same here. Size of property was more important to us than quality of the house, which is why we settled on this house. It's quite large itself, about 2300 sf and sits on 2.4 acres. There's another small old house on the property and a large workshop. While they're not pretty, there's no way we could have afforded all of that new.
                    My house is smaller than yours and property even smaller but i am happy with my purchase; the area is somewhat rural-ish even though there is alot of deforestation for new buildings around the area, the house was remodeled 3 months before it was sold(new roof, double pane windows, new electrical system, and the new stupid pvc piping) because it seems nobody liked the old owner and kept messing with her car. I looked for a bigger property but as much as i dislike doing yardwork i am quite happy with the size of the property now. I do plan of owning land with a small cabin in the middle of nowhere but that is years down the line.
                    [url=https://flic.kr/p/2hFNC7Z]

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                      #11
                      We definitely don't need this size of a house, and if we ever do move, we'll probably get something quite a bit smaller. The yard is mostly yard with a few old growth trees, so the upkeep is definitely a PITA. While we are fairly close to town, it feels rural since we're surrounded by small pastures and there's 80+ acres of woods next to us. However, I'm sure that will be developed at some point, and our quiet dead end street will be no more.

                      We had a new roof put on, new plumbing, and all new wiring. So, we've spent quite a bit of money on things that don't really show, so it looks like we've hardly done anything to it.

                      Originally posted by Crankshaft View Post
                      My house is smaller than yours and property even smaller but i am happy with my purchase; the area is somewhat rural-ish even though there is alot of deforestation for new buildings around the area, the house was remodeled 3 months before it was sold(new roof, double pane windows, new electrical system, and the new stupid pvc piping) because it seems nobody liked the old owner and kept messing with her car. I looked for a bigger property but as much as i dislike doing yardwork i am quite happy with the size of the property now. I do plan of owning land with a small cabin in the middle of nowhere but that is years down the line.

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                        #12
                        thread jack

                        [QUOTE=SEgirl;3264199]We definitely don't need this size of a house, and if we ever do move, we'll probably get something quite a bit smaller. The yard is mostly yard with a few old growth trees, so the upkeep is definitely a PITA.

                        Sorry for the thread jack Deevebut but look at it on the plus side, any work that you put on the house can return money since it is an actual investment unlike dumping money on a car. SEgirl i know what you mean as i have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom that remain closed at all times unless we have visitors and i have no trees in my property but my neighbors keep my butt working racking leaves.
                        [url=https://flic.kr/p/2hFNC7Z]

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                          #13
                          Even new(er) houses have some silly quirks in them.

                          My house has reasonably wide closet openings and the house was originally equipped with sliding closet doors (one slides past the other, such that one door is always blocking part of the closet). I elected to install bi-fold doors instead. The standard set of bi-fold doors you can purchase are 60" wide. My doors are 59" wide.

                          My house is a Gambrel cape with an attached family room and attached two car garage. When I moved in, there was no door between the house and garage. Thus to go into the garage, you'd need to open a garage door, go out of the house and go into the garage. First world problems, sure, but a pain nonetheless. I have a friend's father who's a carpenter come over and take a look at it and he said that because of the structure of the house, the largest door that will fit without cutting the top plate of the wall would be a 5'-10" door.

                          Ultimately I had a contractor come in and completely re-engineer that corner of the garage to get a door in, but at triple the cost of what I had originally been quoted for a simple door installation. The add-on family room and garage were installed in 1975 when the house was built in 1977. Who decided it was a good idea to not have the door? They build a slightly oversized garage (26 x 24), add a pit to one side and yet still don't have a door.

                          My favorite has to be an owner completed screw-up. The doorway between my kitchen and dining room must have been a small standard doorway at some point in time, and an owner decided to open it up to be basically full-size. The heating duct to the master bedroom ran up in the wall that separated the kitchen and dining room, so rather than re-route the duct, they just chopped it off and eliminated heat in the master.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by fleetw00d View Post
                            Newer ones ain't so great either. Mine was built in 1993; the windows leak like sieves, the siding is rotting and falling off, master bedroom entry and bathroom doors are so checked that they don't latch anymore, kitchen floor (linoleum) is pulling away from the walls, ...

                            We've signed up a contractor for new siding and windows, but they won't get to us by Christmas.
                            The house my mom just sold was like that! Built in 1994, and things were falling apart already when they bought it in 2001. Fixed windows leaking and popping out of their frames, nail pops everywhere, linoleum kitchen floor buckling in spots... It wasn't a cheap place, either. It was in a fairly well-off neighborhood, in a desirable lakefront community. They fixed it up really nice 2 years ago, just in time to sell it and move to Florida.

                            Originally posted by sonikaccord View Post
                            Ours was built in '63. It needs work...the foundation is sagging in spots, the furnace is ancient, one of the bathrooms has blue tiles (ewww), but they feel like homes and not products. That's just the feeling I get from most modern houses.
                            I agree about modern homes feeling like products. I mean, you can go into a 60s development and see cookie-cutter houses, but somehow they seem less mass-produced than new stuff. Perhaps because they've been lived in and personalized for decades, or perhaps because new stuff really is just crapped out as quickly and cheaply as possible!

                            I'm hoping we can find the sweet spot... a house that's old enough to be made well, and new enough not to be suffering from archaic design or in need of major renovation.

                            Originally posted by cp[mike] View Post
                            i always helped my parents around the house, and theirs was built in 1920. The wall studs are lined with wooden slats, with metal screen over it, and plastered (no drywall!).
                            But the walls are staying as is - can't really make any modifications without major work. Redoing the kitchen turned into a crazy hassle of trying to find a door that fit our odd door frames, etc.
                            I have a feeling my house is from around 1920. That's exactly how mine is, too! Slats and plaster, odd-sized doors, skeleton key holes (never had a key... half the doors don't even line up with the latch anymore anyway.)
                            I dread having to replace a door. I hacked up my bedroom door one day because it wouldn't close. I regret that now, because it is solid wood, and a weird size. Now I have to find a way to patch up the jagged mess I made of the top of it when I filed it down!






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                              #15
                              [QUOTE=Crankshaft;3264201]
                              Originally posted by SEgirl View Post
                              We definitely don't need this size of a house, and if we ever do move, we'll probably get something quite a bit smaller. The yard is mostly yard with a few old growth trees, so the upkeep is definitely a PITA.

                              Sorry for the thread jack Deevebut but look at it on the plus side, any work that you put on the house can return money since it is an actual investment unlike dumping money on a car. SEgirl i know what you mean as i have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom that remain closed at all times unless we have visitors and i have no trees in my property but my neighbors keep my butt working racking leaves.
                              I hope it'll be a return on the investment. I got the house for a great price in 2003, but the value has dropped quite a bit. The area lost its country club and a fair amount of downtown business. The hospital down the street is in danger of closing, or becoming a mental facility. The police station moved to the other side of town. There are a fair number of vacant houses on neighboring blocks, and the unexpected deaths of a few of my neighbors resulted in the rushed, low-price sale of their houses (driving the average price of the area down.) I'm hoping to list for 30% more than I paid, hoping to sell for 20% more than I paid. Depending on how we stand when we're ready to move, I may sell for exactly what I paid... maybe even drop to 20% below what I paid just to get out from under it. By my calculations, if we can find a place in my target price range that doesn't have obnoxiously high taxes (as I do here... $4300 in property taxes each year for my tiny place!), then two years worth of savings, plus the bare minimum profit we could see from selling 20% under purchase price could still land us with a similar cost of living for a much larger house. If we can do that once I'm making good money again, we'll be in a very nice position indeed!

                              Originally posted by AccordWarrior View Post
                              Even new(er) houses have some silly quirks in them.

                              My house has reasonably wide closet openings and the house was originally equipped with sliding closet doors (one slides past the other, such that one door is always blocking part of the closet). I elected to install bi-fold doors instead. The standard set of bi-fold doors you can purchase are 60" wide. My doors are 59" wide.

                              My house is a Gambrel cape with an attached family room and attached two car garage. When I moved in, there was no door between the house and garage. Thus to go into the garage, you'd need to open a garage door, go out of the house and go into the garage. First world problems, sure, but a pain nonetheless. I have a friend's father who's a carpenter come over and take a look at it and he said that because of the structure of the house, the largest door that will fit without cutting the top plate of the wall would be a 5'-10" door.

                              Ultimately I had a contractor come in and completely re-engineer that corner of the garage to get a door in, but at triple the cost of what I had originally been quoted for a simple door installation. The add-on family room and garage were installed in 1975 when the house was built in 1977. Who decided it was a good idea to not have the door? They build a slightly oversized garage (26 x 24), add a pit to one side and yet still don't have a door.

                              My favorite has to be an owner completed screw-up. The doorway between my kitchen and dining room must have been a small standard doorway at some point in time, and an owner decided to open it up to be basically full-size. The heating duct to the master bedroom ran up in the wall that separated the kitchen and dining room, so rather than re-route the duct, they just chopped it off and eliminated heat in the master.
                              I forgot you didn't have a door to the garage when you got the house! That sucks about not having a vent to the master. We have a very VERY small one in our room. It's essentially worthless, as the central heat/air was added decades after the house was built. It just wasn't made for it!






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