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Central Illinois | We are in the middle of the same type project. Bought old family farmstead from the parents. House built in 1925 and still 85% plaster and lathe that was done. Short on bathrooms and we wanted an attached garage. Luckily we don't have to live in it while remodeling.
I would suggest looking around for your contractor, if you're using one. We came upon an Amishman that has been great--not perfect, but very good. We had some structural issue that made two other contractors speachless. The one we chose rubbed his beard and said "not a problem", and it wasn't. Quality of workmanship has been top notch, subs he lined up have been very good, and bang for the buck pretty acceptable. If you plan to demo a large part of the house, and want help, look for migrant labor. I hired 4 migrants to demo the upstairs. Went pretty well. Also--a loader is a must for upstairs demo work and better yet a telehandler. REALLY speeds up the process.
As for insulation go with a blown in cellulose. Very good product with great sound deadening.
If heating and air is in the picture consider geothermal. With the tax benefits it is hard to pass up if possible to afford.
Regarding dollars into your house vs. new, that is something to consider. We pondered that alot. Hard to think of knocking down the family homestead, but we considered it. In the end we, along with the contractor, evaluated the structure and deamed it sound. He has been involved in building some pretty high dollar houses--much much more than what we've spent. When we asked his honest opinion he said "I'll build homes like they want in those subdivisions all day long, but, you won't have a mortgage to be a slave to like those people, you will have less square footage but more usable than they have, and in the end I will bet you're going to be happier being conservative."
Take it for what it's worth and good luck.
Edited by 3 To Go 2/25/2010 18:10
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Remodeling cost!
