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NC Kansas | We have gone through this and totally redid a house built in 1890. We have done all the work ourselves including plaster and lathe removal, sheetrock hung and finished, insulation, wiring, plumbing, some new floors etc. The quality of the old construction cannot be duplicated today at any even insane cost. We have full 2" x 4" studs, first floor joists are full 2" X 12", second floor is full 2" X 10", subfloor is full 1", sheathing is full 1" and all of these are native hardwood. Very hard to drive nails, but screws work great. First floor was all full 3/4" oak floors. All put together with hand work and square nails. We covered the kitchen with a floating floor because of damage from a chimney fire sometime in the past. We turned the kitchen 90 degrees and put in all new cabinets (the expensive part). I built the new kitchen island including the drawers. Actually, I loved doing that. Just a little experimentation and the dovetails turned out really nice.
Don't be surprised by what you find in the walls. We had some disconnected lead pipe and a lot of old newspaper. Some bricks in odd places, and a few old tools.
The plumbing and electrical work is easy. Even easier now with pex pipe (get a set of clamps for this). Put in twice or three times the outlets you think you need. I have a friend who is redoing a house now, and he put a lot of the outlets 3 feet off the floor. He and his wife just love them as they both have some arthritis problems at 67.
The house is about 2500 square feet on two stories with a victorian exterior. We heat with a corn stove and a fireplace insert. Have not bought gas to heat for several years now.
We have A LOT of sweat equity in the old girl, but less than $40,000 including the purchase price in 1974. I would be willing to bet that in another 100 years it is still a better house than anything built in the last 60 or 70 years.
Yes, it is a lot of work, but the materials are not that expensive and the work is not that demanding outside of the cabinets. Just be prepared to be torn up a while. If you rehang the ceilings get a set of jacks (they can be rented). It took us about 2 weeks a room, but we could probably have done two or three in three weeks. Would give you a good reason to invest in some new tools. | |
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Remodeling cost!
