I recently purchased a home that is over 100 years old that requires a fair amount of renovations.
There are a lot of joys and challenges when tackling a project like this.
After an inspection with an inspector (who was thorough - a day and a binder of all findings), he discovered that there was no asbestos, the plumbing was old, but it was copper and no leaks (clogged sinks), the wiring was up to date'ish (replaced the fuse panel with a breaker box); and the house passed structurally (joists were solid but the house had settled in the middle (looks like a chimney was taken out years ago and it had settled around that area), it was very dirty having not been cleaned in several years and there was zero mold (I have mold allergies and nothing triggered).
After ripping out 30 year old carpet and then even older tiles and plywood, the original floor was 1.5 inch tongue and groove pine. Unfortunately it was uneven and the total drop from the highest point at the front door to where the chimney used to be was about 4 inches. I ended up building a sub-floor out of 2 x 4's by cutting the bottom of each 2 x 4 to match the dip in the floor and leaving the top of the 2 x 4 level (this was leveled off of the 2 x 4 next to it on 16 inch centers). I covered these up with 3/4 inch plywood. I also insulated the floor by adding rock wool insulation between the 2 x 4's.
The walls are lathe and plaster which is a pain in the ass to work with. I took out one non-load bearing wall to open up the kitchen but I did replace it with an LVL beam as I was concerned because it had a wall directly above it on the second floor and an old brick wall in the small basement directly underneath. The ceiling joist were parallel to the wall, but for $100 of LVL beams it was worth the peace of mind.
The walls were covered with hideous wall paper and instead of trying to peel it off I painted over it with Zinnser Bin 123 shellac paint. That sealed it and covered old stains/odors and allowed me to put a nice latex paint over it.
The furnace is about 15 years old and it does not have a humidifier or air conditioner. I am not too sure if I should add a humidifier as I do not want to add too much water in the air and create a mold issue. I have never owned an old house but they seem to have natural drafts. Coming from an air tight home in the burbs i hated how damp it was. These old homes have a somewhat natural air circulation.
The kitchen walls are the only walls that are not insulated. I am in the process of building two walls inside the existing kitchen (furring walls) and adding rock wool insulation. I will lose about 8 inches of space, but it is easier than tearing out the lath and plaster.
There is a basement that has the furnace and water heater. The rest of house is crawl space and dirt floor. As the snow melts water comes in from the sandy part of the basement and makes its way over to the sump pump.
Finally, the windows are old and will need to be replaced. Nothing is square and a simple fix is usually not that simple.
My three big concerns are:
Basement /crawl space - I would like to seal up the crawl space but I am worried it might upset the natural balance down there and invite other problems.
Furnace Humidifier - Whether I should get a humidifier for the furnace. There are zero mold issues in the house and i want to keep it that way.
Plumbing - I plan to move a bathroom (seems to be one vent in the entire house). I will keep an eye on youtube or may bite the bullet and hire a plumber.
I did find this guy has amazing old home renovation videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weTsUYj0FXI
I plan on getting a cat in the event that mice decide to move in (no signs of recent rodent activity but there was evidence from years ago).
Any tips and/or advice on owning a 100 year old home would be appreciated.
There are a lot of joys and challenges when tackling a project like this.
After an inspection with an inspector (who was thorough - a day and a binder of all findings), he discovered that there was no asbestos, the plumbing was old, but it was copper and no leaks (clogged sinks), the wiring was up to date'ish (replaced the fuse panel with a breaker box); and the house passed structurally (joists were solid but the house had settled in the middle (looks like a chimney was taken out years ago and it had settled around that area), it was very dirty having not been cleaned in several years and there was zero mold (I have mold allergies and nothing triggered).
After ripping out 30 year old carpet and then even older tiles and plywood, the original floor was 1.5 inch tongue and groove pine. Unfortunately it was uneven and the total drop from the highest point at the front door to where the chimney used to be was about 4 inches. I ended up building a sub-floor out of 2 x 4's by cutting the bottom of each 2 x 4 to match the dip in the floor and leaving the top of the 2 x 4 level (this was leveled off of the 2 x 4 next to it on 16 inch centers). I covered these up with 3/4 inch plywood. I also insulated the floor by adding rock wool insulation between the 2 x 4's.
The walls are lathe and plaster which is a pain in the ass to work with. I took out one non-load bearing wall to open up the kitchen but I did replace it with an LVL beam as I was concerned because it had a wall directly above it on the second floor and an old brick wall in the small basement directly underneath. The ceiling joist were parallel to the wall, but for $100 of LVL beams it was worth the peace of mind.
The walls were covered with hideous wall paper and instead of trying to peel it off I painted over it with Zinnser Bin 123 shellac paint. That sealed it and covered old stains/odors and allowed me to put a nice latex paint over it.
The furnace is about 15 years old and it does not have a humidifier or air conditioner. I am not too sure if I should add a humidifier as I do not want to add too much water in the air and create a mold issue. I have never owned an old house but they seem to have natural drafts. Coming from an air tight home in the burbs i hated how damp it was. These old homes have a somewhat natural air circulation.
The kitchen walls are the only walls that are not insulated. I am in the process of building two walls inside the existing kitchen (furring walls) and adding rock wool insulation. I will lose about 8 inches of space, but it is easier than tearing out the lath and plaster.
There is a basement that has the furnace and water heater. The rest of house is crawl space and dirt floor. As the snow melts water comes in from the sandy part of the basement and makes its way over to the sump pump.
Finally, the windows are old and will need to be replaced. Nothing is square and a simple fix is usually not that simple.
My three big concerns are:
Basement /crawl space - I would like to seal up the crawl space but I am worried it might upset the natural balance down there and invite other problems.
Furnace Humidifier - Whether I should get a humidifier for the furnace. There are zero mold issues in the house and i want to keep it that way.
Plumbing - I plan to move a bathroom (seems to be one vent in the entire house). I will keep an eye on youtube or may bite the bullet and hire a plumber.
I did find this guy has amazing old home renovation videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weTsUYj0FXI
I plan on getting a cat in the event that mice decide to move in (no signs of recent rodent activity but there was evidence from years ago).
Any tips and/or advice on owning a 100 year old home would be appreciated.
