# 90 year old house



## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

My son and I looked at a 90 year old house (for him). Price was $79k, it's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath home on 1/2 acre. It has new windows and new doors, new roof, and furnace is only 8 years old (oil forced air). It had the electrical upgraded to 100 amp breaker box more recently too. It will need rewired for the most part. Most rooms have only one outlet (on the floor) and one overhead light. Has plaster walls and on the second floor it looks as though the plaster has come loose from the lath as it's drooping out. I would just bust the plaster off and put drywall up after rewiring where we need to. I can do most everything, but am wondering if I can just use a respirator type mask to protect myself from possible lead and asbestos in the plaster? Also we're a bit concerned about a pine tree next to the house that's probably even older than the house I'm guessing. It must be at least 4' in diameter at the base and I'm guessing 100' tall. It looks healthy, but leans towards the house and if it ever decided to fall would completely demolish the house it seems. Would a tree surgeon be able to tell how safe it might be? according to my google search, pine trees in PA can live anywhere from 200-450 years and grow 75-100' tall. The house needs a lot of TLC. Needs new siding, soffit, facia and gutters. someone replaced the old porch with a smaller deck and we'd want to restore the old porch. It has asphalt shingle siding on it now, but we'd probably just put vinyl siding over it, or remove the asphalt and apply vinyl over it. Does that cause a dampness trap with plaster walls?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

#1,There's no location in you profile so where all going to have to guess what house values may be in your area.
Old steel plumbing lines that will need to be replace because for sure there going to plug up and leak at some point?
On a septic system or city sewer?


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

Asbestos use in plaster started around 1940. It is doubtful that a 90 year old house has asbestos in the plaster but testing is the only way to know for sure. Some plaster only contained around 1% asbestos and 1% is the action level. Have a sample tested, it doesn’t cost much and you will have the answer.


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## dj3 (Apr 27, 2020)

- The old pine tree must go.
- While you have the wall open, re-pipe and run cable or other necessary lines for today devices.
- Add more receptacles to meet your town present code, not because you have to, but because you want to.
- Don't cover existing exterior with new siding. If you remove the old exterior, you get a chance to inspect and correct all deficiencies.
- How's the main sewer line? Main water supply?
- With a lot of sweat you can turn this house into a show house. Enjoy !


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Buy a couple of real respirators with replaceable cartridges and pre-filters as those cheap throw away masks don't work.


I use one similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/NASUM-Reusab...qid=1596370274&sprefix=respri,aps,199&sr=8-37


The silicone body makes it easy to wear long loner periods of time.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

I think the pine tree is his biggest concern. I know of a good tree servie in the area. I may just call the guy to get an idea over the phone what it would cost to remove it before he even makes an offer. I'm guessing upwards of $5k.

I'm thinking he might be wise to remove the plaster and lath from the outside walls at least to insulate. I would definitely remove the asphalt shingles and put house wrap and vinyl siding on. Don't know what the plumbing is like, but if we're redoing the exterior walls, it would be easy to replumb everything if necessary. Not sure what to do about heat to the upstairs. There are no heating ducts running to the second floor. only grates set into the floor on each room so the heat from the main floor rises up. Probably would not qualify for a traditional loan, but he has other options in that regard. The house is in Clarence, PA if that helps determine home value. I think the price is a high, but it's kind of a local market and it will eventually sell I'm sure. It is a family selling it after the death of its occupant, an older lady. It was in the family since it was built 90 some years ago. I've attached a couple more photos. One is the other side of the front and the other is a photo of the back. I'm guessing there may have been some water damage to the back corner of the house prior to the new roof being installed and they had to remove the siding and replace the boards with sheathing. There is also a chunk missing from the one chimney for whatever reason. But both chimneys look straight and solid otherwise. Just need new chimney caps other than that. A chimney inspection would be done too. I know a good guy for this.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Forgot to mention the house is on public sewer and water and along a paved road.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Here is a photo of the pine tree. It's easily 4 times the height of the house. photo makes it seem smaller due to shooting up at it i think to get the whole thing in view.


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## Marson (Jan 26, 2018)

I wouldn't worry about the pine tree unless it was diseased, had large dead branches or a dead top or something. Yes it leans over the house, but is it any more likely to fall in that direction? If the wind is pushing it, it seems like if it was blowing against the lean it would create more stress on the trunk and roots.


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## Marson (Jan 26, 2018)

I have no idea what your real estate market is like so I can't tell you if you got a deal, but that there is a pig pile of work.


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

I would get rid of the pine tree. If you get heavy rain and wind it might fall down or it might get hit by lightning. I had a tall white pine close to my house and it took a lightning strike. It was on the same side of the house as my ground rods and it did some strange things to the electrical devices in my house. It took about 20 years but it eventually killed the tree. I am glad it is gone, it would shed needles and plug up the gutters and needles got in the vents of my cars and made noise with the heater fans. It also dripped sticky crap on anything near it.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i agree on loose the tree. i would tie it to a 4x4, start cutting and have the 4x4 pull it away from the house. then if a few years he has a bunch of firepit wood. 

far as the house goes. looks like you have to do about what i did to my house = nearly all new everything. and i would probably pull down those chinmeys.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

We haven't even made an offer on the house yet. Only told the realtor we were interested in case they got another offer, so they might wait for ours. I'm figuring we'll easily have $20-$30k in renovations even doing most things ourselves. 

Another thing I was concerned with is if it has asbestos insulation in the exterior walls. Would hate to buy the house then find out we need a haz-mat team to remove the asbestos. I suppose we could make the sale contingent on an asbestos test. From what I saw laying around upstairs in the cubbies it kind of looked like that shredded newspaper stuff, but it's probably impossible to tell without taking a sample and getting it tested.

We were figuring on taking down the plaster and lath on the exterior walls to better run wiring and plumbing and also to put new fiberglass insulation in. On interior walls and ceilings we'll probably remove the plaster but keep the lath and just drywall over them. We could cut out where we need to run wiring and plumbing.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

We can see some water damage repairs have been started, if you are stripping the inside expect to find some more and some work around some of the windows. The basement was never meant to be anything like today's basement as you close up with modern insulation and less drafts moisture in the basement could be trouble. 

Rooms in the attic don't have room in the rafters for insulation and venting and it is really hard to vent that style properly so there will be some learning and decisions to make. 

Nice looking house and the price would be a down payment on a building lot up here.


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## ChuckTin (Nov 17, 2014)

I like the look of old houses but I am not fooled by lipstick.
Your budget, time AND $, should be for a complete gut. Sorry.
And I'd include 200 amp service panel and new piping in walls and to-from the source. Good luck, oh and stock up on aspirin and or adult beverages, you're going to need them.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

we certainly planned on doing a complete gut on it. removing the plaster from the walls will make it much easier to run wiring, plumbing and new insulation as well. btw, the tree guy gave him an estimate of $3200 to cut down the pine tree, cut it up, and remove it, which I thought was reasonable given its size and proximity to the house. my biggest concern now is if it has asbestos insulation in the walls or the plaster since so many homes built or renovated before 1980 have it. If it does, I told him I don't want to touch it and he should keep looking. we can make that a contingency of the sale I suppose. a test kit from Home Depot only costs around $10 with a $40 lab fee I understand.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Pat the Rat said:


> we certainly planned on doing a complete gut on it. removing the plaster from the walls will make it much easier to run wiring, plumbing and new insulation as well. btw, the tree guy gave him an estimate of $3200 to cut down the pine tree, cut it up, and remove it, which I thought was reasonable given its size and proximity to the house. my biggest concern now is if it has asbestos insulation in the walls or the plaster since so many homes built or renovated before 1980 have it. If it does, I told him I don't want to touch it and he should keep looking. we can make that a contingency of the sale I suppose. a test kit from Home Depot only costs around $10 with a $40 lab fee I understand.


 I am not sure of wall insulation that had asbestos, some attic insulation did.
Floor lino tiles and the glue they used did and then you have lead in layers of old paint.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

since the walls are part of the roof due to their steep slope and going almost to a point, I was using "wall insulation" to cover both. guessing they used the same throughout. 

which makes me question the best way to insulate the upstairs rooms. I would think there would need to be some distance between the insulation and the roof boards to allow for air flow to prevent condensation, no? use baffles all the way up? add a roof vent? There is no attic in this house. Bedroom ceilings come to almost a point.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Pat the Rat said:


> since the walls are part of the roof due to their steep slope and going almost to a point, I was using "wall insulation" to cover both. guessing they used the same throughout.
> 
> which makes me question the best way to insulate the upstairs rooms. I would think there would need to be some distance between the insulation and the roof boards to allow for air flow to prevent condensation, no? use baffles all the way up? add a roof vent? There is no attic in this house. Bedroom ceilings come to almost a point.


Yes but they are 2x4srafters so you have to add depth to them to get closer to code , venting in that roof is difficult with the valleys there are few if any clear runs for the venting. Best is when if you need a new roof you strap that and add plywood and use that space between for venting.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

i was thinking of running those styrofoam baffles all the way up to the top and putting whatever insulation I could fit in there. Can't be worse than what it was originally I suppose.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Pat the Rat said:


> i was thinking of running those styrofoam baffles all the way up to the top and putting whatever insulation I could fit in there. Can't be worse than what it was originally I suppose.


 That only helps if you have air flow from the soffit to the peak.
That house has a little lumber in the way for that.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

yeah you're right. perhaps spray foam might be a better option. I also saw someone on youtube do this rigid foam insulation that looks like it might work and be a lot cheaper.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

well we low-balled the asking price and the sellers accepted. sale will be contingent on home inspection, radon inspection, pest inspection, and asbestos inspection. if all goes well or at least we feel it's something we can deal with he'll have his house on sept. 21. btw, even though it was a private sale, we used a realtor and he was extremely helpful, seller agreed to pay his fee too! it was a family selling their homestead after their sister, who was living there either died or was moved to a nursing home. i think they just wanted to be done dealing with it.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Pat the Rat said:


> well we low-balled the asking price





Let the fun times begin!


A lot of us here have experience with older homes. We look forward to many posts to come.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

Colbyt said:


> Let the fun times begin!
> 
> 
> A lot of us here have experience with older homes. We look forward to many posts to come.


^^^^^THIS^^^^^

been there, done that. and kinda still doing it.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

i'll keep you all posted. The latest thing was that the deed was a little messed up. I think someone was forgotten from it when a parent who died did not include its ownership in his will. I figured some snot-nosed kid playing video games all day just found out he was getting a $10k windfall from part of his inherited ownership he didn't know about. haha. 

Anyway, they got that worked out and the realtor is scheduling the requested inspections. We'll know more after that.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

Pat the Rat said:


> i'll keep you all posted. The latest thing was that the deed was a little messed up. I think someone was forgotten from it when a parent who died did not include its ownership in his will. I figured some snot-nosed kid playing video games all day just found out he was getting a $10k windfall from part of his inherited ownership he didn't know about. haha.
> 
> Anyway, they got that worked out and the realtor is scheduling the requested inspections. We'll know more after that.


thanx, we like updates


what is that ? your using the realtors home inspector ? that is a BIG NO NO !!! 
get your own independent of any realtor


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

After getting the asbestos test, if it does have asbestos that needs to be removed, check your state and local regulations. If you're comfortable with doing it yourself (with the proper precautions to avoid inhaling it, of course), some states allow homeowners to remove asbestos themselves.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

HotRodx10 said:


> After getting the asbestos test, if it does have asbestos that needs to be removed, check your state and local regulations. If you're comfortable with doing it yourself (with the proper precautions to avoid inhaling it, of course), some states allow homeowners to remove asbestos themselves.


Not sure we want to do that ourselves. The cost to remove and dispose of it properly would be prohibitive, and I'm not convinced someone in a hazmat suit will be able to get all the particles out of the air once they're done. If they're lazy, it could get into the forced hot air ducts and be spread all over the house. I think we might walk away if it tests positive.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Fix'n it said:


> thanx, we like updates
> 
> what is that ? your using the realtors home inspector ? that is a BIG NO NO !!!
> get your own independent of any realtor


Realtor gave us several companies. They are acting on my son's behalf, since it's a private sale. We trust this guy. He told us a few things we didn't know too. Very helpful.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Just an update. We went for a second look to this house and luckily one of the people who grew up there was available when the asbestos tester was there. Asbestos tester said the furnace tape was fine (just duct tape, not asbestos), and we knew one room had asbestos tile already. he only took a couple samples of the drywall compound. we found out from the original inhabitant (a guy who made a living building houses) that there is no plaster. it was all drywall, which surprised me given the house was built in 1931 by his father. the walls look pretty bad, though. there was wallpaper applied over it and the joints are terrible. they are also bowed down between joists, which is why I assumed it was plaster and that it was separating from the lath. He said they had rock wool insulation injected into the roof and walls, but I'm wondering if maybe there was no air gap and the heat buildup made the drywall bow in and droop between rafters. hard to say. Not sure what the best way to insulate if we tear down the old drywall and put up new. I'm thinking rigid insulation that will leave maybe an inch and a half gap, then whatever is left could be bat maybe. I'm not sure. I took photos of the house and put them on google drive here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qgN3paHG5_ILDc-mzHhLRgjGoVenCWUs?usp=sharing


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

This photo on particular shows the problem with the drywall bulging pretty well. Do you think maybe this is caused by excess heat from not having an airspace between the roof and the insulation? How would you fix it other than tearing down and putting up new drywall? Tearing down would obviously require re-insulating, and I'm not exactly sure what the best way to do that given the limited depth of the rafters, and looking at the shape of the roof in general, I'm not sure there would be much airflow from the soffits to begin with.


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

The drywall just looks like it's sagging to me. Looks like it wasn't screwed in along the ends. I think it's just a really lousy job of drywalling.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

could be. the joints are pretty terrible to start with. maybe they skipped every other joist nailing them in or something. As i've come to learn, drywall wasn't invented until 1916 and didn't become popular until the 1940s. So at 1931, this house was a little ahead of its time. maybe they just didn't have the installation and finishing process down at that time.


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## HotRodx10 (Aug 24, 2017)

Pat the Rat said:


> could be. the joints are pretty terrible to start with. maybe they skipped every other joist nailing them in or something. As i've come to learn, drywall wasn't invented until 1916 and didn't become popular until the 1940s. So at 1931, this house was a little ahead of its time. maybe they just didn't have the installation and finishing process down at that time.


Don't let them off the hook that easy. Even in 1931, people that cared to do a good job could do drywall right. I'd be surprised if that drywall is anywhere close to that old, though.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Well, the home inspector came to do the home inspection, pest inspection, and radon test. he set some radon cannisters out and will pick those up on thursday. He found a live bat in the furnace when he was checking it out before we got there. he said it got startled when the owner turned on the furnace so he saw it then. He got a glove and put it out on the lawn. it eventually flew away. Anway, he did find some evidence of termites around the floor by the commode. didn't seem to be any major damage, but who knows what's behind the board covering the sill I suppose. There is a board attached there that that 100 amp cable to the service box is attached. So he couldn't remove that to see. It looks like any termite damage might be to the sill and studs on that side if there is any. floor joists looked pretty solid with a knife test. Gave us lots of tips and ideas. Said to remove both chimneys before siding. Only one is in use for the oil furnace, but he said we could use some kind of box vent there instead. Not sure exactly what he means. He also suggested when we tear out the drywall upstairs to insulate with closed cell spray insulation since that roof cannot really be vented properly. There are next to no soffits and half of it would be blocked off by rafters anyway. Rafters were 5" deep he said. He also suggested we turn the smaller upstairs bathroom into a full bath and move the washer and dryer in under the slanted knee wall, which I thought was a good idea. We could make the current main bath into a 3/4 bath since it's an odd size and kind of tight as it is now. So the biggest concern is probably how much termite damage there might be. They're pretty common in our area and we had them in our current house too about 20 years ago or so. Never came back after Ehrlich treated the house ($1200 at the time). I think at worst we might be dealing with some damaged studs and a sill on that side of the house. we won't know till we take the asphalt shingle siding off and the sheathing below it whatever that may be. guess we should probably look at that first before starting on the inside.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Oh, the vent he was talking about is a power vent to replace the chimney. I suppose any work we'd have done on the chimney would offset the cost of switching to a power vent, so I guess we'll look into that. Would a power vent be okay so close to a window, though? Or would that have to be relocated. It would be for the chimney that has the surface damage on it. I guess someone hit it with a backhoe when they were hooking up the new sewer line.


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## goodcarpenter (Aug 28, 2020)

good luck on the house I love the style. We bought our house 9 yeas ago for $80,000 and so far have spent 110,000 working on it. of course most of that was an addition. I had always lived in the desert where mold is not much of a problem. but where we live now we have over 300 feet of waterfront and the house is flooded on three sides at highest tide in December. and we get on average 80 inches of rain a year so it has taken some adjustment but we love the location. lots of wildlife and birds. we have insulated 2 sides of the house so far, working our way around. I had questions about insulation and air exchange in such a wet environment and looked for someone who might know, but all the building inspectors seem to go by is national codes. the house was baloon framed so studs go from bottom floor all the way to top of second floor wallls and floor joist are hung from side of the stud so stud cavity has no fire stops at all even from one side of house to other, even in the floors. you may need to install firestops if your house is framed this way. it is real fire hazard. so many things to think about so you probably need more than luck. if you can find someone knowledgable it would probably be worth the price for an evaluation.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

good point. I'll certainly add fire stops if they're missing when we open the drywall on the exterior walls. the basement was hand dug (much of it) and it leaked so the original owner chiseled a trough thru the middle of the basement floor to allow the water to drain to a pipe that goes down to the road from the other side of the basement. we'll need to address some water issues down there for sure, but it's not a major priority right away. need to plan a good system. I did an interior perimeter drain in my basement along 2 walls that works well, so maybe I can do something like that for him too.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

I think the tree's going to go. The neighbor next door (who used to live there) said the limbs falling have caused a lot of damage to cars over the years. Home inspector said the foundation was very good. At this point all I'm worried about is how much damage was done to the back of the house due to termites. Just can't see the extent of damage from the inside and there is some pavement on the outside blocking our view as well. We'll have to take the sheathing off the back where the termite tunnels were seen (near the commode and kitchen sink areas) in order to truly assess what we might need to do to rectify any damage. No damage to the joists at least. Pest inspector checked it out. There is a board along the sill on the inside that's blocking our view of the sill where the service cable runs along. Not sure how hard that will be to move if necessary.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Well my son closed on the house yesterday and this morning we had a couple hours to kill so I thought we'd start pulling off the sheathing on the back of the house to see how bad the termite/water damage was. I was surprised that the covering on the walls was not so much a simple shingle, but the shingle finish was part of a type of maybe 1/2" think fiberboard. Underneath that we see that there are roofing-type shingles that probably cover the whole house, so I'm guessing this fiberboard shingle stuff was put on at a later date over the shingles. There is quit a bit of damage to the bottom of the house in the back. we'll probably need to replace the sill and the rim joists. Not sure, but I think it may be constructed with pieces of wood between each 2x4 and not sheathing of any type. For today we just removed what we could of the bottom row of shingle board to expose the damage. I think we may need to jackhammer the concrete out to get complete access to it all. This was not unexpected, though, so we're rolling with it. I told him before we do anything else to the house we have to make is structurally sound. Here are a couple images of the damage. We found lots of black ants and a few termites in it. After we got done working for the day we stuffed some plastic up under the shingle board and I stapled it in place just to protect it from rain just in case. put buckets of the junk we tore out on the plastic to weigh it down. I think I'm going to go over this evening and work on it from the inside of the basement and try to clear access to the sill as much as I can. There is a large board in the way that the main house power runs along that I'll need to move to get access. There is also some metal nailed to the underside of the joists that I'll need to remove too. Not sure what purpose that is/was serving. wondered if it was some part of a cold air return for the gravity furnace. Isn't connected to any duct work, though.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Tonight I worked on the basement. I was able to remove the board along the sill, which I figured out was part of a homemade duct for a cold air return (I assume). I tore the whole thing down. It was 2 boards with an 18" piece of sheet metal top and bottom. Had to take it down in sections, cutting thru it with my sawzall and also redirecting electrical lines. That part was a little easier than I figured it to be at least. I was able to remove the electrical staples and brackets and just bend the wires out of the way. I can now fully see the sill. It looks like it's made up of 3 board and mostly the bottom board is rotted. The rim joist appears to be in good condition as are the floor joists. The rim joist might be rotted on the outside, though. I'll be able to determine that tomorrow by drilling thru near the sill and seeing where the bit comes out on the outside so I'll know what depth I'm at. Encouraging at least.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Yesterday we took another layer of the asphalt sheathing off the bottom of the house so I could inspect all the studs for termite damage. They all appear to be solid except for one that goes up thru the bathroom, but I figure we'll can get that from the inside since we're ripping out dryway anyway. Looks like parts of the rim joist will need to be replaced too. It's 2" thick so I'm not sure where I'd get that kind of thickness other than going to a saw mill. Or I suppose I could use 2x wood from Home Depot and add a 1/2" plywood to the outside to bring it up to the same level. Not quite sure yet how i'm going to jack up the joists to get the rotten sill out.


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## mramj4 (Jun 7, 2018)

You have a hell of a lot of work here. Is this a flip?


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

No, this is my son's first house. I'm helping him rehab it. It is a hell of a lot of work! House was built in 1931. He won't move in till we make it livable though. Maybe a year?


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i rehabbed my house, complete gut, all new "everything" inside and out, on the main floor anyway, and much of the basement.
all while we were living in it. i did it 1 room at a time, basically all by myself. i figure it was built in the 20's


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

we intend to take it one thing at a time, but luckily he can live at our house, which is only a mile and a half. we'll be redesigning the kitchen and bathroom completely. the bathroom is horribly laid out as it is. I'll need to move the tub, sink, and commode, rerun plumbing and electric and install a shower. I'll also need to move a heater grill in the floor to another wall. The kitchen will be a complete gut too. In fact we may move a door to where a window currently is, rewire everything to add light switches (currently pull chains in all rooms) and sockets. The few sockets in the house are backfit to the floor boards and sideways on the baseboard trim. So I'll need to draw up a whole battle plan for the electric and plumbing throughout the house. It will be a fun bonding project and am looking forward to teaching him what I know and learning along the way.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

been there, done that. 

does that house have knob & tube ? plaster & lathe ? boiler or regular hvac ?


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

no knob and tube (thankfully). they had upgraded to a 100 amp breaker box, but I recommended to my son to possibly upgrade to 200 amp. I will probably rewire many of the circuits regardless. It has drywall throughout, but upstairs in the slanted ceilings (double gambrel roof) the drywall is bowed between the rafters. I'm guessing due to moisture before they replaced the asphalt shingles a few years ago. It has a newer (8 year old) oil forced hot air furnace. It's a gravity feed system so there are no ducts to the second floor. there are just grates in the floor for the heat to rise up. wondering if maybe a ductless split air/heat system might work in those 3 rooms.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

all of the wiring in my basement was modernized, THANKFULLY ! so i didn't much have to mess with conduit. the the whole living area, main floor, was knob&tube, plaster&lathe and NO insulation(the attic had some old matted down fiberglass) . i replaced "everything" down to the subfloor and sheathing, including all different size windows, all new doors , + a sliding patio door, "all" new hvac ductwork. all ceiling joists where sistered with 2x6, they were sagging 2x4's. i put the kitchen in an adjoining bedroom and made the kitchen into the dining room. the bathroom was completely reworked, at one time i had 2 operating shower. the original was a whirlpool tub. i cut it in half and made it a shower, then put the new shower where the other half of the tub was. then i moved the crapper to where the other half of the whirlpool tub.

the P&L, i had 2 4' tall piles of just plaster on my back patio. i partially filled my gaarbage can each week till it was gone. took almost 2 years.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

oh, and i was working a fulltime job while i did all of that.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

yeah i'm working from home at least so i don't have the 40 minute commute to get home. even still, the days are getting shorter and I can't do much outside by the time i'm done with work. if i were actually living there i might get more done maybe.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

Thought I'd show you some pix of our progress in case anyone was interested. I'm keeping a log of what we do on instagram.com/pbesong. Some of my woodworking projects are on their too if you're into that.instagram.com/pbesong


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## mramj4 (Jun 7, 2018)

Good photos, interesting. With the chimney, I had similar thing (110 year old house). After removing it, with the new space it gave us, I built a linen closet. As you know these old houses don't have a lot of closet space. But I see 2 chimneys . . . what's the reason they had 2?

BTW, good photos with the woodworking. I'm a fan of the herringbone-style table and the pirate-bounty-style chest. Well done.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

The one on the back (that has surface damage from when they put the sewer line in) is being used by the oil furnace. I honestly don't know what the 2nd chimney is for. I suspect there is another crock in the living room where the front chimney passes. We'll know when we tear out the drywall there. I think having 2 is kind of an eyesore. Too bad the damaged one is the one being used by the furnace. Not sure what we're going to do about that one yet, but I'll probably tear down the one in front that's not being used. Either that or maybe I'll try repairing the concrete and putting a stone veneer on it. Still weighing our options on that. We could possibly reroute the furnace flue pipe to the better one, but that's a good 15' of pipe to get to the crock. I was also considering demolishing both chimneys and having a power vent installed for the furnace. Either way we'll wait till winter is over to do anything. I want to have that settled before we put siding on the house.


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## ChuckTin (Nov 17, 2014)

Crock? I've never heard that used in connection with a chimney flue.

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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

ChuckTin said:


> Crock? I've never heard that used in connection with a chimney flue.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk


The clay thimble where the stove pipe enters the flue. We always called it the crock. Kind of like pottery I suppose.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

Pat the Rat said:


> The one on the back (that has surface damage from when they put the sewer line in) is being used by the oil furnace. I honestly don't know what the 2nd chimney is for. I suspect there is another crock in the living room where the front chimney passes. We'll know when we tear out the drywall there. I think having 2 is kind of an eyesore. Too bad the damaged one is the one being used by the furnace. Not sure what we're going to do about that one yet, but I'll probably tear down the one in front that's not being used. Either that or maybe I'll try repairing the concrete and putting a stone veneer on it. Still weighing our options on that. We could possibly reroute the furnace flue pipe to the better one, but that's a good 15' of pipe to get to the crock. I was also considering demolishing both chimneys and having a power vent installed for the furnace. Either way we'll wait till winter is over to do anything. I want to have that settled before we put siding on the house.


We had a house with a power vent when we converted it from forced-air electric to oil (no chimney). Do your research - not all furnaces work with power vents - they pull a lot of air.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

okay thanks. we were going to have a furnace guy come and service it before winter and I was going to see what he thought.


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## mramj4 (Jun 7, 2018)

with the one you're not sure what to do, what about some furring strips on it and wrap it with vinyl siding? I see the rest of the house is stone but having the chimney in a matching color siding might work. I've seen that before.


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## Pat the Rat (Aug 31, 2009)

mramj4 said:


> with the one you're not sure what to do, what about some furring strips on it and wrap it with vinyl siding? I see the rest of the house is stone but having the chimney in a matching color siding might work. I've seen that before.


I was thinking of maybe repairing the outside of the one the furnace uses and putting stone veneer over it. But yes i’ve seen siding around them too. It probably doesn’t get hot enough from the oil furnace to melt the vinyl.


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