Old Houses

[quot[url][/url]e="freetown fred"]And yep, I'm waiting for some pix of the Whippleville McMansion upgrades. [/quote]


Top pic is old house, bottom pic is new(er) McMansion.
I enjoyed the old place on the water for about 35 years. Taxes, distance from family and ease of maintenance all played into the decission.

The porch was the old house. the rustic livingroom is the new house. Good old Hitzer in the livingroom.

The old house was a falling down 2 story cottage when I got it. It took me 10 years to get it done the first time. I took a break for a few years, then started improving the things I did cheaply or had errors due to lack of experience. I spent 7 years on the re-do, although at a much more liesurely pace. Then about 8 years ago I added a deck (behind the grape vine in the photo) and built a big addition to my garage.

It was not an easy decission to move. I loved the place. It had been in my wife's family for 100+ years. But reality struck and I missed seeing my daughter and her family as much as I would like to. The Town I lived in was scheduled for a property re-evaluation. Neighboring towns had been hit very hard, especially waterfront property. So I decided the time was right to move.

The "new" house cost just over half what I got for the old house. The property taxes are half as much. I live next door to my daughter, and I like the Malone area where I live. I do miss being on the water, but you can't have everything.

Now I am doing a complete remodel of the new house. I am not moving any walls, but all rooms need at least a face lift and usually more than that. The house was not so much abused as not cared for very well. I have a contractor That I have been working with who has done the roof, windows, sofit and facia and hardwood in the livingroom. He is supposed to return June 1st to lay hardwood thru the rest of the house, put a new roof on the garage and frame up a 16X18 foot storrage building for me. I am doing all the finish work wiring and plumbing. Just getting too old for the heavy lifting and up-high work.

Right now I am stripping, repairing varnishing and hanging antique solid wood doors to replace hollow-core that were there.

I hear ya Fred. Fortunately I enjoy working on my house (for the most part). It keeps me out of the bars too. I do all of my drinking at home.

Was your house a farm house? It has the clasic farm house look with the additions as as the family and prosperity increased. Also looks like a beautiful property. How many acres?

I have never owned much land. Old house was on 1/4 acres. New house is on 3/8 acre. I used to want more acrage but now am happy with my small lot.

No matter how nice it looks, I don't think I would ever mow 3 acres. At that size even the cost of gas would factor in.

Yeah I mow about 1.75 of a bit over 2.5 acres ... and I go through some fuel in the spring, let me tell ya. Factor in a few power outages, and you'll understand why I always keep a 55 gallon drum of gas here. It goes fast!

On the home improvement note, I bought a new 175W mercury vapor bulb for my barn lamp. Been here 9 years & I've never touched it! Thing has been on every single night for the past 6 years straight. To reach it, I had to set a ladder on the tailgate of the Blazer & lean the top of the ladder against the loft door ... which was only held shut by a tiny piece of wood with 2 screws that were on their last thread! That's all I need - a hospital bill ... Couldn't even unscrew the bulb ... so I had to get on the roof through the loft window, climb up top, then hang over the edge & unbolt it, crawl back thru the window to unwire it, then climb back up to remove the light, then back thru window again to bring it downstairs. I poured the famous acetone/tranny fluid mix in there & it came right out. Going by the date range on the photocell, it was put there between '81 - '91! They can't build anything that good anymore, so I cleaned all the contacts up on the transformer, and took the photocell apart, cleaned it, and faced it south so it won't turn on as early as it had been. Works great now! Also cleaned the lense with some great cleaning chemical that's now more than likely banned in MA.

Nice and bright, and comes on 25 minutes later than it used to. That's that much longer I can wait before replacing this bulb now.

New one felt & sounded like a flimsy piece of *censored* compared to the old one I removed. Didn't realize how dim that thing got until I installed the new one. Doubt I'll see 10 years out of this china one. Still cost me $20 too!

Also bought some materials for the barn repair project that'll be going on here soon. WTF is with the price of plywood these days?!?!?!?!? Cost me $1,200 for 11 sheets of 3/4", 11 1/2" sheets and 11, 2" foam insulation!! Between that & the shingles costing about the same I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. No wonder houses are all $300k plus. At this rate that;s what it would cost to replace this here barn!

Glad you got that bulb replaced without breaking anything (bones or equipment). Considering I was the one telling you to change the bulb, I would have felt bad if you took a fast ride to the bottom of the ladder.

My dad just took advantage of a nearby telehandler and replaced the bulb in his outside light with one of my Westinghouse MV bulbs...much brighter. Most people don't replace the bulbs until they emit just a dull green light...by then you have waster a lot of electric for very little light output.

Fred your old place would fit right in up here in Maine. All the old places have "add on's". Heck my house started 226 yrs ago with just the part with the two gables (Twin Peaks). Then the porch and kitchen part were added on in 1922 I think because there is a fieldstove hearth running up throght the kitchen that my cookstove is on and some sctratched that date into a stone. From there the summer kitchen was added on, then the barn, and finally the garage! Now there is a small apartment above the barn too! Check it out. Lots of lovely chimneys!

Old houses have character, AND creativity. While not perfect by today's standard, if you heat with coal, they are affordable as you chose to upgrade or live in them as you are.
Lots of talented hands and backs went into building back then...no power, no Big Box stores, no power tools on site, no excavation equipment. Too many burned down due to chimney issues, and that is the sad part.

A telehandler back them would have created anarchy!

Level, straight and plumb are words that usually DO NOT describe an old home, but it is something we make adjustments to.

Cloudy and muggy here....where has our summer gone?

Another woodworking Project for a friends Victorian, these go under the porch. You can see the old ones weren't very detailed. they really hacked them up previously.

I have to make 88 or so of them, so far 25 completed. Made from Cedar.

http://www.coldwellbanker.com/property? ... andType=CB

Just had to copy and paste as I have not taken ownership yet. My offer has been accepted and the ball is rolling. It is not what i want long term, but we are paying more for a single bedroom apartment then the payment will be, By $400 a month. Plans are to:
Tear out all floors.
Tear out kitchen
Tear out full baths
Open kitchen to living Rm. with archway
Rebuild deck rail
Rebuild interior handrail
New roof
Eventually have new windows and doors.

Flip

Kevin

Your a brave man Kevin. The way this economy is, I wouldn't touch any real estate with a 10' pole.

Hope it works out for you. If that were me, the minute I sunk every penny I had into the place, the economy would collapse & I'd be left holding the bag. Still wondering if I'll still own this place after 30 years ....

The state of our nation frightens me ...

Your a brave man Kevin. The way this economy is, I wouldn't touch any real estate with a 10' pole.

Smitty, the best thing to be in the case of the economy collapsing is in debt. Your money will be worthless in the bank as there will be no bank. Debtors will be forgiven or pay back in hugely inflated money. Fiat currency is worthless, better to have a tangible asset. Read up on the German collapse, the conservative, patriotic citizens were completely hosed as they lost all their carefully saved savings and the in hock crowd got to keep everything.

Kevin

I would spend some of my money on ammo, but that is not possible right now.