Restoring a century home

[Tracy Rimmer]

Does anyone have any suggested resources for research on how to restore a century home? Websites, book titles, etc?

I've already had a look at the "This Old House" site, and while what they do is beautiful, they seem to concentrate more on MODERNISING an old house, rather than restoring.

[huisjen]

What do you mean by "Century Home"? Which century?

Dan

[kitaye]

Check out "Old House Journal". Every issue I've found so far have been full of articles and ads for historically accurate items. Several issues from the last year dealt with early 1900's. http://www.oldhousejournal.com/ is their online site that includes articles on preservation and restoration.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Have you already bought it?

We have done this with the house my husband was raised in.

[clovis]

I have had quite abit of experience with old homes. Tons and tons of info is available to you. Do you have a local or state preservation organization in your area? I would suggest joining the group; it will be of great help to you.
Check out the library...I bet you will find more than you imagined.
I am with you about This Old House. Who has the type of money that they spend on million dollar dream homes? I want to live in an old restored house, not a new one like they build. They do alot more bragging on that show than teaching, so in my opinion, there is not much to learn on that show.a
I bet when you ask specific questions on this site about your projects and restoration, you will be stunned by the help you get!
Let me know if you have questions....I am happy to help!
clove

[travlnusa]

The biggest thing we have done is look for clues. Such as moldings. Over the years, they tend to get torn our and replaced. Look in the back of closest, behind cabinets, etc for old samples.

Scrape old paint off slowly to find the orginal colors.

Look in the attic for old doors, windows, shutters, etc.

Call local paper for any chance of finding old pics.

Our place is quite fun. Every wall is an exterior wall, and they just build on over the years.

[Tracy Rimmer]

Thanks, everyone! We had our offer accepted late yesterday. If all goes according to plan, closing is October 16!

I will definitely be picking brains around here -- you guys are a wealth of knowledge. The house is in "mint" condition, but EVERYTHING, including the plumbing and electrical, is original, never been updated, and it has to be brought up to code. I don't want to ruin the house in the process, but the GC I've spoken to seems to think we want to gut it and "modernize". I've told him the first damage that his people do will be the last, but I'm not sure how much will have to be damaged, then restored, to get the wiring and plumbing to a place that will meet code.

Then the fun part. I want to restore the place to be livable, but true to it's heritage. To do that, I need to know what these rooms would have looked like when it was built.

I have a feeling I've just taken on a very, very big project.

Tracy

[wr]

Tracy, how wonderful for you and your family. Where did you find it at?? You might want to go on the Mount Royal homes tour but for the life of me, I can't remember if that's in the fall or spring and you can always head over to Heritage Park, nobody there minds if you look in the corners and ask questions.

[AngieM2]

I hope foliomark gets on this thread, with his vast knowledge of historical stuff I bet he can steer you in the right direction, along with lots of others here.

But remember the before and after photos, and show us also!

Congratuations on the offer being accepted.

Angie

[Tracy Rimmer]

Originally Posted by wr

Tracy, how wonderful for you and your family. Where did you find it at?? You might want to go on the Mount Royal homes tour but for the life of me, I can't remember if that's in the fall or spring and you can always head over to Heritage Park, nobody there minds if you look in the corners and ask questions.

We had to leave Alberta to be able to afford it! It's a fourteen hour drive away, in Manitoba. It's about two hours SW of Winnipeg, sitting on seven acres. The acreage is a bit smaller than I wanted, but it's good dark soil, and should meet our needs nicely.

I hadn't thought of going to Heritage Park! Great idea -- thanks! I think the Mount Royal tour is in the spring, but I'll check with my SIL -- she'll know for sure. Thanks for the great suggestions.

Originally Posted by AngieM2

I hope foliomark gets on this thread, with his vast knowledge of historical stuff I bet he can steer you in the right direction, along with lots of others here.

But remember the before and after photos, and show us also!

Congratuations on the offer being accepted.

I'll check with Mark -- I hadn't thought of him, but now that you mention it, he's probably got a LOT of info I could brain-pick! I'll PM him.

I'm trying to figure out how to post the pictures. When I do, I will

[bachelorb]

Hey Tracy,
I'm redoing an older house myself. I did tear off all the old wallboard and rewired it completely except for two circuits. You'd be amazed at the nunber of new wire into older wire with just electrical tape we found in the walls. A little scary.

Nice things about old houses is there is no insulation in the walls so a fish tape runs pretty easy. You may also have knob and tube wiring, so you can use any one of three wires to fish the new romex through the walls. If your going to do it yourself, do it room by room, document everything and let out a good ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! every once in awhile while your getting frustrated fishing. It works for me.
Good Luck,
Brad

[APPway]

Hi Tracy
Sorry to here you have such a far move but glad you found what you are looking for. Are you moving before the snow flys or waiting until The spring?
There are alot of century homes in SK and MB so I am sure if you check at the Heritage Museum There they should have pics of the homes.
WHat town Are you moving to we are about 3 hours west of the MB border About 28 k north of Hwy 1
Nice to have some more homesteaders in the area.
Appway

[Tracy Rimmer]

Appway -- the property is SE of Wawanesa, not to far from Shilo.

Brad -- do it myself? No. I want to have someone accountable whose neck I can wring if anything goes wrong -- and preferably someone who doesn't contribute to the net income of the household The contractor did say that it wouldn't be TOO difficult to wire, and they think that they can put in a stack (?) to run improved wiring up to the second floor through the pantry.

Anyone have any pointers or suggestions on the benefits or otherwise of "blown" insulation? This is what has been suggested -- as the house isn't insulated AT ALL! Can you imagine, living on the Canadian prairie through the winter with a house with no insulation? The house I grew up in didn't have any, but this was in Southern Ontario -- doable if chilly. But Manitoba? They must have had one amazing furnace.

Also, can the old fashioned water radiators be painted?

[kitaye]

Originally Posted by Tracy Rimmer

The contractor did say that it wouldn't be TOO difficult to wire, and they think that they can put in a stack (?) to run improved wiring up to the second floor through the pantry.

A stack is essentially a multi wire run through a single place, such as you pantry. They'll use a hole saw or saws-all to cut a hiole in the ceiling area to run all he cables through to the second floor. They might or might use conduit but most likely not.

You might also want to check with your local building inspector. Some places are allowing you to keep the old knob and tube wiring as long as it is in good condition but you will have to rewire the electrical panel.

When we got our house done the electricians did a great job. They fished everything through the interior walls or ran the cabling through the ceiling area of the cabinets on the outside wall. They cut one hole that can be patched in the kitchen and cut out a piece of the tongue and groove panelling to run the cable between the two bedrooms. I'm hoping we can fix that as easily.

Anyone have any pointers or suggestions on the benefits or otherwise of "blown" insulation? This is what has been suggested -- as the house isn't insulated AT ALL!

Our house came with the blown in insulation. They drill 1 inch holes every 3 feet on the outside of the house and blow in the insulation. On two story homes the will most likely do three rows all the way around, spaced at the 3 feet mark. The only problem I have with it is the mess it makes if you have to remove any panelling inside or out.

Also, can the old fashioned water radiators be painted?

Yes. I've seen several projects, in the magazine I gave you the link for, where the radiators were repaireed or overhauled and painted. Another idea is to build a wood seating area along the wall the reside on and leave a vistorian grating over the radiator itself. This seems popular if you have several radiators along the same wall.

[The Paw]

1. Welcome to Manitoba. You are going to love it.

2. It sounds like the electrical contractor knows what he is doing, and although it may cost a little, the upgrade is worth it. Aside from fishing new wire, if you want it to meet code you will have to add new outlets as there is supposed to be an outlet every 6-8 feet of uninterrupted wall space, and old houses often only had one or two per room.

3. Blown insulation is the only practical solution short of gutting the inside, or spending a fortune on heat. The original owners likely either had wood heat or were close to a rail line with an abundant supply of coal.

4. I love old radiators. I believe they can be painted with no difficulty. I have seen the boxed in solution before as well, and that can work nicely.

5. In terms of plumbing, you can leave the cast iron drain pipes in place. I would not change over the galvanized supply pipes unless they were giving a problem. If you do replace them, replace them ALL. Sometimes people go on the cheap and replace all the easily accessible galvanized in the basement with copper, but leave the rest of the galvanized in place as they don't want to open walls or run new pipe. This is a mistake, as copper and galvanized together act on the principle of a battery and produce electrolysis (essentially a very, very low voltage charge). This causes corrosion on the connections, and eventually leads to leaky pipes.

Give a holler once you get here....

Regards,

[ET1 SS]

A 'century house' ???

We have a house in Ct, we dont know when it was built, but it was remodeled in 1890, and of course electrical was added in the 1920's [knob and tube with cotton braid]. I was working in one of the walls taking down the horse-hair plaster behind the lath and it had been insulated with layers of newspaper. What a score!!! We even got some of the newspaper over to the local historical society.

For a few years we had a a home in Scotland that was built in 1860, and remodeled later when indoor plumbing came out. They ran all of the plumbing on the outside of the walls.

LOL It was fun to work on.

[FolioMark]

Tracy: Congrats on your four square purchase. These are great basic houses and were extremely popular. Yours was built in 1906 so its interior style will most likely be in the arts and crafts or mission style. Lots of flat oak trim and simple paneling. The colors should be natural and earth tones and simple textures like cotton and linen. Id go to a good bookstore and look for books on the Bunglaow and Arts and Crafts and Mission styles. These are all hot topics and popular styles right now so you should have no trouble finding visual sources. Check the local library to of course. If you can locate magazines from the period, check the Ladies Home Journal and House and Garden. Both will have good illustrations from the period. You might also want to get a good book on the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright. His later modern things wont be of help but his early work is very much in this style. Try this book:


http://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Style-.../dp/1556709315

The following websites all have great visuals and will give you ideas for appropriate paint colors, carpets, wallpaper and furnishing styles:

http://www.aspencarpetdesigns.com/Decor_1.htm Great carpet designs and a nice historical color chart for interiors.

http://www.creativewallcovering.com/...tive_arts.html A nice site for wallpaper and colors.

http://www.bradbury.com/index.html Bradbury is the best of the best when it comes to historic wallcoverings. Lots of inspiration here.

http://www.achome.co.uk/index.php A wonderful english site for arts and crafts style materials of all kinds. Lots and lots of pictures for inspiration on furniture and room styles.

And heres a few visuals to stimulate your imagination:







Here are some images from the Swedish painter Karl Larsson. Larsson's house at Sudborn was extremely influential in the Arts and Crafts movement as it appeared in many of Larssons paintings and illustrations. Larsson is one of my favorites and my own place in Missouri is based on his ideas.









Hope this gives you some help.

[Tracy Rimmer]

Oh, Mark -- WOW! I knew you'd have some good ideas, but I can't wait to dive into this stuff! Thanks!

Everyone, thank you for your input -- please keep it coming (I need all the help I can get )

I'll post pictures as soon as I can figure it out...

Thanks!

Tracy

[Pigeon Lady]

Ooh, congratulations! You must be so excited!!

Here's the link for the rootsweb Manitoba mailing list.

http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl...-MANITOBA.html

You should be able to find people in the area who are researching their family tree and maybe find out the original owners and builders. Their descendents may still be in the area and have old photos you could look at.

Our farmhouse was built about 1903 and actually has a date and inscription on the chimney outside. There's a lot of history associated with the house and old country store that came with it. We've made many friends among the local people, descendents of "Uncle Joe and Aunt Nan" the original owners and those in the historical society.

The most amazing thing though was learning that "Aunt Nan" was descended from the Aldridge family of Eastern NC back in the 1700's. Turns out my Dh is descended from her ancestor's sister! The mind boggles! It really feels like home now.

Congrats again. Post lots of pictures!

Pauline

[clovis]

Tracy,
Whatever you do, please, please, please keep the plaster in the house. IT IS SUPER EASY TO REPAIR, EVEN LARGE, LARGE HOLES.

I can help you repair it, and have a long post on this site about how to repair plaster.

Believe me when I say that plaster is better, stronger, more water resistant, much more fire proof than drywall. It is easier and much, much cheaper, faster and cleaner to fix a room full of large plaster holes than it is to gut it and replace it with drywall that will destroy the historical integrity and will sag eventually.

I cringe with sadness when I hear someone boast loudly that "they are gutting the old place of its plaster and lathe". This is the typical mindset that new is better and don't understand how easy and cheap plaster is to repair. I recently repaired two bad 2x4 foot sections in a room full of strong plaster in the equivilent of an afternoon. The homeowner almost gutted the entire room because of these holes, spending nearly $2000 on new drywall. We fixed it for $20 in materials.

clove