Homes… Your Thoughts… Old or New?

[Oaktree]

I had a bat get in my prior NH house years back. It was before I put a new roof so I think it came in by the chimney flashing. Anyway middle of the night I heard a strange erratic flapping noise around the dark room. Flipped on the light and there he was flying around in circles. I tried to catch him but all I had was a towel no net . I had a towel in one hand and a tennis racket in the other lol. Managed to finally direct him downstairs and out the slider. I didn’t want to kill it because I lived at the end of a lake at the time and those guys eat a lot of skeeters. Bats are pretty much harmless. Plus I don’t want to piss off Batman.

About 30 years ago I was in the shower and heard the cat kind of spazzing out in an adjoining room. Got out and there was a bat flying around. As I watched, the cat jumped up about 6', grabbed the bat between its paws, then sat guarding it on the floor. Scooped it up with a towel and let it go outside.
Wasn't the first bat to get into that house, not sure where they were getting in. Doesn't take much of an opening.

Unfortunately, there was some disease that killed most of them off maybe 15 years ago. We used to see a lot of them around dusk, now hardly any.

 

[Jstpssng]

About 30 years ago I was in the shower and heard the cat kind of spazzing out in an adjoining room. Got out and there was a bat flying around. As I watched, the cat jumped up about 6', grabbed the bat between its paws, then sat guarding it on the floor. Scooped it up with a towel and let it go outside.
Wasn't the first bat to get into that house, not sure where they were getting in. Doesn't take much of an opening.

Unfortunately, there was some disease that killed most of them off maybe 15 years ago. We used to see a lot of them around dusk, now hardly any.

White nose syndrome or something like that. I believe they are starting to recover from it.

 

[tradosaurus]

Watching CyFy home inspector channel on Youtube he basically shows how shoddy most new homes are being built in Arizona.

 

[4570Man]

Watching CyFy home inspector channel on Youtube he basically shows how shoddy most new homes are being built in Arizona.

How do you think the old homes were built with even less oversight? Just because YouTube didn’t exist to post crappy work didn’t mean the quality was better.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Here's a funny a friend told me many years ago:
He bought a very old home somewhere in New England and he and his wife were cleaning out the attic which was full of years & years of stuff. They found a cigar box someone had made a label on it that said: "Pieces of string too small to save".

 

[Captain Dirty]

I had only heard the "string too short to save", but in cleaning our attic we found a plastic bag of aluminum ice cube trays labeled "Leaks".

 

[ultrarunner]

Watching CyFy home inspector channel on Youtube he basically shows how shoddy most new homes are being built in Arizona.

It kind of mirrors what my friends experienced…

 

[ultrarunner]

How do you think the old homes were built with even less oversight? Just because YouTube didn’t exist to post crappy work didn’t mean the quality was better.

Owned and managed a lot of old homes circa 1910 to 1993 with most built in the 1920’s roaring twenties.

I’m always impressed how a 1920 tract home has aged well and much is quality of construction and materials…

 

[grsthegreat]

I lucked out. My first and only house was the one my wife and i built ourselves on the 30 acres i own in idaho. I built in in 1996, so its turn of the century…..

Ive been in construction a long time before building my own home, and its built very well. Very few issues over the years.

Mind you, i wish I did a few things differently. The main thing is i wish i built the basement a foot taller to accommodate the change in hvac that i did later on. I never built a house with a basement before, so this never occurred to me. But, it all worked out ok in the end.

Ive had to repair and remodel alot of older 1920-1940 houses over the years. Dont like it at all. Exposed to lots of asbestos and lead paints, dead rodents in attics and crawls, no real insulation. Single glazed windows, old crappy plumbing. Horrible electrical including knob and tube wiring..

Give me a new house any day.

 

[tradosaurus]

Owned and managed a lot of old homes circa 1910 to 1993 with most built in the 1920’s roaring twenties.

I’m always impressed how a 1920 tract home has aged well and much is quality of construction and materials…

bUt bUiLdInG cOdEs mAkE cUrrEnt HoUseS mUcH bEttEr.
I'm fine with my 1974 build house we bought in 2017. I would never buy a custom home.

 

[tradosaurus]

How do you think the old homes were built with even less oversight? Just because YouTube didn’t exist to post crappy work didn’t mean the quality was better.

Obviously "oversight" is irrelevant when the city inspector, building code enforcer and the builder are all in bed together.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

bUt bUiLdInG cOdEs mAkE cUrrEnt HoUseS mUcH bEttEr.

Inspectors can range from absolutely draconic to absolutely inept. The city inspector that came to inspect my addition walked in, looked at the rafters/ridge of the addition and said doesn't look like that is falling down anytime soon, signed the ticket and walked out. I mean the addition was obviously well built maybe even over built but he was in there about 5 minutes. Great for me because I didn't have to deal with the nickel and dime BS that some make you do. And maybe if my framing was obviously shoddy he would have spent more time. But mabe not. Seems like the electrical inspector was a bit more thorough cause he caught a few things and made them change it. So that is a good thing.

 

[WinterDeere]

I built in in 1996, so its turn of the century…..

I spent part of my childhood in an old family home we called "turn of the century", but it was built 1692. I guess there's always another century.

It was a joke back then, "turn of the century" always meant ca.1900 before. But I guess all things change!

 

[Captain Dirty]

Mind you, i wish I did a few things differently. The main thing is i wish i built the basement a foot taller to accommodate the change in hvac that i did later on. I never built a house with a basement before, so this never occurred to me. But, it all worked out ok in the end.

My father opined that one could never have too much headroom in a basement. I had 5 years of records of the water depth in a fieldstone lined, dug well that was 8' from where the new addition foundation would be. I spec'd the basement floor 1' above the highest water level I had observed. The next year we had a wet Spring and I had a wet basement.

 

[Oaktree]

The city inspector that came to inspect my addition walked in, looked at the rafters/ridge of the addition and said doesn't look like that is falling down anytime soon, signed the ticket and walked out. I mean the addition was obviously well built maybe even over built but he was in there about 5 minutes. Great for me because I didn't have to deal with the nickel and dime BS that some make you do. And maybe if my framing was obviously shoddy he would have spent more time.

And there's the key, an experienced inspector can usually tell pretty fast if a site is compliant or if it warrants further scrutiny. Yeah, there are some who get nit picky just because they can, but most are like everyone else...not looking for more work than they have to.

 

[4570Man]

Obviously "oversight" is irrelevant when the city inspector, building code enforcer and the builder are all in bed together.

Building inspectors range from good to pretty inept. The local building inspector should probably work for Boeing who apparently needs some quality inspections. But how is even the laziest inspector worse than no inspections at all? At least most people design the build with inspections in mind and build on a concrete foundation and span the floor joists adequately. It used to be relatively common to skip the foundation and prop it up on stumps and span 2x6 floor joists 16 ft.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Building inspectors range from good to pretty inept. The local building inspector should probably work for Boeing who apparently needs some quality inspections. But how is even the laziest inspector worse than no inspections at all? At least most people design the build with inspections in mind and build on a concrete foundation and span the floor joists adequately. It used to be relatively common to skip the foundation and prop it up on stumps and span 2x6 floor joists 16 ft.

I think your comment is 100% correct. But also best practices have just gotten better as time goes on. Another thing is that the method of construction here (North America) also lends itself to better structures overall. I have travelled a lot in the developing world and marvel at the building practices and how adequate of a structure they can create. I am not recommending building your house out of mud, sticks and reeds. But it ain't rocket science, you're not flying this thing to the moon.

 

[tradosaurus]

Building inspectors range from good to pretty inept. The local building inspector should probably work for Boeing who apparently needs some quality inspections. But how is even the laziest inspector worse than no inspections at all? At least most people design the build with inspections in mind and build on a concrete foundation and span the floor joists adequately. It used to be relatively common to skip the foundation and prop it up on stumps and span 2x6 floor joists 16 ft.

Watch CyFy home inspector channel. It can get really bad!

 

[WinterDeere]

Building inspectors range from good to pretty inept.

My father was a PE who owned and operated a small engineering firm (20 - 25 employees), mostly Plant Engineering (as in factories, not flowers), civil, and structural engineering. But when he first started the business, knowing it would be many years until it was profitable, he started a home inspection business to put food on the table those first ten years. He had grown up working for his father's mechanical (commercial plumbing & electrical) business, and worked previously as a facilities management engineer, so he was well-suited for it.

He used to say that probably 90% of the licensed home inspectors in PA were completely inept, and that the only good ones he knew came out of building trades. I'd guess even those guys often had their strong and weak areas, based on their prior area(s) of work.

I remember he used to get called to testify in court in a fairly regular basis, as an expert witness in cases involving things missed or incorrectly assessed in inspections by other companies, probably back before they all made customers sign waivers that their not responsible for their own mistakes.

 

[Popgadget]

There is no doubt in my mind that new construction has the potential to be far better than old.
I have turned an 1800’s barn into living space, built a home from scratch 40 years ago, and just completed a retirement home for myself and my wife.

The last project benefits from the advances in technology and efficiency using a 95% boiler for radiant heat and a 24 SEER heat pump for AC and spring and fall heat. Insulation is R50 in the ceiling and R28 in the walls. Modern doors and windows that seal up tight. An Energy Recovery ventilation system that maintains a positive pressure when burning a fire, or running appliances that vent to the outside. All recessed LED lighting, etc.
None of which is going to be native to an old house.

That’s not to say that you can’t cut corners in construction, either old or new, but if you want to do things right, new is the clear winner if you want to capitalize on what’s available.