Homes… Your Thoughts… Old or New?

[riptides]

My 1920s house also had been redone quite a bit by the previous owner, he did the work himself and he had no idea how to do it.

Been there, done that. Good intentions.

My shocking electrical story, best one of many, I was tearing carpet out of a bed room when I came across an extension cord wire that eventually ended up in a wall outlet.

Needless to say, the house got all new electric.

 

[Fixastuff]

Yes, and yes.

Balloon-framed construction? Blown-in polystyrene beads used to be a popular way to do that, in fact our "third kitchen" addition (framed 1890's) was insulated this way by a prior owner. It works well, in that we had to empty one stud bay of the beads to do some work a few years ago, and not having ever re-filled it, I notice how much colder that one stud bay is than the rest of our kitchen.

I'm less enamored with the method of blue foam board on masonry walls, the victorian I owned previously was insulated that way by a prior owner. It works, but there are down-sides, the benefit less extreme.

How big of hole to you have to cut in walls to blow the insulation it? One at the top and then fill or multiple holes per “framing pocket”?

 

[grsthegreat]

This has been my gripe with refrigerators. We've been in this house 14 years, and I've honestly lost count of the number of kitchen refrigerators we've been through. The last one failed inside warranty, something like 20 months old, but warranty service was so slow that I just replaced it.

Sure, maybe they contain less refrigerant than older units, and use slightly less electricity. But when you need to manufacture and then landfill a new one every second year, I'm not convinced the net savings is in the right direction, no matter how it's measured.

Thats weird. My GE Monogram built in 48” refrigerator/freezer was purchased in 1998, still going strong. I had to replace a stand alone GE Freezer 2 years ago. It wad purchased at same time as the refer. The only appliances i seem to go thru are washers and dryers.

 

[grsthegreat]

Been there, done that. Good intentions.

My shocking electrical story, best one of many, I was tearing carpet out of a bed room when I came across an extension cord wire that eventually ended up in a wall outlet.

Needless to say, the house got all new electric.

I was once called in for service on a owner built house where bath outlet wasnt working. Opening the outlet up, i found that the house wiring was done with lamp cord…at least at this point. I packed up my tools and left. Im not touching that. I told owner my insurance would not allow me to touch this job. I have no idea how or if they fixed it.

 

[grsthegreat]

Cool! Yeah, you gotta keep the original windows.

We have all old sash, seemingly original to the 1775 addition, and maybe even two casement windows that go back to the older 1730's house that the current building sits upon. It seems some or most of the frames have been replaced once in the 250 - 300 years since, which is pretty good, considering modern "replacement windows" never seem to last more than 30 years.

What..l built my house in 1996. All my Milgard vinyl windows still work, and look, as good as new. I had to replace glazing in 2 windows where lawn mower shot a rock thru….but thats all.

 

[Dftodd]

I see that.. the goal of efficiency is to save money, but if it cost 10k or more to replace a working furnace and you only run it for 2 weeks, it’s going to take forever to pay for itself.

Not an issue here in the North East. Makes more sense to replace an old inefficient heating system because of how often the thing runs.

In the northeast, we had combination wood/ oil furnace.

It was installed when the house was built in 78'.

The current owner of the house is still using that wood burning furnace.

I spent many nights when it was -30° outside sleeping with a sheet because of the heat that baby put out.

 

[Dftodd]

OTOH, would you really want to go back to a CRT tv?

Flat screens have come down so much in price. We paid $500 for our 65" TV 5 years ago.

Walking through Walmart, we saw our TV for sale for $380 last year

 

[ultrarunner]

OTOH, would you really want to go back to a CRT tv?

Go Back… I still have it with VHS and DVD in the living room… Zenith.

I also was given a 27 Toshiba by neighbor that asked me to help move it to the curb… nothing wrong with it.

She got a new flat screen and now on her third… she has not been pleased with the flats… 2 replaced under warranty.

With rabbit ears I get over 60 channels and about half are English.

 

[Dftodd]

Has anyone here insulated a 1860s house? How did you go about it and was it worth it?

My grandfather did his twice. The first time was in the 60's before he replaced the siding on the home.

He had someone come through, drill holes and blow in insulation. Then completed the siding after plugging the holes.

The upstairs of the home was still breezy and cold.

He did a remodel (new windows and drywall) in the second floor in the middle to late 90's.

Well we figured out why it was so drafty when I helped gramps handyman remove all the old drywall.

The house originally was a 1.5 story with gables on the second floor. There were a couple bedrooms and a bathroom up there. With pitched roof and gables.

My great grandfather purchased the house in the late 1930's. And raised the roof for a full second story. They just removed the old roof and trusses, framed up the walls to 8ft, and then put a pitched roof and attic area over that.

Leaving the existing headers and gables adding framework on top of them.

So when we removed the drywall, we found the framework for the gables and the original headers for the pitched roof.

So when the insulation was blown in, some areas were a 2x2 pocket that was enclosed. With the rest of the wall below it being un-insulated still.

 

[ultrarunner]

Has anyone here insulated a 1860s house? How did you go about it and was it worth it?

Insulated brothers 1948 house plus new windows also.

Made a big difference.

Ended up pulling the drywall also rewiring and then new drywall… energy use way down and home much quieter. Really like the Marvin Windows

Not sure I would have done it if the walls were lath and plaster or paneled…

At another home had the insulation blown in… went quick for ceiling and walls.