Tread lightly on history…

What one can and cannot do to a historic house in remodeling projects is sometimes at odds with what one should and should not do.  Some cities, towns and villages have local ordinances that specify what can and cannot be done to the historic homes within their jurisdictions.  Some of those local ordinances are very restrictive, especially concerning the exterior appearance of the house. Those ordinances may exercise control over things like additions or modifications to the exterior of the house, even extending down to the colors that may be used on the house. In most instances there are less, if any, ordinances governing what may be done to interior of the houses. That lack of governmental oversight, combined with the need to make the old homes livable in modern terms, has resulted in many of these “historic homes” having little or no historic character on the inside.

The constant tradeoffs between preserving the historic character of the house as it was built and accommodating modern living are decisions that all historic homeowners face. There are just many things in a historic home that don’t work in modern times or that are at a minimum very inconvenient to live with. When they were built things like insulation in the walls, thermal windows, heavy duty electrical systems, efficient and adequate heating and cooling systems and even adequate plumbing were not yet thought of or invented.

Most turn of the century (think early 1900’s and before) were built with hollow, balloon walls, with plaster on the interior,  and single pane windows. Some may have had a little insulation in the attics, but even that was not required or common. None of them had 2-pane thermal windows, although some may have had storm windows added later.

The electrical systems of the day used knob and tube central conduits with the few circuits that were built in at the time dropping off that backbone. There may have been one central ceiling light in a room and perhaps a couple of plugs – certainly, none were designed to accommodate the many electrical devices that we now find in homes, especially not in the kitchens of historic homes.

Many early homes were designed with the fireplaces as their heating system, with things like steam radiators coming into the picture in the mid to late-1800’s. Many were later converted to hot water systems and in the later 1800’s and early 1900’s the forced air systems came into play. The concept of air conditioning was not in sight when most were built and the ones with steam or hot water heating didn’t have any ductwork built into them. 

There seemed to be no reason why anyone would need more than one bathroom in the house when they were built and no better place than to put it on the second floor, out of sight of the public areas on the main level. The whole plumbing system of those old houses were probably built with galvanized pipe that is a health hazard that was not understood at the time.

Other things that made sense back in the day included using good oak for flooring on the main level and going to broad-board pine on the upper levels. Small kitchens were the norm, since they were used for cooking only and some of that may have been out doors anyway. Tub baths were the standard for baths, so showers and showering were oft an afterthought and not well accommodated by most bathroom setups.  

Most historic homes have had major system upgrades done to them over time in the electrical and plumbing areas, as well as in their heating and cooling systems; however, many of the shortcomings that came with their original construction may still be there. What is the current homeowner to do? How do you balance the trade-offs between the demands of modern living and preserving the historic character of the house?

As with most things, cost is the biggest factor in making these decisions. It is possible to recreate the historic details that one might want to preserve while using modern materials and technology.  There are companies that make modern thermal windows that look like the original old windows. Some even reused the old, wavy glass that came out of old homes to do that. They cost lot more than your standard replacement windows, but they preserve the “look” of the house. It is also possible to re-floor an old house with modern flooring that looks like the old oak plank flooring that was there, but it too is more expensive and just throwing in some modern flooring or putting wall-to-wall carpeting over the old, worn floors. Switching out to modern bathroom fixtures is probably more of a change; however, there are great reproductions of the old claw-foot tubs available, if you are inclined to put up with their inherent limitations in accommodating a shower. That historically accurate looking ring shower curtain and holder is never going to be as good as a modern shower stall.

What about major remodeling, like blowing out walls to open up the “cut-up” feeling of the old homes? Let’s face it, if you make that decision, you are going to lose a major historical component of the house. It really won’t be a historic home anymore, at least in that area. Some add-on are easier to accommodate and integrate that others. Expanding the kitchen is one. Adding a first floor bathroom is another. So long as the addition itself fits in with the surrounding architecture and the interior uses finishes that match the rest of the house, those will probably work and add value to the house. Just avoid the urge to blow out the wall between the kitchen and dining room and opening that up to the living room to create a great room affect. You will have just killed the historic ambiance of three rooms at once.

I guess the best advice when considering or planning updates to historic homes is that contained in the post title. Even if there are no local ordinances to restrain you, understand that a good part of the value in your historic home is its historic ambiance and doing things to it that remove or destroy that ambiance detracts from its value, rather than adding to it. If you absolutely cannot stand to live with the quirks and character of your historic home, sell it and move to a modern home. Maybe the next owner will be more willing to accommodate it’s character rather than destroy it.

Tread lightly on history

This old house is not a Little Rascals episode…

I got a call the other day from an agent with some questions about looking for and buying historic homes. We had a nice long conversation about her buyers’ desires to buy and fix up a historic home. Apparently they watch and lot of HGTV and the Rehab Addict show starring Nicole Curtis and think that they’d like to do something similar. I will admit that I like Nicole’s show and watch it often, along with the Property Brothers show and a couple of the other “reality” shows on HGTV. I referred the agent to my MilfordTeam.com web site and an article that I did several years ago that is posted there about historic homes – see http://www.themilfordteam.com/historichomes.html - which might help them get started on understand the challenges better.

When I hear questions or stories like this I always remember episodes of the old Hal Roach show – The Little Rascals (also known as Our Gang) in which someone’s aunt would desperately need

money to avoid being thrown out of her house. The Gang would jump to the rescue by raising money. One of the characters, usually Spankey,  would say something like – “You get a stage and I’ll get a band together and we’ll put on a show.” Off they would scurry, rounding up the gang and putting together a show, for which they charged an admission from other children in the neighborhood. Sure enough there would be a stage of sorts, usually in a big barn, and a ragtag band. There would be several acts and Alfalfa would end up closing the show by singing a song to a great round of applause. They would take the money raised to the desperate aunt and she would get to stay I the house, usually much to the chagrin of the mean old banker who was try to repossess her house.

For many couples, especially young, idealistic couples, buying and fixing up an old house can seem to be similar – they say, “You get a ladder and I’ll get some paint and we’ll fix up this house.” Nothing could be further from the reality that they will discover as they tackle the project. There was a movie titled “The Money Pit” that comes closer to the truth; although that does not have to be the case either. The key is letting go of the images of yourself jumping into the project as if you are Nicole Curtis and getting real about the costs and the skills required to tackle an old house

renovation. Nicole uses a lot of professionals in her projects, although you see mainly her tearing things out, nailing up new molding or putting up bathroom tile and painting. What the casual viewer may not appreciate is the level of skills that she has developed over time to be able to do those things and the number of tools that she needs to have at hand in order to do them. Many DIYers don’t really have either of those things going for them – skill or tools.

I usually spend time with buyers who say that they want to tackle something like an old house renovation trying to get them to understand the many things that will require professional (most times licensed) help and/or specialized tools and skills. Sometimes I get push back like – “Well, my dad (substitute “best friend” here if you like) is a plumber (or electrician or carpenter) so he can help us with that. Sure they’ll help some, for some period of time, in areas that they have the skills and tools for; but projects like a complete old house remodel will touch on every aspect of the building trades and most people don’t have that many friends or family willing to work that long for nothing. So, first, take stock of your own skills and the skills of those that you might be actually able to call upon for help and look at the tools that you have already. You’d be surprised how much of the cost of a renovation goes into buying or renting the necessary tools.

Second, get real on a budget. I can’t tell you how many half-finished old home remodeling projects I’ve seen show up on the foreclosed list. It costs a lot of money to redo one of these old homes; even more if you are committed to keeping everything looking original. What you may initially see as just

new cabinets and tops, plus appliances for the kitchen remodel can turn quickly into all new wiring and plumbing, when you demo out the old kitchen and discover what is behind what was there. It’s not unusual that the entire house may have to be rewired and re-plumbed to bring it up to current building codes; and you will have to bring it up to current codes, assuming that you pull permits for the remodeling work. Do even consider doing a major remodel without pulling permits.

Oh, and while you’re at it; did I mention that most of these old house are full of asbestos, which was commonly used as insulation on the steam or hot water pipes leading to the radiators, plus much of the old tile used on floors back then was asbestos-based. If you watch Property Brothers on HGTV, too, you’ll know that discovering asbestos is not a good thing and very expensive to deal with. In Michigan we have only one dump site left that will even accept asbestos waste and the disposal fee is high. While we’re dealing with environmental issues, a quick check of the plumbing will normally

turn up some lead pipes in the system. If you’re lucky they are only on the waste side of things and could be left in place. Any lead pipes on the supply side will need to be replaced. As long as you are dealing with the plumbing you might also want to have the waste line to the sewer scoped out with a TV camera (lots of local plumbing companies can do that). You may be appalled at what you find there. In many old houses there really isn’t even a real pipe that goes out to the sewer Many historic homers were connected to eh sewers using clay pipes and some just used a form of rolled up tar paper shaped to look and act like a pipe. When those “pipes” fails (and it will eventually fail) you will be responsible for the replacement all the way to the sewer from your house (think backhoes and lots of cost).

The electrical systems in most old house is inadequate (quite often even less than 100 Amp service with old screw-in fuses instead of breakers) and it is dangerous. Most old houses don’t have ground wires to the receptacles, so plugs are un-grounded. People didn’t have all of the appliances and electronics that most people have these days, so even the wire from the power pole to your house may be inadequate for the demands currently being put upon it. Start from the pole and rewire in – think big money and a lot of work to try to run ground wires to every receptacle in the house. And don’t forget that current electrical codes require GFCI-protected circuits in the kitchen, baths, garage and all exterior plugs. Cha-Ching$$$

As for heating and cooling; most historic homes had some form of steam heat when built and many were converted to hot water later. There may be one or two pipes running to each radiator, but there usually are no ducts anywhere. Fortunately (as Nicole Curtis does in her rehabs sometimes) there are ways to put in forced air systems to heat and cool, either by carefully hiding regular ducts in closets and cabinets or by using modern micro-tube ducts and two systems – one in the basement to take care of the first floor and one in the attic to handle the second floor. If you have enough money, anything is possible.

And, if you do get a new heating system in place, what are you going to do to hold that heat in? Most old houses were not built with anywhere near adequate insulation in either the walls or the attic and most have single pane glass in the windows (many have old storm windows that do little more thanbigger bucks if you chose to put in historically correct looking insulated windows). The insulation in the attic will usually need to be doubled or tripled to get to current code standards and the walls may have no insulation at all. That means cutting openings (outside or inside) and blowing in insulation and then repairing the cuts or holes that you created. Thinks additional $$$.

slow down the cold air). If you are going to just waste the heat that your new heating system produces you’ve got to insulate to hold it in and put in new, thermal windows as well. We’re talking big bucks to put in all new windows (even

If all of these details and warnings about things that you may have to deal with is scaring you – good; you should be scared. Maybe, out of that fear (or at least concern), may come more rational decisions about the whole project to fix up an old house.  “You get the ladder and I’ll get the paint”, doesn’t cut it (but I suppose it could be amusing to watch as a reality TV special). Just don’t expect Nicole Curtis to stop by to help out. You are more likely to get a visit by the mean old banker wanting his money.

Having said all of this; why am I still smiling that I own a historic home?  For one, I’ve got a few of the bigger projects done already; and, in the final analysis, it’s because the right historic house, given the right amount of investment, with the right tools or tradesmen involved, can turn out to be a great place to live. The character of the architecture, the great old woodwork and the sense of history can’t be found in a modern home. I often tell would-be historic home buyers that it’s a home and a hobby all in one.  If you are willing to continually work at it and put up with a few things as you go along it can be very rewarding, but it’s not an Our Gang play. 

First-time Buyers – Should I buy a historic home (Part 2)

Question – We've been looking for our first home and my fiancé loves the idea of living in a historic home. What do I need to know about that?

Answer  (Part 2 of 2 posts) – We covered some of the bigger, scarier and costlier issues in part on, so

Now let’s focus on things that you might want to be concerned about or need to do that weren't on that list, some are things that you might not get to until after you've bought the historic home. 

Many historic homes were built in an era when property taxes on your home were determined by how many bedrooms the house had. Sounds innocuous, right? Well hold on. They way that some home builders got around that and lowered their property taxes was to build rooms on the second floor without closets. If it didn't have a closet it wasn't considered to be a bedroom. People were trying to game the system even back then. What they ended up doing was gaming you. They got around this issue by using huge wardrobes in those rooms. Those were mostly large wooden things that could hold all the clothes that were needed back in those days. They could never have imagined someone owning some many clothes that they needed a walk-in closet. So here you are with your Imelda Marcos shoe collection and no closet. Building a closet not only makes the room smaller, but there is a cost involved, albeit less than many of the other issues that we’ve discussed.

Most people also think that the old “wavy glass” in the windows is great, but those old, leaky wavy glass windows will cost you a fortune in heating and cooling bills, so that is something that needs to be looked at for replacement. You can get authentic looking modern insulated windows, but those are costly, too. If the windows aren't critical to maintaining the architectural look of the place consider replacing them. Most old homes had storm windows put on at some point. It is possible to replace the windows from the inside without disturbing the storm windows. That way the house will still look much the same as  it has for quite some time, albeit not original as built.

That brings up another point. You may have all sorts of plans or things that you’d like to do to the old house when you buy it, but you should check to see what you’ll be allowed to do. Some cities, towns and villages have historic districts in place and may have historic preservation ordinances in place as well. Those ordinances, put in place by well-meaning people to try to preserve the historic authenticity of structures within historic districts, can be very limiting in what they allow. Those historic preservation ordinances may dictate such things as what exterior colors can be used and whether any additions or alterations (including windows) may be made that can be seen from the street. They might even prevent you from tearing down and old useless garage that was originally built as a carriage house and building a new garage. Find out, before you buy, what restrictions you might be under. You will find it very hard, if not impossible to fight about it later. Fortunately most of these restrictive ordinances focus upon the exterior and what the house looks like from the street. They usually don’t dictate what you can update in the interior.

The floors are another area that might need attention. The historic homes in my area were generally all built with good oak floors at least on the entry level. Many continued that on the upper level(s), but many did not, choosing to put broad board flooring (usually pine or sometimes maple)  in where they would not normally be seen by visitors. Over the years many owners have done bad things to the floors in these old houses. In my area someone started a trend of putting linoleum over the hardwood and many houses had that done to them. What a ness to take that off! Most historic houses fell victim to the wall-to-wall carpet trends in the mid-Twentieth Century. That causes another problem that caused harm, since doors had to be trimmed on

the bottom to accommodate the carpet and padding height, many very nice solid oak doors were butchered by homeowners trying to create clearance, so they would open. If you can, before you buy, see if you can look under whatever carpeting is in place to see what kind of flooring is under there and what kind of shape it is in. You can pretty much count on having to refinish any hardwood floors that you find. In worst-case scenarios you’ll have to replace it. Cha-Ching, there goes the cash register again!

You can usually do what remodeling you desire inside the house; but, I will caution you not to take the interior too modern – that destroys the whole reason for buying one of these places in the first place – the woodwork ad quirky nooks and crannies that give it character. I’ve seen cases where owners gutted out a wonderful historic house and ended up with a modern white elephant on their hands when it came time to sell. You can’t make a modern house out of one of these old beauties, but you can destroy its value while trying . It’s OK to update the kitchen and baths, but do it tastefully and with an eye to the finishes and fixtures that will fit into a historic house. Dark mahogany and cherry cabinets work much better that modern Ikea blond finishes in the kitchen and baths.  Granite countertops are OK, but add a wide country sink in hammered bronze or porcelain to keep the historic touch. You get the idea.

The whole issue of bathrooms may be a challenge. If you can find a way to add a bath or even a half bath on the first floor, that’s great. They just didn’t build them that way back in the day. Many historic homes may have tubs in the bath that look cute but are really impractical to use. The old pedestal or claw-foot tubs are great soaker tubs, but lousy for showers and that’s what most people want these day – a quick shower. The shower curtain ring around the top of the tub is quaint looking but a pain to use. I got rid of mine and put in a modern Jacuzzi tub and shower. Mea culpa history buffs, but I can get a quick shower now.  It’s not cheap to remodel bathrooms, but is will be worth it.

The kitchen is another area that is expensive to remodel, but one that is often in need of attention. Victorian

era kitchens were small by today’s standards. Many of them did have lots of cabinets – usually floor to ceiling ion at least one wall, but there was usually no separate pantry. Really nice, upscale homes may have had a butler’s pantry between the kitchen and dining room. Most historic home kitchens were not really design to eat in either, unless it was one of the smaller homes. You’ll have to think long and hard about tearing out and replacing the built-in cabinetry that you may find. Perhaps putting on new doors and hardware would be better and preserve the ambiance of the original kitchen.

ll historic homes were originally built with plaster walls and ceilings. Many have had drywall installed right over the plaster and many ceilings had acoustic tiles glued in place right over the plaster. People did that because they got tired of repairing the plaster. Some just put that funny looking popcorn paint on the ceilings to cover cracks. If they did it right (who’s to say what is “right” and what is a sacrilege) any floor or door and window moldings would have been removed and then put back over eh dry wall. Many did not do that and now have homes with moldings that are half buried in the drywall. I've got one room where that happened in my old house – what a shame. The grander old homes may have had relatively elaborate plaster work crown moldings (which were always done in plaster back in the day) or decorative medallions surrounding the ceiling light or chandelier drops. Preserve those if you can. Those are irreplaceable works of art and craftsmanship.

Another area to test and see what you are getting is the woodwork. As I mentioned elsewhere earlier, almost all of these grand old historic homes had elaborate woodwork, mostly quarter-sawn oak in my area. You would find that as shoe molding (usually 10-12 inches high) perhaps chair molding in the dining room and certainly window and door molding. Many had rooms with coffered ceilings in hardwood and many had rooms with extensive and expensive wainscoting in hardwoods. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line someone who had no appreciation for what they had may have painted over that great old woodwork. It’s tedious work, but worth it to strip that paint and expose the great old oak woodwork again. Then again, some houses never had anything more than painted softwood moldings. Try to determine that before you buy, since painted hardwood molding can be stripped and returned to their glory, but common painted softwood moldings will never be anything but just that. Many of these old houses had built-ins either as originally built or added later. These can include closets with build in drawers or maybe a built-in china hutch in the corner of a dining room. Don’t tear them out! Those are part of the charm (and value), too.

I know that I've given you a lot to think about and consider in these two posts, but it is important that you be able to get beyond the romantic notion of owning a Victorian home and have a clear understanding about the potential challenges of owning an old house. If you are lucky, you might find a great old historic home that someone before you has made the necessary investments in to make it livable in the present. Hopefully they did that well and without destroying the character that attracted you in the first place. Historic home scan be wonderful places to live. My wife and I certainly wouldn't give up ours. But, as I said at the outset; owning one of these great old homes is like having a home and hobby all in one; there’s always something that you could be working on updating or improving.

First time buyers – Should I buy a historic home? (Part 1)

Question – We've been looking for our first home and my fiancé loves the idea of living in a historic home. What do I need to know about that?

Answer  (Part 1 of 2 posts) – Well, if you are looking for a home and hobby all in one, go for it. I’m a

historic home owner. My house in Milford, Michigan was built in 1885, which is actually fairly recent compared to some really historic homes out in the New England area. I also have a friend from college who moved to England and now lives in a building that was once a tavern and was built in the 1600’s. Now that’s historic!

In all seriousness, there are many things that you’ll need to consider before buying a historic house. I’ll try to cover as many as I can think of here. This topic is so large that I've split it into two posts, so stay tuned for part 2. The two parts generally fall into two categories – things to look for before buying and things to know or consider doing as an owner. The reason that most people give for wanting to buy a historic home is that they have “character”. That is a kind word for saying that they have quirks that you don’t find in modern homes. Some of those quirks are endearing and some are just maddening and can be expensive.

First, let me say that many old houses are just that – old, tired and run down. They may not have been well cared for or they may have been converted to rental units and sometimes cut up into apartments. Those

probably won’t make great home for first time buyers. They are likely to turn into money pits.

Realize also that not all historic homes are grand examples of Victorian living. Most towns had a few really nice houses that were built by the wealthier merchants and business owners in town and the rest were just run-of-the-mill homes for working class people. It’s sort of like the difference today between a custom designed and built house and a tract home.  Some of the historic houses in many towns around the country were actually ordered out of the Sears & Roebucks catalog or the Montgomery Ward’s catalog and shipped via rail to the town in pieces, where they were assembled on site. You can read more  about that from the Sears archives by clicking here.

Basically, all vintage homes were stick-built on site, usually from plans that had been drawn up for the owners or modified to meet their needs and desires.  The grand old homes of the day had great woodwork (mostly quarter-sawn oak), wonderful staircases (some like mine had front and rear staircases, magnificent fireplaces, nice porches (many times more than one) and other features that separated them from average working class homes. If you buy a home that was not built by one of the wealthy owners of the day it will never be a grand historic home. With enough investment, you can turn it into a really nice historic home, but not a grand historic home. It just doesn’t have the “bones” to build upon. I was lucky enough to find a fairly nice, 3,000 Sq Ft historic home in the Village of Milford, Michigan that had been built by a local merchant with enough money to do it right. My home probably started out at about 2,000 Sq Ft and had additions put on later. I’ll talk more about it in the next post.

So, what are some of the things to look for before you buy, beyond just the pedigree of the house?  Look to see if the major systems have been updated. Some of the nastiest looking electrical, plumbing and heating systems that you’ll ever see are in some of these old homes and every one of them is very expensive to update.

The foundation is also an area to pay close attention to with older houses. Most of the really old houses  were built on stone foundations, which are essentially piles of rocks. These old homes were built well before concrete blocks were available and certainly before poured concrete basement walls. The grand old homes may have had cut stone walls for the basement, which meant that stone masons had cut and chiseled the large stones used into more or less rectangular blocks that fit nicely together. That was expensive even back then, so it is somewhat rare. Most other houses just used large stones fit together as well as they could be, with some mortar to hold them in place. Many old homes had a layer of concrete or mortar added to the outside at some point.

I don’t want this to sound like these homes were just built on piles of rocks; these stone foundations were 3 to 4 feet thick and fairly deep, plus are shored up with mortar. However, many times these foundations would shift and settle causing the house to settle or shift around, too. If things have shifted too much and large cracks have appeared or they have allowed large sections of the house structure to develop problems, you may have to have the foundation replaced. That means jacking up the house and basically building a new foundation underneath. That is very, very expensive. So do a thorough foundation inspection with your home inspector.  Click here if you’d like to read more than you’ll ever want to know about foundations and repairs from a structural engineer.

Another aspect of the home’s foundation is what is right under the floor on the ground story. If you go into what is called the basement (we call them Michigan Basements here), it would not be unusual to find a dirt floor in at least part of the basement area. The Michigan Basements were essentially crawl spaces that were dug out enough so one could walk around upright. Many people later added concrete floors. The other thing that was common was to use tree trunks as both vertical and horizontal floor supports under the house. Since these supports were never meant to be seen, the tree trunks were not even sawed to make them look like lumber and many still have the tree bark on them. They were and are sturdy support for the house; however, they are also attractive to several types of wood destroying insects, including carpenter ants, termites and powder post beetles, so have them thoroughly looked at during the inspection. The inspector may only find evidence of an infestation, so you’ll need to call in an expert exterminator to assess how bad things are what it might cost to get rid of them (yep, more money).

Most of the homes built in the mid- to late-19^th century had what is called knob and tube electrical systems and fuse boxes instead of electrical panels. The old knob and tube wiring literally had a central spines -the tubes (which may have been a copper tube or just a larger diameter copper wire) running through the center of the attic and the basement off of which circuits were wired. The tube was held away from everything on glass or ceramic insulators (the knobs) and in many cases the tube was bare.  These were two wire systems, so there is no ground wire. Sometimes circuits were taken off by wrapping one end of the circuit wires around the two tubes. What insulation that was on the circuit wires was often a woven material that mice and other critters loved to chew on. The main tubes ran back to fuse boxes where you had the old glass-encased screw-in fuses. If the house that you are considering still  has this set-up think twice about buying it! It is not only dangerous and a fire hazard, but extremely expensive to replace. 

Look for homes with updated electrical systems with grounded circuits and modern circuit breaker boxes. Play close attention to the circuits in the kitchen and baths to make sure that they have been updated to modern GFCI standards. Click here for a good article on electrical wiring (including knob and tube) in older homes and what you might want to do.

Most homes built before the turnoff the century did not have forced air systems. They used boilers and either steam or hot water radiators. Most of the original boilers were coal fired but may have been replaced at some point by oil burning units and maybe eventually by gas-fired boilers.  Check out the age and condition of the boiler, if there is one. You can also just about bet that some of those steam or hot water pipes running

from the boiler are wrapped in asbestos insulation, so be careful not to disturb any of that.

Both steam and hot water heat are very good heating sources and are good for people with allergies because you are not blowing dust around every time the heater or air-conditioner kicks on.  Speaking of air conditioning, homes with boilers do not have duct work in place that would be needed to support modern forced air systems and central air conditioning. Many historic home owners just use window air conditioning units in the summer. That’s what I do. I've found that a couple large window units serve the first floor very well and smaller units in each bedroom upstairs allows me to only cool the rooms that are actually being used.

Somewhere along the line a previous owner may have had ducts put into the house by stealing space from closets or from the rooms themselves. In many cases they used what is call gravity feed systems which are essentially large openings between floors covered by grills that allow hot air to rise and the cooler air to drop down to the basement due to gravity. Some historic homeowners have installed forced air systems in both the basement and the attic, with ducts in the second story ceiling and the first story floor.  Click here to read an article from the This Old House Web site on some modern techniques for retrofitting a historic house for air conditioning. This is another opportunity to spend major money.

The plumbing in historic homes is another area to be concerned about. Most of these old homes were built before cast iron pipes were outlawed due to the health hazard. Plumbing seems to be one area that you can count on having been upgraded at some point in the life of the house – perhaps when the toilet was brought inside from the outhouse. I find that most historic houses now have copper and PVC plumbing in place, but

that is something to look for. On the supply side, most of these old houses may have started with a well or a cistern system for capturing rain water (my old house still has the original cistern in the basement). 

When public water systems were introduced or electric well pumps were installed the plumbing was usually upgraded. What may not have changed is the fact that most old houses were built with only a single bathroom and it was usually on the second floor. If you’re lucky someone along the way may have added a bath or a bath and a half. Even if the plumbing has been updated, there is a good chance that the water pipes leading to the house and the sewer connection leading away from it have been i n the ground for decades and may be well outside their useful life span. Guess who pays to dig up and replace those when they go bad – yep, get out your checkbook. Check out the plumbing thoroughly because guess what – it’s yet another money pit to update or add plumbing.  

I’ll cover other items that will present you with opportunities to spend money on your old house in my next post. These posts are not meant to scare you off just to equip you with enough knowledge to make an intelligent decision. Obviously, with the number of major areas to check on it is even more important with a historic home to have a good home inspector do a thorough inspection.

Top Places to Buy an Old House

This Old House magazine is always searching for great places to buy old houses. In the July issue, the magazine identifies 12 neighborhoods nationwide that it considers the best old-house neighborhoods in the United States.

The winners were chosen because of their architectural diversity, the preservation momentum in the area, and neighborhood amenities, including walkability, services, and the level of community. The magazine also identifies dozens of other good neighborhoods.

Here are the magazine's top 12:

Centre Park Historic District, Reading, Pa.: five-bedroom townhouse can be purchased for about $60,000, a large Queen Anne for $135,000, and a mansion for less than $600,000.

Hampton Heights Historic District, Spartanburg, S.C.: homes range from $50,000 for a 1930s Arts and Crafts fixer-upper to $250,000 for a restored Queen Anne.

Galena, Illinois: a Greek Revival or Second Empire home can be bought for as little as $130,000.

Kempton's Corners, New Bedford, Mass.: prices run the range in this area, starting at $180,000 and then running as high as $800,000 for a Victorian.

Old Louisville, Ky.: a rehabbed manse might cost about $275,000, with prices topping out at $800,000.

Pleasant Ridge, Mich.: prices range from the low $100,000s for a modest bungalow to more than a million for a big Colonial Revival or Tudor.

Victorian Flatbush, Brooklyn, N.Y.: fixer-uppers are available for $600,000 to $900,000; a restored home will run you upward to a million or more.

Albany, Ore.: home prices in Albany's national historic districts range from $90,000 for a run-down Italianate to $400,000 for a fully restored one.

Georgetown, Texas: price tags on fixer-upper bungalows can be purchased for as little as $90,000; grander homes can run in the millions.

Centralia, Wash.: homes in the Edison District range from $250,000 for an 1,800-square-foot Craftsman to $600,000 for a massive Queen Anne.

New Castle, Del.: a brick Federal in good shape will run you $385,000, while large historic homes with river views cost close to a million.
Washington, Ga.: Antebellum mansions run as low as $350,000, while a 2,000-square-foot Victorian cottage might go for $130,000.

Long-time readers might know that I live in an old house (1885) in Milford, MI, which I consider to be one for the best places for old houses in our area. Our old houses run from $110,000 for a basket case that needs lots more than a little TLC, up to $400-500,000 for our biggest mansions that have been thoroughly updated. Our village's walkability score is great, with a quaint downtown and great restaurants.

Other good places to look for old houses locally are Birmingham and Northville (a bit pricey), downtown Farmington Hills (also pricey), Holly (many homes need a lot, but the stock is good), Howell (same comment as for Holly), and Brighton (same comment as for Holly). A bit further out, Fenton and Linden have some nice old homes, along with many dumpster queens.

In my travels, one place that I thought had great old houses is Savannah, GA. The problem is that they are almost all well over a million dollars now. I suspect the same is true in Charleston, SC, too.

I've got some good information about buying old houses on my Web site - http://www.themilfordteam.com/ - as well as links to lots of sites with helpful old house information. Send me an email or give me a call if you're interested in an old house in this area.