My disaster in home repairs

Another can of worms is:

1) I hate the expense and trouble of indoor and outdoor maintenance
2) I am not sure I'd be happy living in an apartment situation
 

Architecturally, the house is beautiful. It looks like it was built during a time when homes were meant to last.

If it has good bones, a young, energetic couple with some basic knowledge of construction and a willingness to work hard along with some $$ could turn it into a jewel.
 
Just like the old house in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life". Yes, it would take some money, know-how and elbow grease, but it could be a showplace or even make a nice B&B with 4 bedroom upstairs and a room downstairs that could be a bedroom for the owners. I can see a chandelier hanging in the middle parlor! The spacious backyard could be converted into a parking lot, too. At various times during the day the United Church carillion bells play a hymn.
 
Last edited:
One of our Granddaughters and her husband bought a 100+ year old house last year. It is in fairly good shape...quite liveable...but still needs lots of work to bring it up to modern standards. They have redone the kitchen, main bathroom and a couple of the bedrooms already, and they are hoping to have it all done in 5 years, with a budget of no more than $50k.
They are young, and the husband is quite a handyman, plus he has lots of friends in the construction business, so their labor costs will be minimal. If they weren't able to do a lot themselves, and didn't have these friends, it would probably cost them $150K to rebuild this old house.

Based upon what Deb has said and posted, $200k would probably be on the low end of the cost of having her old place brought up to current standards by hired contractors. And then, it probably wouldn't sell for more than what it cost to rebuild it.
 
Pepper said:
I'm very impressed, @squatting dog with the knowledge you display on this subject.
Click to expand...
Thank you. That knowledge came from the fact my dad was a contractor and I was forced to learn this stuff at an early age. :) Came in handy later in life when I was able to update some of our previous houses and finally, build my own house from ground up. (y)
 
Another intrigue - will this ever end? I needed a new window shade in the middle upstairs bedroom. Of course it wasn't the same width as the old, torn one, so I had to get up and relocate the shade brackets. When I did, I was horrified to find the paint on the inside casements so cracked and dry. As I was manipulating the brackets, paint was flaking off and falling on me. I'll probably get lead poisoning now!

window casement.jpg
 
Aunt Bea said:
I wouldn't worry too much about major renovations or repairs.

Old people and old houses have a way of adapting to each other for as long as one continues to need the other.

"I'm gonna have to fix that one of these days." - Pa Kettle
Click to expand...
trouble is, how many winters is Deb going to manage to get through with all those broken windows allowing the cold and rain through
 
Aunt Bea said:
I wouldn't worry too much about major renovations or repairs.

Old people and old houses have a way of adapting to each other for as long as one continues to need the other.

"I'm gonna have to fix that one of these days." - Pa Kettle
Click to expand...
Deb is 68 collecting for some kind of issue with maybe with at least 20 more years to "stay" in the house. I used "stay" only because living in it is not something I would associate with the kind of quality of life one should expect from a home.
 
Haven't heard ANYTHING in a week from any contractors I've contacted. The ones that did return my calls said they would come at such a time or call me back when they had a chance. Nobody has called to appeared. I am finished putting my life on hold in the hope someone might respond to my inquiry. A few that did refused to take the job because they wouldn't comply with my rules:

1) you can have snacks and non-alcoholic beverages while you work, but must clean up any food or beverage containers. (the guy that painted my porch left so many snack bags and soda cans my yard it looked like a tornado hit a convenience store - on the bright side, I took the cans back for the deposit, but I feel I shouldn't have to clean up after them).
2) bring an electric generator if you need electricity for your work (this is because I do not have any outlets on the exterior of the house and I am not leaving my doors open while people are working on my house)
3) you can find bathroom facilities at the convenience store up the street or the port-a-potty at the Blockhouse up the street. No pissing in the shrubs! (I've had guys do this!)
4) no loud radios! (many refused to comply with this saying they can't work without a radio blasting. I think that's BS).
 
debodun said:
Haven't heard ANYTHING in a week from any contractors I've contacted. The ones that did return my calls said they would come at such a time or call me back when they had a chance. Nobody has called to appeared. I am finished putting my life on hold in the hope someone might respond to my inquiry. A few that did refused to take the job because they wouldn't comply with my rules:

1) you can have snacks and non-alcoholic beverages while you work, but must clean up any food or beverage containers. (the guy that painted my porch left so many snack bags and soda cans my yard it looked like a tornado hit a convenience store - on the bright side, I took the cans back for the deposit, but I feel I shouldn't have to clean up after them).
2) bring an electric generator if you need electricity for your work (this is because I do not have any outlets on the exterior of the house and I am not leaving my doors open while people are working on my house)
3) you can find bathroom facilities at the convenience store up the street or the port-a-potty at the Blockhouse up the street. No pissing in the shrubs! (I've had guys do this!)
4) no loud radios! (many refused to comply with this saying they can't work without a radio blasting. I think that's BS).
Click to expand...
I think your rules are reasonable.
 

Back
Top