Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch….

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

Old homes are built well, I’ll give you that. 150-year old houses were built at a time before the spotted owl goons could shut down entire forests, when home builders could carve 12-inch beams out of home grown oak and walnut woods.

But when it comes to “modern” comforts (like central heating!), old homes are woefully lacking. If you have always loved in a newly built home, you don’t have any idea of the drafts that blow your napkins off the table, of the icicles that form on the INSIDE of the house… here are a couple typical Old House problems. I also offer my opinions and/or advice, for kicks.

1. Critters
Old homes almost always have critters– bats, squirrels, mice, chinch bugs, ants, carpenter bees. We have pretty much seen it all. An owl in the hot water exhaust pipe, possums in the basement, raccoons in the garage, bats in the house, mice and honeybees in the walls…. yep. How i wish I had been blogging when we discovered bees in the wall! One day, I looked out my window and saw a tornado-like swarm of bees swirling around an upstairs window. All of a sudden, the wall was covered in bees, all squirming to enter a rather large hole in the siding. I found out later that some brilliant National Grid guy had replaced my power cable anchor, screwing in the new anchor to a new area on the siding but NEVER CLOSING UP THE ORIGINAL HOLE. It became a nesting place for all sorts of creatures.

Barn owl in the water tank pipe.

We had no idea how to get rid of the bees…. when we pounded the wall in the bedroom, 20,000 bees erupted in angry buzzes. We eventually had to rip open the walls on a frosty autumn day (the bees were stupid in the cold). We vacuumed them up and tore out the honeycomb. A lot of the comb was still good, so we ate it.

2. Mold
Old homes have mold. I HATE mold. Mold comes from leaks, and old homes have lots of leaks. We’ve had our share of mold from chimney leaks, ice dams, holes in the walls, etc. Mold is tough to remove. I quit trying to clean it when it invaded the wall cavities– instead, I gutted the living room and replaced everything. Sometimes, I still smell the faint odor of mold…

Ice dam damage. These leaks create mold inside wall cavities.

3. Plaster dust
As long as there’s 1 square foot of plaster in an old house, the place will be dusty. Eep, I dislike plaster very much. I dislike dusting, too…

Attic cellulose insualtion also creates a ton of dust.

4. Crooked walls, crooked floors
This doesn’t bother me as much, unless I am renovating and I need to somehow wedge a perfect 90 degree section of drywall into a 85 degree corner! I don’t mind that all my pictures tilt a little. I do not like my bookshelves tilting so noticeably, though!

5. Bouncy floors
Bouncy floors make me nervous. There’s something very creepy about bopping up and down in my desk chair when one of the kids walks by. So far, the floor seems none of the worse for wear, but I have detected some cracks in the joists below. If I ever get another house, maybe I’ll choose one that has solid concrete floors. ANYTHING that doesn’t feel like you’re walking on a waterbed as you cross the room, lol.

Support posts help alleviate bouncy floors.

What could you add to the list? I’m sure there are more quaint little things about old homes that I have missed here. Feel free to add your own two cents.

In the next post or so, I’ll talk about the benefits of living in an old house!

Old House Blues

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

Where? HERE. Lovely Listing. It’s the latest “Cheezeburger” site. Like we needed another one. Egads, i waste enough time on the LOL Cats and LOL Dogs and “There I Fixed It” sites! LOL.

This one made me crack up.

Uh. FAIL.

Do you think anyone will notice the real estate photo has been touched up a little?

Are your eyes twitching, too?

THIS. IS. SO. COOL. But I live near the Adirondacks, so maybe it’s just a local “thing.”

I actually think this is pretty neat.

The caption read “Time to Purge.” Bwahahahha!!

see more Lovely Listing

Ah, the amazing things you can do with flexible tubing, lol.

OK I’ve wasted enough of your time, too. Some of these are pretty funny. MUST. GET. To. WORK.

Have a great week!

Funny!

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

Oh wait. I did install a window before– a brand new window. In the kitchen! How could I forget! It was only two years ago.

This was the original window in the kitchen. It was installed in 1972, when the previous owners remuddled the kitchen into an orange and brown 1970s funk extraordinaire. The window was wood with an aluminum frame. I had warped so badly that I could not open it. Imagine– the only tiny window in the entire kitchen and it’s stuck shut! Painful, indeed!

We removed the piece of junk in summer of 2010. What a glorious day.

I ripped open the wall (which was severely rotten from water damage) and discovered some water damage and poor remodeling from previous owners. They had cut into floor joists to fit plumbing pipes and the beam that held up this part of the wall was about as strong as swimming pool safety fences. I decided to rebuild the entire section of the wall.

It was my masterpiece. I built it to perfection. The window frame not only had to house the window, but it had to hold up this portion of the wall, which was sagging. I made the frame very sturdy.

This is one of the greatest sights for a DIY homeowner.

The running gag around the house was that a tornado could rip through the town and level every single house, but my window frame would still be standing.

I never got photos of us installing the actual window because it took the entire family to haul the thing into the opening, level it, shim it, and nail it down. As soon as it was up, though, Livvy hopped up for her inspection.

I installed trim in a Greek Revival design that reflects the rest of the house.

The new window gives off a lot of light. It’s glorious having such a bright, airy kitchen!

Of course, the new windows I just got for the living room are a totally different animal than this kitchen window. The new ones are vinyl REPLACEMENT window– the kitchen was a “new construction” window with nail flanges. For a vinyl replacement window, you have to fit the boxy frame directly into the existing window frame. I’ve never done it before. I’ve already done some studying and have watched some good videos about the process. *cracks knuckles* We’ll probably get the windows installed next week. I’ll be sure to let you know! We have to install a few on the second story of the house, so I would sure appreciate your prayers!

We Got the Windows!

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!

This morning, Livvy hopped onto my desk and sat in front of my computer monitor as she usually does 200 times a day.

Goofy seemed a little miffed. He trotted from his place at the back of the desk to oppose Livvy.

Humph says Livvy. I belong here, she says. Move.

Livvy 1, Goofy 0.

A glutton for punishment, Goofy made another stance to defend his territory.

WAP.

So guess who’s king of the desk now? I miss Goofy. He was a lot smaller and I could see the monitor when he was here…..

Livvy Meets Goofy

Original eloquence at New York Renovator.com. This content is copyrighted, so no stealing! Don't make me angry, you don't want to see me when I'm angry!