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.

 

[ultrarunner]

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”?

2” round top cavity and another 2” for the bottom cavity…

Holes filled with a cork and then stucco and spot painted to match…

 

[ultrarunner]

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.

I got called to trouble shoot T-Bar lighting and brought ballasts and 4’ tubes with me.

I found zip cord through the knockout with no bushing…

Saw enough that I did not want any association because I could imagine the place going up in flames and I would be in the middle of it… 1979 building.

 

[Dftodd]

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.

That sounds like some of the work in my last house.

The old lady we bought the house from had one of her sons work on the place since he was a "Handy" man.

Well he wasn't very handy. I was in the attic shortly after purchasing the home.

I kneeled down and got shocked.

I started digging in the insulation and found where he added some lights. Instead of using junction boxes for the wiring, as well as wire nuts for the connections. He just stripped the wires back, twisted them together, and left them exposed.

I went to home depot and picked up a bunch of junction boxes and covers, as well as a box of romex connectors and wire nuts.

I spent two days in the attic hunting and fixing his electrical connections.

I found 9 connections exposed in the attic.

 

[ultrarunner]

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

I’ve put up several 65” at work and had to be creative mounting on the 2’ on center tin foil studs.

I can only imagine pricing if tariffs kick in.

 

[Dftodd]

I’ve put up several 65” at work and had to be creative mounting on the 2’ on center tin foil studs.

I can only imagine pricing if tariffs kick in.

My 65" is in storage. Hope it's still working. It's been there for 1.5 years.

I got a 40" fire TV we purchased and installed in the camper we are currently living in. I won't find out if the 65" is any good until we get our home built and can move in.

We were fixing to get started on the house, and then my wife got injured while on a cruise. She's been out of work for 3 months now, and doesn't look like she will be released to go back for at least another 3 months.

She fell, broke her elbow, tore the tendon and dislocated it. She's had surgery to put hardware in to stabilize it, had manual manipulation done on it the other day to free it up (contracture).

She's finally got a straight arm, but lots of painful stretching and physio for the next week every couple hours.

Then surgery in 2 months to remove the hardware and more physical therapy.

As soon as she's back to work we'll start pushing to get the house built.

 

[WinterDeere]

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”?

Note the prior owner had this done, so I wasn't here to see it, but I remember watching an episode of This Old House where they were doing the same thing in another old house. My recollection was they used a hole saw only slightly larger than a shop vac hose, perhaps 3" - 4", and then with some scarfed-in lathe strips, re-installed the same plaster or drywall plugs when the job was done.

Of course that still leaves you with some touch-up spackling and painting work when their job is done, but I imagine any good firm is at least going to get the holes covered and first coat of spackle done while they're on the job.

Thats weird. My GE Monogram built in 48” refrigerator/freezer was purchased in 1998, still going strong.

As is our 1998 refrigerator, they were much more reliable back then. But those we purchased ca.2012, 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2023 are all in the scrap yard now. Meanwhile, the 1998 fridge keeps ticking away just fine.

I could go into details, but it's not really the point of this thread, nor is it very entertaining reading.

 

[ultrarunner]

My new home is 33 years old and appreciate the added insulation, triple pane windows and being fully fire sprinklered.

Being an engineer he used structural steel in places with x-rayed weldments and oversized rebar and narrowed placement.

The owner builder was onsite everyday and made certain things were to plan without shortcuts…

Building Code sets the minimum standard here for Certificate of Occupancy.

As always, buyer beware.

 

[Oaktree]

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.

I'll agree that old-school tv's had much better tuners in them, especially the old rotary-knob ones. Moot point here since after the digital conversion there's no OTA tv to be had...too far from any tv city, and hilly terrain. Of course, had nothing to do with the type of display it had.
I've got a ~12 year old flatscreen tv that someone was throwing out (apparently a 42" set was "too small" ). Still works fine.

 

[Oaktree]

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

My house is 1830s vintage, previous owner took advantage of a state program for the elderly and they did kind of a half-@ssed job insulating. What the crew apparently didn't know was that this house is plank construction, ie-4 x 24" vertical planks notched into the sill and top beam. So basically solid wood walls. At some point in the house's history strapping was put on and drywall installed. The gap between the wall & the drywall got kind of filled with the insulation. When I redid the kitchen & bathroom I got rid of that & used 1" styrofoam board then drywalled over it. Not a very high R value, but at least no gaps. Not sure what the R value of solid wood is. House holds heat fairly well.

In some parts of the house I saw evidence that there were once plastered walls, but in one room I'd gutted there was wallpaper applied directly to the wall planks. I'm guessing that was pretty drafty.

Yeah, you gotta keep the original windows.

I don't know how much of my house is "original". I did put in modern replacement windows in the upstairs rooms...the sashes were in rough shape. Downstairs many of the windows are the ones that were here when we bought the place, other than the bow window we put in the kitchen.

Once upon a time they made vinyl tracks for double-hung windows, I re-did all the windows in my previous house using them, but when I moved here I couldn't find them...matter of fact, couldn't even find anyone that even knew what I was talking about.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'll agree that old-school tv's had much better tuners in them, especially the old rotary-knob ones. Moot point here since after the digital conversion there's no OTA tv to be had...too far from any tv city, and hilly terrain. Of course, had nothing to do with the type of display it had.
I've got a ~12 year old flatscreen tv that someone was throwing out (apparently a 42" set was "too small" ). Still works fine.

I have two digital converter boxes that were about $20 each after government voucher from Radio Shack.