Anybody here ever bought old farmhouse and fixed it up?

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

The other thing I've seen done with old farmhouses with that type of mortared field stone foundation is to dig and pour a new foundation next to the existing house then move the house. Although with no one living there at present, you could jack up the house and put the new basement in the same spot - that way you don't have to redo water, septic, and electrical feeds.

 

[Dargo]

You know, I really don't know and never asked the professionals I had out, are those old foundations made from stone and mortar really bad? My only thought is that I'm pretty certain that there isn't any steel in them like in the foundations of my home or guest house. I know there were 4 runs of rebar on metal holders that held the rebar in place while the footer was poured. I know those footers were 24" wide and 12" deep besides having four 1/2" runs of rebar through them. Now that I think about it, how do any of those old homes stay up if the stacked stone and mortar that I see must be relatively common in those older homes? It doesn't seem like they'd be all that strong.

 

[riptides]

No, as a matter of fact they are pretty strongly constructed. What you see on the surface is only a small indicator of what lies under the surface. This picture does not do our house foundation justice. Our new footers did not expose the original stone depth. Some of the stones were HUGE. We had no idea.

 

[EddieWalker]

... 2) I'm not building a brand new home for renters to occupy. ...

Do you have any experience with renters? It's hit or miss, but the two basic types of people out there renting are the short time renters who are looking to buy and need a place to live. They are the best, but they don't last very long. The other type are the ones who destroy the place. There is always the exception, and there are no absolutes, but overall, with a lifetime of working on rental properties, I stand by my views.

If your goal is to rent it out, remodel/rebuild accordingly. They will not pick up a wet towel, they will not tell you about a leak until something falls or rots apart. They may not take out the garbage for months at a time, and allot of them will sneak a dog or cat into the house regardless of the rules. Half of those will just let the turds sit on the floor. I've seen rooms that were just for the dogs to go pee and crap.

Age and family status doesn't matter. You will be shocked and ashamed for how some people live. I make a bunch of money cleaning out rental properties when they move out. Most of the time, they leave the day before they are evicted and on top of their mess, they vandalize the place. Food smeared over the walls, doors kicked in, faucets broken off and rocks poured down all the drains. I can go on and on, but for allot of rental property owners, they pay me more money to clean up and fix those homes then they make in several years of renting them.

I would never buy and own rental homes. The heartache isn't worth the potential return. I would and have bought them to fix up and sell to others who think they can make money at it. Some do, but it takes a certain type of person to do this. The ones who make money at it are very militant, or slum lords. The others are more like my parents and their friends. They spend their weekends fixing those properties themselves to make enough to pay the mortgage on the place and hopefully turn a small profit. Many years, that never happened. Fortunately for my parents, the housing bubble in California took off and they sold their homes for a good profit. For many years, they wanted to sell, but knew they could barely break even on them and with all the effort that they had invested into them, they held on for the hope that one day they would be worth something.

If it was me and the land was a good deal, I'd either let it rot and hold onto the land with the hope that in time, it will be worth selling as is. Or maybe digging a big hole next to it and pushing it into the hole and reclassifying the land for tax purposes as something else.

Good luck, it sounds like you're doing your homework.

Eddie

 

[BobRip]

I would say that if it's been there for many years and has not moved, settled or cracked then that is better than putting a new foundation in. Non expert here, but working for many years is always a good sign.

 

[BungeeII]

You know, I really don't know and never asked the professionals I had out, are those old foundations made from stone and mortar really bad?

Funny, when I had a guy out to look at my old project he told me that my foundation was probably the best part of the entire house.

I tore ours down to the studs. It's an old 1800's post & beam constructed home. A portion of the house was completely demolished and the rest of it is now wrapped in OSB and vinyl siding and has become a barn/workshop.

I suggest you only do what absolutely has to be done.

There's a certain romance to remodeling old homes, but keep in mind that "old" doesn't necessarily mean "good". More to the point, not all old homes are worth the investment or time. This Old House makes some of those projects look real interesting, but they're starting with something of significant value to begin with.

If I had bought this house as something to consider passing down in the future, I'd have cleaned it, repaired what was necessary and rented it out. Since I had bought the place to move in, we stripped it down to get it fully updated. Once we had it down to the studs and really started sizing up the job, it became clear that it just wouldn't be worth the effort or expense and we just built a new home on the property.

 

[Ductape]

You know, I really don't know and never asked the professionals I had out, are those old foundations made from stone and mortar really bad? My only thought is that I'm pretty certain that there isn't any steel in them like in the foundations of my home or guest house. I know there were 4 runs of rebar on metal holders that held the rebar in place while the footer was poured. I know those footers were 24" wide and 12" deep besides having four 1/2" runs of rebar through them. Now that I think about it, how do any of those old homes stay up if the stacked stone and mortar that I see must be relatively common in those older homes? It doesn't seem like they'd be all that strong.

Our house, built in 1888, has a fieldstone foundation. Its plenty solid, and hasn't gone anywhere since................. well, 1888. I would NOT, however, advise you to dig out the outside of the foundation to put in drainage tubing and crushed stone. There definitely is no rebar in with the mortar like there is in the concrete of a modern foundation. Largely the stones are held in place by gravity.I would address any moisture problems in a way that did not involve removing the dirt that holds those fieldstone in place.


Personally....... I LOVE old houses. They have character you can't buy in a new house. Our house before.............

 

[Ductape]

Couple pictures 'during'........ don't look for 'after' pics for another ten years.

 

[CurlyDave]

Listen to Eddie on renters.

I own rental properties. While my experience has been better than his, I have had those kind of tenants before.

I have about 20 years experience in rentals, and it took about 10 of those years to learn how to make it work. Good tenants and everything is easy, medium ones and you will have to train them, just like you train a new puppy. But you have to stay on top of it month after month for years. Bad ones and you will be in real trouble.

If you are really thinking of a tearout and major remodel, let me suggest a different plan. Just rent it "as is". Good tenants will make it profitable, bad ones will just speed up the tearout process for you.

 

[MotorSeven]

Do you have any experience with renters? It's hit or miss, but the two basic types of people out there renting are the short time renters who are looking to buy and need a place to live. They are the best, but they don't last very long. The other type are the ones who destroy the place. There is always the exception, and there are no absolutes, but overall, with a lifetime of working on rental properties, I stand by my views.

If your goal is to rent it out, remodel/rebuild accordingly. They will not pick up a wet towel, they will not tell you about a leak until something falls or rots apart. They may not take out the garbage for months at a time, and allot of them will sneak a dog or cat into the house regardless of the rules. Half of those will just let the turds sit on the floor. I've seen rooms that were just for the dogs to go pee and crap.

Age and family status doesn't matter. You will be shocked and ashamed for how some people live. I make a bunch of money cleaning out rental properties when they move out. Most of the time, they leave the day before they are evicted and on top of their mess, they vandalize the place. Food smeared over the walls, doors kicked in, faucets broken off and rocks poured down all the drains. I can go on and on, but for allot of rental property owners, they pay me more money to clean up and fix those homes then they make in several years of renting them.

I would never buy and own rental homes. The heartache isn't worth the potential return. I would and have bought them to fix up and sell to others who think they can make money at it. Some do, but it takes a certain type of person to do this. The ones who make money at it are very militant, or slum lords. The others are more like my parents and their friends. They spend their weekends fixing those properties themselves to make enough to pay the mortgage on the place and hopefully turn a small profit. Many years, that never happened. Fortunately for my parents, the housing bubble in California took off and they sold their homes for a good profit. For many years, they wanted to sell, but knew they could barely break even on them and with all the effort that they had invested into them, they held on for the hope that one day they would be worth something.

If it was me and the land was a good deal, I'd either let it rot and hold onto the land with the hope that in time, it will be worth selling as is. Or maybe digging a big hole next to it and pushing it into the hole and reclassifying the land for tax purposes as something else.

Good luck, it sounds like you're doing your homework.

Eddie

Eddie is dead nuts on on this one! We bought 2 houses in MB in my wifes small home town. One was built around 1900 and was a frame that had been overlayed with stone. It had some extensive foundation work in the basement and all of the exterior walls had mortar degredation & cracks. We paid $26K canadian & at the time it was a decent exchange rate. A new roof, paint, carpet, etcetc and we rented it out. Since we don't live there, the renter "issues" fell on family and friends. We went thru 8 sets of renters in 4 years.....how about this one: They moved out around thanksgiving, left the turkey IN THE OVEN, the back door wide open(Hello this is CANADA), all their stuff, and their CAT! I swear I think they were just tele-transported to some parallel universe or something. Almost every one had a "snuck-in pet". The "stone House" soon became know as the "house from H$#@" aka "STONECRINGE" as almost every renter paid late, left in the middle of the night and always left a mess behind. We sold that house early this year(thank goodness!)
Now, house # 2, next door to "our" house that here parents live in came up for sale(sound familiar). It was really really cheap and sat on a dbl lot overlooking the river(how cheap you ask?...under $20K). Built in the 40's & very small. Someone had added an addition to the back 9x25'. The foundatin of the addition failed so the floor in the edition dropped 5.5 inches over 9'(yes). Then some moron put a brand new tin roof over the edition WITHOUT FIXING THE FOUNDATION AND SAGGED WALL. In a two week time period I gutted the whole house...all plumbing(kitchen/bath). Re-plumbed(FIL is a retired plumber), built a new kitchen & bath, got that sloped floor to a 3/4" slant over 9'(sorry it was the best I could do), framed up and poured a new retainer wall across the back to support that failing addition foundation, painted inside and out.
A school teacher rented it 3 years ago, has never been late with the rent & we hardly ever see the guy........!

So Dargo, here is the dilema, if you are going to rent, sooner than later you will find yourself close to de-fib as your renter(s) antics drive your blood pressure to un-charted heights. Family will find you drooling and babbling incoherently partially clothed in the front yard.......

my advise....

don't rent...

keep it or flip it!

RD