When was your house built?

[Egon]

I get to live in a three story with walk outbasement built in 1934. There have been a few modifications since then but nothing drastic.

It was built using rough dimensional lumber, lathe and plaster with no plywood or other processed sheet products. The owner used his own woodlot for all the lumber used including flooring. [pine, oak, maple] the kitchen floor had canvas on it. All the doors; inculding the French Doors, were locally made.

It don't creak in strong winds. [16 inch centers or less for walls and joists.]:thumbsup:

Six inch walls are code up here in Canada.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hard question because multiple answers...

First home 1927 followed by 1910 and several 1921 and later 1956 and the last one 1978...

Along with an assortment in between that were projects over the years...

I really find the old stucco mediterranean and craftsman bungalows fun to work on... they were very well built at a time when horse carts were still being used in the city...

Had one old wood-sided home, the 1927... it needed painted every 4 to 5 years... with today's requirements on stripping and sanding paint... I am very glad I sold it... even though it was my first...

I guess the newest would be the cabin started in 1982 and it is still a work in progress...

 

[QRTRHRS]

First house was a way station (tavern/hotel) close by the Delaware River. Travelers would lay over until morning and raft across the river. It was built with a red oak post and beam frame with split hickory wedged between the posts then plastered with mud and horse hair. The original centrally located heating system had four fireplaces with slate lined flues.

The exact age could not be determined by the town records but we had occasion to have an archiologist versed in early American buildings who felt that it was built between 1720 and 1750.

In those days, when a piece of pottery got broken, often as not it was tossed out an open window. When central sewage came to town, we found several examples of period china and pottery aloing with cannon balls that were forged in a close by town for George Washington's army though they could have been buried at anytime.

Occasions of high water had ravaged the house so the focus was on stabilizing and not restoring. The fireplace had settled badly during a flood in 1955 so reinforced concrete was placed around the base in the basement and the top was removed from the attic and roof. The attic had 5/4 inch thick "pumkin pine floor boards upwards of 40 inches wide. They were removed and stored away for future use. (Too bad they went to auction when my ex and I divorced.)

Since then it has been onward and upward age wise. My next house was twenty years old then thirteen and the present house was five when we purchased it.

I hope to eventually build or at least design my next house so then the only person to blame for the defects or bad design will be myself.

 

[Lloyd_E]

1820... Could be a little earlier maybe 1790's I know the land(100 acres) was surveyed in 1760. So a piece may have been chunked off for the son or daughter. I spent a day at the land registry and could only get back to an 1820 transaction.

It is post and beam: 8"x8", lots of 6"x6" and the odd 10"x10" in the basement. All hand hewn. The exposed beams in the kitchen are 6"x6"x27' - one piece. The house has the original pine and hemlock flooring on all levels... some modern narrow T&G has been placed over them in two rooms - house has 9 rooms. Has the original fireplace and bake oven in the kitchen plus double cross or bible and cross doors along with a few beaded wide plank ones. It retains the original windows(6 over 6) with lots of waves and bubbles in the glass... Ceilings are 7.5 feet which is ok by me... doors are short though - under 6' and narrow which is a challenge for bringing in modern appliances and furniture - we usually have to remove the door and some trim.

Place feels like a rock especially in a n'easter @ -20c though!!!

 

[ronjhall]

1938. We have owned it 40 years. It has been remodeled inside and out several times.

 

[Marveltone]

Our house in town was built in 1899 out of hand-hewn cedar logs. Very solid. It was built by a former Minnesota Secretary of State by the name of Albert Berg, who was very instrumental in the building of our small town in the early years, and is registered as the oldest surviving structure in Warroad. Even though it is a log structure, it was sided over with traditional lap-board siding, as in those days, proper people didn't live in log houses... that was for the poor pioneers. Mr. Berg, however, knew that the log homes of the day were warmer than the frame construction, so he wanted the warmth of logs with the "proper character" of siding; the best of both worlds.

Our house at the farm is much more difficult to pin a date on. The farm was homesteaded in 1910, but it is unknown exactly when the present house was actually built, as the barn was probably built first, while a makeshift log cabin (the rotting remains are out back in the woods) was hastily constructed for temporary use un til a proper home could be erected. As was the custom, the present home was built rather modestly and added onto over the next many years and decades.

Joe

 

[scoutcub]

Built in 2008. Haven't lived in it yet. Just get to visit and keep it up for now.

?? Sounds like a story there.....

 

[scoutcub]

2007. Wife just informed me it needs new carpet & new countertops. This is after the new garage, rear concrete patio, front concrete sidewalk, concrete landing, concrete (170') driveway, etc. etc.
Does it ever end, even with a new(er) house??:laughing:

 

[tmajor]

1884, as near as I can tell. I found an 1884 newspaper in an interior wall, when I was remodeling. I added the left addition in 1997. I believe, the first indoor plumbing was installed in 1967.



The house, where I grew up, may have been older.
1821 - Thomas Nelson Major Sr. (my great grandfather) bought 160 acres from David Perkins at $4.00 an acre on July 21st 1821. (Date on Deed)
This land was owned by Bryce Major (my father) until his death in September 2005.

 

[DAY]

1783.

The left half is the house, the right is the grist mill. The miller could walk to work, without going outside.:thumbsup:
When we bought it in 1999, there was a claw foot bathtub- in the middle of the kitchen.

 

[acme97]

?? Sounds like a story there.....

A little one I guess. I retired from the AF in '97 and went into the contracted side supporting various DoD contracts. One of which landed me in Charleston SC. I fell in love with area and decided to get some land. So I found 20 acres in 2005 and started clearing it. I sold my house and got a travel trailer that I put on the land. I lived in it for about 18 months, then decided to start building the house. My neighbor is a general contractor and we came up on a price. The house is about 2800 sqft, 2 story with a 10ft wide wrap around porch (another 1900 sqft), sitting on a raised concrete pad about 4ft. So, I started building in Sep 07, when I was asked to go to DC and work for a few months on a new contract the company won. So, off I go to DC in early '08. In the Summer of '08, the president of the company tells me that they really want me to stay up and keep working on the project since they didn't have any work back in Charleston. Of course having a job is better then not, so I did. Work continued on the house (of course more cost since I couldn't do the things I planned on doing myself). Then I met this young lovely AF Nurse, and we got married. She of course fell in love with the place, but has 9 more years until retirement. The house got finished in late '08 and we go down every few weeks for a long weekend. My step son lives in the place and my neighbors help keep it up and watch over it. We head down as often as we can and do what we can. Last time we went down, we planted an acre of xmas trees and put in a drip system.

 

[scoutcub]

1783.

The left half is the house, the right is the grist mill. The miller could walk to work, without going outside.:thumbsup:
When we bought it in 1999, there was a claw foot bathtub- in the middle of the kitchen.

That is a very cool place. And, you can fish from the windows.....:laughing::thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Some very interesting stories and houses here...

I think it would be very rewarding for a person with the right skills and desire to like in a home with historic character...

Most of the homes in the area of the Bay Area where I live are tract homes... even going back to the 1920's...

Of course, there are Victorians... just never really been all that interested in them and so many have been converted into multi-family...

 

[clemsonfor]

If only i knew all the additions remodels we would be here a while. I bought it in 2008. House was ariginally built in late 40's, added onto in the 50s 2 bedrooms and a bath, maybe then again in the early 60s with a back den and upstairs master suite each is about 440sqft. A bunch of porches i have no idea when they were added. Some interrior work done in the 70's walls removed kitchen reconfigured. And from the looks of it the last stuff was done in the 80's or early 90's. I gutted all the cheap panneling off the walls redid the sheetrock and resanded and filled the holes, had larger windows that got smaller when the thing was bricked up in the 70s i guess so i had to patch the original sheetrock where there were window holes. That reminds me it was a wood sided house that with the back 2 story addition of the great room, Master suite got a brick veneer (real bricks) added to it. I got it and put new pella windows, contracted out. I also had carpet and some bathroom and kitchen vinal replaced. I refinished and patched (where walls had been) the original HW, which was covered by green and brown shag carpet, this is about 1000+ Sqft. I laid new real hardwood in the living/dining room (430+ sqft) and it minor cupped ( im stuck with it till i refinish it i guess), to cover the awful parquet stuff with orange carpet inlay!! Ripped a truckload of outdated 60's 70's fixtures ceiling fans etc out. Replaced a vanity and ripped out some stuff in the other bath. Rewired the second addition, un took a wall out in the kitchen. Im prolly forgetting a bunch of stuff. Oh new baseboards in the bedrooms full 6" ones. But like i was saying there is more im sure that i have forgotten?

Oh we just started tearing out the upstairs master which up to now has been storage as it was a 70's time vault and we had about 2500 sqfeet already. It has green carpet with orange inlay carpet in the middle. Two orange rectangles in the room say 8ft x 6ft or so. It has carpet in the bath and old vanities busted up wallpaper and paneling and busted up 12" celing tiles. It will all be drywalled over, bath ripped out and reconfigured. It has a shower stall now. Oh it was definitly something to see!

As an add i had 2 new heatpumps of the 3 put in when i moved in. The third we dont use or really need it, we heat the other part with fire and just get enough cool from fans in there not to need the AC. Another thing i replace all the appliances, and the dishwasher has just been replaced. I also put in 3 new windows in the den which were not part of the original job.

And Bird a remodel will have to consist of more than appliances and HVAC, at least to me. You have to get the outdated stuff out, timeless stuff can stay.

 

[niemeyjt]

We recon about 1500 - 1550 for the right hand bit - possibly 100 years later for the left hand bit. Hard to say exactly (no newspapers) - but looking at the architecture, the timber size, the over-engineering, the joints it is about then.

J

 

[DAY]

Hey, I thought the TBN "rule" was, no pictures, it didn't happen!

Old places have a certain charm- and drafts, sticking windows, sloping floors, and no insulation. Also doorways 'normal' people have to duck their heads to get through.:laughing:

 

[chucko]

2 weeks before we moved in
lake in the back. Can't see in pic
creek in the tree line to the right

 

[chucko]

few more . So did it happen?

 

[chucko]

"When we bought it in 1999, there was a claw foot bathtub- in the middle of the kitchen."

so they could get hot water to it better?

 

[Kaizer Peas]

Ours was built in 2002 from plans we found on line of what was called a "retirement or vacation" home. It's 1400 sq ft with two bed rooms if you include the loft and two bath rooms. It's got Hardy plank siding and a steel roof. Plenty big for me and my wife. Paid it off in 2010, thank God. We did rip up the carpet and put in hickory engineered wood floors and granite tile counter tops. Also took out the one piece shower tub combo in the upstairs bath room and installed a Jacuzzi soaking tub and also installed a much needed window.
The best thing is our view of the nieghbors. We don't have any view of them.