As Houses Age
#27
(04-28-2017, 01:01 PM)geek2me Wrote: Seems strange to think of a 1960's house as "old", but I guess it is 57 years old.

My "old house" form the 1930's is still mostly original.  Most of the appliances are at least 30 years old.

Maybe they don't make them like they used to.



             When people think a house built back then isnt old i ask them woukd you buy a car built in 1960... A house built in 1960 is just like a car built in 1960 and they both need extensive overhauls to be livable today. 

              The problem is these older houses have not had any updating and most haven't been mainatined much at all since the day they were built. Unfortunately the depriciation that an older house should have due to this doesnt come into effect like it does with cars. We have been looking at allot of hoises for our future move east and we wont be going with an old house unless its been updated and very very few are. The only way we would do old again is if the price was about 50k less than asking to cover improvements to get it to the value to the asking price  or if it has at least 15 acres of land... 

           
            Oh and i remember one of the lines from This old house years ago. Someone said to Tom they dont make them like they used to do they. Tom  replied "Im sure glad they dont" .

              I wish i could find that clip on youtube whenever it comes up because its very accurate.
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#28
(05-01-2017, 09:35 AM)Robert Adams Wrote:              When people think a house built back then isnt old i ask them woukd you buy a car built in 1960... A house built in 1960 is just like a car built in 1960 and they both need extensive overhauls to be livable today. 

              The problem is these older houses have not had any updating and most haven't been mainatined much at all since the day they were built. Unfortunately the depriciation that an older house should have due to this doesnt come into effect like it does with cars. We have been looking at allot of hoises for our future move east and we wont be going with an old house unless its been updated and very very few are. The only way we would do old again is if the price was about 50k less than asking to cover improvements to get it to the value to the asking price  or if it has at least 15 acres of land... 

           
            Oh and i remember one of the lines from This old house years ago. Someone said to Tom they dont make them like they used to do they. Tom  replied "Im sure glad they dont" .

              I wish i could find that clip on youtube whenever it comes up because its very accurate.

 My thoughts exactly.
 Our house was completely re-wired and updated, yet we had to update even more with GFI's and fixtures. We had the uninsulated attic and walls insulated and a whole bunch of things on a list.
 I like old houses, but if they aren't kept or remodeled well, they look messy even when they are clean for some reason. People like to take pics of old houses but they wouldn't live in one. LOL.
 Ours is celebrating it's 71st year, and no they aren't built this way anymore thank goodness. I have a 12x12 bedroom with shiplap ceiling with 2x4's on 30" centers- when you crawl up there, you can easily make the ceiling bounce.
Sarcasm   But I guess it's been that way for 71 years and it doesn't sag.
The little house we have on the same property was built in the 50's- much stronger.
 Hey- it's paid for.
Smirk
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#29
I have to disagree about old houses.  My Father and I built a house in 1961 (I was 12 so I didn't build much) so I saw what went into it.  The framing lumber was all Douglas Fir and a lot of it went back to the lumber yard if the old man didn't like it.  Sheeting was diagonal shiplap as was the floor underlayment.  Joists were 2 x 12, 16" on center.  The siding was clear vertical grain Redwood  and there was not a hollow core door in the place. The wiring was #12 and in Greenfield (flexible conduit) in the walls.  It was a hip roof with 2 x10 rafters and a king post every 4 feet.  Rather than use drywall, he had it plastered. My son sold the house last year and there wasn't a crack in any of the plaster.

My Father was an electrician so it was wired well beyond what code required.

I'd put that house up against any built today for structural integrity.  As for maintenance it got painted every 5 years and was on it's 4th roof when it was sold.  Just because something is older doesn't necessarily mean that it is poorer quality than the stuff built today.
Mike


If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room!

But not today...
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#30
(05-01-2017, 03:30 PM)gMike Wrote: I have to disagree about old houses.  My Father and I built a house in 1961 (I was 12 so I didn't build much) so I saw what went into it.  The framing lumber was all Douglas Fir and a lot of it went back to the lumber yard if the old man didn't like it.  Sheeting was diagonal shiplap as was the floor underlayment.  Joists were 2 x 12, 16" on center.  The siding was clear vertical grain Redwood  and there was not a hollow core door in the place. The wiring was #12 and in Greenfield (flexible conduit) in the walls.  It was a hip roof with 2 x10 rafters and a king post every 4 feet.  Rather than use drywall, he had it plastered. My son sold the house last year and there wasn't a crack in any of the plaster.

My Father was an electrician so it was wired well beyond what code required.

I'd put that house up against any built today for structural integrity.  As for maintenance it got painted every 5 years and was on it's 4th roof when it was sold.  Just because something is older doesn't necessarily mean that it is poorer quality than the stuff built today.


            Unfortunately the rest of the houses built in that time werent built by your father. The one thing hat is bad in that description is the diagonal subfloor. Thats a big no no. It results in a softer floor than if it were done perpendicular to the floor joists because they have to span much further than just the 16" between joists.
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#31
In the early 1970s Homasote (thick cardboard) was approved as an exterior sheathing.  The builders would put one sheet of plywood in the lower left corner of each wall  because the homasote would not withstand the wracking if a wind came along.  Once the whole house was sheathed and the drywall was installed it was supposed to be OK.

So the house when complete had aluminum siding, homasote, fiberglass insulation and sheet rock. 

A man with a bow and arrow could shoot through the exterior and have the arrow bury itself in an interior wall across the room.

In New York that type of construction was banned a few years later, but a quick Google search shows that Homasote is still selling panels for exterior walls (and worse, for roofing.  If you walked on a roof made of homasote I could easily imagine you falling through the rafters.
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#32
(05-02-2017, 07:43 AM)Cooler Wrote: In the early 1970s Homasote (thick cardboard) was approved as an exterior sheathing.  The builders would put one sheet of plywood in the lower left corner of each wall  because the homasote would not withstand the wracking if a wind came along.  Once the whole house was sheathed and the drywall was installed it was supposed to be OK.

So the house when complete had aluminum siding, homasote, fiberglass insulation and sheet rock. 

A man with a bow and arrow could shoot through the exterior and have the arrow bury itself in an interior wall across the room.

In New York that type of construction was banned a few years later, but a quick Google search shows that Homasote is still selling panels for exterior walls (and worse, for roofing.  If you walked on a roof made of homasote I could easily imagine you falling through the rafters.

That was SOP for many years. Lots of houses here were built like that until the late 90s course they were all brick houses as siding isnt allowed by code(only in very small amounts). The exterior sheathing of choice in the 60s was a form of drywall made for exterior sheathing however like mentioned its a brick house as well. Only houses early 50s and older had siding (usually asbestos) and few of those remain today. Now they consider 3/4" foam a suitable sheathing with plywood on the corners. 

         Personally I'd want plywood then 4" foam then hardie side(no insulation in the studwall). Brich is awful here because it holds heat and radiates it into the house all day and all night. Siding is better because it doesnt have that thermal mass. Might be different if it cooled off at night but it doesn't.

         I wanted some homasote for a project once and its extremely expensive here when you can find it. The only readily available stuff is $100 a sheet and made for sound deadening. No Menards here unfortunately.
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