1916 Bungalow
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JacquieJet
- Shakes a cane at new house owners
- Posts: 621
- Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:37 pm
- Location: Ontario, Canada
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mkeller234
- Been here a while
- Posts: 181
- Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:07 pm
Re: Hi!
Congratulations on your new home! Those are exciting times for sure. I like that particular style of bungalow, very nice.
Re: Hi!
Well, our full home inspection was just done and the house is in good shape! Phew! That's a load off my mind. Looks like most of the issues are cosmetic. Those are the fun kind! Eventually we will need to merge the electric onto a single panel (the house was broken into 3 units and the electric is still separated) and put central air in the downstairs, but those are big projects that we can wait and save up for.
I am itching to get in there and see it without the current owner's belongings everywhere. I can't wait to rip out the awful wallpaper and unearth the gorgeous wood floors!
I am itching to get in there and see it without the current owner's belongings everywhere. I can't wait to rip out the awful wallpaper and unearth the gorgeous wood floors!
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Gothichome
- Moderator
- Posts: 4184
- Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:34 pm
- Location: Chatham Ont
Re: Hi!
Well, that's great news Mkiehn. The home looks to be in great shape. With the mechanicals all in order, looks like all you need to do is move in and enjoy. I would suggest though that you live with the home as it is for a while, the home will soon tell you what it needs and priorities will sort themselves out.
Re: Hi!
Thanks, Gothichome! I'm sure you're right about living in the house before making any improvements, but as a teacher with a 1-year-old on the loose, it will be much better for us to spend the summer working on the home before we move in. I'm sure the house will still have plenty to tell us once we're living in it, though!
Re: Hi!
We went to the bank today to sign our loan papers. While we were there, we spoke with the bank president. He's a third generation bank president at our local bank, and happens to be the grandson of the first bank president--the man who built our house!
We had a lovely chat and he told us lots of fond memories about growing up spending time in the house. It seems as though the original floor plan of the home is still intact, though he did tell us that the bathroom off the kitchen was originally a big pantry. We hope to convert it into a main floor laundry. And we found out that crazy archway between the living and dining rooms is original! Finally, he shared that he thinks the home was already built when his mother was born in 1916. I'm going to look further into official records over my spring break.
I had spoken with another relative of the family over the weekend, and she happened to share an old photo that shows the front porch. It looks like the late 20's or early 30's. It gives us some great info about the exterior paint scheme. The whole house was a medium shade with very light trim. The porch columns had a darker inset rectangle and light trim, and the brick supports were either naked brick or were painted a dark color. The tri-part front windows were the same style then as they are currently.
It's so exciting to get these little glimpses into the home's past. The family was so thrilled to hear that we will be restoring it. They shared how heartbroken they were when it sold out of the family and was turned into separate apartment units.
We had a lovely chat and he told us lots of fond memories about growing up spending time in the house. It seems as though the original floor plan of the home is still intact, though he did tell us that the bathroom off the kitchen was originally a big pantry. We hope to convert it into a main floor laundry. And we found out that crazy archway between the living and dining rooms is original! Finally, he shared that he thinks the home was already built when his mother was born in 1916. I'm going to look further into official records over my spring break.
I had spoken with another relative of the family over the weekend, and she happened to share an old photo that shows the front porch. It looks like the late 20's or early 30's. It gives us some great info about the exterior paint scheme. The whole house was a medium shade with very light trim. The porch columns had a darker inset rectangle and light trim, and the brick supports were either naked brick or were painted a dark color. The tri-part front windows were the same style then as they are currently.
It's so exciting to get these little glimpses into the home's past. The family was so thrilled to hear that we will be restoring it. They shared how heartbroken they were when it sold out of the family and was turned into separate apartment units.
Re: 1916 Bungalow
Some updates since I last posted: I went to the court house on a record hunt and found that our house was built in 1916. This is its 100th birthday! I changed the title of this thread to make it more descriptive, hope that's okay.
We've had a couple hang-ups on our way to closing. First, our lender is making us treat for termites because there was evidence of termite damage (we think old stuff, previously treated). Fortunately, the sellers offered us a credit at closing to pay for most of the treatment. Now we just got news that we may have issues with the appraisal of the home because it was previously broken into separate units and is still on 3 separate electric meters. The bank thinks the appraiser will see this as a multi-occupancy building, even though the bones of the house have been returned to a single-family dwelling and we have no intentions of using it as an apartment building. Ugh! Things are never easy.
In the meantime, I'll just keep thinking of the original apron sink in the kitchen and the built-in pie safe on the back porch.
We've had a couple hang-ups on our way to closing. First, our lender is making us treat for termites because there was evidence of termite damage (we think old stuff, previously treated). Fortunately, the sellers offered us a credit at closing to pay for most of the treatment. Now we just got news that we may have issues with the appraisal of the home because it was previously broken into separate units and is still on 3 separate electric meters. The bank thinks the appraiser will see this as a multi-occupancy building, even though the bones of the house have been returned to a single-family dwelling and we have no intentions of using it as an apartment building. Ugh! Things are never easy.
In the meantime, I'll just keep thinking of the original apron sink in the kitchen and the built-in pie safe on the back porch.