What's the time period of this home

[1918ColonialRevival]

Looks like you've got something good to start with and that a lot of original material remains. Be prepared to do some floor work when you pull that vinyl up.

The floor in the bathroom looks interesting. Almost like a 1920s/30s era linoleum product, but it's probably vinyl.

[phil]

Also, when working on the roof, take note of the condition of your gutters. These can be overlooked, but play a vital role in protecting the walls and foundation of your house.
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good point, and if you hang gutters, pretend they are full of water or ice and attach them with that weight in mind, not the weight of the gutters themselves. One day they'll get blocked with leaves and you don't want them falling because the weight suddenly changed to a hundred pounds or something. same with those plastic drain pipes, they get stopped up, they get heavy, so the hangers should be appropriate to hold the weight of a full pipe, not an empty one even though that's usually what they will weigh.

[Kashka-Kat]

OMG what a seriously beautiful interior! "Monster" my arse.

Word to the wise: when youre considering contractors/tradesepeople to work on your house, screen out the ones that have no interest or expertise in old houses. Just don't let them anywhere near your house. Just.... don't! Their opinion - and its just that, an opinion, not "fact" - is not worth a whole lot to someone wanting to do a more sensitive restoration.

Their business model - how they make their money is based on what is expedient for them to do, and often this means using modern big-box materials and modern big-box ways of doing things. There's nothing wrong with this per se, except when they impose their OPINION and try to make you think its the only way to do it and there's something wrong with you for not merrily going along with it.

You can usually ascertain experience and interest in old houses by your initial phone consultation - ask if you can have some references and drive by the houses to see whats been done to them. The one you want is the one who's already on board with the idea of restoration/preservation (vs. remodeling aka remuddling) and will be interested to hear about your house and different methods for doing things.

Re windows - most heat loss is not thru windows its thru gaps and unsealed openings into attic.. hot air rises, chimney effect pulls cold air in through gaps in windows. Stop the chimney effect and you stop the cold air drawn in (mostly - except for the strong north winds from the side. That you address by a good quality storm which can be quite attractive - Larson gold is one, several others. These can be made in e-glass if you really want for about $100 more ea - Im in WI and I found that just getting a good tight stormwindow made enough of a difference. Total cost for good storms + hardware & materials to repair windows = slightly more than ultra cheap crappy vinyl window, but much less than a good quality modern wood window replacement.

Oh also - somewhere I saw wood + aluminum storm combo that didn't look half bad. Interior storms and/or good insulating curtains have their fans as well.

Good luck - have fun!

[Gothichome]

Spring moon, your interior looks pretty good to me. Lots of modern stuff, I can see no reason to change any of it in the short term. All perfectly livable. Aver time should you wish, restoration can be done at your leisure.

[JacquieJet]

Springmoon, your home is very lovely!! Gorgeous. Don't listen to those money-grabber contractors who think everything needs to be removed/changed/fixed. They are incorrect. Your house is not a "monster", and I have heard this type of thing before with my house, too. Always from people who are trying to sell something, be it goods or services.
A good way to sort through it all is to speak to people who have nothing to gain by what they are telling you- nothing to sell you, and no way to make money off of you. People like your new neighbours, any friends who have old homes, and of course people on this forum will help to sort through the cloud of doubt/confusion when it comes to repairs/replacements.

[springmoon33]

She will be mine tomorrow ! I'm so excited. We will be starting w getting electrical done so we can get the power on, the city has to inspect it as it has been shut off for over 6 months.

[Gothichome]

Springmoon, well, congratulations are in order. Welcome to the old home club.

[springmoon33]

Springmoon, well, congratulations are in order. Welcome to the old home club.

Thanks! Closed this afternoon and kind of ready to tear down some really sandy plaster. I'm kind of fearful of starting doing so. But started w ugly rug on the stairs.

[springmoon33]

Started knocking down plaster in one room:

image.jpeg (937.34 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

[Texas_Ranger]

Don't take down too much plaster! IMO it's a whole lot of unnecessary work unless the whole thing is ready to come down in one big cloud of dust. As long as at least some of the plaster is still attached to the wall you can fix the rest using plaster washers.

Perhaps we need to start a new thread for amazing things contractors have said to us ?

Didn't we have one back at WG?

To me "maintenance free" means "if it breaks you can't fix it, throw it away and replace". Or in less dire words, something advertised as "maintenance free" might last a bit (or even a lot) longer than other materials but once it fails it requires A LOT of work. The total amount of work is usually rather similar, it's just either a little work every year or so or a huge chunk of work every 50.

I've read the same thing about historic steel vs. modern concrete bridges - both need maintenance but the steel once need a little every year or two and the concrete ones need a whole lot every 30-50 years. Or even have to be rebuilt.