Anyone here familiar with gutting an old house?

[bleedingheart]

my husband found the house of his dreams...

it is a sturdy Victorian that needs to be gutted from top to bottom. The woodwork is all good...but this house needs love...more love and then loads of money...

There is only 1 bathroom, a powderroom and very little of a functional kitchen.

I figured this already.

1. Front porch needs to be redone completely...the concrete flooring (addded a long time ago..) is all bad...and a lot of the house needs to be re-pointed.

2. Two bathrooms need to be added. One to the third floor...and an extra one to the second floor.

3. All new electric, all new ductwork and running computer/stereo wiring as well.

4. 3.5 bathrooms to do

5. One big Kitchen and a butler's pantry..

6. Refinish all floors...

7. new furnace and an airconditioner...and at least 2 water heaters.


Is he crazy?

It is a great old lady...but we both work full time and have two kids (who fell in love with the old lady too..) but....I also don't want to get divorced over this beast...and boy...this old lady is going to be high maintenance...

We can't live in it right away...so we would have to live in our current home until we at least gutted the old lady...and got some of the major work out of the way...and it would have to have at least the kitchen and one bathroom completed....with most of the walls also up......cuz I don't want to have to suffer through too much of the plastering stuff...

[Warpy]

1. First, consult a structural engineer

to find out which walls are safe to remove and get advice on construction to cope with structural walls you may want to go. Second, get the building permit. Third, rent a dumpster. You'll need it, and will probably fill it repeatedly. Also rent a porta potty. Your crew will thank you.

Horsehair plaster over lath will produce a lot of detritus, much more than sheetrock demolition will (and that's bad enough). Also, make sure you label the woodwork on the back with a Sharpie when you carefully pry it loose. Replacing it with modern millwork is nearly impossible, and custom millwork is hideously expensive.

In order to add plumbing, you'll want to expose the wall innards so you can run the stack somewhere besides on top of the plaster. It will also give you much more flexibility in rewiring the space. Exposing exterior walls will allow you more flexibility in insulating the old gal. That blown in insulation tends to settle over a period of years, and there's no vapor barrier.

If there's enough room under the front door threshhold, consider just decking over that ugly, half rotten cement with a synthetic material. The advantage to that is a superior surface impervious to rot and a whole lot less expensive than a complete teardown and rebuilding. You may need to redo the balusters on the front, though, to compensate for the half inch or so of new height.

Forget about replastering those walls. That old gal will do just fine with blue board and a skim coat.

[bleedingheart]

2. how long do you estimate it would take to get it into move in condition?

I am thinking at least 4-6 months at best...all because of the tearout and scheduling people..ordering supplies.
If it ran smoothly...maybe faster...but that would be just pure luck.

[Warpy]

3. It depends.

If you start at the bottom and work up, you could probably move in fairly soon, within a couple of months with an adequate crew. That would mean living with dust, noise, and construction guys all day, but you might be able to cram yourselves in on one floor with a working kitchen and bathroom. Remember, rigid ideas of what furniture goes where have to wait until there are enough rooms to put it all in.

People who restore these places usually do it over a period of at least a couple of years, paying things off on the way and dealing with new disasters as they arise. The fun cosmetic work like redoing floors, painting walls, and sharpening up woodwork and plaster ceilings is left for last.

[TygrBright]

4. What Warpy said about the structural engineer...

...with particular attention to basement and foundation settling issues. If there is no or minimal settling, everything else is comparatively minor. If you have a lot of settling or, god forbid, foundation deterioration, you're looking a major investment in the face. Odds are very good that you won't have this problem because back then they really took care when putting in foundations, and they built to last-- no "horizon" for replacement, unlike today's 50-year horizons. So chances are you'll be fine. But on the off-chance, you'll want to re-think the decision, because bad settling and/or foundation deterioration issues can cost as much to repair as building a whole new house!

As far as time estimates re: the interior work, too much depends on your contractors to give a real estimate. Ideas of what is a reasonable time estimate vary widely by region. Materials availability will be a factor. Cost will be a factor. In general, the more you're willing to pay the faster you can get it done. Kitchens and baths take the longest, not unnaturally, but the kind of plumbing, re-wiring, etc., you're looking at will need a lot of upfront planning. An architect might not be a bad investment simply because they often have more varied experience and greater knowledge of evolving building/planning technologies to solve problems like routing plumbing and wiring based on your most wanted access points, etc. Here in Santa Fe we could get a good consulting architect to do a thorough remodel plan with drawings for the contractors for around $3000 - $4000, which is a bit steep because this is a very expensive market with a huge and active home-building and remodeling sector. Elsewhere you may be able to get the same thing for less, and it can really be a godsend. The architect will also be able to accommodate your DIY factor, building in projects that you can save a lot of money on by doing yourself.

When you're planning a major gutting like this, it's money well spent to plan thoroughly and do it right from the start.

helpfully,
Bright

[Kingshakabobo]

5. Arrrgh.................Yes

I have a project going on right now. This 16 ft dumpster (see:below) is the result of only one bathroom and two 4 by 8 lath and plaster closets.

My downstairs neighbor decided to gut her bathroom and add a second bathroom in the closet across her hallway. Her closet is directly below mine so we decided to piggy-back on her plumbing (it's common condominium plumbing). Of course, I had to offer to help out with labor.

I was having fun till this weekend when i started the demo on MY place. I've already gone through this when I did a 90% gut job on my place 5 years ago.

This is a 16ft dumpster. Two closets and a 5 by 8 bath.

[FloridaPat]

6. I did that once. Lot of fun. Extremely expensive and time consuming.

Plan a new house and build that yourself. It will be faster and cheaper.

[hedgehog]

7. Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to tear out the lath

Go ahead and knock the loose plaster down, but leave the lath. It makes a great backing for dry wall.

[bleedingheart]

8. I wanna tear out the lathe to put in better insulation..

there is this foam stuff my brother in law used (you cut it with hot wire)...that will really insulate that old lady...

[Warpy]

9. Getting rid of much of the lath

will also help when you're running new wiring and new plumbing.

[lovelaureng]

10. One word to remember,

ASBESTOS! Beware of it! Something to consider with the age of the house. I'm no expert though. I just live in an old farm house built around 1875.

[bleedingheart]

11. this place didn't have any....it had been untouched for years

and has the original field stone walls in the basement...where typically some asbestos would have been used...on piping and walls...

[Warpy]

12. Beware tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms, too

Those things that look like ancient vinyl may be ancient asbestos tiles.

If it's funky linoleum, you're safe.

[bleedingheart]

13. only hardwood floors, old real tile and crappy carpet...

all would have to be covered with plywood while demo was going on..

we are still in negotiations with the banks..