I have owned four homes in my life, and I can tell you: The list of surprise expenses never seems to stop. Yes, I have always favored older homes, so I probably get more fix-its than someone with a brand-new house. But, I think that if your home is even just 10 years old, you are going to have to keep that savings account stocked with emergency funds, and keep that checkbook handy. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I think it can be really helpful to prospective and recent homebuyers to know about the kinds of expenses — surprises, as well as costs that can easily escalate — that they may expect. So, I’m throwing this story open to readers to share their experiences.
Readers:
What problems have you needed to throw money at,
when it comes to repairing or maintaining your home –
things you never really expected, or
which ended up costing much more than you planned?
.
I’ll start our list by explaining my photo above: Tree damage. A tree on my neighbor’s lot fell half-way out of the ground and onto our fence. We were responsible for all damage, can you believe it. Had to pay to have the tree completely removed (from the point at which it crossed our property line), and I have yet to have the fence repaired. Yes: Insurance paid for some of it. But overall, less than 1/4 of the expense, I’d say. We have spent A LOT of money trimming, cabling, removing and repairing damage — all due to trees on our mature lot. Pain in the a** and definitely, an unexpected pain in the wallet.
State Farm came over & surveyed my property after I had been here a year, took pictures, and sent me a letter advising me that if I didn’t have the limbs overhanging my house trimmed by a certain date, they would cancel my homeowners insurance. I hired a tree guy who took care of that issue. I had him come back the next year to do more pruning. It’s easier to deal with in the summer than during an ice storm in February.
Does having a 15 year old furnace go out on a cold winter day count? I have had that happen to me. It’s an immediate repair that isn’t covered by insurance and was an unexpected expense. I am smarter that I used to be because I had the means available to write the guy a check, thank goodness. No heat can be very bad in the winter!
Amy, that’s a common bullying tactic used by many insurers that you don’t necessarily need to accommodate. It happened to my mom, who lives on a wooded lot in Connecticut. In her case, they practically demanded she take down all of her (healthy) trees. There really is no need to ‘top’ or cut back healthy limbs on trees UNLESS it’s called for by a certified arborist. In fact, ‘topping’ causes more problems than it solves and easily cuts a tree’s life in half.
oh that is good to know Tami! We have some beautiful trees on our lot – they’ve probably been there much longer than the house – and a friend of ours just went thru this with her insurance company so we were worried that we were next….forewarned is forearmed! If they try this i will insist upon a certified arborist – and i’m going to tell my friend this too! thanks!
You could also look into changing insurance companies. For years I had all my insurance with Travelers and then the agency I used was dropped by the company and they put me with another insurance company I had never heard of. They came ot my house — a 1926 stucco bungalow and told me they would drop me if I did not put railings on the back and front steps. The back did not bother me, but the front steps were, for a bungalow, grand and wide and had a “buttress” on the side. They were a strong and important achitectural feature and a railing would ruin that. My neighbor had similar front steps, without any side buttress and also had travelers from a different agent. So, I switched agency and go back with Travelers and that was the end of being told I had to ruin my house by the insurance company.
Similarly, I am still with Travelers in my new 1946 Cape Cod ranch and I have many very tall trees on my quarter of an acre. The big ice store of a few years ago resulted in one of them falling over and damaging my fence. It took me a while to realize that because the fence was damaged I could probably get some coverage, but once I did, Travelers showed up in a day or so and gave me generous settlement that covered having the tree removed and getting the fence replaced. And, they have never come back to tell me I have to take down or do anything to the remaining very tall trees.
Yup: Insurance can cover tree damage — even basic “clean up” when nothing is damaged, I learned the last time the big wind blew through our place two months ago. Be sure to check.
Thank you for the informaiton, Tammy. My trees are as old or older than my 1945 cottage, and they have not been taken care of thru the years. We have had several years of drought, and then the rains came back. Lots of trees have weakened root systems because of this. I really do not want a tree falling on the house or the garage and if I could afford it, I would have done even more.
Luckily I’m a handy boy who was also gifted with the green thumb and the ability to cook.
So a broken heating system, I can probably fix it. Part of it is being fearless. I’ve never met a mechanical system that I couldn’t find my way around.
My family and I just bought a little brick colonial house (1940) in a historic neighborhood almost a year ago. The home inspector told us that the cracked and worn slates on our original roof had to be replaced. He told us we were looking at $2K in repair and then to maintain, about $500-$1000/year. About 3 months after our move in, we decided to have the roof fixed, as we were having our attic finished. Long story short, roofer came in and said the entire roof had to be replaced. Irritated by that answer, I had two other companies come in who told me exactly the same thing. A $2K problem quickly turned into one that cost us $45K! Because we are in a historic district, we had to replace the roof with the original material – no synthetic slate. Ouch! Moral to this story – make sure your home inspector knows what to look for when inspecting a slate roof. Glad we replaced the whole thing (even though I can never retire
) because with all the rain in Baltimore this year, my neighbors have dealt with leaking roofs and massive flooding! Cheers!
We just bought a 1974 ranch in Feb. 2010, in June we started have plumbing problems, then the master shower backed up. Found out we needed a whole new septic field and of course we had to have the more expensive one, it was just finished 3 weeks ago and 13K later. The crummy thing is the house we just sold in Michigan after 2 years of waiting was an old farm house that we personally spent 5 years remodeling and 100k later wound up selling it for 5k more than we bought if for! I guess we are just destined to lose tons of money on our homes.
Trina, don’t feel so bad — I have the same curse! Someday I will publish my post about how we really NEVER make any money on our houses.
A friend of mine went away for the holidays, and returned to learn that a large sinkhole had collapsed part of her backyard! Apparently it was due to an old septic tank that had been removed when the area was sewered, and the fill had decided to settle many years later.
Woah, this one is going to be hard to beat!
My neighbor has one of those right now! I’ve been told I can throw concrete in it! lol
Painting the exterior! I had my house painted in 2004 for quite a hefty sum (15K), and I thought it would last a heck of a lot longer. Now need to get parts of it where the paint is peeling off again (where they hand’t taken it down to the bare wood last time), and contemplating either a quicker fix ($2500) or a more thorough paint job ($3900). I’d much rather be spending the money on renovating my bathroom! Sigh. I guess this is why people go for siding, though I’m not quite ready for that yet.
We need to get this message to the reader who wanted to paint her brick!
Whatever you decide to do, I hope it works and corrects the underlying problem. I live in an area with many wonderful old houses with owners who love them and have stayed away from siding. BUT, any number of them need to be painted frequently. I have lived her 26 years now and over those years I have seen any number of newly painted homes begin to peel in only a few years always at the same place, or on the same side. Yet, other homes stay clean looking for a long time. It always made me happy that I had a stucco house that still had its original pumpkin color. When I moved 8 years ago I was happy the house I wanted had vinyl already because there is no way I could have put it on, and by having it I managed to avoid that expensive re-painting so many seem to go through. Hate the vinyl and if I could afford to I would re-do it with some of the newer surfaces, but I can’t afford that — until and if ever it becomes a necessity.
You all should do what my 84 year old Dad does (100+ year old 5 bedroom, 3 bath, farm house) – he paints a side a year. The house always looks beautiful.
My friend’s father did the same thing, genius…
I hate my vinyl siding. It looks too 1990′s for my 1962 house. If I had the money I would rip it off and replace it with something like Hardyboard that looks more like real siding. I would also use the kind that looks like cedar shake on my upper level.
Oh Pam, a painful topic. We settled on a 1950s rancher in 2000, and three weeks later the sewer backed up in the basement. Plumber’s verdict – tree roots grown into the clay pipe. Not only did it set us back about $10k, but we lost a whole row of beautiful 40 year old azaleas in the process. Someone had planted a cedar tree about 8 feet from the front of the house and its roots thrived on sewage for years before we got there. We sold that place six years later and made money on it, but that experience really hurt at the time.
Exactly what we are going through now. Minus taking down the trees. We have to replace the pipes all through our backyard and through the neighbors yard and driveway.
We are on borrowed time with our pipes as well. Also old clay pipes. Every time I see a crew digging up the street somewhere in the neighborhood, I wonder if we should just act pre-emptively and get it done.
This was the very first thing that went wrong in my very first house! Don’t we LOVE to pay for TV colonoscopies for our sewer pipes!
We moved into our present home and FIVE DAYS LATER the septic system spectacularly backed up on us (I will never get that sight out of my head). Long story short, the inlet to the septic tank was 3″ HIGHER than the outlets (yes, there are four) from our home. In other words, it had never worked and the inspector did a crappy job of testing it. $10,000 to fix it.
We’ve been fortunate not to have any really expensive/dangerous problems so far (knock on wood) unless you count the fir tree leaning toward our daughter’s bedroom window that had to be removed. (Yea for great neighbors that were willing to split the cost!)
That said, we did just get a quote to replace our medium-size side deck, which is rotting. It is a really interesting design, with a glass wind screen on one end and privacy screening on the other (all original from 1964, as far as we can tell.) The quote came in at $7,500-$10,000! We are having a hard time considering paying that much for an area that will sit in the Oregon rain year after year, deteriorating all over again. We’ve tabled the idea for now and are hoping to come up with a less expensive option in the spring.
Sounds like permeable pavers — as opposed to a wood deck — might be in your future….
That’s actually not that bad a quote. To rebuild can cost +$25K!
I have a foundation crew under my house right this second. They are checking to see if the piers that were poured by the architect/house flipper/ previous owner were actually poured with the correct footings.
We just bought this place–1920′s mission and so far we have had to replace the previous owner’s 2 year old roof. (13k) We love it but thankful we do not have kids to put through college. This home was very clearly “remuddled” but we love it anyway.
I sell real estate and I see it all the time. That’s why I always tell me clients that it’s fun to pick out tile but it’s not fun to pour concrete under your house. Buy the old lady house with the expensive HVAC and the high end roof–not the house with the cute “new kitchen” and the 20 year old HVAC….a new roof and a new HVAC costs more than a new kitchen!
Sounds like you are giving your customers the right advice — good on you, Eileen!
Wow, I could probably write a whole book on this subject just on this house alone to say nothing of my previous three mobile homes!
Everything I touch in this house ends up costing me four times what I thought it was going to. I had old panelling in the laundry room that had gotten wet (damaged before I ever moved in) and warped. Thought I’d pull it out and replace it with drywall.
I ended up replacing a four foot by four foot section of floor clear down to the floor joists, I ended up replacing most of the four foot wide section of wall, studs, insulation, sill, EVERYTHING!
Early on, I discovered that when indoor plumbing was added to this house, they just cut a floor joist to install the toilet. My bathroom has a decided slope to it that I have not fixed yet. That involves working in a tiny crawl space with the spiders and mice…….
We have a 20′s bungalow, and getting a cute place in our town for under $200K is a bargain, so we jumped on it. I love the house, but it needed and still needs many expensive renovations, including a new water heater, heating and cooling system (old asbestos pipes had to go!) some historically appropriate replacement windows for the ones too rotted to restore, but the worst problem was the backyard, which we finally had graded after 11 years in the home. Not only was the lawn lumpy and hard to walk over, before it could be plowed we had to hire someone to break up the tons and tons of concrete that was buried in the yard. I have been pulling concrete up out of the yard every year since we bought the house. The previous owners built a deck over buried sidewalks, there was foundation at the end of the driveway that needed to be jack hammered apart, there were long 10 foot rectangles of concrete, there were pipes covered in tar and concrete, and under the soil level we found old glass bottles mixed with concrete. I have NO idea why the long-dead previous owners of the house had that much cement, but almost all of it is gone now. I still find a chunk now and then walking around the yard. It cost many hours of manpower from me and my family, It cost 1500 dollars to have the yard graded and seeded after it all was over, about 300 dollars to rent the large dumpster to haul it away, and I honestly cannot remember how much we spent on labor and jackhammer rental. Finally, though we have a yard. No shed, garage, deck or patio yet, but there is an honest to goodness backyard out there.
Was all that stuff used as cheap fill. “Cheap” at the time — not now!
I’m not sure! Some of it was obviously old sidewalks and foundations, but the asphalt+cement yard art will always remain a mystery. I forgot to mention that the whole mess had three large and dying trees growing over it that needed to be removed before we could start digging. It was located next to the property line and the neighbor’s garage.
I’m just relieved that it’s gone.
I much prefer the backyard chickens that are there now. <3
We have two different HVAC units for our house: one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. One was 14 years old the other was 16 or 17 years old. This summer, in the middle of triple digit heat, they both died within a month of each other and had to be replaced. Ouch.
Where to begin? My house was built in 1905, and along with the obvious things, as had a number of surprises, usually beginning with the sound of water. Luckily ,the things we had to repair ended up creating an opportunity to make the space much prettier! The upstairs bathroom vanity (U-G-L-Y) had a leak behind the wall. We ended up taking the bathroom back to the studs and now have a wonderful “master-quality” bath with subway tile. Another mystery leak in the kitchen ceiling allowed us to get rid of the U-G-L-Y flourescent lighting. Another issue that is waiting to be resolved is also a tree. The huge Chinese elm in the front has pulled up the sidewalk and has caused problems with the old rock wall and walkway into the house. Chinese elms are a “trash tree” that grow quickly and are very destructive. I much prefer to work on the “sexier” projects!
Yup: WATER is the #1 enemy of homes, we have decided at our house. Ice dams, anyone?
PS to Gwen’s comment. Home inspectors are a joke. I’ve had three very bad experiences with three very bad home inspectors. They check for reversed polarity in your home’s outlets and then they’ll miss the fact that the house is falling in on itself!
Rosemary – the running joke between my husband and me is that this guy was able to find the pin prick hole in the copper gutter but neglected to see that the entire roof was falling apart. Oh, and the sump pump that doesn’t work. But don’t get me started!
We just sold our 1925 Colonial because we couldn’t afford the repairs anymore. We spent $60,000 in four years, and the coup de grace was the untimely death of a 110-year-old oak tree in the front yard.
These days, I look at people in old houses and wonder, “How do they do it?”
Reminds me of the old joke: How do you make a million dollars in real estate?
Start with two million.
Never heard that joke before. Good one. In a truly ironic way.
I’ve heard it as how to make a million $ in the stock market – start with 2 million. So I guess there is probably no way to make a quick million….
Like Sinatra said “Regrets….I’ve had a few……”
2 important related issues here: Timing and Priority.
I love my house….but I wish that I had found it a bit sooner in life.
I have a 60 gallon stone lined electric waterheater in the basement (installed in 1977) with a damaged flush/empty faucet. It is an expensive ticking timebomb.
I also have a 15 year old asphalt roof…..laid on top of 1939 CEDAR SHINGLES,
Another trip to the equity loan.
My advice for new homeowners is to make a “MUST DO” list prior to purchase for yourself or loved one. No “for now”s allowed- usually “for now” becomes “for ever”… A 5 Year Plan of Action tackling the bones of an older home will pay off in the end.
Compromise with the Moneymaker.
Be frugal…..but not cheap- I am sure that my 35yr old waterheater was top of the line. Home Renovation $$$ is only wasted when you are replacing what you have already bought.
As to timing, if I were 30; I would be piling up the debt. At 53, it’s a different story. I only intend to be here a fast 20 years…with a good resale price. I will still reach for the “top shelf” but with a different perspective.
What do you mean about “for now”?
…..i.e.: Someone suggested that I paint over the 70′s peach and beige ceramic floor tiles that the previous owners took right up to the ceiling….they said it would look better, for now.
Nope. I want it to be ugly right up until it comes down. Which will hopefully be faster!
Ok – I get it. YES: My DH was very good in advising me (who wanted to do things to solve certain problems with stop-gap “for now” measures) NOT to spend ONE PENNY or ONE MINUTE working on things that were not LONGTERM solutions. I followed his advice — with one notable exception. One of our three bathrooms all covered with rotting plastic tile had blood red paint on the wall above. As we were making our renovation plan, and saving the money, I let it slide. Finally, after about a year and half, I could not take it any more. HAD to paint that wall — cream, as I recall (neutralized it). Took three coats and many hours. A year later, we gutted those walls. The other two bathrooms: Never a drop of paint went on them til they were renovated.
MC modest ranch, how do I love thee? With dollar signs$$$. Purchased in 2002 and have since replaced the entire roof – shingles and plywood sheathing, new oil furnance, chimney liner. Not unanticipated, they were recommended as a 5 – 10 year plan by the inspector; just cost way more then I anticipated. I will confess to being in my 50′s so I don’t feel as if there is a lifetime to do everything I would like with the house. Not to mention a new electric service, there were still fuses!
Trees! Where to begin. Thousands of dollars have been spent removing trees that were planted too close to the house or planted at the property line. What were previous homeowners thinking? They were not maintained and were in poor condition. One at the property line even blew over in a high wind storm, luckily the neighbors car was not in their drive. I disagree with the laws that state that a tree once it falls on your property is yours even if it comes from a neighbors yard. I do have qualms about the sewer line and some of these posts give you food for thought. I guess everyone can relate somewhat to the movie ” The Money Pit”. Love the house you”re in, because i sure love mine.
Lightning strike which luckily didn’t start a fire, but blew out a section of sheetrock, blew apart some downspout and gutter pieces, and took out lots of electronics (computers, DirecTV receivers & dish, AV receiver, Blu-ray player, the best plasma screen in the world, 1 phone (but not the rest), etc.
Good one. We had this happen last year. Killed several TVs. Turns out: The cable TV was not grounded — shoddy installation.
In 2003, after buying and selling 6 houses in 20 years, I purchased a mid-century modern house in a fabulous neighborhood at what I thought was a fair price at the time. I paid a lot of money to have it inspected by a highly recommended structural engineer who said the house was in overall good shape, but would be needing some things replaced over the next few years – i.e. water heater, windows, etc. – the usual home maintenance issues. The seller was what I now call a “flash and dash” flipper who covered up a lot of problems with new sheetrock and paint and he installed a new roof over rotten sheathing. Because the house has a very, very low roof profile, the attic area is almost nonexistent and in accessible in places. Within a year I had to replace the covered patio and most of the dining and living room exterior walls because of previous and on-going water damage. That costly repair was $20,000. I tried to take legal action against the seller, but found out that is almost impossible to do and would have cost me a lot of money to attempt it. Over the last few years I have found many problems with the house while updating it and making routine repairs. The latest expensive fix came this year when I wanted to have wood floors installed in half of the house. The installers couldn’t complete the job because the slab was holding moisture. Further investigation revealed that at some point in the past all of the weep holes in the bottom row of bricks had been mortared over and the soil in the planting beds (installed before I purchased the house) had been piled against the house. Removing the beds, installing a French drain to amend the drainage problems, and drilling out the weep holes resulted in allowing the slab to dry and the wood floors could then be installed. I now have the neighborhood’s most expensive wood floors. Last year I sat down to figure up how much money I have spent on renovating and repairing the house and was astounded to see the total, and that was before the wood floor install. I love the house, and I love the neighborhood which was the reason I bought the house which has slowly become my “forever house”. I am now looking forward to the final big project which will be the kitchen next year. I am hoping no expensive surprises will be found, but given the past track record of repairs that would be the surprise.
We’re on a street of houses built over a farmstead in the early 60′s. I’m told clay tile pipe set end to end for field drainage was repurposed to carry stormwater. It runs who knows where under the properties (no records can be found) and fills a runoff basin. With time and the ravages of tree roots, regrading of surrounding farmland for more civilization (& more runoff coming our way)…the pipes became blocked with silt, the yard boggy. Water (and the occasional crayfish) would come up the basement drain. A regrade, french drain and external sump pump depositing overland took care of the problem…at no small expense.
A crayfish coming up the basement drain — crikey!!!!!
Super thread topic, Pam.
Bought this 1953 Japanese aestetic ranch in Southfield Michigan facing a nature preserve, which comes with it’s own risks! Damage to foundation walls under the crawl space from burrowing creatures over the years, a collection of giant 250 year old red oak trees with trunks leaning OVER the house cause me great concern- city arborist said the trees were slow growing, and healthy, so they will stay for noe.
Allstate told me I didn’t need to take down the trees in question, and since the were here long before the house, I’m going with that!
Insurance will also, at least in Michigan, NOT replace thermopane windows that lose their gas over time- I have FOUR that need replacing, as well as a 15 year old roof that is dry, but ugly, but will have to wait until funds permit.
Installed a new gas forced air heating system two years ago, repleacing circulating hot water baseboard heat that was allowed to crack and break during the winter before the last owner fled in foreclosure, but was a known expense before I bought.
I did get lucky, though- the previous owner paid to get the main sewer line from the house to the street replaced when it collapsed- a half-acre run of pipe that was over 10k, I’m told, so at least that’s one worry off my mind!
Trees! They are pretty, but they are also a lot of work and shed debris! My last house had six 100+ foot oak trees on the property (and this is just a small city lot approx 80 x 120). Just raking leaves in the fall was sometimes overwhelming. And occasionally we’d get a random dead branch that would fall. One branch landed on the fence – which we had to repair and actually hire someone to remove the branch because it was “tree” size. I always worried one would fall on our roof, right where our bedroom was.
The scary part, was after one of those 80 mph storms blew thru (and knocked many trees in the neighborhood), it had started to uproot one of the oaks in the front yard. The tree actually tilted toward the street (and not the house, luckily). We got a quote to get it taken down and it was $3,000! We couldn’t afford that and just left the tree as is.
Fast forward a few years and we sold the house. The new owners mentioned to me that they got a quote for $9,000 to take down five trees (actually sounds like a bargain). I noticed they had them taken down, so I’m not sure what they ended up paying, but you can bet it was a chunk of change.
Trees are pretty, but they are a lot of work, cost money to maintain and can mess with sewer lines.
Jeanne, I know what you mean! My red oaks are gorgeous, and seemingly healthy, but one giant V-shaped one is leaning directly over the house, and in fact would destroy it if it fell, landing on the diagonal to cause the most damage!
I certainly hope this never happens, but I have considered removing it, or at least half of it, and my quotes were around 1000 bucks for half the tree- and it’s over 100 feet high as well.
I think I need to consider it as much as I hate to- maybe I’m crazy, since it’s been here much longer than the house, but my luck would have it that I’m the one it decides to fall on!
Anyway, food for thought….
Jeff, I don’t know if you saw my post, but we had to remove a dead maple, over 100 years old, so it was quite large (and just waiting for a good storm to knock it down on our house or a neighbor’s). We heat almost entirely with wood, so we saved money (probably half the cost) by having them just take the tree down, then we cut, split, and hauled it to the backyard. I was amazed at how many people knocked on our door to ask us if the wood was available, so you might try and find someone who wants free firewood to haul it away for you and save part of the removal cost. Craigslist ad or a sign at a local co-op? I hate to think of taking down a healthy tree, but it would be far worse to have it fall on your home, especially if you have other trees on the lot.
This week we’re having a contractor come in to abate the asbestos mastic underneath the 70′s vinyl in our 1953 kitchen. That’s $600 down the drain before we spend a penny on new flooring. Because the mastic is stuck to the original 50′s linoleum (which, tragically, is asbestos-free), we’re losing that too, along with its sweet pattern. Reason for all this? We were kind enough to host a friend’s dog, and the dog ripped part of the floor to shreds, exposing the asbestos. Boo hiss.
We were going to have 9″x9″ marmoleum tiles cut to install afterward, but the price is outrageous (about $300 cutting fee, plus paying for twice as much surface area of flooring because they would cut it from their standard 13″x13″ tiles). It would have cost us a fortune to do our 15 sq ft kitchen, so we’re going with sheet marmoleum instead. It’s period appropriate at least.
Gold star for you, Natalia, for having that mastic tested!!! Peoples, whenever anything old gets exposed — get it tested for vintage nastiness like asbestos and lead!!!
I take that advice to heart. I was all set to repaint the peach colored (EWWW) trim and front door on my house to something more 1962 and less previous owner when I realized the picture window trim paint would need scraping. I am putting it off until next spring, because I just assume there is lead paint under there somewhere, and I don’t want it exposed until I have the money to deal with it.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to find a qualified home inspector! One of the best professional organizations is ASHI. Every state has a chapter with regular meetings of its members. When we relocated, we bought the third house we had inspected!
I’ll add another one from our recent experience: Chimney repair. When we bought the house, we could see that the chimney had leaks into the attic. But, we weren’t planning on using the attic except for storage, so we weren’t particularly concerned. Besides, we thought ‘brick “just” needs repointing.’ After the first year, we saw that the the leaking was so serious it formed icesickles (sp?) in the attic. So we started on our journey: (1) Adding chimney covers; (2) Reflashing when we had our roof replaced; (3) Reflashing again when it turned out the roofers installed a ridge vent [stupid, it turns out] all the way to the chimney leaving the space wide open for new leakages; (4) REPLACING/REBUILDING the chimney — $6,000, as I recall — which DIDN’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM because of the way the chimney was designed and which the rebuilder missed; (4) Adding bigger chimney covers. Guess what? Still leaks.
We bought our 1917 house almost 30 years ago, and we’ve been pretty fortunate. Expenses yes, but they weren’t a surprise.
The furnace was a late ’40s or early ’50s “Mor-Sun” nat. gas unit. It was about the size of a DeSoto. We were glad to get 10 more years use out of it before it had to be replaced. We were able to use all the existing duct work, so the cost of installation wasn’t bad at all.
A new water heater was needed immediately, so we went to Sears and got one. We paid a plumber to install it. It lasted until a year ago and was replaced by a tankless unit (unlimited hot water )
We wondered how long the roof would last. We got by for a few years with roofing tar patches, but finally had to put a new one on. I did the work myself so my cost was a few sheets of plywood to replace some “decking” snow and ice barrier, and shingles. I’m comfortable on ladders and roofs, so I was able to save lots of $$$. It cost less than $3K, 11 years ago. No leaks in that time. I understand that some people just aren’t the DIY type, but if you live in a ranch, and have 3 tab asphalt shingles, you really should consider doing your own roof. It’s dirty physical work, but it requires very little skill.
Considering how hard it is to get roofers, where I live at least, YES, I would do it myself using three-tabs next time. Thanks for the upbeat comment — yes, many of our houses were well-built in so many fundamental ways.
Pam, WOW, sorry about the chimney, I had a similar problem, but solved it with flashing and tuckpointing, and a new cement cap- 650 bucks. Though I really need a new roof in a year or two as funds permit.
I really appreciate your comment on the fact that many of our homes were built by their original owners- with their own hands!
Mine was built by a gentleman who remained single his entire life, and when doing research on it, found the original 1953 buliding permit where it was handwritten as to the “builders” name, it said “self.”
He hauled in black cinder blocks made from real clinkers, ordered windows from Kirlin Lighting (when they made windows) a company which is still in business in Detroit, and is famous for the recessed light, which I believe they invented. The house also has numerous recessed Kirlin lights with the ziggurat shaped glass inserts with the big “K” in the center.
A testament to the quality “can do” attitude of the post World War II crowd are the houses we live in!
Not a crack in my coved ceilings, my wet plaster walls- my exterior block is coated in a thousand layers of insulating paint making it look more like stone than clinkers, no squeaks in the red oak floors, teased out of one of the giant red oaks on the property, now just a rotten stump, 8 feet in diameter, sleeping under ancient vinca vines.
This is why we love our houses- they have a history, and were loved enough by someone who took the time to design and build them with their very hands.
Perhaps the best part of my house, in reality.
My litmus test with home improvement is:
Can I afford to be out of work if something goes wrong? My health insurance deductable is $100…. I am paying $300 this week for a professional to come and paint the peaks of my house. I have already completed the first floor.
I work in an ER….people get hurt falling off ladders and it happens all the time.
Of all the crazy things on this post, I think someone having a $100 deductible is the craziest! I thought deductibles like that were a thing of the past (this from someone whose deductible is $7500). Makes it hard to use that as a litmus test!
Man stands on edge of 2nd story roof wiith broom to clean out gutters…..
Man goes up tree to trim branches, cardiac arrest, and is found in tree next day by family…..
Man uses electric iron to clear ice jamb on roof…….
This was all in the past year.
Folks, stay on the ground or at least make your home repairs with a cell phone in hand and some else close-by. Really.
Thanks for the reminder, Gavin! We are very safety-conscious around our little casa … an enormous deductible and a happily co-dependent relationship will do that … and never take on anything we don’t feel comfortable doing, nor do anything that is even remotely an issue (like getting on a ladder) unless someone else is home.
$100 deductible?! Can I work for your company? That’s insane, I didn’t know any plans like that existed anymore. Cherish it while it lasts.
Oh, yeah. Makes me think of Max McGee, the former Packer announcer, who went up on his roof to blow off leaves, fell off and died.
I leave the roof stuff to the roofing pros.
Bought my very first home all on my own. The day I moved in a good friend of mine helping me asked if I wanted one (there were two) of my trees cut down in my back yard. (What a good guy!) I said yes of course. The tree looked to be a possible problem in the future is we would have had a bad wind storm. He cut my tree down for me, and I had a company come remove the bush, limbs etc. I had ONE Baby to Medium size tree left, which hung over my neighbors fence. No yard on that side mind you just a long shed. Two weeks later I came home for a weekend away, went out to my back yard to find EVERYTHING on my tree hanging over the neighbor’s fence GONE. The tree was ruined! They didn’t even ask me to trim it back! I was so angry, I cut the entire tree down. Of course out in front of my yard my neighbor’s don’t mind my trees because it gives them shade for their cars in the summer time. I know this has nothing to do with insurance etc. but I sure wish there was a list of rules or laws that you have to be aware of when you purchase your home, then there might not be so many unexpected financial crisis or possibly prevent problems between neighbor’s property lines.
I have the last laugh though! The neighbor’s irrigation line is on my property, I use it ALL Summer long. HA!
It is my understanding that neighbors have the right to cut down any part of a tree hanging on their side of the property line. But, I think either they are supposed to tell you first — to give you the opportunity, first, to remediate. Or, it’s “nice” if they tell you — good karma. Trees are a PAIN.
Trees ARE a pain, we clear leaves from now until mid December — we have a ton of trees…they make our property and our little brick house so pretty though, and until we can’t do it anymore we will put up with them!
What i wanted to tell you all is that for the past 6-7 years I have cleaned new construction houses prior to the owners moving in. I wouln’t have a new house on a platter! If someone gave me one I wouldn’t keep it! Particle board floors…the same “amenities” just changed around a little bit…before we go in we always say “let me guess – fake hardwood floors, granite counter tops, island in the kitchen, same ole ugly colors n the walls”….no nooks or cranies, no personality, and really not a lot of quality….sure these babies look great…but I’m betting 20-30 years from now they have half the class and beauty of our homes.
I work in the electical industry — we lose contracts with our electrical contractors over a PENNY an electrical device (outlet, GFI, etc) because they have to save money…on 300K-500k houses? We are talking NE Ohio — our housing cost are pretty normal…so these are upper middle class housing…
I have learned that I will take my little 50′s cape cod anyday. And trust me, when we bought it, the kitchen sink was sitting by the front door…it’s been 7+ years and we are just now getting finished all that we had to do. But I will take it’s honest, good construction any day of the week!
Thank you, Kathy! I think you are right about quality of construction materials (generally) today vs. in the 40s, 50s and 60s. In my basement, there are STEEL beams holding up the first floor!
I agree and understand. I just wish they would have asked first, I could have helped or arranged for help. I just came home and it looked like a space age lazer cut everything off to the fence line AND dropped all the brush, branches, etc,..in my yard. You are definitely right, what comes around, goes around. I truly believe in that. Thanks for the reply Pam!
From what I’ve read — their cutting is not supposed to KILL a tree. Yes, best to be resolved amicably!
Our house was built in 1949, so we knew along the way we’d be doing updates and repairs:
The first month we had to replace the furnace. We knew it was original to the house and would need to be replaced soon, but it started leaking nat gas about 8 weeks after we’d bought the house. Got that one fixed really quickly so we didn’t all blow up.
Over the last few years our orginal windows started to not open or close right. A few of them were even broken closed. Someone had also tried to do homemade double panes on some of them, resulting in black mold growing between the panes. We replaced all of the windows 2 years ago, after saving for three. It’s nice to be able to open the windows now, since we don’t have A/C and having a breeze in the summer is essential to our survival.
None of the outside doors are sqare in the jambs as well. It makes for very cold winters. So those are getting replaced next week. Although, I’m keeping the original trim and reinstalling that around the doors.
The porcelin on our bathtub also failed, and we had to fix that as well. We used a company called Re-Bath. They come and take the tub measurements, and then make a new liner to go over your old tub (which was white…no pink elements were harmed!!). It’s been a nice update, styas clean and looks like the old original tub.
I like living in an old house though, it has charm and history and is not so cookie cutter looking like so many houses today, although in looking around our neigborhood it was cookie cutter for them time…but doesn’t seem so now.
I forgot to mention that when we had the windows done, we had everything tested for lead paint…and everything came out positive. The workers had to do lead paint abatment, which cost an extra $500. It’s my understanding now that it’s Fed Law that any contracted work you have done has to to lead paint testing if your home was built before 1978. Just a warning, it can be expensive.
Expected: Spent money to replace the original oil furnace — a behemoth Chrysler Air-Temp — with a much more efficient and cleaner-burning natural gas furnace. Had to pay also for the natural gas service to come into the house — again, expected.
Unexpected: Paying good green money to have the humongous oil tank removed from the house. The guys had to first make sure it was completely empty, then they had to chop it into pieces to get it out. When you take out an oil tank — BE SURE to have the line coming in from the outside of the house Immediately plugged. Fill it with concrete! I have heard horror stories of people taking out their oil tank… not filling that hole… calling to tell the oil company “no more deliveries”… but then the oil company messes up — and comes and starts filling the oil tank that is no longer there — filling the basement with oil. As I recall, houses may end up condemned — torn down — when this happens. Anecdotal memory, though. Good lesson nonetheless.
Golly, this is fun.
I’d say, always have professionals do stuff like gas lines, anything with oil, major plumbing and electrcal. It’s worth the $$ to have the safety of knowing it’s being done right. Every time I hear about home heating oil systems makes me so glad taht out west we’ve always had the Natural Gas to begin with!
Water has been our biggest unforeseen expense in both our houses. 2 years ago we bought a 1985 concrete block house. Drains were always slow, but we didn’t know what the problem was. So last year, on Christmas vacation we got a call from our tenant that sewage was backing up. The main sewage line had to be replaced due to tree roots damage, which meant digging up the concrete and my newly laid porcelain tiles in a foot-wide line from the guest bath through the guest room, all the way to the street, to the tune of $8K.
In our current home, built in 1955, we could never run the washing machine more than once or the wash water would back into the master bath (both were added to the original and shared a sewage line.) After cleaning up floods one too many times, we had the camera put down the line and discovered something shocking. When they installed a natural gas line some 12 years prior, they simply drilled through the ground – and diagonally through said sewage line. Luckily the gas company came, dug, and replaced the gas line, and with the digging out of the way it was a simple fix to cut out and replace the damage to the sewer pipe. Now we know why the house inspector noticed the washing machine wasn’t connected and therefore couldn’t be tested.
Old houses are great, but renovations are a pain. You NEVER KNOW what’s inside/behind/beneath all that charm until you open it up!
hmmmm… I always thought that when you sell a house, you need — legally — to disclose all known issues!
I believe that’s correct, I wish that it happened that way. There have been several things that we have found that the sellers didn’t disclose,i.e. the old man dying in the house. If I could go back with what I know now, there would have been some better negotiating.
My husband and I just bought our first house at the beginning of this month. Luckily, the previous owners did the majority of the expensive repairs on the 1958 brick ranch, such as a new roof, and replaced the old oil tank with a high efficiency heat pump.
Unfortunately, they also made some very unwise choices. They painted the brick (gasp!) and covered it with ivy. After weekends of scraping the ivy off of the house, we finally get to the roots which not only go under the house, but under the driveway as well. AND, pulling off the ivy also pulled off a pretty significant amount of the paint, which revealed that the brick was not just your standard red, but this gorgeous multi-colored brick, with dark red brick accents. Now we have to debate taking a power washer to the entire thing, and hope it is somewhat salvageable. If not, we’ll have to grudgingly repaint it. Again.
But there is silver lining, upon pulling out the masses of greenery from the front, we discovered original brick planters built onto the front of the house. UNPAINTED!
We have (knock wood) not had any major surprises when we bought a near century old home 2 years ago. Everything we did was forewarned: roof, furnace, A/C, water heater. So we budgeted the work into our purchase budget, and have saved thousands on energy bills (in addition to government rebates) since moving in. Score!
One ‘almost’ surprise came in the form of sewer odour that was in the house on the day we moved in. It turned out to have transpired because our traps dried out, but we had the drains snaked anyways to be safe. $300 well spent for peace of mind – lined clay pipes, no tree roots, PVC at the front of the house, hooray!!
The worst reno gone wrong story I’ve heard is not mine, but was in a recent article in Toronto Life about a family that dug out their basement, only to find out 10 years later that the work was shoddy. They found out in the form of a rat infestation that nearly drove them over the bed, let alone having to deal with the costs that came with it!
So not my horror story (thank god) but I think they would win any horror ‘surpirse’ contest. Has anyone else read that article? I can’t seem to find it …
Oh yes, the tree issues! We had a major storm here in late July – straight line winds etc. That picture looks like my Mom’s fence (only her’s was the length of the yard, smashing all her lilacs). I, on the other hand, had 2 huge oaks removed (over 100 years old) and 5 pines, along with others that needed to go. I keep telling myself that God was telling me to landscape in a not so subtle way. $3000 later – my next goal is the plant grass seed to cover the multiple bare spots. The big round bare spot in the back yard ? fire pit or flower garden w/bird bath? I have all winter to decide (and lots of old magazines to peruse).
I have replace the furnace last year. The only thing I really regret doing is replacing the windows – big mistake!! While the replacements are fine – I miss the old and couldv’e just had them repaired for the same amount of money.
One reason why I haven’t started/completed any interior decorating is that I have several exterior issues that need to be addressed first. I had the chimney repaired (loose bricks) and another brick repair job where the bricks were shaling. Had more insulation blown in last November; we were about a R-12 before; now we’re at R-49. Next money grabber will be replacing the window panes and possibly a window or two that allow cold air in. I’m afraid the furnace and a/c will need to be replaced soon. I also need to have the trees pruned, as carpenter ants find their way inside via the limbs. Of course, I have to spend 300 bucks a year for pest control. So, I have to save my money for exterior repairs before I can start on the inside. You just never know when the other shoe will drop.
This thread is so timely! My fiance and I are under contract on a time capsule 1959 ranch. Our inspection is tomorrow! We are already holding our breath to hear what might be found, but now I feel well armed with a hundred more questions to ask. Thank you Pam, for providing the greatest resource for those of us just finding our new old homes! Let’s hope I don’t have any anecdotes to add to this topic for a long time!
Good luck, Amity! Ummm, I think your home inspector will be doing some hating on this website before the day is done!
I wish you well with the inspection. Don’t let them tell you that you need to replace original windows! If this is mentioned – investigate repairing originals first. don’t make the mistake I did
Best o’ luck to you.
Thanks Nina, I already am getting pressure to replace them, even before the inspection is done. They are sturdy triple paned (with storms on) and smooth operating. I am curious to know what you wish you had done differently and why?
Last October, I purchased my first house, a foreclosed 1951 ranch in Austin, Texas. HUD/FHA, decided they needed to do a lead test prior to my closing. Of course all the old wood siding was covered in layers of old leaded paint! Fortunately for me, HUD took on the expense of “lead stabilization”, which amounted to nothing more than painting over the old paint with BEHR premium latex.
For whatever reason, HUD hired a crew from out of state, and paid over 10,000 dollars of federal money to pay for this “special” stabilization. Glad I didn’t have to pay for it, since that 10 grand was my entire budget to rehab the old place, which required gutting the kitchen and bath, new plumbing, etc.
Well where do I begin…….
First the furnace started knocking the 1st night I was in and ended up costing me almost $300 to get fixed. Next came the plumbing, due to the age of the house (1948) the lines were almost sealed shut with gunk. That cost over $350. Then came the painting of the outside – quotes were running $800-1200, I did it myself an paint only cost me $275. To paint the metal awnings over the windows the quotes were once again thru the roof – and once again I painted myself for around $50 in paint. The cost of the new roof was gonna be around $3500, but due to the unwelcome hail storm earlier this year that was the worst in 40 years where I live, the insurance covered that (whew). Then came the 30+ foot oak tree in the back yard that started showing signs of decay/rot/carpenter ants. The quotes were $600-1200. I didn’t have that kind of money and decided to do it myself. At almost 3/4 done, one of the large limbs fell onto the garage ripping the front facia off and causing the power line from the house to garage to come loose and hang very low. That cost me $100 for the electrican to fix plus doing some other items in the house.
If you are lucky enough to have an oil furnace, and depending on where in the country you live….expect 100 galls to run around $350. Several years ago when gas was at $5/gal (East Coast) 125 galls of oil ran me $625. I had just received my stimulus check for $600 and turned right around and gave it right back to the oil company.
Needless to say, as a housing inspector, I see my fair share of even more problems in the new houses. I do not once regret buying an older home and would do it again……..like the house 5 miles away that was built in 1876.
Oh yea I forgot….
New hot water heater – $375 / new breaker panel/breakers at $675
Reading all these posts I realize just how lucky we have been … so far. Two of the big selling points of our house were the roof and the relatively new HVAC. Minor things have come up, but the biggest expense has been that our taxes have nearly doubled (an increase of 70%!) in five years. Extremely frustrating. Coming up, though, we are looking at having to replace a poorly installed deck and repainting the exterior.
One thing that has surprised me about this thread is all the tree removal … I wonder if the next owners are going to hate all the trees we’re planting! We had to take down a 100 year old sugar maple that had died (our only shade tree) and I cried for days over it. We saved a lot of money in the removal by having them leave the limbs in the yard, which we just spent days chain sawing, splitting, and stacking for our wood stove (the first thing I thought of when I saw your photo!!), but I am dreading next summer when my house will be baking in that hot prairie sun. If you have a tree that needs to come down, maybe do a Craigslist ad to see if anyone wants to haul it away for firewood, save that part of the expense.
My pipes went out too. The water got all brown and nasty. I’m getting ready to replace my water heater and was thinking of tankless. I’m glad my home is small, so maintenance is relatively less!
Our 1952 Cape Cod had several maintenance issues that we were aware of when we bought it 5 years ago (gutters, leaking basement windows, defunct A/C unit, etc.). We remedied those right away.
However, a couple years in, we were surprised with a complete back-up/stoppage in the plumbing/sewage system…tree roots from my four lovely, huge maple trees had broken and then completely clogged underground pipes. Yuck.
Had to have the entire house-to-street sewer connection re-done, involving excavation of most of our front yard, destruction of the driveway and part of the sidewalks. NONE of it was covered by insurance! Total cost including a brand new driveway and replacement sidewalk areas was several thousand dollars, can’t remember exactly but around $8 K, I think. They assure me it’s good for at least our lifetimes now!
Just recently it’s been brought to our attention that we may need a new roof, too. A new roof was installed right before we bought the house, but it’s beginning to look like the previous owners hired “fly-by-nighters” and the leaks we’ve had in our sunroom the past couple weeks may be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg!
So yeah, it’s always something. Our Victorian was worse, though!
While we’ve had plenty of expensive surprises in our 23 years of home ownership (including $3K to repair a leak in the water main coming into the house), in May we had a huge tree fall on our house–and it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.
Our insurance paid for a new roof, all new siding and a new deck, which we chose to have covered this time (at our extra expense, but subsidized by a less-expensive siding choice). They also paid to have the tree chopped down and cut into pieces–and our neighbor had the tree service load the pieces onto HIS truck (much to our happy surprise!).
My sister, who lives on my street, had a tree come down in her yard during the same storm, but because it didn’t hurt her house, insurance didn’t cover a thing and she had to spend about $2K to have it removed.
When the insurance rep told me how much they would be spending on our repairs (nearly $40,000!), I actually blurted out an “I’m so sorry!” She told me that in her 11 years at the insurance company, she’d never had a homeowner apologize.
We pretty much knew what we were getting into; our 1967 ranch was the worst house on the block and the bane of the neighborhood when we bought it; first repairs were new heating system $10k (it had electric), new electrical service from the outside in to include new circuit breaker panel $1k, new septic system including basement sump with new drain lines routed under foundation footing to new dry well $5k, new roof to include extending over whole of back porch, $4k.
Gutting both bathrooms except for tub in large bath which we had refinished, gutting the kitchen, redoing all the floors, etc, we did ourselves over the course of a year. It’s been 11 years now, and we’re still not done, and it’s already time to replace stuff.
The surprise factor came in when appliances started failing and needing far more repairs than we thought they should the first couple of years. Then one day I was watching the furnace guy fix the furnace when he said, “You guys must have had one heck of a power surge last night. This is my 7th stop along 169.” I believe the term is ‘epiphany’. I started researching whole house surge protectors, found that our power company had a new program for $67 installation and $5/mo that included repair/replacement of all appliances. That ended the non-stop appliance repair drain on our income.
When we purchased our 1949 brick home 3 years ago, we completely remodeled it before we moved in. Luckily my partner was in construction and also an electrican. We rewired the whole house including the service panel, installed a new ac, furnance, and hot water heater, paint, new floors, new (old style kitchen and bathrooms). A year ago we had a nasty hail storm that broke almost all the windows on the front of the house (old metal casement windows with single panes). We ended up replacing the glass with a thicker pane. Also had to replace the front facer, and the roof(the roof would have needed to be replaced within 5 years if not for the storm damage). Luckily the insurance paid for everything and more. So knock on wood we won’t have any more problems.
My husband and I purchased our 1947 Art Deco style home 9 months ago, knowing (thankfully) that there would be work to be done. We’d both grown up with DIY fathers, building and renovating houses themselves by hand, so we semi-knew how to fix most things.
The previous owners were a little less knowledgeable, and had decided that seeing as one of the window sashes had rotted they would just turn it upside down and back to front and re-screw it, because that side hadn’t rotted! We realised this on our FIRST day of owning the house, when we were cleaning all of their mess and filth they had just left behind. My grandmother-in-law opened the window and the rags that had been used to keep the window weather tight had all fallen out! They’d done such a crap job!
It cost us $120 to buy a new window, and we installed it ourselves, but I’d hate to think what it would have cost someone who didn’t know what they were doing! All because the previous owners were too lazy/cheap to fix things properly!
About 6 months after moving into my MCM split-level, we had to face the dreaded clay pipe problem. We had water / sewage backing up into the house due to tree roots getting to the terra cotta clay pipes. Thankfully, there was no damage to the inside of the house.
Unfortunately for me, the clay pipe just so happened to collapse under my front concrete steps. In order for the plumber to get to the pipe, he had to bust up half of my steps. And $6,000 later, I have a brand new PVC sewer pipe and water line. While digging the 8+ feet to get to the sewer pipe, the plumber came across the water line, made out of galvanized steel, which had become severely corroded. So we replaced that too.
It cost another $4,000 to have the remnants of the steps removed and to have new steps poured. My front yard still has yet to recover. But I imagine there will be at least another $1,000 or so in landscaping costs.
How funny that you have this topic now, as I was just thinking this morning about writing a blog post titled “The Mid-Century Monster that Ate My First Marriage.”
Now, I say that tongue-in-cheek because I know as well as everyone else (and now better than most) that it is the characteristics of the people involved in a marriage that cause it to break. HOWEVER, our in-town, 1952 fixer-upper was a real stressor to an already fragile situation. Let’s see if I can remember all that we had to redo: clay pipe removal on the outside of the house, all new pipes on the inside of the house, mildew and mold on every flat surface, new paint on every flat surface after having to peal off most of it with a heat gun, the drip-pan under the shower, all new doors, all new flooring, and all new landscaping. And then after 7 years, we divorced and sold the house.
I recently looked it up on zillow. It is now worth about $180,000 more than when we bought it in ’86. So my cost? A marriage and $180,000!
I’m glad to say that I’m happily remarried to a talented carpenter. And obviously, I still love MCM, but I’ve learned what to look for in a house, and what I’ll put up with. In more ways than one.
Yup, house travails can pull you together — or rip you apart!
There must have been something in cosmic alignment for this topic Pam. I was just whining out the ole “why did we buy another old house” blues this weekend. On the way to working on the “projects on the list” we’ve had a tree fall, the water heater spring a leak, the iron wasteline crack and seep you-know-what everywhere, the washer and dryer died, the dishwasher no longer washed and just this weekend while attempting to change out the flush lever on one of the vintage toilets there was just a little too much torque and the porcelain tank cracked. Note, none of these are planned repairs and the list of planned repairs still exist and gets LONGER! You just have to hang in there and keep on going…you have to love the house your in!
Waterproofing the basement-$12,000;new fence-$5,000 and counting…;obtaining permits-at least $500;extra barn-$28,000 even at these high costs the worst? Dealing with the city council for variances and permits! :{
Well I’ve been in my new old house for about 7 months now. I was very fortunate to have the most generous sellers I’ve ever encountered. At inspection it was found that the house desperately needed a new roof and some tricky electrical repairs. I was very hesitant to ask for the seller to pay for these things as he had already gave me the price I wanted on the first try as well as throwing in another 4K toward my closing costs. Well I asked for a roof and electrical repairs and the seller paid for it. Not only did I have the best seller one could ask for, I have also inherited the most AWESOME neighbors ever! Now to my point. After a terrific buying experience, great neighbors, fantastic neighborhood, it’s very easy to get high on that and to forget to be proactive and prepared for what could happen. So thanks for the posts and stories everyone!
I have a the same tale from a 1964 colonial, new roof that had to be redone due to bad work, tree damage thankfully mostly covered by insurance, new furnace, new water heater, new main sewer pipe, new siding, new windows. But this is different.
One evening there was suddenly a huge ruckus in the ceiling. What the heck—-? It sounded like bears fighting. In the ceiling! It turned out to be raccoons. When they got done with whatever, they left via the downspout on the side of the house. Cute little things, we could see them leaning on the side of the hole they made, looking around like proud homeowners. Then down they went and away. We went out and looked at the hole they made. Six foot long and maybe two feet high, a full siding panel ripped off and a huge hole clawed or chewed into the boards right through to the attic. Wow! DH got the ladder and an old campaign sign and went up and nailed it over the hole. That kept them out, at least., but it looked like h-e-double matchsticks. Vote for XXXX for City Council.
Called the insurance company in the morning. The adjuster acted like she never heard of such a thing. She wanted to know what we did to attract them? What precautions had we taken to prevent them from doing that? Answers were Nothing and What were we supposed to do besides having a wall? She sent an inspector over who laughed and said it looked pretty typical. We got a good amount to cover the repair, I think it was around $3500.
The asphalt driveway needs resurfacing every other year, that’s another cost.
Good one. My husband had a deal with the bats in our last house: You stay up in the attic, we will stay down here. Detente was breached only twice, when bats got into the living room somehow. A tennis racket comes in handy in instances such as these…. Oh, and yes: Animal control to catch and relocate huge groundhogs that were burrowing I forget where into the foundation of the house; we had that expense, too, your Comment reminds me.
We had to have a bat removal service come in … they did NOT stay in the attic (which we use anyway) and they had to go, that was about $300. (It’s illegal to kill them in Iowa, which is good because of all the damn mosquitoes they eat.) And we had a friend have the same thing happen with raccoons, only they did so much damage to their roof that they caused a huge leak, which in turn ruined their kitchen. They had a great homeowner’s policy, though, because their insurance company paid for a brand new kitchen, pretty much without batting an eye!
We thought of getting a bat removal service, but agreed that if they left our attic, they would just head to a neighbor’s attic instead. So we let them live there. Bats are good for ecosystem.
True, they do just find another home and they are very good for the ecosystem, but we had one (same one? different ones?) in the attic, the office, the kitchen, the living room, and, the last straw, the bedroom! We keep talking about actually putting a bat house in the backyard, so they have a place to go that isn’t a neighbor’s house, but they still stick around and eat those pesky mosquitoes! Add that to the to-do list …
It was only a year or two later that we were wakened in the night by a strange sound outside our second floor bedroom window. Checking it out, there was a raccoon hanging over the edge of the roof clawing at the soffit which we had just had covered in vinyl. Waltz Tango Foxtrot? We hollered out the window, he looked at us and sneered, then kept clawing away. Opened the window screen and hung out waving our arms and yelling. Same reaction. Luckily we have no neighbors back that way. I went down and got a big old push broom and brought it up, and DH put that broom out and tried to whack that old coon off the roof. He couldn’t quite reach him, but he got close enough to discourage Mr. Coon, who left in a huff. Good thing, next step would have been to climb out on the porch roof and go after him that way, surely a risky move in the middle of the night after being wakened from a dead sleep. At least now we can tell that insurance adjuster what we did to prevent him getting in.
This gave me a good laugh. If it has fur and walks on four legs – deer, rabbits, racoons, foxes, squirels, chipmunks; it passes through my yard at one time or another. This is why you want to not have trees hanging over your house or have the foundations smothered by shrubery – it provides the wildlife with a conduit into your house.
Pam – yes bats are great for the eco system, but not for our houses. With the build up of bat guana (nice name for poop) – one can go blind. So check this out & put up their own little house – high up on a tree.
I have bats too – but they stay outside in their own little houses.
A little seller’s story…
When I was selling my last house (the one with the big Oak trees), the built-in dishwasher had been leaking for quite a while. I always put a towel on the floor below the door when I ran it so the leaking water wouldn’t ruin the vinyl tile floor. I had been meaning to get a new dishwasher before we decided to sell. Once we decided to sell, there were many other financial priorities and we just couldn’t afford to get one. If we did get one, it would have been the cheapest possible model and I know if I just bought a house would not be happy with a cheap-o replacement.
So feeling guilty about a leaking dishwasher, I left an envelope taped to the cupboard above the dishwasher with $100 and a letter apologizing and explaining the dishwasher situation after the final move-out. The new owners called me and said that was the NICEST thing anyone ever did and they were very appreciative. It made me feel good.
Our previous house, passed all inspections before we bought it, of course, but as soon as we moved in we started having heating problems. It turned out the guy we bought it from replaced the furnace with a pal of his who worked for a heating company, and they did it off permit, taking all kinds of shortcuts. The venting was a fire hazard, the space for the filter was not the right size, so they just cut and shoved duct material in, leaving us with a slot that was slightly too small for the filters.
Then, we discovered, one day when my husband was in the hospital that the whole unit (that was hung from the rafters with cheap strapping) was bending in the center. We were getting no air through it in the summer and it was hot, hot, hot in the house.
We had the whole thing rebuilt over the four years we lived there, at a cost of about twice what it would have been to do the job correctly.
Now, however, when I sell the house, the new owners are getting one mighty fine heating and air-conditioning system, because I refused to skimp. It has a media filter and a UV light to control mold growth. I also added three more fresh air intakes in the house.
Now, on to the plumbing in my poor present house.
I don’t suppose anyone knows where I can get a sand colored American Standard Cadet toilet from the early 1960′s… I am about to lose mine.
After reading this thread – I forgot – new driveway next year …. but I just bought the wooded lot next door on Friday – so that will be done in conjunction with building the BIG garage in the next couple years (for vintage autos).
So, add to BIG list – new driveway, clearing wooded lot, building new garage, and landscaping….and the list could go on & on.
Also need to get my electrical box upgraded.
Inherited my great aunt’s 1950′s bungalow in Redford, Michigan about 10 years ago. She hadn’t kept up with the repairs, and nothing had really been done since she moved in, in 1980. Most everything was original on the house. Which is good and bad. I owned it free and clear, except over the years it needed a new roof, new gutters, new chimney, new furnace, new A/C, new water tank, pipes rooted out a few times, new washtub, new stove, new fridge, new dishwasher, new countertop, floors refinished, sidewalk redone (Redford Township declares when your sidewalks need replacing, then sends you the bill for it… about $2k… and then we got to pay to have our own street paved… another 2k), two new toilets, new windows, trees trimmed, siding painted, new carpet, electrical upgrade (when the line coming into our house rotted and fell off). Then I got divorced in 2004 and had to pay him off half of the value (at that time). Even though it was given to me, and deeded in my name, the judge declared it marital property. House has since continued to lose value. I owe about $120k on a place that would sell for about $60k. If I’m lucky. When I inherited it, it was valued at $190k. I’ve lost so much.
Then I had renters come in 2009, as I moved across the country to flee the crumbling economy. Being a landlord sucks. The last guy skipped town, ruined my floors and carpet (scratched the wood floors, poured bleach on carpet stains), stole a bunch of light fixtures right out of the ceilings (who steals light fixtures?!), took all the window treatments, stole my chest freezer and antique butcher table (which wouldn’t have fit out of the finished basement at this point…. wait for the rest of the story….), ripped out my heirloom roses, azaleas and hydrangeas (which were replanted from my great-grandmother’s home… they were probably at least 80 years old). And the topper… when the handyman was cleaning out all the shit the tenant left behind (including a trampoline resting on it’s back, ruining the grass), he discovered a human skull in the garage. Now do you wonder what he did with the curtains, the antique butcher table and chest freezer? Police investigation, house untouchable for about two weeks, while I paid for repairs and exhausted his security deposit. Wasn’t worth suing him for the remaining $1k, as it would’ve cost me as much in lawyer fees. I’m a long ways away, and can’t take him to small claims myself. Plus, he might be in jail at this point, who knows. Police won’t talk to me.
The new tenants haven’t replaced the window treatments. My neighbors say there are garbage bags on the windows.
At this point, I would get more money burning the place down than selling it. I miss my home so much. I rent in LA now, a real dump for almost $3k/month. We have roaches and rat problems.
Wow, sorry to hear of such a story- I’m in Southfield, not more than a few miles away from your home, and sadly, the economy has taken such a toll on the area and it’s lovely homes.
The good news is that even in Redford Townhship and surrounding areas like Livonia and Southfield, things are stabilizing price wise, and our street, which had half a dozen foreclosures last year, has only two now, and most are selling to end users, not for rentals so much.
Having property so far away is difficult to handle, and it sounds like you had a serial killer living there! Hope that’s not the case, but we’ll keep our thoughts out there for you!
*waves from Dearborn*. Ugh! I feel for you fraujoolie. The hardest part is the fact that you are so far away from your rental. I’ve done the landlording thing before, and it helps to be nearby. It’s like a part-time job (that’s the way I looked at it).
I’ve also done the divorce thing (twice). The first time I had to pay half the equity ($27,000) to my ex, which disappeared by the time I sold the house eight years later. The second time (going on right now) I had to refinance in my name and cover an extra $8,000 that the mortgage was “under water” in just the two years we lived there (he wouldn’t split the loss and I’m not going to fight about it). I’m lucky I have a job and a nice little brick bungalow to live in, that I am retro-redecorating with a lot of tips, help and resources from this blog!!
OK, here’s my saga: Bought a 1955 ranch with a slab foundation. (In the process of repainting and thinking about it, found your cool website). This spring, the water heater failed, and dumped gallons of gallons of water onto the floor, which ran under walls, and ran into the infloor heating ducts. Insurance came in, ripped out the carpet, put everything I own into the garage so they could tear out the asbestos tile which covered the slab and which was popping and cracking. When they found out the only way to repair the heating ducts was to jackhammer up the floor, they simply stopped calling me back. Just stopped returning calls. It took 5 months and an attorney to get them to resolve the case. In the meantime, I’ve been living in a shell of a house, with most everything in boxes in the garage.
The good news is that they finally got started on resolving it, and repairs are proceeding. I’m putting in radiant floor heating (to the tune of $15K) and floors. All of this, of course, raises other questions, like what about the kitchen? The bathroom? While the house is gutted it seems like a good time to do other things, but the budget is limited.
I had to chip up the bathroom floor, but I’m keeping the yellow tub. Actually, I have some questions: the tub has not been treated well — it looks like someone washed out paint brushes and left lots of drips and washes–and it could use attention beyond the usual cleaning products. I’ve noticed recent posts about finding yellow sinks, so I’m thinking about that.
Thanks for this website, Pam. I’m enjoying it.
Hi Pam,
We are renting a lovely “Executive Ranch” home built in 1960–part of our deal with the owner is that we will work on it, and it definitely needs it. (We are alternately rueful and ecstatic that we don’t actually own it.)
First unexpected expense: the heat was turned off over the winter, and we have had to replace much of the plumbing! Most of it was pretty ordinary stuff, but if you’d like to put out a call for a white American Standard 4040 74 toilet tank, we’d be much obliged…they seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth. Because it is wall-mounted, the only replacement toilet is $600 and would require us to remove the cabinetry opposite the toilet so that a person would have room for their knees!
Then of course there’s parquet floor in the family room which looks perfectly okay but managed to separate itself from the subfloor during the freeze/thaw/heat/humidity that resulted from the heat/ac being turned off. Rather than refinish it and risk sending bits of floor through the windows, we’re going to put some of the vast supply of wax products and the little buffer we found in the basement to good use…
The roof, the driveway, the in-ground sprinklers–the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? But it’s all fun!
We have lived in our 50′s tri-level for about 6 years. I can can safely assume that we will have 10,000 in expenses in any given year. So far we have replaced the roof, LOTS of plumbing, removal of dead trees, air conditioning, termite removal, painting, replaced dead appliances and repair of electrical wiring. Nothing I’ve mentioned here was covered by insurance. One of these years I’m actually going to renovate it and make it look nice!
We bought a house that was built around 1915. Everything about it seemed to have been updated so we were thrilled. We later discovered that the least visible part of the house was the worst off: the main drain was in horrible shape and needed major repair/replacement. We spent thousands of dollars repairing it. Money well spent in the end, but quite an unwelcome surprise…
The sewer line on my 1957 ranch collapsed on the day before Thanksgiving last year and started spewing out the clean out near my back door. A bonus was they had to tear down an old delapidated greenhouse in my back yard that was ugly and blocked the view of the large picture window in my den.
Then on Valentines Day (What’s it with me and holidays?!) , I was getting dressed to sing with my quartet at a gig when I heard water running while I was in my bathroom. But there was no water running in the house and no one else was home. The water pipe coming in from the street burst right under the foundation wall of the house.
This is my 2nd year in a 1971 Split Level home in Georgia. The house, now I will call it a “flipped” home, had been updated and repaired in a few areas but us a sturdy house with good bones. But, I think it is too much for me. While my mortgage is cheaper than rent, I am scared that I won’t be able to keep up with the repairs and upkeep. I hate to admit, but I believe I just bought the wrong house. First thing, after 6 months of living in the house, the ceiling fell in my downstairs bathroom, result of a faulty install of the toilet the seller installed upstairs. Got that bathroom redone, after repairing and correcting faulty plumbing in that bathroom. A few months later, sewage started backing up in that tub. Had it snaked twice in six months. The people who snaked it muddied up and nastied up my newly updated bathroom it just made me sick! On top of a heating and air system that is old, and has not worked most of the summer months. It has gone out two summers, warranty patches it up but nothing that is long term. New deck built, not so new. Deck needs securing and sealing, kitchen countertops are bubbling up, need replacing, could use new windows, whole house fan went out after moving in, garage light doesn’t work, electrician said it’s a wiring problem, had to replace circuit box after breaker kept breaking, believe tree roots are in sewer pipes in yard, plumber coming to put camera down line, needs this, need that. A tree fell down in the back yard, and I was told I need to worry about one in my yard and another one in the neighbor’s yard. found out a whole bunch of construction crap is buried in the back yard, and I keep hearing a whistling noise when I flush the toilet.
yea, I got the homebuyer tax credit but to be honest, I don’t even see where it went. As soon as I moved in, $200 here, $2300, here, $500 here, $1000 here, yadda, yadda,yadda and my income just doesn’t support these type of repairs.
My mistake. I wanted to take advantage of these affordable prices, especially in the urban area I live in … but I feel I have allowed real estate to take advantage of me.
The home is a beautiful home with a beautiful spirit and warmth to it … but it needs a family with a handyman husband and a better credit score who could just borrow $25K to $30k and just get it in shape and up to date. It was nicely updated when I bought it, but when I moved MY stuff in and started using the home, it soon revealed all its needs to me ….. and I feel overwhelmed by it all.
Angela -
I hope that my response makes you feel a bit better in terms of you purchasing an older home. I’ve had 4 houses now. I’ve had two brand new houses, one house from 1987 (purchased in 2003) and my current home (1940). Believe it or not, even brand new houses come with problems. Mine came with leaking windows, a propane tank installed next to a sewer line, trees damaged by construction, and a wet basement, to name a few. My house from 1987, only 16 years old when I bought it, needed all new plumbing, a new electrical box, a new roof, new HVAC, new windows (that leaked and didn’t open), a new skylight (leaked), new toilets (that leaked into the kitchen), regrading (the house was built, I’m sure, on a former stream bed), etc, etc, etc. With that house, the list went on and on. I think it’s best to view a home like you view a relationship -it’s an investment that sometimes brings you joy and sometimes brings you heartache. Sometimes it’s worth the time, and sometimes it’s worth it to let go. Home ownership, no matter how old the house, can break the bank over time. One of the positive aspects of renting – it’s someone else’s problem. Best of luck to you.
After living in our home for years we have had a full gambit of repairs – some have been completed and some remain, well, incomplete. As an example – our bathrooms have both been “in progress” for about six or seven years. No, I am not exaggerating. Repairs have been both expected and unexpected. The normal things have seemingly all gone wrong, i.e. air conditioning, siding, roof, toilets, and the list goes on for miles – no real surprises. For the most part the house is a dependable one…with lots of memories both good and sad. It’s your basic 3 bedroom ranch style home with a fireplace – nothing fancy or elaborate. Just a little house with a fenced back yard that seperates us from our neighbors illegal free roaming city chickens, a couple of barking dogs (including mine) and a little garden in front. We’ve raised our family in this house, nursed my mom after cancer surgery, welcomed new grandchildren and cried over the passing of dear friends and family. We’ve expereienced a mixture of happiness and sadness as my son prepared for his wedding here; watched our daughter’s prom come and go and her relationship begin and end in this house. My husband and I have had garage sales, delicious meals, disagreements, made up (yay!) and talked about our future together. We’ve also tried to plan our funeral around our dining room table…without too much success. I know, we will have to complete that task one day. However, the home repairs must be addressd and are almost too many to count using my fingers AND toes. We just don’t have the money…who ever does..there is no convenient time for pay for everything…but that’s okay. It’s our house and we know that we’ll get it all done…some how. It may not be right away, but we’ll get through. So, it isn’t just a house, it’s a home. It’s a memory spot. A place to hang our hats..a soft place to land. Just a few thoughts about our litle house.
YAY!!
We are talking about buying our first house and of course, I want to buy an older house. Reading all of these stories kind of scare me!! lol What are the most important things to check out when buying an older house? I am fine with fixing minor updates but the major stuff is not something we want to tackle.
Hi Megan, yes… these lists are scary — but you should know what you are getting yourself into. Home ownership can be amazingly gratifying, but it is a hassle, to say the least, and can for sure be a money pit. I do not have the expertise to tell you which things are most important to check — you are going to get a home inspector, as discussed by many readers. Meanwhile, study up — and see A LOT of houses, this will help you build your knowledge. Meanwhile, here’s a story I wrote a while back with some of my thoughts about what to consider when buying a house: http://retrorenovation.com/2009/04/20/shopping-for-a-midcentury-home/
Yes, Megan, buying an old house does mean that some work is inevitable in the near-ish future. But, so many old houses are built so much better than new ones! We bought our first home about two and a half years ago, and since it was built in 1957 by a man who really new what he was doing, it is rock solid. The only thing we’ve really had to do is get the AC serviced and septic tank pumped once. The rest we’ve done because we wanted to (cosmetic stuff). The yard was completely overgrown and is stil kind of out of control a bit, but we love working on it. A good home inspector will make sure there’s nothing that’s going to break the bank after you move in, and that will give you great peace of mind. We need to have some plumbing work done on the upstairs restroom, but since there’s only two of us and the main bath downstairs, it’s not an urgent matter. We’ve got our whole lives to work on things, so it’s not a big hurry.
That being said…We do have lots and lots and LOTS of very mature, huge trees. It’s one thing that drew us to the house. I love them. However, there is a dead tree we have to get cut down soon, and it’s a big one…on the property line. Really big. So, that will be our first major expense.
megan,
first, don’t let this scare you away from an older house. i know a lot of folks who bought new (or even had something built) because they didn’t want to deal with major repairs…it doesn’t help. that’s not to say that it’s hopeless. what does help – new, old or custom – is knowing what you’re getting into.
from my mistakes, i would say the top things are:
only work with people you trust! our real estate agent was (emphasis on was) a friend of a friend. between that and being overwhelmed with the process, we sort of kept chugging even though we weren’t very happy with her.
get a good inspector and *ask questions*! we used an inspector recommended by said agent (we should have looked up inspectors and reviews, ratings, etc.) and, as much as i know about building, i assumed that “he’s the professional” and didn’t check stuff out myself. well, that hole to the outdoors in our attic? he didn’t mention it, and i didn’t think i needed to climb around the un-floored side of the attic because we had paid someone to do so. even if you aren’t prepared to do all that, at least have a list of the things you want to make sure about.
also, there’s no such thing as a “little problem” – okay, there is, but you don’t know until you check. common example: is that spot on the ceiling a spot on the ceiling or a sign of a leak? real-life example: is the soft spot in the floor old damage (it will need to be fixed anyhow), or ongoing damage because they sheathed the whole kitchen floor in plastic under the plywood so that nothing can evaporate?
don’t buy a house with wood paneling unless they’ll let you look behind it. that stuff is indestructible, and can hide anything (including a foot of standing water).
i am truly not saying any of this to scare you – and certainly not to scare you out of buying an old house. i don’t have any more faith in new houses, and the true problem is not what is or isn’t wrong with it, but *knowing what you’re getting into*.
again, ask questions – all the questions you have (and know that you’ll never know all the answers). we may still have bought our house, knowing what we know now – but we would have bought it for a lot less money! and that difference could have gone into the repairs right off the bat.
Water factors in many of these stories, in the form of leaking pipes, leaking roofs, overflowing toilets, busted water heaters, etc. We’ve experienced all of these things in the five different homes we’ve owned, ranging from a 1910 cottage to a 1995 mobile home, and including our current ’59 ranch. The worst thing to happen was when the crawlspace got flooded at the ’72 ranch during a giant storm, and the sump pump didn’t kick on, resulting in a ruined furnace. The funniest water experience was at the mobile home, which sat on a hillside — water ran right under it during a storm, so no flooding there!
We moved in to our house a little over two years ago. It is a three bedroom, two bath ranch built in 1960, and then added onto and renovated over the years. In the early 1970′s, the carport was enclosed to make a large living room, and around the same time, the kitchen was totally redone, replacing modern light wood with dark Early American cabinets (there were other changes, which we didn’t find out about until later). A later owner added on a office/guest room and a storage room, along with a foyer that connected these rooms, and the existing laundry room with the rest of the house. A different set of owners had covered the kitchen, hallway and two of the bedrooms with laminate flooring.
When we first moved in, it appeared that the few repairs that needed to be made were mainly cosmetic. The kitchen cabinets appeared to be in decent shape, and the stove-flat top with a built in grill was really cool (once we managed to get it working) and the layout was awesome. Otherwise, the house seemed to be in good shape, and all of the visible pipe was copper.
Unfortunately, all of the pipe we couldn’t see was polybutyl pipe. The house had been replumbed at some point, when the original, galvanized pipe wore out and they had used what was, at the time, the new wonder pipe. Unfortunately, this wonder pipe was totally defective. It wasn’t a question of ‘if’ the pipe was going to burst, it was ‘where, when, and how badly’. We found this out when we called in a plumber to fix a leak that had appeared in the laundry room. At this point, we mentally earmarked the new homeowner tax credit for a replumb.
But before tax time rolled around, we had to have a plumber come out and fix a minor leak in the kitchen sink. Once this was done, he was running a lot of water down the sink (as is normal, to make sure the leak is really fixed) and I saw water coming out from the wall on the other side. This lead to the exciting discovery that the t-joint that connected the kitchen sink to the main drain for the entire house (one of the few pieces of copper pipe in the dang walls) had corroded and gotten a hole in it. The slow leak had rotted out the backs of most of the cabinets, and the water had gotten under the laminate flooring which, we were happy to discover, had been laid over beautiful 8 inch white ceramic tile. The discovery that the cabinets were trashed was less welcome, although I was interested to see what their removal revealed about the history of colors in the kitchen. The progression seems to have been pink-taupe(when the 1970′s-Remodel) was done-white and blue floral wallpaper-white paint.
We opted to leave the awesome white tile, and replaced the lower cabinets with one’s from IKEA’s Varde series. They aren’t exactly period, but we felt that the stainless steel, double bowl drainboard sink, butcher block counter tops, light wood and white slab fronts managed to evoke the period of the house, without being actually of the period. I made my own contribution to the walls by painting them a light lemon yellow. We didn’t have room for the Varde cabinet that would hold a flattop range, so we opted for a free standing range. This ended up being more complicated than expected, since the old stove was hardwired in, and the new stove needed a plug. Luckily, my sister is an electrician!
Then, a month before we’d planned on having the plumbers come out, disaster struck. The pipe had developed a pinhole leak, waaaay back in the wall that connected the two bathrooms, by the time it was severe enough to be discovered, the drywall in both bathrooms, and one wall in our bedroom had been ruined. Following mold abatement, a week in a hotel and a replumb that happened sooner than we expected, and new bathroom vanities, and new drywall, everything was back to rights.
The kitchen still isn’t totally done, we need to replace the upper cabinets, and put in a wall oven. We’d bought one to replace the old wall oven, but the pillar it was supposed to go in got ripped out with the redo. We took out a large, built in pantry that was damaged and poorly installed and are going to be replacing it with a wall oven, a freestanding pantry unit and a 12 inch wide cabinet that will go next to the wall oven, for additional storage space. By the time all this is done, we’ll have tripled the storage space, doubled the workspace, and kept the same layout that I loved to start with.
We’ll also have spent about 12K, when all is said and done. Is it worth it? I think that it has been. I love the house, love the neighborhood, and other than the plumbing issues, which have been dealt with, the house is in excellent shape and is well built. Best of all, we bought it when the market had bottomed out, so even with all of the repairs, we still haven’t spent as much as the house is worth.
Our first house, bought a fixer upper because it was all that we could afford. Spent more fixing it up than we paid for it. The worst two items were/are the addition and the chimney.
The chimney obviously leaked because you could see the damage to the wall above the fireplace. So, we paid to have a new roof put on it and assumed that would fix both the chimney problem and the roof needing replaced problem. Paid someone to come in and replaster the wall, and everything was grand. About a year later, the chimney leaked again and ruined the newly plastered wall. Paid someone to reflash the chimney and fixed the wall best I could myself. It leaked again after about 6 months so we paid someone to tear the entire chiney off the house down below the roof line and rebuild it. All was good for about a decade and then, it started leaking again. Paid someone else to come look at it and they tore the flashing off and discovered that when it was rebricked, they had used the old flashing mixed with new and did not do a very good job of it. Furthermore, the brick they used to rebuild the chimney was too porous and was starting to “flake” and they said I would need to put sealer on it every fall. They reflashed it from scratch and I fixed the wall, again, and part of the ceiling. It now has not leaked for a number of years BUT, the chimney bricks are disintigrating. Every spring there are more pieces of thin brick falling down the roof due to absorbing water, freezing, popping off, etc. I guess I should have sealed it more often or better or whatever.
The home had an addition on the back of it when we bought it, with a flat roof. It also leaked as was evident by the stains on the wooden ceiling inside. So, we paid a contractor to tear off the flat roof and replace it with a peaked one, along with a new plastered ceiling inside. First big rain after the project, and the ceiling is leaking. Called the contractor back and he came and looked at it and said he can’t understand where it could be leaking and left. Called a different contractor and he says that the peaked roof the other guy installed doesn’t allow for correct drainage where it meets the garage peak and water is goi going down the valley and then up under the shinhgles on the new roof because there is nowhere for it to go. Unbelievable. Called the first contractor back and tell him the information and he tells us to just have the new contractor fix it because he is too busy and that he will pay half…So, we pay the new guy to tear the shingles off of it in the affected area and put a rubber “sheet” of sorts on the area affected and replace the shingles over the edges of it. And guess who never got around to paying his half…$1200 more down the tube, but has never leaked since.
I don’t even begin to want to talk about the water problems in the basement, the around the basement walls drainage system and sump pump to suppposedly fix the water seeping through the block walls, or the cracks in the basement walls that will eventually require the dirt to be dug out all around the rear of the house and the walls rebuilt…
I’m still sitting with 45-year-old red carpet, a bathroom with floor tiles coming up, another one with wall tiles coming up, and a 1970′s harvest gold kitchen, because of all the surprises: new electrical panel when we moved in. Insulation. Replacing clogged galvanized pipe. 2 new water heaters. New oil burner. New gutters 3 times before they got it right. Sump pump. Generator with manual transfer switch. Chimney repairs. Driveway repairs. Now the 3 steps from my garage to the backyard sprung a HOLE and have to be replaced. My downstairs bath has 2 holes in the plaster walls from a plumbing repair. And that’s before we even get to the new siding, windows, and roof that we did.
The squirrel that fell down the chimney and died and it was 3 weeks before my cat found the corpse underneath the bar in the basement. The mouse infestation in the cupboards that had me cleaning them out with ammonia. The window caps that went and in a heavy rain water kept pouring into the house. Getting the front steps repaired because my DH decided it would be a good idea to break up some ice with a metal shovel…
Our house was built prior to 1903, yet (knock on wood) no gigantic unexpected expenses yet. We’ve had to: replace some slate on the roof when we bought the house, then again when a storm blew some tiles off; replace flashing around a chimney when we saw a leak in the second floor ceiling; take down a giant tree that was sick; replace the back steps when they collapsed; replace the attic windows when it became clear that everything was rotted beyond repair; and then basic, annual expenses like cleaning the gutters, cleaning the chimneys/fireplace, and getting the furnace serviced. We still haven’t removed the shed that collapsed after a storm or repaired the radon system that broke probably the day after we signed the mortgage. Before we bought our first home, I wish someone had knocked us over the head and told us to budget, like, $300 per month for repairs and maintenance in addition to the mortgage, insurance, etc.
Yes, Going Steady: I think you are spot on: Homeowners need to budget for repairs — I’m going to do some research to see what actual data indicates is a good figure to budget. I already did some super quick looking and it seems like the budget should be based on the cost or value of the home (which makes sense).
Hi Pam,
So happy I found your wonderful blog!!
I bought an oddball little ranch / cape cod hybrid. Loved it at first sight, as the front door opens directly into the kitchen– sort of the exact opposite of a McMansion.
I still love it, even though I find the constant repairs a bit exhausting. But it is good to know I’m not the only one that feels this way…thanks again. Kathleen
The hardest thing for me in our last two older fixers was having to listen to my husband grumble and moan while he fixed everything (he has really high standards and hated what any previous owner did or didn’t do). I thought I could solve that by buying a new house. He still grumbles. Even the inspection couldn’t have uncovered that.
Oh, the horror. I am feeling so awful for everyone with the unexpected expenses. Although, I gotta say that I’m feeling a lot better about all of my expensive house projects. Thankfully, our realtor connected us with a great inspector. He was pretty spot on with everything. So, we knew when we bought our house that the roof was failing (yea, water through ceiling), the masonry needed stripping and tuckpointing, the furnace was sized wrong, plumbing needed some updates, original clay sewer line probably needed replacing (it did) etc.
So, even though we knew we had a lot of expenses, we factored that into our offer on the house. Of course, I wish we had paid less (it was worth a little less), we know we paid a premium for this particular house, the lot, the location, the neighborhood.
But, I did get a surprise recently. After 3 years of being in the house, rain suddenly started pouring down my walls during a really bad storm. Turns out that my husband didn’t caulk under my little transom windows. Which is usually fine, but we had horizontal rain. Fortunately, I was home and could address the water so it didn’t ruin anything. And, as soon as the rain stopped, I spent $5 on caulk and sent my husband to the roof!
Yikes! “For want of a nail, the battle was lost!”
Our 1949 house has few problems. The only problems there are are with the new junk the previous owners put in (like cheap new windows, ceramic tile in the kitchen, vinyl shutters and siding with cracks, cupboard hinges). All the old stuff is just fine. I wish the former owners would have left the house as it was meant to be. That said, it’s been a pretty easy house to own.
My sister on the other hand, bought a beautiful house from 1959. The house didn’t have very many problems, but they declined an inspection because they wanted the house so badly (my sister had been eyeing it since she was a kid). Well, it had a buried oil tank that leaked. There goes $10,000! Ouch!
Wow, I thought my experiences with my 1959 raised ranch in Camp Hill PA were awful until reading some of these posts. I moved in January 2006, into a very original raised ranch – I had purchased from the estate of the 2nd owner, who had been there since 1968. The furnace was old, and sounded like a jetliner spooling up every time it kicked on. The next month, the area had an epic ice storm, and the furnace decided to die at the same time. Dealt with more than a few opportunistic contractors in the phone book, with quotes up to $10-12K. Finally got a good referral, and had a new boiler in for $6K. The house needed a lot of cosmetic work that I was dealing with, and the next summer I decided to put in central AC – Used the same contractor, who did less than a stellar job on this one. The unit was up in the attic, and the contractor ‘forgot’ to install the condensation drain, so the water was all collecting in the drip pan – 2 days later, the ceiling in the living room came crashing down. The contractor came out, nailed up some sheetrock, and I never heard back from him, and still have some of his tools. Made some major updates on the jack-n-jill bathroom, added a deck and fenced in backyard. Total updates were pushing $25K, just as I was transferred this past January to TX. Final insult was the plummeting housing market in Harrisburg, where I had a $15K loss on sale. $40K down the tubes on that venture – But, I found a great 1955 bungalow time capsule that I bought for a song, and really needed nothing. Clean hardwoods, the bathrooms are all original, and the tile is beautiful, and I still even have the original ’55 Frigidare built in stove that works like a dream!!
Hi,
I am writing from a northwest suburb, 35 minutes from the heart of Philadelphia.
We purchased a 1937 home. Benign neglect is the best description. We have 3.5 acres, most of which is in a flood plain. The house is 3300 sq. ft, strong, sturdy, and appears as it did (although aged) when it was built.
Yet, we have dropped bags of cash on:
Basement Waterproofing – Can you guess if it solved the problem?
Arborist
Landscaper
Masonry
Garage Doors (3)
Plumber-New sewer pipes, Hook up to sewer and pay township $5,000. for the pleasure
OIl tank–Removal
Electrical-Updated and added new box with space for more lines
Roofer-some work – $3,000. (can’t complain)
Testing for asbestos-fortunately it is not in the wall, but is on some of pipes
Carpenter to repair known termite damage in basement.
Carpenter to repair unknown extensive termite damage in basement.
Carpenter to repair unknown and surprise! termite damage in garage door trim X3
Still to come:
There will be more termite repairs. I guarantee it.
Heating/AC-/$ –the sky is the limit as my husband is looking into GEOTHERMAL
Windows: 73 steel casement windows..I can’t even count that high.
Refinishing floors
Painting
Gas-Gas company pays most of the charges
Woodwork restoration
AND that is all before bathrooms, kitchen and our bedroom—–Oh, and we hired an architect to draw up plans for the master bedroom and bathroom.
The kitchen is old and quaint, but I would like a dishwasher. Is that too much to ask?
Someday we will move in (we are two months into the process–I expect at least 4 more).
We are trading a small home — no mortgage — for a grander home.
We took vows to never fight. We have been minding our manners and our frustrations.
By the way, this was an impulse move. Oh well, we’ll figure it out.
So, the moral of the story:
Yes, we have a fantastic, beautiful house. The views are absolutely heavenly. But, for all those people out there who have idealistic notions about home restoration–you need to get real. The expenses are real and really costly.
I bought a 950 square foot 1950 minimal traditional last year! And love this site! I must agree with a previous messge, take the time to review and hire a good inspector so you know what you are getting into! I have some repairs and restoration work to do, but nothing that time and money can’t take care of as the house is a solid little old lady and cute as well! And yes, it is a labor of love, and after being without a home for several years living in an apartment after owning 2 homes previously there is nothing like owning your home! Now l need to get back to finding the time and money to make it my own!
We bought our first home last year, a 1929 spanish style in Los Angeles. The house was a flip, and presented great. We had a spot on inspector, who let us know that the flip was a quick one. We’ve had some surprises this year, and some expected expenses that were pointed out in the home inspection. Roof repair, and entirely new roof for garage (previous owner nailed down tar paper, as if that was never going to leak) $3400, which inspector pointed out, and gave fair estimate to fix.
We hear a loud pop, and low and behold, our original plaster ceiling in the laundry room had cracked and was hanging down, cost to have replastered, the old fashioned way, $1000. Paint suddenly peeling off the walls in not often used guest bathroom, walls had to be scraped, re-surfaced, and painted, cost approx. $500.00 Thanks flippers for not using primer! Good thing we we have another bathroom that’s covered in paint that is a ticking time bomb.
We also are waiting to have the entire plumbing redone, as it’s 50% cast iron piping, we can live with the sometimes rusty water, for now!
Other flipper gafs, installing sub standard sprinklers and not having a shut off valve, the sprinkler main line sprung a leak, and that all had to be replaced. Cost was rolled in to removing dead trees, and trimming other old growth ones that threatened the house, and adding some landscaping.
I grew up in old and very old homes in New England, and they have problems. As far as the difference between renting and owning, I never want to share walls with a neighbor ever again. I also love that we have over time, repainted and are making the house ours. I don’t have to get a landlords approval to paint my bathroom mid century pink, or convert our pull down ironing board cupboard into a better use spice cabinet. I love our vintage house.
Just make sure you have a rainy day fund for the unexpected, because that check is in the mail.
Fall is coming quickly here in central PA and we finally see the chance to build a fire in our great fireplace. We just moved into the house in June, so we were looking forward the a nice crackling fire. Hubby decided to do the right thing and get someone in to clean the chimney before we got started using. We were expecting a quick sweep and a low bill. What we got was a 3 hour inspection and a $4800 estimate for re-do the chimney. I think it is time for a second opinion! I was so ready for a warm fire. Yuck!
40+ years in a 1931 federal row house in Washington DC. Luckily, we are the 3rd owners, acquired it before the renovation craze of the last couple of decades. Bathroom is a DIVINE Deco style, black and white high gloss tile on walls, small black and white marble tile on floor, dreamy American Standard LILAC fixtures…
All inside original. We stripped the doors, pocket doors and french doors and repainted them when we moved in, stripped the kitchen cabinets to their original wood and lead glass. Wonderful 1930′s Magic Chef 36 inch stove. This work was elbow grease. Otherwise, full upgrade on electric twice, just in order to be up to date with all the electrical demands, in the 1970′s with kitchen appliances, in the late 1990′s to keep up with computers, printers, etc. 6K (or the equivalent in the 70′s) at a time.
Truly MAJOR upgrade was total house re-piping – inside and out – upgrade to 1/2 inch copper – it had lead piping. 13.5K including new boiler and new water heater. (no new car that year…).
Painting refresh every 10 years. Floors sanded and redone when we first moved in. Contemplating redoing them if needed before sale.
I have been thinking of a kitchen change, but not an overhaul, unless prep for sale…. If only I could clone the lilac bathroom….
This house has been so good to us…and it will be a jackpot to the next owners – when we get ready to part with it – if they just ‘listen’ to its beat.
I forgot the new high energy efficient windows and back siding – total 10K last year.
Contemplating a light tunnel over staircase. Anyone has an opinion about or experience with that?
After reading all of the above stories, I really can’t complain! I bought a house because there aren’t many legal apartments allowed on the entire island where I live, and most of the ones that are here are 2 bedrooms or less. I wanted a small house that wasn’t updated, and the 1965 ranch is what I got. The inspector found most of the important stuff so all I really needed was a new roof and some minor repairs. What is absolutley KILLING me is the price of heating oil (700 bucks a pop, a fillup every winter month) I went ahead and made homemade plexiglass storm windows for the aluminum windows that leak like a seive-these cost over 200 bucks for ten windows. Taxes here are almost ten grand too-ouch!
1) The first spring (2011) in my 1970′s rancher, flies began emerging from the bricks on my fireplace….by the MANY!! I had them identified by extension service as houseflies not blow flies. I paid $250 for a guy to come to tell me there was nothing dear in my chimney. Pest Control firms either wouldn’t come or wanted a year round contract. So began the exhausting task ( I am bug phobic!) of vacuuming them as they emerged. I added a bug zapper which I hung in my LR ! Neighbors now admit they all wondered why I had a purple light in my LR. This year no flies! YAAAAY
2) My other house , rented to wonderful professional people suffered an electric surge from a lightning strike. Power company replaced the meter, but the smoke alarms were shorting, the GFI’s were down, and my tenant’s washer needed a new electrical panel. Repair $957—-insurance deductible $1,000!! Natch!
Because I’m not living in my dream house, my house is a lot older than a lot of your homes (142 years old, to be exact!). But we’ve had our share of stupid things that didn’t go the way we planned – not the least of which was having to completely replace an entire floor and ceiling right in the middle of a pretty basic renovation (adding insulation). Talk about going way over budget!
We also had the house re-wired in the year after we first moved in – total re-wiring and upgrade from the cheesy little fuse box to a good breaker box. Unfortunately, part of the connection from the outside wires to the meter was allowing a tiny, tiny leak through the main wire into the house. We didn’t realize this until the lights started flickering one day. The entire breaker box was almost fried. Thank goodness we found that one when we did, but it died mean we had to replace the breaker box and all the breakers – NOT cheap! Two complete sets in a matter of less than fourteen years!
My best, best advice comes before you own your home. Pay for your own independent inspector! We, unfortunately, used the realtor’s inspector, and all he found was a light in a closet that apparently should not have been there and a stair rail that needed to be put up. There was a lot more going on in this house than that!
My daughter and her husband bought a small house to remodel in late summer of 2009. Supposedly, it was built in the early forties. HaHa! My husband and I found Sears catalog pages stuffed between bricks in the chimney; that we tore down, from much earlier.
It took the rest of that year and half the next to “rebuild”. The subfloor in all but two rooms had to be replaced, walls in two rooms replaced, one chimney torn out, roof repaired, new breaker box, everything rewired, washed and painted.
It was worth every hour, and penny put into it. They had an offer from a purchaser for double the total of what they paid and invested in the “fix”. They are happy with their home and planning to live there for a long while.
Yes, there is life after remodeling an old house, but it’s hard to be satisfied just “rocking on the porch”, my husband and I are starting on our 1960′s ranch now.