A Century Old House

[digitS']

I live in a house built a century ago. Actually, it will celebrate 111 years of sheltering families, this year. Do you live in a home like this?

There are some very interesting questions I have about the house - interesting to me, since I have resided within it for over 15 years now. Like, why is the roof eave over the kitchen of a different width than over the other parts of the house? Was there a different kitchen in this home in 1901 and, what happened to it?!?

What is the deal with the cellar room under the living room that appears to have a sloped entrance separate from other parts of the basement? That entrance is now behind cabinets and the floor has been closed above it.

There was a water district here when the house was built but did this house not have an indoor toilet . . ??

I had most of the windows replaced about 5 years ago. The installer said nothing about the window frames - just installed and chalked. Last year, I repainted 2 rooms and discovered that 1 window didn't quite reach the frame along the better part of one side. I have lived the last 12 months trying to decide how to fix that and hoping that no earthquakes would drop that window into the bedroom, especially not while we were sleeping under it .

Actually, I don't know how that window is held into the frame. I suspect that it is by a little more than the molding. Replacing the 3/8th inch molding with something wider seemed reasonable but I could not find matching molding until recently and have just re-done all of the windows in the old part of the house. I'll finish painting the new molding on the last window, today.

It has amazed me that, altho' the frames have fallen out of square over the last century, the frames are all nearly the same size as their mates . There isn't 3/4ths of an inch difference in the measurements! If the frames were put together onsite, there was no electricity. I don't know when power hand tools began to be used but I doubt if it was in 1901, anyway. Those old guys did a very good job with their miter boxes, hand saws and carpenter rules!

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

our other house that we'll be moving over to in the next few months is also 111 years this year (at least according to the city records) dh says he's seen a corner stone with and 1800's date on it so i'll have to lookout for that stone while grooming the area around the foundation.

there's a cold cellar at the back end of the house. there is an old coal/wood shoot also that had been boarded over and will be properly covered up while we're fixing the house up over the next few years. windows are still the counter balance types so we'll gradually get those replaced or i will be making some stained glass to attach over them to help with insulating them better. i've been trying to figure out the kitchen on it too since the outside it looks like there is a pipe coming up through the roof that doesn't connect to anything i can figure out it should. there appears to be a servants stair area and a small space beside it that my FIL was using as his laundry room and storage for his tools.

i'll try to get some pics of the house when we go over this afternoon for some cleaning so we can compare the outside. ours is a New Englander/Farm house style from what i can tell.

 

[ninnymary]

Our home was built in 1879 and is 133 years old. It is an east lake victorian. The fireplace is a coal burning one that doesn't work anymore. It had "poor man's" stained glass windows. When we replaced 17 windows a few years ago, we asked that the stain glass be duplicated. The person who did them said he gently tapped the glass out while he was watching t.v.

We have since done many things to our house. One of my favorite features was putting in stained glass in 8 windows which make up a bay window. Our goal was to give us privacy from the neighbor but it is truely a work of art.

Mary

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I love the idea of an old house, but I think the reality would be too much work. Instead we bought land that we love. It has a 1960s ranch on it that's in good shape. We will eventually build our dream house (Earthship style) and our oldest son (who is autistic and will never live totally alone) will have this house. I do love beautiful old houses though...

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

well, i didn't get any pics of it today, forgot to take the camera with me. but here's a pic from the city that's on their website.

oh, btw, the bump out area still has the windows hiding under them and we'll be opening the siding to bring out their beauty and light again! not sure why FIL had them covered up but i think it had something to do with them putting in a huge wood stove that has since been replaces with a pretty Vermont Castings stove that isn't as large or ugly. these windows i'll be putting some stained glass for privacy since i don't think curtains will survive being behind a stove in the winter months if we go to use it.

 

[so lucky]

The inside must be interesting, too, if all those gables are visible inside. I love old houses, and envy you getting the opportunity to restore your house and add your influence to it. This home looks like it has good vibes. I can see it with kids and flowers and critters.....Does it have a big lot with it?

 

[thistlebloom]

I like your new house Chickie'! I think your stained glass will be a fantastic idea and be really beautiful behind your wood stove.

I always wanted an old farmhouse with a wraparound porch and a big old barn, but since my husband is the fixerupper around here my vote got quashed :/ .

My sister has lived in a 115 year old house for 30 years. They bought it and basically rebuilt it as they lived there, it had been sorely neglected, but now it's beautiful. It's a Queen Anne cottage. Because it doesn't have a basement and my sister is terrified of tornadoes
they just recently bought a younger house with a basement. After working on the new house ( they seem to be fixer-upper magnets! )
they have a new appreciation for some of the craftsmanship in their old house.

 

[Carol Dee]

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As near as we can tell this house was built about 1904. So it would be 108 now. When we bought it 31 years ago most of the old charm and character had been stripped out The window where original upstairs , weight driven but rattled in the breeze and one blew into the boys bedroom during a storm. We now have all new window. The only basement we had was not much more than a crawl space under the D.R. 4 years ago we added a master bath and bedroom to the lower level for our old age. We also had a housefire in 2008. At which time all old insulation, wireing and plumbing was brought up to code! Originally there was no indoor plumbing, hence the small one upstairs. The kitchen is also an add on as the original was not much more than a long narrow summer kitchen on the back of the house. You can tell by the bump out how much it was enlarged. When digging for the new addition we found a dump area full of bottles and broken dishes. The cistern collapse under the driveway when the last owners truck was parked on it. I have tried to bring some charm back with chair rails, added the porch back to the front and wallpaper. Also did a faux stained glass transom over a DR window. I wish I could have seen it before walls had been moved and carpets laid. (Most of which we tore up and replaced with laminate because the original wood was fir and in poor shape.)

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

hubby told me it once had a barn behind it, which explains the pavement behind the house. it sits on one of the few in town 1 acre lots. i ripped up the 30+ year old carpet in the living room and found that the hardwood floors were perfectly beautiful! i'm hoping the attached dining room is just as nice when i go to pull that carpet up too!

we're still trying to get a ton of junk pulled out of the house but we're hoping to have everything needed to bring it up to code (electric is still on fuses and should be completed this week, and the sill plate just got replaced this past week). kitchen is still a mess with the floors but fixable, and the lower cabinets will be replaced but the upper cabinets are still in very decent condition. those will be refinished, repainted and rehung with new hardware.

FIL left some nice furniture but when we checked with an antique auction house they said they wouldn't bring in much since they are not really sought after anymore. they are not my style and weren't original to the house either. we'll be trying to sell those at a yard sale when we have those this spring/summer. we found a beautiful chair that FIL had been given from his dad when he died and i told DH that i want to keep it! i love the Greenman/satyr face! really fits in with our Scottish/Celtic heritage. it also has carved lion heads at the top on the sides.

there were tons of books that belonged to DH's grandfather that i'm trying to keep for my own collection of gardening and conservation books. most were about 100 years old and from NY where his grandfather and father originally came from.

 

[nachoqtpie]

When we were looking at houses up near Raleigh, we found a BEAUTIFUL 1901 fixer-upper. It had a lot of original to it. It was HUGE!!!! It had quite a bit of land and it was less than $200k. I immediately fell in love and said I wanted the house. We got to investigating more, and there were just too many thing that we couldn't have fixed on our own. :-( It also wouldn't have passed for a VA loan either.