Fixing up an old home isn’t for amateurs
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- October 10, 2023
- 468
Buying and fixing up an old house is not for amateurs. It takes folks with home-owning experience, money, commitment and more money to handle the challenge of redoing an older home.
First-time homeowners should be extremely wary of older houses, especially if a house is listed as “quaint.” The word “quaint” can be translated as “in dire need of remodeling.”
One of our daughters and her husband, normally a level-headed and practical couple, found a “quaint’’ older house, and they bought her. That hussy of a house enticed our innocent children into a mortgage.
It’s an old story, an inexperienced couple being taken advantage of by a needy house. The simple truth is older houses are often more affordable initially. Novice homeowners love the price of an older home and really have no idea that a house past her prime is no
bargain.
Our daughter and her husband fell in love with such a place, soon discovering their new house had old plumbing, ancient wiring and a very tired roof. Such a place is stressful but never boring — there is always something new to be discovered and fixed. Our daughter was thrilled to find several antique pots in the attic until she realized those lovely old pots were full of water from catching leaks in the roof.
While trying to find a plug for a lamp, our daughter made a sobering discovery: That old place was not overly endowed with electrical outlets. Two per room is all her house provided. The Lilliputian bathroom looked suspiciously like a converted closet with fixtures
crammed in cheek by jowl, leaving about 1 square foot of floor space. Likewise, the closets were all modest in size, for a grand total of three.
Despite her small size and decrepit condition, that old house was sturdily built. Our daughter and son-in-law were confident that once the roof and ceilings were replaced, the windows repaired, the bathroom enlarged, the kitchen updated, the plumbing and wiring
brought up to code, paint applied, and floors refinished, the old house would be just like new.