house renovation resource needed

March 29, 2005 4:05 AM

Bought a house last year (1901) with a lot of old ceilings and woodcraft. Some parts really need a good renovation. Are there any good resources for these specific operations?
posted by mailhans to home & garden (6 comments total)

The American Bungalow Forums are a good place to start.
posted by litlnemo at 5:54 AM on March 29, 2005

copious swearing deleted

I just typed a l-o-n-g and detailed reply but then accidentally closed the tab in question when I went to look for a final link. I'm afraid you won't be graced with my eloquence today, and instead get a terse summary. Try the following:

• Fine Homebuilding, a magazine that's more shop-porn than useful (for me), but still has some good tips;
• House in Progress, a weblog documenting the renovation of an old bungalow;
• and, especially, The Old House Journal Guide to Restoration, which is out-of-print, but available via used booksellers and eBay.

I had lots more practical advice based on my recent acquisition of an old house (~1890), but no longer have the time to type it all out. Basically: learn by doing. Tackle the tasks that come up (leaky faucets, rotten wood on the deck, etc.), and acquire skills as you do so. If you have time and energy, make a list of less-pressing work that needs done, and tackle those jobs one-by-one.

Damn, I wish I hadn't lost the longer post. Good luck!
posted by jdroth at 6:00 AM on March 29, 2005

Check the insulation, make sure you have some.
Be careful of old plumbing, it's common to go to change a pipe joint and figure out it's failed, then go to the next one back and it fails. Rinse, repeat.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 6:07 AM on March 29, 2005

Make sure all of the critical parts are "sound"...the parts that protect or serve the other parts. Foundation, roof, windows, joists.

If you are living in it while you are working on it, create a "clean space" to live in while work is going on. Try to separate this space from the rest of the house as best you can.

Otherwise, tackle infrastructure before aesthetics. Plumbing, electricity, insulation, ventilation, drainage. Figure out what you are comfortable tackling yourself and what it would be most cost effective/safe to contract out. In our market, hiring someone to hang the drywall was cheaper than doing it ourselves when we figured out the cost of the materials and the time it would take to learn how to do this, plus the special tools we would have to buy or rent to get it done (drywall lift, etc.)

I leave major plumbing and electrical projects to the pro's because I don't want to mess around with electricity and (especially) water.

Talk (a lot) to other folks who've worked on their homes. Ask them about what they would do differently. Learn from the mistakes of others. Make a project plan with checklists.

Renovating Old Houses by Nash is our old house bible. If you plan on using any contractors, On Time and On Budget is a must read.

Use Fine Homebuilding's Breaktime Forum, Old House Web Forums and the American Bungalow Forums. Know that anything you will be doing, someone else has done before. And someone else had to learn.

Take LOTS of photos. They will help you to remember things, as well as provide useful motivation and reassurance that you really ARE making progress. Collect ideas in a scrapbook or file. We track our ideas, progress and work in a houseblog...lots of people do.

Plan regular "vacations" away from working on the house. Arm yourself with a sense of humor, a lot of patience and some rockin' hard music. :)
posted by jeanmari at 7:08 AM on March 29, 2005

dude, last year was not 1901.
posted by mdn at 8:27 AM on March 29, 2005

And by the way - take pictures! I'd love to profile a serious restoration/repair project like what you're about to embark on for hewn & hammered, so please let me know what happens!
posted by luriete at 10:12 AM on March 29, 2005