r/Oldhouses

The basement steps were almost finished. Finally, we had a safe way to get down into the basement. No more crawling and scraping my way up and down. My body was in bad enough shape without having to navigate an obstacle course just to get downstairs.
While I had the upstairs wall open, I went ahead and ran the wiring from the third floor down to the basement, ready to be hooked into the circuit breaker. That way, I wouldn’t have to tear anything open later.
On the opposite side of the basement, I had started connecting the sewer line plumbing. I dry-fitted the pieces until I had the right combination of inlets and connections. I hooked up the line for the toilet and kept moving forward with the plumbing in general.
I also hooked up the bladder tank for the cistern pump and wired it into the breaker board. We now had a water source in the house, even if it was only in the basement so far.
I got the water heater set in place, too. This was actually a gift from someone who follows our page. I began dry-fitting all the plumbing lines, preparing to hook everything together. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of shutoff valves and solid support for the lines.
I also ran a GFCI outlet to one wall for another small water pump.
I continued cleaning things up, including the floor. I took the cabinets that had been upstairs in the laundry room and mounted them on the basement wall.
I ran another outlet on the opposite wall for my shop tools. I used old 4x4 timbers from the old deck to support some new shelves. I organized everything and got my little work area set up.
The basement isn’t finished, but neither am I.
Every day, I fight pain, nausea, dizziness, exhaustion, and so much more. But I keep picking away at things, a little at a time.
As many of you know, I deal with a lot of health issues. I’m on disability, and I don’t get much. People ask me, “If you can work on the house, why can’t you get a job?”
Here’s the difference.
I can work for 15–20 minutes before I have to rest for anywhere from half an hour to an hour. You can’t exactly do that at a regular job.
Some days, the brain fog gets so bad that I forget what someone told me just 10 minutes earlier. That’s not exactly a good situation in a workplace.
I’m dizzy all the time. That’s part of why my legs look like I’ve run through a field of thorns. Falling is a real concern, and that creates liability for an employer.
I can’t even get up in the mornings without feeling sick. I never know from one day to the next, or sometimes even from one minute to the next, whether I’m going to be sick.
That’s the reality of my life.
Recently, I made a post asking anyone who was interested to visit our GoFundMe and help us finish the house. Within 20 minutes, it had 20 downvotes and a bunch of negative comments. I ended up deleting it.
I’ve been called a panhandler and a beggar.
The truth is, it’s been the generosity of the people following our story that has helped us get this far. People have helped us with materials and given us a chance to keep moving forward. Six years of work, one project at a time, and we’re still at it.
I never imagined I’d have to swallow my pride and ask strangers for help finishing a home for my family. But here I am.
And I’ll take the name-calling if that’s what it takes.
Because the only thing that really matters to me is the future I leave for my family.
I’m not trying to build a mansion. I’m not looking for fancy things. I want to finish our house and give my family a safe, comfortable place to call home.
That’s what this GoFundMe is about. The money goes toward the materials needed to finish the house.
If you’ve followed our journey over the last six years, you know this hasn’t been an overnight project. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still work to do.
If you’re able to help, even a little, it would mean more than you know. And if you can’t donate, sharing our story would help, too.
Please help us reach our goal and get this house finished.
Six years in, we’re still building a home, piece by piece, project by project.
Thank you to everyone who’s helped us get this far. We wouldn’t be here without you.
GoFundMe**:** https://gofund.me/3187c802e

ETA: Ours is a condo in a four-unit building.

My husband and I just closed on a duplex down in Chicago. The finished, two-bedroom basement is below grade and has a nightmare of problems. Waterproofing has been done to the stone foundation, but we don’t know where the drain tile begins and ends, or if it even leads to the building sump (the only sump). Water gets into the foundation during rain storms. Impossible to tell where it’s coming from when the entire stone foundation is caked into spray foam insulation.

I would do anything to be able to go back in time and not buy.

EDIT: To everyone saying the house is beautiful, thank you but that's not the house! :(
I just pulled that photo off google! :(

THIS is the actual house: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/30316983/259-brock-avenue-toronto-little-portugal

Hey everyone,

My husband and I are first-time homebuyers looking at a 2-storey solid brick semi-detached home in Toronto. It has been owned by the same family for over 50 years.

We absolutely love the neighbourhood, but I am terrified of buying a 100-year-old century home. My family is heavily pushing us to look further away (like the suburbs) for a 40–60 year old house that "needs less work."

This house is a classic "contractor special" and we already know it has some immediate needs:

1. An active bathroom leak that left a hole in the 1st-floor living room ceiling underneath it (needs a full gut-to-studs remodel + structural check).
2. Likely a roof replacement (asphalt shingles).
3. It has original plaster and lath walls (though modern forced-air HVAC was retrofitted at some point).
4. The basement is unfinished with a separate walk-up entrance but is not legally a secondary suite (low ceiling height). We plan to just use it ourselves for now.

We are budgeting about $80k (including a 15% contingency) wrapped into the mortgage for the initial bathroom gut, leak repair, and roof. We will be hiring contractors—not doing DIY.

My questions for Old house owners:

* Am I completely over my head as a first-time buyer taking on a 1910s double-brick semi with a known leak?

* What are the hidden monsters I need to look out for with plaster and lath or retrofitted HVAC?

* Would you do this again, or do you wish you bought newer?

Appreciate any brutally honest advice or experiences!

Thank you!

The fireplace tile in our dining room is a sort of dark teal that clashes with the stained glass windows above it. I have a piece of the original American Encaustic tile, and I know what color they were going for, but this is way too blue. Is there a way to tint the tile so it has a much greener cast?

Hi all! This is another post about a really cool restoration project - the 1840's Dunnington Mansion in Farmville, VA. You can see one of my previous posts, along with several other on-site pictures, below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/comments/1ldumv2/1840s_dunnington_mansion_update_updates_detail/

Quite a few people had asked for updates when they were available, so we finally have one!

For anyone unfamiliar, the house was built in the 1840's and was added onto thru the 1890's. It was abandoned in the early 2000's after the investors who owned it encountered financial issues. A storm in 2009 peeled part of the roof off of the back of the house. The ensuing water damage and elemental exposure led to the partial collapse of parts of the house, including the floor in a front room and the front porch, as well. The roof was repaired in 2023, but 15 years of exposure to the elements have left some areas extremely unstable.

The Dunnington Mansion Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, was allowed access to steward the house and take care of day-to-day maintenance, fundraise, and promote the Mansion via guided tours and things like music videos.

After a very, very lengthy process, the DMF formally took ownership of the Mansion from the previous owners this past Summer, and restoration work has begun in earnest.

It's been small steps at first, as donations and grant funds become available, but the brush, bushes, and overgrowth that encroached on the Mansion for decades has been completely cleared, and grading around the base of the building has been completed (so that water flows AWAY from the Mansion, instead of into it). The 20+ years of debris that built up on the floors has also been removed, revealing the original wood floors that are still in remarkably good shape, all things considered.

The next step will be to have a structural assessment completed, to see just how bad some of the damage is, and then to repair the roof and gutters to stop water infiltration.

From there, the windows will all be either replaced or rebuilt and temporary power will be run to the Mansion so that interior repairs can begin in earnest.

For anyone curious about the DMF and the history of this mansion, and some of the really cool features (like the Conservatory, one of only a handful of originals remaining on the East Coast), check it out at https://dunningtonmansion.org/

Hopefully we'll have more updates soon!

This is my place. Not especially old. Edwardian in style but built in the 1930s using Edwardian construction methods and the same materials, including Minton flooring throughout. We still have the original architect's drawings.

Things in the basement I knew would take awhile. The cleanup alone was taking forever. Never ending buckets of muck and garbage. But it was getting there.
The floor was covered with garbage, old boxes of stuff put in the basement to store but actually turned to wet muck. People’s memories destroyed. We managed to save a few things including a box with snow globes in it and some Christmas towns. But most things were ruined.
In the corner laid a wooden cross laying on its side. I wasn’t sure how to take that. The way the basement looked I thought maybe it was a warning lol. Or a sign for a ton of prayers.
The plumbing ran every which way. Crisscrossing and mostly unstrapped. So loosely dangling and waiting to come apart. So I went ahead and stripped all the plumbing out of the basement. I needed to just start new.
I also found a makeshift support on top of an old 2x4 they had put a piece of wood under an area in the bathroom. Not even the right area and definitely not safe. Nor was the metal jacks they had in a few areas that rusting on the bottom from sitting on 2’ of water. So I actually put in 6 large jacks and smaller ones in the crawl space under the dining room and son’s room. I just wanted to make sure this timber was supported. When I say timber I mean it as the beam was rough sawn and still had bark in areas.
I was sorting through all kinds of junk. Old insulation, garbage, bricks, and even an old tire. It was starting to look like a basement more and more. Things were clearing up. I could see actual floor and once it was clear I’d be scrubbing it to get rid of chance of mold.
In the midst of all of this in a tiny side room was a huge fuel oil tank. And it was leaking out a broken line onto the basement floor. So I grabbed a pair of vise grips and pinched the line closed. Now I had to figure out how to get rid of the oil. I’d worry about that later as I wanted the basement at least usable.
We had also found out about our sewer by this time. We’d hired a cleanout company, just to find out the septic was a rusted barrel. So we were back to no sewer, no water,etc. Well we’d got a government program that paid for us to get a septic with only us paying a $1000 down. As I was at this point in the basement cleanup, they’d finally did the new septic and the new main line was through the wall and ready to go.
Then finally we started addressing a huge issue. The “stairs” for the basement. Or lack of. Trying to get to the basement was a horror show. Trying to get in the basement after two strokes, PVNS and other crud, next to impossible without getting hurt. Which I did many times lol. So we got to working on installing new stairs so life wasn’t so hard.
Part 3 next week.
Just so you know a ton of this house has been through donations. We do have a go fund me going and the link is on my profile page if anyone is interested in helping us achieve the finishing work on the home after 6 years of major overhaul. I won’t be pushing it because I’m here to share my story not promote a fundraiser.

We just got a minisplit installed in our living room. The house is a 1925 Colonial and my husband and I try to keep to a classic look for the interior that matches the age of the house and the molding.

The minisplit is a necessary eyesore (the window AC unit will be gone permanently). We will be purchasing a cover for it, but this is where my husband and I can't agree. I know that nothing is going to make this thing visually disappear, but what color should we go with?

1. White, same as molding

2. Blue, same as walls

3. A bronze, non-shiny metallic

4. A completely different color entirely!

Other photos in the comments. Also excuse the sad cut and paste of the cover. I didn't want to use AI.

1800’s house that’s had MANY owners. Just realized this isn’t the wood color; it’s paint. Any ideas on what kind of paint would come out like this to look like wood? I’m only trying to do touch-ups on the windows if I can manage it. Is this possible to remove without damaging the wood? Thanks for any help!

Update almost 4 weeks out from removing disgusting carpet and the thin subfloor. We counted 5 layers of paint on the wood floor and started with a chemical stripper, followed by sanding with a hand held orbital sander. Full respirators and goggles made for hot work. Getting ready to repair the holes and install wood slivers. Then considering renting a large sander from box store to clean things up. Thanks for any advice and feedback!

For a few weeks I’ve been noticing a slight musty smell from my heating unit, but recently it’s gotten so prominent that I try to keep the window open anytime I’m home. My super came to look at it and basically couldn’t pinpoint any issues or solutions, but I’m a singer and concerned for my health if I’m constantly inhaling this mystery odor.

See pictures below from when he opened it. My current theory is it’s simply the smell of the rust. The entire door cover is rusted on the inside as well. I vacuumed and dusted the inside but my super wants to cover the floor/base with cement as a solution in case the odor is coming from below but I don’t know enough to know if that makes sense. Any suggestions & advice welcome!

I've got a hallway with 5 doorframes that are all painted white, and I want to get them all back to the original wood (including the cabinets in the central built-in).

I'm wondering what the most exacting way to do this is (ie: I'm afraid things like Citristrip or Peelaway will also pull up paint from the walls, and I've used a heat gun before on furniture and am not sure I can control it efficiently enough to avoid heating the walls?).

Do the Infrared Heat box things work on this sort of trim? Totally game to purchase the right equipment to be the most efficient.

Thanks!

PS - is there a name for these little rectangles that are on every door frame?

This is my mom’s 1820’s farmhouse and really hoping for some recommendations! The house has all 2 over 2 wood windows that were made my a previous owner in early 20th century. Unfortunately, the house was turned into a rental before she bought and restored it and many of the windows are painted shut, unable to open for some other reason, or have broken glass (including many of the original storm windows).

My mom isn’t able to work on the house herself and as someone planning to get pregnant in the not distant future, I don’t want to risk lead exposure in trying to fix them myself (I’ve done some reglazing in the past). We’d not only like to have them working for her but are also really afraid when she sells, the new owners will just rip them out if they’re not working well.

We’d love any recommendations for window restorers in the Hudson Valley. I’ve reached out to Newburgh Sash and have been told their waitlist is so long they’re not even taking new jobs onto it. Other options I’ve seen come up often don’t have even working phone numbers. Would love any recommendations (especially with contact info if possible)!!