Night Elf Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Today I noticed what looked like a spotlight laying in the garden bed up against the house. Upon inspection, yes, it is a spotlight. It fell off the corner of the house. Granted many of our outdoor lights haven't worked but now it's fallen off. A lack of lights haven't bothered us, but I certainly don't like that the dumb thing fell off! Our backdoor was sticking super bad. DH tried to figure out what went wrong and was sanding down the threshold and the whole thing moved. The bottom of each side frame is rotted away and now the threshold isn't sticking. I used Home Advisor to make an appointment for someone to come out and repair this. We replaced the roof 9 years ago so that's good. We had to replace the HVAC which was expensive about 3-4 years ago. We had to have a new drain field for our septic tank done 3-4 years ago. We had to shore up the foundation with steel I-beams about 2 years ago. We replaced the water heater 2-3 years ago. Good grief! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Our house is 20 too. And we are definitely seeing the maintenance bills pile up in the last few years. My detestation of builder basic standard construction cannot be overstated. It just doesn't hold up as well as more careful craftsmanship and better materials. We are counting the days until we can build. Grr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 That's the boring part of home ownership, isn't it? My dh was talking about how we need a wood chipper because there are soooo many sticks in the yard. What a boring thing to have to buy. We also need to do something with our sewer pipe leading out of the house, but that looks like it'll be $6k or so. Yuck! My house is 68 years old, but we've only had it for 14 years, but as far as I know, no one had to reinforce the foundation! Yikes! In our 14 years here, we had to have drains put in for water seepage in the basement, we had to replace the roof, had to have a new furnace-a/c unit and water softener. There are some leaky windows that need to be replaced, but it will be expensive, so we put that plastic over them instead. There are little projects I'd like to work on on the house, but everything is so expensive and my dh and I aren't particularly handy. Maybe when the kids are out of college we'll fix up the house. Either that, or buy a brand new house with no problems and then move every other year into another brand new house. ;) I was at dinner last night with a friend whose house is 200 years old. Eeeep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) Our house is 20 too. And we are definitely seeing the maintenance bills pile up in the last few years. My detestation of builder basic standard construction cannot be overstated. It just doesn't hold up as well as more careful craftsmanship and better materials. We are counting the days until we can build. Grr! Overall, I think our 68 year old house is pretty sturdy. But I've watched enough home improvement shows to know that you shouldn't say that because maybe under the linoleum (yes, I have linoleum) are a bunch of rotten floor boards that no one knew were there. But right now, things look great! We're leaving the linoleum intact until the kids are out of college. :P Edited April 29, 2017 by Garga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 We *moved into* our house over 20 years ago, when it was 110 years old. :lol: But I don't think we've had to replace things as often as that. We did the roof for the first time since we moved in a few years ago. We jacked up parts of the building a bit when we moved in, but it was already 110 years old... many new houses seem to be built like they're disposable. .. But we do have critters. .. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonesinIndiana Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) Our house was built in 1962. This is the second house we've had from 1950's - 1960's. We've had good luck with the workmanship. Before we bought our present home, the original septic field was replaced by the seller costing $7,000. ETA: We replaced our original tile roof from our house in Florida in 2001. The house was built in 1956 and the tile lasted until 2001! We replaced it with shingles, we couldn't afford tile. Edited April 29, 2017 by JonesinIndiana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Our house is 20 too. And we are definitely seeing the maintenance bills pile up in the last few years. My detestation of builder basic standard construction cannot be overstated. It just doesn't hold up as well as more careful craftsmanship and better materials. We are counting the days until we can build. Grr! Maybe this is a spin off, but how does one avoid this in this day and age? It seems like it's either fast and standard (aka cheaply done) or extreme luxury, no middle ground. How are you going to go about building and such? We might be ready in 2-3 years to build, but I want a regular house that just doesn't have all the corners cut in the construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Ours is nearly 100! Happy birthday to your house. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Today I noticed what looked like a spotlight laying in the garden bed up against the house. Upon inspection, yes, it is a spotlight. It fell off the corner of the house. Granted many of our outdoor lights haven't worked but now it's fallen off. A lack of lights haven't bothered us, but I certainly don't like that the dumb thing fell off! Our backdoor was sticking super bad. DH tried to figure out what went wrong and was sanding down the threshold and the whole thing moved. The bottom of each side frame is rotted away and now the threshold isn't sticking. I used Home Advisor to make an appointment for someone to come out and repair this. We replaced the roof 9 years ago so that's good. We had to replace the HVAC which was expensive about 3-4 years ago. We had to have a new drain field for our septic tank done 3-4 years ago. We had to shore up the foundation with steel I-beams about 2 years ago. We replaced the water heater 2-3 years ago. Good grief! I'm curious, what was the range of cost for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Not sure how old our house is. Probably 19th century, maybe 18th. Yes, things fall off, but it's not doing badly. It used to be part of a larger estate, so the individual documents only date from the 80s. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scholastica Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Our house is 20 too. And we are definitely seeing the maintenance bills pile up in the last few years. My detestation of builder basic standard construction cannot be overstated. It just doesn't hold up as well as more careful craftsmanship and better materials. We are counting the days until we can build. Grr! I agree. Our house is 37 years old and I was thinking just yesterday how much more sturdy and substantial it feels than my in-laws newer construction. I don't think I'd build now unless I could afford seriously good materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted April 29, 2017 Author Share Posted April 29, 2017 I'm curious, what was the range of cost for that? The repairs to the foundation were $8,000. We were not happy. There were cracks along the entire length of the house. The steel I-beams were placed in our garage and storage rooms. They don't look horrible but I don't know if I'd want to buy a house if I saw such things. I hope that doesn't bite us in the rear when it comes time to sell this house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 My house is 106 years old. In some rooms the floor is so saggy I have to put books under my bookcases in order to level them out. There's a 3 inch difference floor-to-ceiling from one side of my living room to the other side. But my ac and furnace are only three years old :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 (edited) We just bought a house built in 1954. This is a very common house age around here. The housing stock is mostly from the 50's. What shocked me was when I realized that at the end of our 30 year mortgage, this house will be nearly 100. Edited April 29, 2017 by Sassenach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2017 Share Posted April 29, 2017 Maybe this is a spin off, but how does one avoid this in this day and age? It seems like it's either fast and standard (aka cheaply done) or extreme luxury, no middle ground. How are you going to go about building and such? We might be ready in 2-3 years to build, but I want a regular house that just doesn't have all the corners cut in the construction. Well we are doing the work ourselves and not picking the cheapest of any given material and splurging of things that take heavy wear and tear, like the hot water heater and roofing. We tend to over engineer key things too, like the tiedowns for the foundation and roof, which are weak points in wind and seismic events. Also just the manner of construction can make a difference - we are building with ICF, fiber reinforced concrete, and steel studs, not timber. Focusing on how the sun hits the properly with regard to window placement and solar can also be key in keeping costs low long term. Proper drainage around the foundation, fire suppression systems, etc, all are details that make a big difference down the road but aren't something you'd see in terms of curb appeal. Interior finishes need to be durable first, beautiful second. We plan our space very well too, because wasted space isn't worth paying for. Honestly this probably costs 20-30% more, but these things save so much down the road in terms of unhappiness, maintenance headaches, damage in an event, and replacement. Not buying the cheapest faucet, the cheapest fittings, the attractive but finicky finishes, and spending the extra time to really think through how you live and how your spaces need to function is far more important than whether it looks like it popped out of HGTV. I recommend two books to get you started on this that are invaluable: Make Your House Do The Housework: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-House-Do-Housework/dp/0937750336 The Not So Big House: https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Not-So-Big-House/dp/1561586056/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493509875&sr=1-3&keywords=the+not+so+big+house On the latter there are multiple books in the series and they're all good, so I recommend checking them out from the library for fantastic ideas. The former is great for laying out why some materials or design features make much more sense than others for ease of home maintenance and happy living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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