From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Subject: Re: Renovating a 100 yr old home, what's involved?
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 20:26:20 GMT

In article <51sI024Q31Je01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> rwc70@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Robert W Creasy) writes:

>  I have questions for anyone who has renovated a home that is older than
>60 years of age.  My situation is as follows.  My wife and I are looking
>into purchasing a house that is approx 100 yrs old in the San Jose Ca area
>and are trying to determine what we may be getting ourselves into.

I redid one in Atlanta that went up in 1926. What follows is based mainly
on that.

>- The Plaster/lathe walls have minor cracks and layers upon layers of wall
>  paper that is peeling in copious amounts.  Would the standard method of
>  repair be to lay drywall over the existing plaster or does this present
>  other problems?

We added a layer of 3/8" rock to the Atlanta house. The baseboard there
consisted of a 1 x 10 with a piece of fancy trim about an inch wide on top.
I removed the fancy trim from every room (*very* carefully) and we hung
new rock, butting up against the 1 x 10 and door and window trim. After
the rock was finished, the fancy trim went back up over the new rock.
The main problem here was that there were one or two walls with outside
corners and the pieces of trim that had originally been there wouldn't
fit. To take care of this, we put up new trim in the smallest bedroom
and used the original from that room to fill in.

In those rooms with picture moulding, cove moulding, and ceiling beams,
we removed these trims and rehung them when done. All woodwork was
eventually painted with trim enamel.

For what it's worth, we did make one attempt at steaming off the old
wallpaper. It took over a week to do the living room, and the plaster
was damaged enough by the procedure for us to hang new rock on it
anyway.

>- What potential electrical problems might I face?  The existing system
>  has exposed cloth insulated wiring strung between porcelin posts.  How
>  many amps are these systems typically able to handle?  Because the house
>  has a full basement I would be able to rewire the house fairly easily if
>  necessary.

The fabric is almost certainly cotton. It's relatively safe as long as
the circuits stay cool (don't even think of adding to one), and as long
as no-one disturbs the insulation. In the Atlanta house, these were used
only for lights and had long since been cut out of the system. If you
intend to do *any* additions to the wiring, replace the entire system.
By now, that cotton will be very dry and fragile, so there's a relatively
high risk of fire.

You'll probably find that your service is 110 volt with no provision for
220 volt appliances. If so, the utility company will have to run a new
drop. You can see if this is the case by looking at the wires running
from the pole to the meter. If there are only two, that's a 110 volt
service; you need three for 220.

>- Are windows that are stuck closed a real problem to get working again?
>  I know some windows would require replacement of the entire unit.  Some
>  may just need a new window frame built or lots of scraping/planing.

Yes, they're a pain in the derriere. If they're just painted shut, you
sometimes free them with lots of paint remover. Try doing this first.
With old double-hungs you usually discover that the sash cords which 
attach the weights have rotted away. Since you must remove some of the
window trim to rerun these, it's best done before the rock goes up.

>- The plumbing seems to be in pretty good shape although it would need to be
>  updated when the kitchen is remodeled.  Here again the basement makes
>  access a breeze.  Anything critical I should worry about?

You probably have cast iron, sealed with lead. There's a product called
"plastic lead" which does a fair job of repair on one of these joints.
If you have to completely redo one, though, it's a job for a pro. - it
takes a big cooker and special tools and skills. Check the codes before
planning new stuff. For example, in the Atlanta area know as "Midtown"
in the 70s, a 2" or larger drain was required for a garbage disposal.
This made it impractical to install one in most old houses, since they
normally had a 1.5" drain from the stack to the kitchen.

>What do I need to know and/or worry about that I haven't mentioned?

Should you get a little crazy and decide to remove plaster and lathe,
you should be aware of the fact that the lathe is considered a structural
part of the old walls. Normally studs were spaced more or less randomly
about 20" apart and the wall obtains part of its strength from the lathe.
It shouldn't be removed from load bearing walls.

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                    | Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
George Patterson -  | Teach a man to fish and you get rid of him 
                    |    on weekends.
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