Well, for starters, the house needed new wiring and plumbing, a new heating system and central air conditioning. Years of water damage left crumbling plaster in nearly every room. All three floors and the kitchen wing needed to be taken back to the studs and re-plastered. Then there was the structural work. Even with repairs, the outside rear wall is noticeably bowed.
Metal stars tie the wall to the opposite side of the house.
The kitchen wing after some demolition. Notice the crude stairway, and 1960s style fireplace. An old steel retaining plate that held the wing together was removed, exposing areas that didn't get the re-pointed 14 years ago. Philip Dodds keeps track of construction details on his laptop computer perched on a Civil War-era desk in the basement of his 1830 home. The extent of the structural damage could not be determined until the demolition began.