Where To Start When Renovating An Old House – There are many old houses in America. According to Eye on Housing, the average owner-occupied structure was about 37 years old in 2015. For reference, that’s higher than the US median age. More than 38% of all US homes were built before 1970. Only 19% of owner-occupied homes were built after 2000 and only 3% after 2010.
In some parts of the country the housing stock is much older. On average, owner-occupied housing in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania is more than 50 years old. Although there are exceptions to the rule, homes tend to be older in the Northeast and Midwest and in urban cores across the country.
Where To Start When Renovating An Old House
In contrast, new homes and indeed new construction homes are more common in cities in the South and West, and in suburban and suburban communities across the country.
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As a general rule, homes built after 1990 are considered newer, and homes built before 1920 are considered “old” or “antique.” But housing age is a subjective condition that turns on numerous factors.
Lead and asbestos are two hazardous materials that were used in residential applications until relatively recently. Lead, a neurotoxic metal that is particularly harmful to children, is commonly found in exterior and interior paint made before 1978. It is also found in substantial amounts in pre-World War II plumbing systems and in small amounts in water pipes installed before the mid- 1980s.
Asbestos, a naturally occurring fibrous material that causes lung cancer and other serious forms of respiratory disease, was a ubiquitous insulation and fire retardant material until the mid-1970s. Successive EPA actions banned most asbestos applications in the late 1980s, but the agency never required building owners to remove existing asbestos products. Accordingly, many older crawlspaces, walls and pipes still contain asbestos insulation.
When you buy (or rent) a home built before 1978, you generally need to make sure you understand that the home may contain lead paint. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of living with lead paint (the medical literature is not conclusive on the matter, although removal is recommended for homeowners with young children), invest in professional lead paint removal services. According to HouseLogic, professional removal costs $8 to $15 per square foot.
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If your home’s plumbing system is very old, it may still contain measurable amounts of lead. The most cost-effective way to deal with this is a water filtration system, either for the whole house ($1,000 to $3,000, depending on the size of the house and the quality of the system) or the kitchen faucet ($200 to $1,000, depending on the brand and quality). The only way to ensure completely lead-free water is to replace the home’s entire piping system, but doing so can cost upwards of $5,000.
Although direct, prolonged exposure to asbestos is a serious health risk, insulation stuck in inaccessible walls is unlikely to pose a direct risk. However, removal is recommended if you plan to tear down walls, expand your home’s footprint, or attempt other extensive projects that could expose asbestos-laden material.
Asbestos removal costs vary greatly depending on the size of the project. A single pipe or wall runs in the high three- or low four-figure range, while a whole house project costs $20,000 to $30,000.
Over time, termites can destroy wood and wood-like components of the home, including flooring, structural supports, and drywall. The problem is particularly acute in the southern half of the country, where whales are active most or all of the year. Older homes are more likely to have an active termite infestation or pre-existing termite damage due to a compromised foundation or drywall.
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Signs of termite damage include sagging or buckling floors, holes in drywall, hollow sounding wood supports or floor boards, and bubbling or peeling paint.
Prevention is the cheapest and least invasive termite solution. Remove all loose wood vectors from contact with the underside of your home, including shrubs, mulch, building materials and stacked firewood. Prevent water from pooling near or against your home’s foundation by filling in low-lying land or installing a surface drainage system. Use treated wood (non-toxic) for decks and other wooden structures attached to your home. Remove dead stumps and root systems from areas near the house. and seal visible foundation cracks, which provide ready access for termites.
For progressive infestations, hire a pest control professional to shrink or eliminate the colony. Exterminators typically charge $8 to $20 per linear foot (as measured around the perimeter of the home), depending on the foundation type and the severity of the infestation. The average home ranges from 150 to 200 feet in perimeter, so expect extensive treatment to cost anywhere from $1,200 to $4,000.
Depending on the length and severity of the infestation, repairs to termite damage can range from cosmetic fixes (such as replacing damaged floorboards) to structural remediation projects costing $10,000 or more.
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If you can catch the problem before you buy, perhaps during a professional home inspection ($200 to $500), get a repair estimate from a general contractor. Then negotiate with the seller to cover part or all of the repair costs, as well as the cost of professional pest control services if an infestation is ongoing.
Over time, homes exposed to excessive moisture often develop mold and mildew problems. Although basements and bathrooms are especially common in wet-climate homes, moisture-related microorganism growth can occur anywhere. Older homes are more likely to have the problem because moisture can more easily penetrate through cracked foundations and leaky pipes. However, because the infection can start inside the walls, it’s possible to walk by old homes with mold for sale without realizing there’s a problem.
Although small amounts of indoor mold growth are allowed and even expected, uncontrolled growth can exacerbate allergies and existing respiratory problems (such as asthma) in healthy children and adults. The very young, the very old, and those with weakened immune systems may develop more severe infections.
Also, mold literally eats away at its host surfaces, especially wood, drywall, grout, and other porous or semi-porous materials. Unchecked mold infestations can cause structural problems and make a home temporarily or permanently uninhabitable.
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As with termite infestations, the best solution to mold and mildew is prevention. Buying a dehumidifier for your basement ($100 to $500 new, another $50 to $100 in annual electricity costs) can do wonders. Elevated floors can help ensure proper ventilation through a combination of floor or ceiling fans and open windows during dry, mild weather.
You can treat small mold infestations, such as basements or isolated areas of bathroom walls, with a store-bought mold spray, an abrasive sponge or brush, kitchen gloves, and plenty of elbow grease. For larger infections, this is impractical. According to HGTV, whole-home mold remediation can cost as much as $5,000 and possibly more if the infestation affects hard-to-reach areas like the attic, basement crawlspace, or inside walls. To reduce remediation costs, make sure your homeowners insurance policy covers mold cleanup before you buy an older home.
One of the biggest dangers of an old or substandard plumbing system is the potential for a pipe to fail, flooding the home or causing major water damage to walls and floors. A serious failure can make the home temporarily uninhabitable and cost thousands of dollars to clean up, although the damage is often covered by homeowner’s insurance. This can cause long-term problems, such as mold infections.
Before buying an older home, ask the seller how old the plumbing system is and the materials used in the supply and drain pipes. While brass and copper pipes typically last 50 years or more, steel pipes can wear out after 20 years, according to HouseLogic. Pipes made from PEX, an increasingly common plastic material, typically last 40 or 50 years.
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Special care should be taken if pipes are made of polybutylene, a gray, flexible plastic material used from the 1970s to the 1990s. Chlorine, which is found in bleach and other household cleaners, can corrode polybutylene pipes over time and lead to spontaneous failure.
Root damage is another older home plumbing problem that is especially common in heavily vegetated neighborhoods. Over time, tree roots work their way into old drainage pipes under or outside the home’s foundation, burrowing through the pipe joints and tapping the supply of nutrient-rich water that flows throughout the year.
Without proper maintenance, this leads to clogs and backups that can disrupt washing routines and cause water damage in low-lying areas of the home. Remember that tree roots can travel a long way underground: Even if there’s no obvious culprit near your main drain outlet, that mature tree across the street or next to your house could be entirely to blame.
If you’re looking at a home with polybutylene pipes, ask the seller to install (and pay for) the new pipes. If not, consider whether you can afford the inconvenience and expense of replacing the pipe yourself, which should be done as soon as your budget allows to minimize the risk of failure.
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For other common pipe materials, you just need to confirm the age of the system and target a date several years before its end of life. If you still plan to own