Chibimimi and Southern Canuck: The house will keep the timber frame, wall strip sheathing, flooring, rafters, strip sheathing on the roof above the rafters, the ceiling joists, and strip sheathing on the joists. The siding is ALL going to be donated (at least what doesn't need abatement (50%) - it is coated in many layers of lead paint that is cracking) and needs to be removed to place the exterior insulation. The gingerbread will stay. The returns will go. The trim will be similar. The porch trim will be similar. The windows will be as close to their current layout as possible, but the windows currently upstairs do not meet current egress requirements, so that is why I am enlarging the gable window. The plan that shows the door entering directly into the kitchen is the current house (as it sits now/before renovation). Not what it will be after - see the other layouts for clarification - hope you can actually read them now (I am new to this forum, and am trying to get you the info the best I can....) Yes foundation walls and floors, crawl spaces, and dirt basements really do or can account for up to 30-40% of heat loss. They are the largest window in your home. Especially if they are uninsulated, and air infiltration is not managed. Just because you highly insulate you ceilings doesn't mean you don't have heat loss through the ground. Yes heat rises, we ALL know that, but what many don't understand is how heat follows a cold gradient also. For instance when you lay directly on the ground you must insulate yourself from the earth nearly all year round or you will have either moisture problems or hypothermia problems. The earth absorbs your body heat, just like it absorbs the heat from your house. - check out Green Building Advisor or the Building Science Corporation for further documentation and in depth analysis of this phenomenon. If you get your hands on a thorough whole house wall/energy (BTU) calculator, you will see just how much energy is really lost through the foundation walls and floor. OR you will see just how much you will save, by insulating your basement walls and floors............you need to manage moisture, vapor and air though too or can create a massive petri dish inside your home. Those aren't architect drawings - they are mine..... Earthen or bermed homes use the earth as a consistant energy mass, that regulates temperature - the ground is an insulator, but also a heating or cooling mass - which is why geothermal heat/cooling works. It is true documented science that many are confused by. My hope is to keep the essence of the original home, maintain it's look, but tweak it just a bit to fit the needs of my family, while striking a fine balance between making equitable, sustainable, healthy design upgrades. I will have a Venmar ERV to do my air exchange (ERV because the geothermal provides cooling too, and the ERV can help with moisture too). The fireplace will also have outside air exchange.

It takes a lot of money, an ability to weather stress and lots of time to be able to tackle these kinds of renovations. When I purchased my 95 year old home a little over 2 years ago, I seriously didn't realize the extent of repairs that would be needed; nor did anyone else. Every time we touched one thing, something else got involved. There was nothing which was less important than anything else. I paid $225,000 for the home. I've now put in just under $200,000, most of my own cash, some from a refinanced mortgage. Just got done with 3 new doors which cost me over $8000 because they were all specialty sizes and the house being masonry, had to have all new jambs/framing rebuilt due to the masonry falling apart from neglect over the years (the prior Owner, OMG, I don't think he fixed a thing in this house for the 30 years he was in it). I've replaced all the windows, gutted the kitchen, redone the electrical and plumbing, renovated the garden, painted interior and exterior spaces, had the chimney repaired, heating system attended to, put in an a/c system, and more repairs and upgrades than I can shake a stick at. I'll never see it back probably, at least not anytime soon. If I needed to sell I'd lose big on it. And, I still have at least another $50,000 to finish it off properly; I have a main bathroom which is in utter disrepair (well, the plumbing does work but cosmetically it's a horror). At 52, I should be saving more for retirement, not having this house suck the life out of me but I'm in it now. Now way to back out. And, I do love it. So, there you have it.

A total gut would be very expensive. Like one of the above posters said, many people do it and go broke. Maybe you could have someone local look at it and determine if there are things you can do to save costs. Is the plaster in half way decent shape? Can it be repaired? There are lots of people that do that and it's not overly expensive, at least not from what I've seen. Also, an experienced electrician can rewire the house without making holes everywhere and save some money. The plumbing is probably going to be expensive to update, but adding a bath and probably updating the kitchen is well worth it, especially in a house that size. I have no idea what you are paying for it but I am in sosuthern New England and $100,000 for rehab is pretty realistic, but if there are structural repairs to be done, you can probably at least another $50,000 depending on how much needs to be done. Someone I know just spent about close to $35,000 in repairs just to fix powderpost beetle damage on the first level of her house. That was treatment and fixing the floors and some of the sills. They were looking at about $160,000 in total repairs of a house that was probably similar to yours but here in CT and I believe they were looking to do some of the work themselves. Those figures I'm sure would be different in NY but you get the idea. It can be spendy. If the house is done close to period and the trim and other architectural features saved, the house will probably look great when you're done. Get estimates from local licensed insured tradespeople and see where you end up. Don't forget, there is always the "I didn't expect it " cost, like the totally rotten sills or whatever you have to keep in mind too. It's some Murphy's Law thing that it always happens. A remodeled old house is great though and can be very beautiful. Either way, good luck whatever you decide.

Sorry Bungalowmo, I was unable to save the window sashes in our home despite our best efforts. Most of the sash frames had been neglected for too many years and the mortise and tenons were completely rotted. Most of the windows fell apart as we tried to remove them. We were able to restore the original front door and the entire shell of the home. I was also able to save a bunch of chestnut and elm timbers from the renovation that I plan to use when I build the farm table and chestnut accent details in the kitchen. I made a new 8/4" mahogany jamb and threshold for the front door and purchased great period hardware to hang the unit in the new frame. The overall design of this home has taken a bit of a turn over the past year and we chose to build up some of the exterior trim layers. My guys and I spent weeks developing mockups and fabricating the exterior trim on the home. I posted a question some time ago looking for ideas to vent our porch roof and I think we found a creative solution that blends in with the home. We milled ventilation slots in the V-groove soffit that runs around the outside of the porch and glued screens to the top side of every slot to keep critters out. I will then use the two outside gable walls of the porch to exhaust the soffit vents. I plan to install a screen against the outside of the gable wall studs and then install the clapboard siding over the top with 1/4"-3/8" thick spacers behind each course of siding so that from a distance the gable at the end of the porch will look appear to be sided like the rest of the home. The 1/4" spacer helps create a gap between each course of siding for air to flow. If it doesn't work I can always remove the small amount of gable siding and build a custom louver panel. We also ordered fiberglass gutters for the home that look like crown molding so that they blend in with the trim.