I am working on buying a house from the 1800's.

Brad Thrift

3 years ago

1) I have old/cheap vynel on the floors. how could i replace them or add carpet?

2) I also have old style wood paneling all through out the house. how can i change or replace those?

3) Also, i would like to add a front and back porch. do i need a permit for that?

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Comments (6)

User
3 years ago
Hi Brad -- If you'll post photos of the rooms, you'll probably get more responses. It's tough to visualize what you're working with otherwise. As to the permit - no way for us to know about that here. You'll have to contact your local municipality and inquire.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
Show some respect for the historic fabric of this home please.
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showing my home love
3 years ago
I have old Victorian and the kitchen had a red RUG, underneath the rug was tiles (probably asbestos) and underneath those tiles was a beautiful wooden floor. If there is a wooden floor underneath there (which may be highly likely), I would recommend keeping that.
J Inhof
3 years ago
Well, watch out! There very well may be asbestos tiles in that vinyl layer and you will likely have to get an abatement crew in to remove it. We owned an old home with vinyl floors and rather than going to the expense of the abatement crew we covered the old vinyl (linoleum?) with classic grey and white tile squares.

Don’t know about your paneling, but there are many examples of Victorian age homes with painted paneling And it can be quite attractive.

About the permitting on the porches, you can probably go online and look up the permitting for porches. In our county we needed a permit for a new porch, but for a replacement porch we didn’t need a permit. But that is our county, yours may be different.
SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
Building additions requires permits. Updating electrical needs a permit. Adding/removing structural supports require permits.

Flooring doesn't need anything...but the possibility of asbestos in the vinyl is high. If these are LINOLEUM then probably not. Asbestos was in EVERYTHING. Walls. Ceilings. Around pipes. In attics. It was in over 150 different building products up to the 1980's.

And then there's the lead. Oooooohhhhh the lead. Lead based paint is going to be a few layers deep on the walls.

Just test anything you wish to 'demolish' for any/all of the above.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
IMO this is no way to do this. First you have given us no infoas to what you are wanting to do to the house . Are you gutting it and making it more modern, do you want to bring it back to its original style. All the questions we need answered before even beginning to help. I had an 1905 house and did not want to have it back to 1905 since I don’t live in 1905. We did however put back trim to the original where possible but as for threst it was brought up to our century and I did not feel guilty about it. IMO we still honored the house without ripping it down ane rebuilding and the gentleman whos family built the house loved what we did.Yes you need to have stuff tested . Asbestos abatement is IMO one of the biggest rip offs ever, There are simple ways to handle this DIY but you need to do some research for sure. As for anything else you need to at least post some pics and permits are needed for many things but you need to check with your area.

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I am working on buying a house from the 1800's.

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Joseph Corlett, LLC

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