200 Year Old Farmhouse Renovation

3 years ago

My husband and I are considering purchasing and renovating my family’s almost 200 year old farmhouse (pictured below). The house has been vacant for over 30 years and in the last 10 years or so has really fallen into disrepair. The house would definitely need all new plumbing, electrical, new windows, insulation, a new front and back porch, etc. and I have no idea what shape the foundation is in. The floor plan is great, it has beautiful woodwork and it is very sentimental to me since it’s been in my family for almost 200 years. All of that being said, we are trying to decide if it would be worth it to renovate this house or to just build new. Does anyone have experience totally gutting and renovating an almost 200 year old house and input on whether or not it’s worth it?

Featured Answer

remodeling1840

3 years ago

Oh, no! I just reread your post. Please, please don’t “gut” the house. My plaster walls are beautiful. I know everyone wants to tear down to the studs, add new walls, and drywall. No! Beneath my plaster is walnut and cherry. There are no studs in this house except for the “new” bathroom added to the master bedroom many years ago. In everything we do to our house, we try to honor the Revolutionary War soldier who built it. Yes, we have indoor plumbing, electricity, dishwasher, and internet! But we’re not replacing the 200 year old windows with their spectacular wavy glass or tearing out the kitchen fireplace to make more rooms for cabinets or modernizing the charm and the history out of it. Our stair rail is short and the headroom above the doors causes anyone over six feet tall to duck. I love the radiators added in the 1927 restoration and, yes, we had to replace the gas fired boiler last year. When we bought the house, we had the electrician here so long, I thought I should be able to claim him as a dependent! But my siding is walnut and I watch the sunrise over my house as it has for over 200 years and I can walk through the woods to a tree that is on the survey dated to 1797. And your house is your family history.....

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Comments (12)

heatheron40
3 years ago
We did it, are doing it and ours was habitable.....that was 27 years ago. It is a money pit. Take out special pieces, fireplaces and features, flooring even, save for instalation in your new build. To do it over, I would not. We're now onto the outside.....
oldhouselove1290 thanked heatheron40
remodeling1840
3 years ago
Our house is over 200, but was rescued 90 years ago. Fortunately that family kept it as authentic as they could. They lamented the expense of a shake roof and “made do” with standing seam. That was in 1927 and we had the roof repainted in 2019. My window glass is wavy and the sashes need sticks to keep them open. The floors are uneven and we have a cellar, not a basement. Winter dinners are sometimes prepared in the five foot wide fireplace with the original crane. We definitely don’t have an open floor plan-and I love the separation, especially during March Madness! A new house will never have the history your family house has. We entertained the gr-gr-gr-gr grandson of the man who built our house! It was an unforgettable evening for all of us, sitting in the dining room where so much history happened! We felt embraced by the past.
oldhouselove1290 thanked remodeling1840
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oldhouselove1290
Original Author
3 years ago
Heatheron40 Wow, I cant imagine doing renovations for 27 years, that sounds like a nightmare!! What you said about your house being a money pit, that’s definitely what we’re scared of with this house. I‘m hoping though that if we go in and update the plumbing, electrical, roof, windows, etc right off the bat that there won’t be any major issues that we have to address later on.

Also, that’s a great suggestion about taking special pieces out if this house and putting them in a new build if that’s the route that we decide to take!
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oldhouselove1290
Original Author
3 years ago
Remodeling1840 I think I may have misspoken a bit when I said that we would “gut” the house. We will definitey be keeping the plaster, woodwork, floors, fireplace and all other original elements as much as we can! The house has so much history (local legened has it that George Washington once spent the night there!) and we definitely want to honor it as much as possible! Unfortunately, the house is just in such poor shape that I’m not sure what all we would be able to salvage.

How incredible that your family was able to entertain one of the descendants of the original owners of your house! What a wonderful time that must have been!
Seabornman
3 years ago
I've redone one house of that vintage and it turned out very nice. It helps if most of the original doors, trim, flooring is intact. Mine wasn't. It also helps if the house is in good structural shape, as mine wasn't and took an incredible amount of time to remedy. I lucked into a whole house of old doors that I was able to repurpose. I had to recreate all of the trim. Once the original wide pine floors were uncovered they turned out beautiful. I did most of the work. I can't imagine how much it would have cost if paying others. I learned a lot.

I'd only do it again if I knew the house was good structurally. Your house should be timber frame if it's 200 years old. Have someone look at it, especially the roof framing and crawl space. It looks great from the one picture! Good luck!
oldhouselove1290 thanked Seabornman
Sigrid
3 years ago
I'd start with an inspection from a pro. It may be easiest to follow the inspector around as he inspects. Find out the shape of the wood parts of the structure, the foundation, chimneys etc. You could have anything from something pretty sound to a wreck a good windstorm away from falling down.

Window sashes that need to be propped open with sticks are no big deal. Replacing/fixing the counterweights is pretty easy (except you will probably need to repaint).
oldhouselove1290 thanked Sigrid
Seabornman
3 years ago
Find an inspector, maybe even a contractor or architect, who knows very old houses. The average house inspector may have no experience with truly old construction.
oldhouselove1290 thanked Seabornman
remodeling1840
3 years ago
Sigrid is right. Before we bought, we told the home inspector to point out everything. We did not want to pull out of the sale, but, rather, we wanted a list of things we could use to plan our restoration. We found a plumber and an electrician who had worked on old houses in a respectful manner. My BM paint dealer gave me the name of a company who painted historic houses. Our chimney sweep restored five fireplaces so they are safe and animals can’t set up housekeeping in the chimneys. We tackled things in the order of safety, preservation, and importance to us. A new house, even with pieces and parts of the old house, will never tell your family’s story like this house. As an amateur genealogist, I did the genealogy of my house. It is tied to the early development of this state, this county, and this community. You can bring this house back to life. George Washington?!! What dinner party conversation!.
oldhouselove1290 thanked remodeling1840
oldhouselove1290
Original Author
3 years ago
Oh yeah, we’re definitely going to have a contractor who specializes in old house renovation look at the house before we buy. We definitely want to know what we’re getting into upfront.

The foundation of the house is stone piers (I guess that’s what you would call it). Has anyone had experience with this type of foundation at their old house and if so, if there were issues did you repair the foundation, replace it, etc? I know that this is something that a contractor would be able to tell me, I’m just curious what others have done.
0
User
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
This is an exquisite renovation. i believe they replaced the foundation in at least part of the house.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/21018169/from-fixer-upper-to-refined-farmhouse

and there’s a lot of info if you scroll down a bit on repair using cement block and lime morter repair of old stone.

https://www.google.com/search?q=200+year+old+house+stone+foundation+repair&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS676US676&hl=en-US&sxsrf=APq-WBscBrg3CNG7JVqQjfzrQDu7SiLoqA%3A1648554026387&ei=KvBCYpSTF6ib_QbouaXwAQ&oq=200+year+old+house+stone+foundation+&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAEYATIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABMgUIIRCgAToHCCMQ6gIQJzoHCC4Q6gIQJzoECCMQJzoFCAAQkQI6CAgAELEDEIMBOgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoLCC4QgAQQsQMQ1AI6BQguEIAEOggIABCxAxCRAjoHCAAQsQMQQzoKCAAQgAQQhwIQFDoNCAAQgAQQhwIQyQMQFDoGCAAQFhAeOggIABAWEAoQHjoICAAQgAQQyQM6CQgAEMkDEBYQHjoFCAAQhgM6BQghEKsCOggIIRAWEB0QHkoECEEYAFCsUlj18AFgtIkCaARwAXgAgAGdAogB-xSSAQYzMy4yLjGYAQCgAQGwAQ_AAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp
oldhouselove1290 thanked User
oldhouselove1290
Original Author
2 years ago
Trailrunner Thank yoy so much for the links! I’ll definitely take a look at them!

200 Year Old Farmhouse Renovation

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