Historic, thanks for posting these examples. It's always enjoyable to see historic houses, and these are lovely. Each of these is proportioned to be narrow in front and deep to the rear, which is typical of city lots. Have you looked and compared the street front proportions and scale of these houses with your drafted elevations? If you do you will quickly see that these houses have proportions and fenestration that is largest on the lower level, somewhat smaller on the second level and smallest on the attic (third) level. This is very typical of classic houses. Your elevations do not have the same progression and scale--something that your lumberyard drafter probably doesn't have a clue about. Also look carefully at the roof line. There are simple and single gables, and none of the mulitple gable, multiple materials elevations. While Victorians are often highly detailed, and frequently colorful, there is a unity and harmony that characterizes the best of them--as evidenced in your photos. These photos offer good references for your build. If you can get your plans and elevations to this level of refinement you will be very successful and enjoy your new house for many years. Good luck on your project!

Maybe think of your porch floor a little more like a roof ... I, too, have an old house with incorporated porches (front and back) that sit over top of a full basement foundation (brick with original stucco.) We restored the back porch as a "sunroom" (it was closed in some time in the 30's) and I noted that roofing tar paper was used between the sub floor (plank) and the original T&G porch floor. There are shreds of roofing tar paper hanging on the edges of the bottom of the front porch floor where I can find it, but the old wooden floor was replaced with plywood and then the porch floor was tiled by POs (a bad DIY with 1 inch grout lines that leak like crazy, making my repair job that much more difficult.) The pitch on both porches is good (away from the house) There are low shingled walls all around the porches so water would be trapped without some sort of system to remove it. The front porch uses a pitched trough with 2 exit tubes at the foot of the short wall but I found no evidence of this on the back porch. These 2 devices (the roof paper and the trough) surely would have worked well if they were maintained, alas, the metal trough is rotted thru and leaves/critters were getting into the basement till I discovered the holes and band-aid-patched them till I can address repair of the trough properly. (interestingly, the front porch foundation was hidden behind a finished wall in the basement and was only found when we had a termite inspection done.)

That makes sense the water is going to the sewer drain and not a sewer line! I'm surprised the concrete is the expensive part--- maybe you're in a difficult location where it would be hard to get the concrete there? In our case the expensive part is the sheer overwhelming physical labor of it all. The contractor came back today and I had done some digging above the old coal on the outside as well as inside it (in the basement) and had an unpleasant surprise (are there any pleasant surprises with this house?). Apparently, like everything else with this house, they cob-jobbed the coal chute closed by throwing bricks into it and pouring a thin slab on top. I don't know what caused the avalanche of dirt (and insulation) on the bottom inside the basement, but I do know that there is no concrete floor under it like there is in the rest of the basement! We assumed it was concrete and that the dirt avalanche could just be shoveled out. Course not. We had a lot of rain a few days ago and as I shoveled up some dirt inside the basement, expecting to see a concrete floor, instead it was just more dirt and a growing pool of water. The contractor thinks there is water coming up from the ground as well as through the wall. So that changed our plan a bit since they're going to have to excavate down outside the house to the basement floor level, pour a footer, build a cinderblock wall to properly seal off the stupid coal chute, and then do some waterproofing inside (clean out dirt, install drain in floor into sump pump which is fortunately only about a foot away, pour clean gravel on top, cover with encapsulating material). On the exterior he thinks it should just be graded away with dirt and with a hardscape/mulch/rocks/something, no plantings. The total is now up to $8500. I'm a little shocked that it's that inexpensive, for all the work they'd be doing (pouring a footer sounds like it would be exorbitantly expensive, right?). He also isn't going to be doing the concrete on the other side of the deck (under the kitchen window) since he thinks the water on that side is also coming up from the ground (sheesh) and it wouldn't do much good. So they're just going to grade the ground there with dirt. I asked him about a door at the bottom of the stairs and he said he could put up some of that encapsulating material and have it hang down over the opening, which would be better than nothing since an actual door isn't feasible. It sounds like you did more than your due diligence with getting bids and planning, so I really hope it works out for you! It's got to help somewhat, at least, if not get rid of the water 100%. If your water table is high (like it is here, apparently) then the french drains won't be 100%, but you'd probably know that by now. My husband is still digesting all this information, but if all goes well we'll be having it done early September probably. Good luck with everything!!

been there and done that! Will not do it again. I live in a house originally from the 1950s. Much newer than your house. Even so, we have poured money into this house because of the location and the view. The remodel has taken nearly 20 years to be done from the inception. I think we are finally done! The problem with this type of remodel is that when you think you are done, things that were done at the beginning start to get worn, need work, re-painted etc. I just redid the kitchen that was done 20 years ago! Had I known what I know now, I would have torn down, and built new on this site. I do love the location and the view. I would have spent WAY less AND would have ended with a better product which would have utilized the lot better and I would not have been limited by things like the existing foot print on the lot, stairs etc. Unless there is something truly worth saving from your current house, you can redo much of it by mimicking the style of the house which it was originally built. You can save a few things as a reminder: doors, trim etc. I have known several people that have torn down and rebuilt. They are SO happy that they rebuilt. Most people that have done extensive (all infrastructures redone) remodels, including myself have a very "mixed" feeling about the whole thing. Many say never again. I know others that have run out of money and have stopped before the house was completely updated. If your remodel is not completed, you can't even sell it! 100k is a tiny fraction of what I have spent on our house. Listen to those of us that have done that and been there. I have spend many times 100k in over many years. I don't have a "showcase" house. Much of my money went to do things like electrical, earthquake retrofit, replacing old leaky windows, siding material that was in class action law-suit (meaning I could not sell the house unless I resided), updating 50 year old electrical and plumbing (yours is older), new HVAC etc etc. I have looked for anther house on and off over the years. The housing price has come down significantly and I may be able to find something at the right price. Right now, the only house we are looking at are the ones that were completely done with someone else's money! They are not getting their full value back and I KNOW it because I have been there. I like it that way as a buyer! I know that I will not get my money back when I sell my house. The easiest thing for you to do is to sell and find a new house or already remodeled house. Unless you are hankering for a give-my-youth-and-freedom-away house remodel, this is not a project you want to take on.