I have been married now for 15 yrs and have lived in this home we custom built for 10 yrs. The first 5 yrs we lived in a 2 BR, one Bathroom, tiny apt where we shared many precious times. We moved there after getting married in our early twenties. Prior to getting married, we struggled to scrape together $7500 for a down payment on 9 acres of land. While living in that small apt, we payed off they land, saved money, and had our first child, a beautiful baby girl. We also made many special friends. During that time, we also started building a 2400 sq ft home that we contracted ourselves. Not to mention the countless hours my DH and Dad spent plumbing, painting, doing trimwork, etc. We did not see each other much over the yr it took to build our home. When we finally were finished and able to move in I remember the excitement I felt moving the boxes and all the toys from that small apt just a couple of miles from our new home. But once we moved here, I felt isolated. No more neighbors to visit everyday. Only though it was only a couple of miles away, it seemed like 1000 miles, because my life had taken a drastic change. I cried for a couple of months. My DH even offered to sell our home and move back to the apts we loved so much our first 5 yrs together. I knew we had worked and planned so hard for this home to be perfect. We stayed and had a son about 3 yrs after moving to our new home. Now I would never dream of going back to the life I had before, but memories are securely attached in the back of my mind that I will never forget. Our family of 4 would have never made it in the small apt. I find myself now lurking on this website everyday that I discovered while remodeling my kitchen. My husband thinks I am crazy that I spend so much time looking at others visions and dream kitchens. He often makes the comment that I should be thankful for the home we have which will be payed for in just a few years and our kids are still just 8 and 13. I do see things on this website that I love and sometimes even makes me dislike the home I have. I have gained much knowledge on this website, but I also have become more critical of every detail I see. I am glad to read this thread that reminded me to be thankful for the things I do have. I know there are people from all places and walks of life on GW, but you never know what kind of situation they are in. My aunt and her DH have no children and make plenty of money. She has a brother who is basically homeless that moves from motel to motel just to survive. She does help him tremendously, but he lived with her for awhile while she was in the process of remodeling her kitchen. When she got a new frig she cried because it was not what she had envisioned. He just looked at her and said "you can't even be happy with a brand new frig, and I don't even own a frig or place to put one." That opened my eyes to the real world. There are so many people who have lost there life savings in these terrible times we live in. I hope this thread helps everyone on GW realize how thankful we all are to have the homes we live in. I could dream all day of something bigger and better or changed, but I still would not be any happier in life than I am today! Thanks Creekylis for the thread. In time your heart will heal and you will have wonderful memories of your other home!

Long dead thread but i'll post my two cents. Yes, once. My wife and i gutted an early 1980's two story colonial (yeah i know it's not old comparatively speaking to other homes mentioned in this thread) but it had terrible wiring, incorrect and undersized plumbing, bad framing, cheappp insulation full of mold, asbestos floors, over 20 windows that were totally shot, an utter disaster of a kitchen, and two hideous disgusting 1980's era bathrooms. It just made sense to gut the place and put it back together right. Plus two previous owners had been heavy smokers and one of them was a creepy cat lady / hoarder who had filled the second floor with tons of junk and way too much weight (I'll come back to that in a minute). But the worst was yet to come. After gutting the place I really started to fully realize that in practicality 2x4 exterior stud walls and 2x8 floor joists for a 2 story home is inadequate especially if the home DOES NOT not have plywood sheathing (just that cheap cardboard wrap) and has 15/32" plywood decking for the floor (should be minimum of 3/4"). We immediately noticed significant sag in all the floors at the center of most of the spans and some of the exterior walls had started to deform inwards. The only solution was to tear up all the floor decking for the second story, remove the interior partition walls upstairs, all the wiring, plumbing, hvac and then sister 2x12's joists to all the old 2x8's after jacking them back up into place. In some places the sag was so bad (well over 5" in the middle of the spans) they had to be cut out, removed completely, and replaced. Would have been impossible to do with wiring, plumbing, hvac in place. We learned later from a neighbor who has lived here since the 80's that one of the previous owners had been a disgusting hoarder and that she had packed the upstairs floor to ceiling with books, trash, and other belongings for years which created the sag. Worse yet she also had a fondness for cats (most of which were not fixed apparently) and they had soaked the floors and sprayed the walls absolutely soaking the lowest two feet of drywall and insulation throughout the home. A subsequent owner who moved in afterwards (before us) tried to encapsulate it with special paint but it didn't work and her dog also urinated on the floors as well. When the sun shined intensely through the windows into the upstairs you could still smell the pungent ammonia stink up there and it was absolutely disgusting. This Hoarder also once owned (she's dead now) two other houses on the street and they were also packed full of junk. lol Fast forward 2-1/2 years and we had done 90+% of the work including plumbing and electrical (with the exception of replacing the panel), keep in mind i worked for a contractor for years in high school and college so i knew what i was doing, but it was basically a second full time job for each of us (5pm-midnight) most days of the week and full on LETS GO! on the weekends. The end product was great and i'm glad we did it because we saved a TON of money, but i have to admit despite having an extensive construction background we were totally EXHAUSTED at the end. I'd probably never do it again unless it was a very valuable house in a prime location to be perfectly honest. My advice to those thinking about doing this, DON'T unless you have the background and experience in hand before getting started. Learning how to do "gut job" renovations on the fly without qualified supervision is a total nightmare scenario and a recipe for a complete, utter, and demoralizing disaster. You've probably all seen the renovation nightmare shows on cable tv. They only hit the tip of the iceberg to be honest. It can not only destroy your wallet, but also ruin friendships, relationships with family members, and even your marriage, just an fyi. It's hard enough if you know what your doing but if you've never attempted small renos within your home you are best to steer clear. You will get quickly overwhelmed frantically looking for help before realizing IT'S ALL UP TO YOU and maybe a spouse to dig yourself out of it. Don't put yourself in that position without proper preparation. If you do decide to proceed (YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!) PLEASE, PLEASE hire a professional if you have no experience with plumbing or electrical. You can easily kill yourself on electrical by touching or cutting a live / hot wire. You can also royally mess up plumbing by not pitching drain pipes correctly, including the appropriate venting, and or create a ticking time bomb if you can't properly solder water supply lines, or properly crimp pex fittings together, etc. I also warn inexperienced DIYers to stay away from massive drywall mudding, taping, sanding jobs. Don't attempt to do it all by yourself without extensive experience. It really is a skilled trade and takes TONS of practice to get good at. I'm good but it took me a while to get there. If you are bad at mudding you will hate your life by the time you are done sanding and sanding and sanding because you used too much mud and or couldn't get it smooth nor cut your drywall sheets correctly to minimize joints and utilize the tapers to your advantage. Your lungs will feel like they have tons of bricks in them if you don't wear a mask and you will be coughing up white phlegm for weeks after you are done. Plus the shear monotony of taping and mudding 100's of feet of drywall joints is enough to drive some people insane. Hire a team and they will knock it out in days and do it right the first time. Lastly, some people are just not good carpenters and attempting to do millwork (trim, stair rails, balusters, etc.) takes painstaking precision and skills to get right. It can be especially difficult and expensive if you mess up because you think your floors and walls are 90 degrees but they are in fact way off. It's not for the faint of heart. Best of luck!

"So it's become a choice between paying someone or not having it done at all." I'm limited physically too (and often mentally - lol!). you might have to find someone and pay them to do some things for you. Ask around with your friends for a young guy (HS or college maybe? at a church?) who needs to make some money. Make a list of priority things that need done and try to squeeze out 30-50.00 for a few hours of work. I hired a few guys to do a some things and got ripped off. That put me off for some time in getting more done. I finally connected with a young man (29) who has done work for my sister over the past 15 yrs. She knows his parents (I've been to their house). Even as a teenager he was huge and strong - and she wanted him to do mostly outside work. A lot of rock moving - her land is very rocky. He still does that for her some Sundays. He comes here on Saturdays for 3-5 hrs. He's done a ton of work around here - putting up shelves (taking some down), fixing cabinets, doors, locks, putting down some flooring, moving things around, caulking windows and doors. He also does 'low and high' things for me like caulking around bottom shelves of cabs, cleaning off high shelves and putting things up there. It keeps me from falling off of a step stool or being stuck on the floor until someone eventually finds me there... He's put up curtain rods, replaced my water pump, laid out and connected hoses for future plantings (that he'll do), cleaned up weeds and 'construction' type litter around here. He's even worked on my car. I'm finding it not as easy recently to lift the hood of my car to check water, put in pwr steering fluid etc. He's done some plumbing and some electrical work too. He's quick to tell me if it's something he can't do rather than say he can and mess it up. He's great on figuring things out (more creative and logical than my old brain these days) and problem solving around here. He's been working most Saturdays since last fall and there's enough work here for him for another year I'm sure. He isn't a speed demon but he is dependable, methodical, careful etc - which is much better. He works a full time job during the week but is saving up to buy some land up north of here by the end of the year. He's happy to have the odd jobs - close to his home, a friendly boss (me) who gives him things (ice cream maker, dishes, scrap metal, old appliances, a vacuum (too heavy for me to even move but they are young and strong and have a 2 story house)). He isn't obligated to be here every single Sat or at a certain time. I always tell him that his family comes first so when a family doings is on Sat he shouldn't be here, he should be with them. Financially I need to limit it to maybe 2 Saturdays a month now. In the summer my electric bill skyrockets and that will take priority for several months. I also need to save up for more flooring. Maybe you can find someone like this that you can trust who would like a few flexible hours to work around another job, school activities or studies.

Welcome to the forum. I've renovated in the Lower Garden District and our first home was behind Fat Harrys. Sadly, we've left NOLA. But, renovating there is an adventure. Don't forget that you will need to tip the inspector when he does you the courtesy of inspecting the installation of those new on-demand hot water heaters. $20.00 should do it. Number one priority is to take care of any water issues, roof, gutters, drains and foundations. Formosan's are the enemy. Second priority is the electrical. Everything else can wait unless someone is making their debut. Looks like that could be a while. In which case, you can just do a New Orleans paint job:) (You will never understand that unless you have lived in New Orleans.) Plenty of good spots for that Rex memorabilia, too. Can't wait to see what you do to the old girl. Just don't be in too big a hurry to get it all done for the Junior League Tour of Homes. They can wait. If you rush, you make mistakes. Best of luck to you. These are labors of love that should keep you busy for this lifetime and into the next. Boy, this makes me home sick.