Old House Web Blog
Restore your house and keep your sanity
Old House Web Blog
16 Feb 2012 | 12:44 am
If there was ever a time when best-laid plans go awry, it’s during an old house restoration.
The first time I embarked on renovation of a home, I thought I knew what I was doing. My grandfather was a carpenter; I practically grew up on construction sites. I even had my own little hardhat, just my size, and I was driving nails about the same time I was learning to write my name. So I was absolutely certain I knew what to expect when it was time to venture into my own adventures in home improvement.
A bedroom renovation. Image credit: 1912bungalow.com
All of that confidence–or was it arrogance?–disappeared within two weeks of contracting for the new porch. It should have been finished by that point. Even the contractor said so. Instead, I was still trekking out my back door in order to get the mail, because my front door was completely unusable. When I signed the final check, the porch was done, and it was a long six weeks later.
Lessons learned in old house restoration
The lesson of patience is one I have learned time and time again–in fact, it is something I am reminded of every time[…] Johnny Cash and the Lake House mystery
Old House Web Blog
9 Feb 2012 | 4:08 am
Some houses are owned by legends. Then there are the houses that become legends in their own right. The gorgeous Biltmore estate in Asheville, NC is an example of a house that became larger than life. Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is another.
Some houses have a quiet fame that is attached to their owners. One of those is the “Lake House,” once owned by Johnny Cash. Cash was first a country music icon and later, an icon that transcended all genres of music. From classic hits like “I Walk the Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues” to more modern masterpieces like “Hurt,” Johnny Cash could turn a simple song into an almost religious experience.
So it is no surprise that his beloved Lake House had a mystique all its own.
The Cash House in Hendersonville, TN. Image credit: CMT.com
The house that became a legend
Cash fell in love with the house the moment he saw it. Builder Braxton Dixon was erecting the beautiful structure as a home for his own family, but Cash worked hard to convince Dixon to sell it. The builder finally agreed. Cash took up residence in 1968, shortly after his marriage to June Carter[…] Why annual pest inspections matter
Old House Web Blog
2 Feb 2012 | 2:09 pm
For many years I lived in a historic home in Tennessee. Built in 1901, the home had a good share of problems, just as any house that has stood for over a century will. I knew I lived a charmed life in that house, but I didn’t realize just how fortunate I was until the first annual inspection of my 1950’s Georgia rambler.
Termites? Check.
Carpenter ants? You bet.
Powderpost beetles? Sure. (At this point, why not?)
I was completely puzzled by the fact that all of these infestations had rained down on my house over the past year. After all, both home inspections–the one that seller conducted and the one I had hired out myself–showed a clean record. The termite inspection had turned up nothing.
So where did these creatures come from, and how did they get to work so quickly? Most importantly, what did this mean for me?
An area ripe for ant damage. Image credit: OldHouseWeb
Not-so-fun adventures in pest control
The exterminator was pretty positive about getting rid of the termites. They hadn’t had much time to set up shop and besides, termite eradication has become very good in recent years as long as it is[…] The housing market: is 2012 the rebound year?
Old House Web Blog
31 Jan 2012 | 4:27 pm
I have written posts discussing my annual housing market predictions for the past two years. Unfortunately, they were pretty much spot-on. I felt that as long as high unemployment existed and many of the people lucky enough to have a job were worried about cutbacks, home sales would continue to languish. Of course, all the foreclosures hitting the market and dropping home values didn’t help much either.
But what about 2012, are there any indications that this may be the year of the housing market rebound? The answer is a resounding maybe, but probably not. On the bright side — it does look like this year could be better than 2011 for home sales. However, that’s not saying much as numbers are saying that 2011 was the worst year on record for the real estate industry.
A deal at less than $120,000
First the housing market good news
So are there any bright spots on the horizon — anything that might make a potential home buyer feel good about 2012? Well for one thing, interest rates are still unbelievably low. There were indications last year that they may begin to rise, but other than a few fluctuations that hasn’t been the case. The National Association of[…] Preservation Smackdown: Reuse Old vs. Build New
Old House Web Blog
31 Jan 2012 | 1:04 pm
A report produced by the Preservation Green Lab of the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental benefit of building reuse.
This groundbreaking study in a punny way says “don’t break new ground.” It offers compelling evidence of the benefits of retrofitting old buildings to be more energy efficient rather than tearing down and building new. The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse, concludes that it can take between 10 and 80 years for a new, energy-efficient building to overcome, through more efficient operations, the negative climate change impacts that were created during the construction process.
The U.S. has been in the bad habit of tearing down old, often historic, buildings and constructing new ones. The emerging counter-trend is to consider the entire life-cycle cost of building new versus making old buildings more energy efficient. In other words, how much energy will a building use over one hundred years including the energy cost of construction?
A new home uses a huge amount of energy and resources to construct. And even though newer homes are better insulated and have more efficient appliances, we are still using more energy than in the past. We burn up[…] Salvage tips for restoring your old house
Old House Web Blog
26 Jan 2012 | 2:43 pm
Searching for the ideal wood flooring, windows or simple accents for your old home can lead you to many interesting places. There are the antique stores where old molding is stacked in a dusty corner. There’s the auction house where you can find that perfect door–at a staggering price, perhaps, but perfect nonetheless. There is the warehouse or junkyard where it appears whole houses were taken apart and then left out in the elements until someone came along to find that perfect replacement window, door hardware or intricate wrought-iron railing.
A salvage shop. Image credit: 1912bungalow.com
Anyone who has innocently walked into a salvage yard and come back out with a massive case of sticker shock knows that the best things for your old house aren’t always free. But there are some tips for salvage that can save you a bundle of both time and money.
Where to find the best salvage for your old house
Before you go to the high-end warehouse shop to find that rare flooring or lighting fixture that your old house simply must have, try these budget-friendly options:
Yard sales. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and that was never more true than at[…]
Copyright 2011 - HistoryTech, LLC
Mailing Address: Post Office Box 75, Lynchburg, Virginia 24505
Office Address: 311 Rivermont Avenue, Lynchburg, Virginia 24504
