We are going to be purchasing a house soon and I'm considering some older homes. Watching HGTV has made me scared of potential issues, particularly plumbing and electricity, in older homes. What year was the house you are living in built? Have you encountered any major issues since living there?
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early 70s? No major issues *knock on wood*
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80's. We've had some issues, but due to the idiot contractor who built our house (so we learned from talking to neighbors) and not it's age. I am glad that it's newer though and we dont have to worry about lead paint and stuff with all the reno work we've done ourselves.
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@PurplePumps: I feel like there was a lot of cutting corners in the 80's...
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Late 60's. No major issues, but I think the things you're worried about are probably more prevalent in 1910's and older homes that have never been updated/brought up to code.
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@Shutterbug: A few I really like were built in the early 60's. They seem super well maintained, but I have no idea when what standards were put into place related to different homes being built.
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@rawrasaur: early 80s and yes to the major corner cutting!!
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2012
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1942. Our biggest issues have come from previous owners' rehab jobs, and it hasn't been bad, just janky.
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We own a house built in 2012 and a condo built sometime before 1900 - no major issues with either so far. With the condo, the only issues (which have been several thousand $$ worth) have been directly related to the former owner who thought watching HGTV and YouTube tutorials made him a contractor. Yeah, not so much in reality.
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My first house was built in 1920. I sold it as soon as I was able - holy money pit!
Our current house we contracted to build in 2011. Very happy with it. -
@yoursilverlining: we should start a DIY home projects gone bad thread..
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1958 - So far no issues. The previous owners did a lot of great work so we've been lucky so far.
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@rawrasaur: in my house hunting experience, anything built after the 50s was pretty solidly built and without some of the issues that the older homes have (stone foundations, knob & tube wiring, lead paint) although there weren't bans on lead paint or asbestos until the late 70s/80s, so there is still a risk. In our house we didn't encounter either, luckily. We just had a lot of wood paneling to rip down
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1958 also. No issues either!
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1938....I loooove old houses!! My parents house is 150+ years old, it is actually 2 different houses put together and it was moved from the farmland it used to sit on to its current location. I love a house with character and history. Also, old doesn't *always* mean problems. I think some of the older homes are more soundly built than some newer homes!
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1984. We've had no issues (other than cosmetic). Our realtor told us it was built by one of the best builders in the area.
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@petunia354: I think there is a lot of truth to that.
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@rawrasaur: oh my god, yes! for sure, I totally agree with that. I have said to my husband maybe we should have looked at OLDER homes, at least they were SOLID. But for our place, it doesnt help that the builder didn't' pay his contractors, then declared bankruptcy I think, and the contractors took it out on the house...
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@Mrs. Jump Rope: Haha, yes we should!
Our DIY problems are all really frustrating because the former owner did not cut corners on parts/equipment, he just screwed up the installs (where he should have hired professionals).
For example, our most expensive repair so far was to the water heater. It’s a really, really great quality German boiler – pretty top of the line. But because he plumbed in one of the pipes incorrectly, it resulted in the poor thing getting completely fried within 2 years and having to be replaced!! That was a couple grand for no good reason, other than DIY incompetence. He screwed up some of the plumbing for the garbage disposal so the water pooled and didn’t drain all the way out and that rusted out within a couple of years as well. The kind of stuff where you think you’ve done it well since it all works…until it doesn’t.
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I just looked it up, 1957! We found nothing major when we were doing renovations.
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Ours was built in 1949 and is solid as a rock. We are only the second owners.
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2007. We were afraid of the problems that could come with an older home.
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1928. None of our problems have been with the old parts of the house. They all stem from half-assed renovations prior owners did within the last 20 years.
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Late 60's, I believe. The bones are solid, and I think everything else was fine, but we completely remodeled and it's hardly original now. I have quite a few friend in similar homes who haven't done as much as we have and I don't believe they're having any major issues. We've actually had more problems from having rushed the remodel. Don't do that.
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1949.
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2003, so we are starting to worry about bigger stuff breaking down hitting the over 10 year mark.
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2009
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@LuLu Mom: What? 2003 was over 10 years ago?!!! Haha. That is true. I like that a lot of these way older houses have had recent updates for major items.
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1963, we are the third owners.
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1920's. We're replacing knob and tube next week. $15-20k I didn't want to spend but other than that the house is solid and in a great neighbourhood and school district.
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Early 60s and still has original, perfectly functioning furnace. All the repair guys tell us they built stuff to last back then. We have had some chimney issues due to wear and tear, but that's really the only age-related expense.
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1952! The only issues we've had come from the old owners doing repairs/upgrades themselves. Also, the house was built with knob & tube electrical and never upgraded, but we've since replaced most of it. A good inspector will give you an idea on how well maintained the house is.
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1948. No huge issues other than just updates. We had a leaky basement, but a load of dirt to regrade the front fixed that for less than $40.
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You ladies are easing my fears.
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1958. The electrical/wiring had all been re-done and the house had been re-roofed so we felt better about purchasing it. We've only had one major fix - the sump pump went out!
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@lilyofthewest: Wow, same for us! House was built in 1928 and is completely solid with no issues. A second story was added in 2001 by the last owner and every issue we've had with the house is with that part!
We looked at a lot of really old houses when house hunting a few years ago (1780's era) and the major things to look at were the electrical (knob and tube is so expensive to replace), serious foundation issues and termite damage. All of those can easily be checked out by a home inspector, so it is worth the money to have a good inspector really look closely at the home before closing.
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1770! We've spent money updating the wiring and heating but other than that, the house has been wonderful! We much prefer older homes.
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1953 knock on wood, no issues
I will say the previous owners told me to not flush feminine products. Guess cause older pipes.
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1964! We have had every professional under the sun visit, along with many general contractors and they all comment on how solidly the house was built. We think the original owner was the builder, or someone custom built. However, the previous owners didn't maintain it well and obviously tried to DIY things or hired hacks... even changing the locks was ridiculous (they nailed in the locks instead of using screws, they installed deadbolts and knob shaped handles instead of actual turning knobs, etc). So we've had to revamp much of the electrical and plumbing, and we did convert the boiler from oil to gas. We need to have insulation blown in... we only have one inch.
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