I and my husband are considering purchasing a beautiful Original 1908,
2416 sqft. craftsman style home. It is 2 stories with basement and attic. All, and I say all, of the fixtures are original. I am excited about the woodwork and the bones not being messed with, but original copper wire and pipes does not excite me. I was wondering if anyone could give me a non-biased idea of what that would potentially cost to upgrade. My guess is that it could easily be another $100,000, but I am really not sure. I would very much like some help if possible, and I really appreciate the information. Thanks
who-what is needed -where is your location and climate-when is the deadline -why-how much work is desitred or affordable and money? you want an architect to review your desires and bring the new home up to date involving needed and desired roof, plumbing, electrical, insulation, hvac. consider handicap adaptability.
What would it cost to build a house like that there now? Then at least 1/3 to 1/4 will be it. But it all depends. Like you can do some works yourself, or let some else do the whole thing, etc. Up here where I am, per sq. ft. building cost is 200.00 excluding land lately. From there sky is the limit.
Wow, it looks great in the photo. Does the house have any historical value? If so, you will have to be more careful on the upgrades as to not destroy anything that will detract to that. Running PEX is easier than running copper for the plumbing.
You may be right about the cost, depending on how much has to be done and how accessible it is. Good luck
Wow, this is interesting. Well we have not bought the house yet. It is in Oregan. And I am mostly curious about a guesstimate. We are handy, and I love my nailgun, but I do not feel compitent to take on wiring and plumbing from 1908. I will have a better idea of exactly how bed it is this weekend, when we take a detailed tour. I just want an idea of what I could expect to pay in a rural area for this kind of work. It is in a very small town, that is not cute or upscale, just small and lumber oriented. Thanks for all the input so far.
Yes Sir..... $100,000 should get her rewired and add lots of spare outlets whereever you want them. When do you want me to start the wiring for you? I got my toolbox filled and ready to go. Heck, I'll even put an outlet outside for FREE so you can plug in your Christmas lights. I can start as soon as tomorrow.
100,000 should be enough to replace wiring, plumbing and heating system. where things can get hairy is termites, rotted slls, and other unknowns.......
With out a site inspection you might be off by a factor of 10 either way.
I helped my parents do a turn of the century farm house in Iowa. No plumbing and or electrical when we started. Dad wanted to maintain the exterior so we cut 3 inch holes in the plaster and fished the wires vertically. Not exactly the way you would do a new home. The NEC in the
1960's was pretty lax compared to now. I was the grunt to the electrical contractor. We were living in an apartment in town for a year before we moved out to the farm. Contractors did all of the plumbing. We installed heating wires in the ceilings, electricity was $0.02 back then. I did a lot of wall paper steaming and floor sanding. It was a project.
We rewired a slightly older house south of Seattle for around $10,000, new service entrance and all new wiring, replacing knob-and- tube that was done in the 20s or 30s. (Wasn't wired when it was first built.) Kept the cost down by having the electrician do only the electrical work, not the wall repairs after the electrical work.
If there are lots of fine details that you'd have to rip through to replace plumbing, it might be worth looking at epoxy-coating the inside of your existing pipes. It's mostly done in income-generating commercial properties that can't afford the down time, but can be done on single family homes as well.
They basically use a huge air compressor to sandblast the insides of your existing pipe to remove scale, then blow through an epoxy coating that seals up the inside of the pipe. Used to be reserved for larger pipes, but but now is supposed to be reliable on half-inch galvanized, too.
Wednesday I was at the Heurich Mansion, in DC, (built in 1892, state of the art) and the grandson of the builder said that it was unusual the way yours is. He said that most of the time, when a place was both wired and piped**, when electricity became reliable, the pipes were used for electricity also, to get more light. But that wasn't the case for his place or yours.
**which he said was dangerous, when there was gas and electricity together.
If the mansion doesn't close this Wednesday, it may close (be sold for a restaurant or something) later. Interest rates have gone up and the foundation is having trouble meeting the payments on the ARM.
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That is indeed a beautiful house! You might be suprised in the estimates for upgrading your utilities depending where the house is in Oregon. I am originally from Idaho and we are being invaded by people from California selling their houses for $900 K and buying one twice as big on a lot 3 times the size for $280 K. When I mention the costs of upgrading electricals or plumbing in Chicago to the locals they laugh and say it would cost half that in my home town,
I have also seen those gas/electric sconces in a house in Chicago from the 1900s. I've also worked on houses where those pipes were still active. That's why a lot of those fittings are the same as current gas ones. Took one of those off one time and city gas came pouring out! Whenever I'm working on those old houses I check the gas runs and make sure the old lighting gas is capped off. It's easy to be fooled however since the connections can be buried in a finished ceiling in the basement. Richard
I should make clear that this refers to the grandson of the owner who had it built, not the contractors who actually built it.
After the father died at 104 about 1960, the historical society of DC used it for 50 years, and it was first about to be sold to a commercial interest only 3 years ago. My guess is that that was when the grandson first got involved, in order to save it, and that while he is learning about the history of gas and electric lighting, he hasn't had time to hear all facets of it. When he says the gas is usually converted to electricity, even when there is both, he probably means in DC or on the East coast, or east of the Mississippi, or the selected encounters of whomever he learned from. Whatever he was told.
He has a business of his own that he is ignoring, and he is leading tours, and he is trying to raise money, plus there are a lot more features to the house than just the gas lighting.
One interesting one was the pocket doors that are hung from the side and not the top. They use one of those grids, like are used in baby-gates that fold up or become as wide as the doorway. Yet all but one works very easily.
And the "French" louvered wooden window shades, Each window has 3 sets of them, because the windows are more than 10 feet high and the ceilings are 16 feet high. Instead of folding into the side of the window frames, they are each in separate channels and they go up into the wall above the window.
And the basement kitchen that was remodeleed in the 50's with the first large electric stove, by GE. 3 times as wide as mine, with 3 ovens.
I think one bathroom had a toilet and a bidet next to it, though I only saw that in a picture. We only went to the first, second and basement floor. There is a third and fourth floor, plus a tower that goes to a fifth level.
I"m not doubting that it is dangerous. For some reason I phrased it as a quote. But it's interesting that some of the houses you have found have had them together for what 100 years.
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What a wonderful house. Is this house on the outskirts of Georgetown or not far from Kalorama? I think I've been in it, but I'm trying to remember the location since that time was so long ago. Can you provide the address, please?
Absolutely gorgeous house, and you sound like the right person to buy it and update it, provided you can swing the cost. Do it. I think you ought to be able to update the electric and the plumbing for a lot less than $100k, but I don't live in Oregon, I live in western New York, where I know I could get this work done for less.
Go for it. These old houses are true treasures, and I have lived in three so far in my mid-sized city (one built in 1910 that still had the original gravity-fed furnace, but converted to natural gas, one built in 1920, and the one I'm in now, built in 1930 with lots of wonderful features not seen in current houses).
Such a negative attitude. Yes and no, but you obviously don't understand what living in a well-maintained old house can be like. The OP will make the right decision. And bullshit about plumb walls: your walls will be in the same condition in a few decades. Geez.
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