Overall the house looks like it just needs some TLC. I'd start with the cleanup and start addressing the deferred maintenance items. As you are doing the clean-up, etc. I suspect that you may find specific items that need attention.

The addition at the back of the house looks wonky if you ask me. It looks to be structurally unsound and I suspect that there are some water leaks on that weird skylight thing..

I think an exterior paint job on the trim, etc. would do wonders. Just don't paint the brick ;-)

Welcome to old home ownership.

Diane

Yes - one word for the addition is "wonky." That's why there's so many pictures of it. The old house itself is structurally great, but the the addition is not. Luckily all the exterior walls are still there (back wall of the addition is the original brick wall). We have gone back and forth between tearing the addition off and re-doing, or replacing with a screened in porch.

Re: the brick.. Don't know if you can tell, but unfortunately it's already been painted the grey color that it is. The original brick is BEAUTIFUL where it's still visible inside one of the inside closets through the addition. I've been doing some research on stripping brick, but it seems like an impossible task, unfortunately, so it looks like we're going to have to re-paint the brick to get it looking nice.

Oh I love it so much more than my own! I'll give you the same advice I was given, though it's not the 'ideas' that you asked for. Those take me much longer to produce ;)

1. Start with anything structural/maintenance. The roof? Electric? Deteriorating siding? Tuckpointing the brick? For brick - make sure you get someone experienced with old houses so the ... mortar? matches. At least, that's what I've read, sadly I have siding. If you need to pretty something up inside in the meantime to be happy, paint. We had to start with the water heater and the roof (unfortunately). We painted the worst of the inside, and just recently refinished some of the wood floor so that we would like something!

2. Don't do anything major/cosmetic inside the house until you've lived in it for awhile (6 mos - 1 year). When we moved in there were things I was SURE I would want changed a certain way. Now that we've been here awhile (2 years actually), some of those ideas have changed and I'm glad I didn't jump on them. Having a budget helps with this ;)

3. My (somewhat cynical) experience with this house (our first), is that everything will cost way more than you expect (regardless of DIY), things will need fixing before you expected, and sometimes you will hate it and ask yourself why you did this. That's when it's especially important to come here =D

4. Oh yeah, and research everything and get multiple opinions before doing something big.

I'm at work and don't have time for more now, but I'm sure others will. Good luck!

Good advice so far - the house looks to be in pretty good condition, really. I think you have some chimney work to do, maybe a new cap. Hopefully the inside has not collapsed (been there, done that). I would call both a brick mason and a tuckpointer and get their opinions. The mason will be much more in tune with any structural problems, and if bricks need to be reset. The tuckpointer will be better at just tuckpointing (from my personal experience). It's so important to keep water from getting behind the bricks, especially if you are in a freeze, thaw zone.

While you're getting to know your property I would suggest working on the windows. No matter what you do to the house, you will want windows that work properly and that are reglazed if necessary. I think properly reconditioned windows are the best return on investment for any DIY'er. It's a project that can be done one at a time too so you don't have to tear up a whole room.

Good Luck!

First off, I really see why you like this house. It has a really fine appearance in the original parts.

And....QUIET VILLAGE? I had that LP album myself back inthe late 50s....looks like the skylight in the shower and the "dog house" in the addition were signs of the 1960s being good to somebody! But the IDEA of that glass dog house did bring in a lot of light.

HOWEVER, the addition was done on the cheap, probably to have the option of a rental? You suppose? Are there signs of two kitchens?

And the way they took CORNER lavatories and made little counter pie slices on either side, that has weird written all over it. In the yellow bathroom, you'd have room for a real old furniture style vanity if that real short pony wall came out. It does not keep the toilet area private, and from the pictures I could not tell if it had a mate on the other side of the bath.

But in general, I hope you do have the option of removing that addition, which totally detracts from your lovely house. The big back porch would be great option. However, I am most impressed with the windows on the front of the house and especially that sheltered and private FRONT porch. Gorgeous shape on those windows.

With the new lead abatement laws in place, you will have a hard time removing the paint from that brick, depending on whether it is lead based. I wonder how long ago they painted your brick. Of course, you can take samples of the paint and have it tested for lead. Otherwise, I'd just leave it painted, but maybe choose a color. It is a wonder the folks did not choose one of those ORCHID tones of paint for the exterior too. I shudder to think about it. :)

I notice that all the windows have burglar bars? Until you get to know the neighborhood, I'd assume that they had some reason to install such an expensive project, and leave them in place until you determine how necessary they are, and if they serve any purpose at all. Other than selling them and making a bundle for the scrap metal, you might recycle them for a small garden fence or arbor in the back, or even over the front stoop area.

It is great that you have family to help you, and that you have some experience already. It looks like you have some work ahead of you. Half the work would be gone if you got a dumpster or two and demoed the hippy hotel portion right off the bat. :) Good luck, and keep us posted. Old houses have fascinating personalities.

I wasn't sure if the bricks had been painted or not. Stripping paint is a b***h. Whatever you end up doing, don't sand blast as that will ruin the bricks. You may just need to live with it and address other areas first.

The first thing that you should address in any water infiltration. Water and old houses don't mix.

Like sacto_Diane says, water and old houses do not mix. I noticed on the ground grade back stoop where the "dog house" is located, that there is a dark depression going underneath the porch wood. And then a great deal of wood rot along the lower exterior walls. This bodes ill for that part of the house. I would suspect termites and rot and mold as well. And what kind of foundation is under that extension? Before you start crawling around under there, take a soil sample to see if they used DDT to exterminate for termites--whatever they used under our house, it made my DH sick after a day in contact with the soil under our house.

Do you have a finished basement or any basement at all?
I notice that there is a in-the-wall vacuum system. Is that in the addition, or was it in the brick portion of the house?

The thermostat, is that only for heating system? I saw ducts in the floors of several rooms, and again, does that one system service the whole house, original and addition?
If it has a fairly new heating system, you are in luck.
Also, what part of the country are you in? What sort of fuel is used in your heater? Gas or electricity or oil?

I think the front porch windows are non operable...do not open, correct? If that is true, then you could do something different out there, which would let you take off those shocking prison bars. Assuming your front porch is not now a totally weather proof area, I would think it makes perfect sense to put in permanent LEXAN PANELS to cover the original windows as a fixed permanent storm window. Lexan is bullet proof, which burglar bars certainly are not, and it does not look hostile at all. We've used it in two permanent and fixed spots of our house already, and will also use it as storm panels when DH rebuilds our double hung windows. You can get it with some UV filtering or without it. I got it without the UV filtering for our sun porch, so I could have full spectrum light for my plants and parrots. We also plan to reroof with Lexan panels a derelict old cement block garage for use as a greenhouse.

Power washing the brick and using a bactericide or fungicide or mildewcide before you repaint would be a good move. Many folks around recommend Benjamin Moore paints, although I've never tried them.

I can certainly see why you bought this home- that is charming! I just ate a most enjoyable dinner watching your slide shows go by! That exterior is charming to the point of enchantment... a small fairy garden would be sublime if you are so inclined.
What an adventure!

Me being me I would pressure clean the interior to make it livable then get to work pulling out the shrubbery, painting the exterior, and redoing the landscaping.
Other folks will of course have much different priorities :)

I agree with tearing out the addition- I don't think any good would come of keeping it and it would likely cost more to repair than it is worth unless you really, really, really need the room.

Work with the weather, not against it. That just means no major yard or exterior painting projects during the heat of the summer- spring and fall are lovely times for outdoor work.
And always have a sunny day list and a rainy day list so a sudden run of bad weather doesn't derail your momentum.

And one request- please take photos of your progress and post in threads titled Colbey's House or something so I can follow along as this is going to be fun!

You folks are wonderful - thank you so much for the great advice!

You've touched on most of the deferred maintenance/ structural issues that showed up for us during our inspection. Some of them have been addressed before the sale went through for us. Others are unfortunately first priority, as someone mentioned, the less fun stuff! There were some water related rot issues - mostly related to the addition. Our only hesitation in completely tearing the addition off is for the purpose of re-sale, it reduces the house to a 2/1. There's only two of us and we're moving from a 2/1 apartment where we didn't use half the space so it's not a problem for us, but we do envision re-selling this house in the next 10 years. Our appraiser's advice was to live with it for a while, not pour a ton of money into it, and see what happened. I am quite taken with the idea of a big screened porch back there though.

And mocassinlanding - I've been trying to explain to people the odd skylights and even odder back bathroom - the "dog house skylight" is the perfect descriptor!

Skyedog- Thanks for the advice on the windows, that was not something that occured to me that is definitely important. They seem to be in pretty good shape for the most part, but I will take a closer look at them. The chimney was an issue - it appears to have been rebuilt once and the guy who came to look at it was unsure whether it was rebuilt crooked or was settling. We'll keep an eye on it, and have it re-checked eventually.

moccasinlanding - That "dark depression" is actually a concrete "moat" of sorts that was built for who knows what reason. Its only purpose seems to be to hold water at the base of the foundation, just to make sure it gets good and wet. We think maybe it was supposed to be crawlspace ventilation. Once we figure out what to do with that area we're going to fill it in with concrete and set up a better drainage system.

The thermostat is for heating only - only window AC unfortunately. We're in Georgia, so it probably won't be too long until we cave. We thought we could bear it and save the money for other repairs, but it's been in the 90's the last week and we're not sure how long we'll make it! It doesn't service the whole house, only the original part. The central vacuum only has one "plug," which seemed odd to me, but it's all hardwood floors so I suppose it's not too important. The porch windows were I believe at one point screened in with removable plastic sheets that were latched in during the winter. Our plans were to re-do the trim and install new screen, minus the burglar bars and plexi-glass. I studied up on those LEXAN panels - do you know if they get warm in the summer? That is our main concern here - it's HOT and don't want to put anything up that will turn the lovely front porch into an oven!

Cearbhaill - The house already has a cottage rose garden and a cedar picket fence in my head! The exterior was what made me fall in love with it while driving through the neighborhood one afternoon, and I'm very excited to start working on the yard. It was all I could do to not rip out those shrubs while we were supervising pre-closing repairs. I will be sure to keep updates - and I'm certain I will need all of your input fairly regularly!

"Cearbhaill - The house already has a cottage rose garden and a cedar picket fence in my head! The exterior was what made me fall in love with it while driving through the neighborhood one afternoon, and I'm very excited to start working on the yard. It was all I could do to not rip out those shrubs while we were supervising pre-closing repairs. I will be sure to keep updates - and I'm certain I will need all of your input fairly regularly! "

Don't laugh, but I set up tree removal from another state long before we closed on our current house. Of course I didn't schedule it until the week after the closing, and by then we were in town and working on the house.
IMO these two trees were way huge for the lot, massively messy, and had been butchered by improper pruning for so many decades that there was absolutely no hope!

{{gwi:2000894}}

Still, the first major impression our neighbors had of us was their street being clogged up by a swarm of trucks and tree dudes, and that's what they all commented on as we met them- "Boy you guys didn't wast any time getting rid of those trees!"

{{gwi:2000895}}

They were all happy about it, too- the trees were an eyesore!

Jump right in- it is massive good fun and I look forward to following your journey!

Colbey, I realize there is economic benefit "down the road" when you wish to sell, if the house is larger than 2/1.
But a house like that does not benefit from a split personality look.

What I would do is to build that big back porch you want. But do it all the way across the back, and if you can do so, put in the second bath in that space so you could create a master suite from one of the bedrooms. You would possibly put the bath in the original part of the house, and the master bedroom at one end of the porch space. LOTS of French style windows and maybe repeat the arched windows of the house front. The front porch has such a sheltered look. And, I also think it would be another good spot to consider as a study with access from the living room through a window turned into an open doorway.

Lexan panels which are fixed do allow heat gain. But if you have the porch windows already fixed, and they do not open, the Lexan panels permanently mounted outside them will not make it hotter than it normally is.

Please, also tell me the direction of the front of your house. Does it face N/S/E/W or some other orientation? You will better judge the nature of the light in your house.

One thing I did as I became familiar with my old MoccasinLanding cottage, was to take seasonal photos outside which showed the shadows cast by the sun around the house. And, I took pictures from inside the house looking out every window. Make sure you get the details of what you see in the image, don't let it "white" out with over exposure. That way, I would see in the photo what my eyes were ignoring. And I could then begin to control what the view would become. If you saw a neighbor's old junky cars, then plant something to obstruct the view. Or if you could not do that, then put something on your property that would stop the longer view of the neighbor, and make the eye focus on YOUR interest point. Like offering a crying baby a rattle to take its focus away from what displeased it.

I have a little cottage now which began as a 2/1 built in 1950. We are adding a really small bath, and converting the original bath into a master suite with a new walkin closet. It will then be a 2 bedroom 2 bath, with one being a full true master suite. We also have added a small deck, and enclosed the side porch to make a Lexan-covered sun porch; and are now including the back porch into a kitchen redo.
I see that you have a really lovely older home too, with lots of potential.

There are a/c units which are not window units, but which have only the exhaust vented through the window. Or even through a hole the size of a kitchen range hood vent. We have one in our Massachusetts home, where it is only used a few weeks during the summer. Our daughter has one in her media room, built over her garage, so she did not have to expand the home heating system.

Frigidaire has a small window a/c with 8000 BTU capacity runs on 110 power, and that is what we installed on our sun porch in a specially built frame as a permanent part of the Lexan walls. The window unit you have in your dining room is fairly old, and it will draw much more electricity than a newer model. I'd recommend a unit which is on wheels and can be slid out of the way and only have a tube venting through the window.

BUT, if there is already full house ducting, is there some way to add a heat pump a/c to your house? A few calls to local heat/ac guys would answer that, and then you figure out the payback.

Like Cearbhaill says, this can be a very exciting redo, and worth documenting. You've already shown your willingness to take beginning photos, so we hope this continues as your work progresses. Good beginnings!

Cearbhaill - Great minds think alike - those trees needed to go!

moccasinlanding - The house is on a corner lot, with the front facing west and the side not bordered by another lot facing north, both of those sides are not very heavily wooded, like the back of the house, so receive a lot of sunlight. That's also the two sides that the porch borders. I'm a little confused by your proposed changes - let me fix up my current floor plan and post it. Are "french windows" the same thing as french doors, or am I thinking of something else?

Also - anyone know anything about "ductless" AC units?

In addition to posting a floor plan, if you want substantive discussion about what to do, I would suggest adding to your photo albums a slightly more concise "overview" set of photos. Just key ones showing each view outside, each room inside, maybe. 500 photos is a lot to ask, and there is a lot of repetition and minutiae that doesn't matter to us.

A substandard addition is a tough call on an old house, especially if the addition itself has some history or charm (or if it's the kitchen, functionality!). A little careful dissection and sleuthing can go a long way.... maybe something like just residing the addition would be an option. But if it is truly a wreck, then there is a great deal to be said for putting all your budget into removing/replacing the addition, and then nickel-and-diming your way through the interior stuff over the ensuing years.

But what you do may depend very much on whether you will live in while you work, or if you can live out at least for a while. One of the stupidest things we did was take advice from someone who had lived in ("go room by room") when we were living out for nearly a year and could have been much more efficient if we'd gone task by task. As it ended up, we were wiring in some rooms while still wrecking in others.

We also did interior first, then the building envelope (we don't lay claim to the title of Clueless in Strathcona for nothing), which we could sort of afford to do; the envelope really didn't need much. But we didn't think big picture at all at the outset, for example, one thing I wish we'd thought about (whether we did it or not) is to have the house raised before we worked on it. Your house, I think, demands that you focus on the big picture first - the overall layout and structure.

KarinL

"Also - anyone know anything about "ductless" AC units?"

Colbey, I think that is what I was describing to you in a previous post. Only I did not know what they were called.
They come in various BTU levels, and the one we have up north (not in Alabama) is on wheels, has a hose or flex-pipe which my DH sticks out the sliding glass door. He has an insert which plugs up the whole open space, and a cutout where the exhaust tube/flexpipe is vented. Can you imagine not needing a/c except for one month or so? Our daughter has one in her media room over her garage, works the same way. No ductwork installed in the house for this, their heating system is baseboard heating in every room.

I have seen in some of the beach cottages a unit which fits up high in the wall and the vent is on the exterior. To me it would be like a window unit but no window. These would work mounted up high where the hot air collects. But I have no personal experience with their setup or efficiency.

If you need to chat with someone about ductless a/c, head over to the heating and a/c forum and see if they can bring you up to speed.

Hi everyone - We've been hard at work since we closed in the middle of June.. Mostly doing easy (inexpensive!) things first and going from there. We've started with a coat of paint while we decide what we want to do... but covering up all that fuschia made a big difference! We also rebuilt all the rotted frames on the front porch and did some exterior trim painting. Still a lot of that left to do. Cleaned up the yard but are working on some landscaping plans. Recently we started the kitchen - which was meant to be pulling off the cabinets and replacing cabinets and appliances, but has since resulted in removing a wall, cutting a hole in a wall, and re-doing all the plumbing and electric! We got new drywall yesterday (only thing we haven't done ourselves) and are getting ready to figure out what we actually want IN the kitchen now. We're really loving this house though. And whoever suggested the windows, we've been starting to figure out how to repair those also. Most were in good shape, but a couple needed slight repairs. That was a good direction to go.

Without furhter ado, here are some updated pictures!

Porch, paint and exterior:

http://woodlandaverenovation.shutterfly.com/pictures/482

The state of the kitchen:

http://woodlandaverenovation.shutterfly.com/pictures/472

Here is a link that might be useful: New photos

I've lived in homes dating from 1820 to brand new, but the 1920s and 30s cottages are one of my favs. I currently own (but do not live in) a 30s Craftsman and it's so solid and charming.

I'm thrilled you came back to keep us updated on what you are doing and hope you continue to do so. We completely renovated our kitchen in my Federal era farmhouse three and a half years ago. We ripped it down clean to the dirt underneath. Hadn't planned on doing it, but termites made the decision for us. LOL.

I'll say one thing, taking it down to bare walls and dirt and putting it back together ended up being one of the most appreciated things we have done with this old house. That's because when we put it back together I got the kitchen I wanted without having to make any concessions.

I'm thinking you'll feel the same way and you're going to love it.

calliope - That's what we decided. Once we got to the plumbing we had to do, the walls were already opened, and I figured I might as well make it the way I wanted to, then start out with level and smooth floors and ceilings to give myself more options. It's just that now I have more decisions to make than I intended to have to make and we're living with a makeshift kitchen for now!

Colbey, VERY pleased to have you come back with your actions for this lovely old house. It has such a great use of archways, and so very romantic. You've already made a world of difference in its appearance, and the exterior photos indicate the house itself is much happier.

I note from one photo that the house next to your front entry stoop is pretty close, so dealing with that issue should be your starting point for exterior changes. When you get to that place, I would love to make some suggestions which would give you openness but privacy from that side, and help make the stoop area part of your living space. I am in love with your front porch and all the arches. The screen door is so very old fashioned, the rest of the arch which contains it needs to have something on it too, to keep it from appearing isolated in space....something which would be simple but define the space. What I have in mind won't be expensive but will be very appropriate to your climate and a do it yourself project.

Right now, I see you have your hands full with the kitchen
and I cannot wait to see your layout. Keep on because the results are beautiful.

Thanks moccasin!
Any suggestions are always appreciated. We are very close on that side, and would love to have that space for something to use. We didn't do too much there yet, because in reality that whole concrete surface and steps needs to be re-built at some point. The concrete has settled so that the top step is significantly taller than the other three, making it a tripping hazard. The steps are also really, really wide, leading to the concrete pathway that is wide enough to be a driveway in addition to being really cracked. We are trying to figure out what to do with that walkway, steps and front stoop. We want to narrow the walkway so that when we put a front yard fence in eventually the walkway will match the gate width. Let me know what you are thinking - I'll file it away!

Ha! I've been working on my floor plan, and having trouble getting things to add up right for some reason (interior wall lengths add up to exterior wall lengths, etc) and have been putting off posting it. While in the attic today, my husband found another room (small room) entirely plastered off within the others! That explains the extra 3-4 feet.. I'm a little slow because I have to draw it all by hand, since I can't seem to find a free program to do it on my Mac.