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aptosca

Where do A&C/Bungalow geeks hang out?

aptosca
9 years ago

Here? Somewhere else?

I'm remodeling my house and I was looking for a place where I could get advice from people more educated than me.

The thing that's a bit unique about my situation is that I'm trying to walk a line: my house is what I think of as "faux" bungalow. It is petty much a bungalow by style but was built in '48 so it has the overall style of a bungalow but not a number of the features you'd find in pre-depression builds and is pretty tiny (2br 1ba, 1008sf).

But I live in a pretty pricey area. And there's a cottage (1br 1ba 480 sf) that's non-conforming but grandfathered in. The implication of that last part is that I can't increase the size of the structures: the first requirement would be to make it conforming which means tear down the cottage and that's not going to happen.

Part of the problem is that I'm inordinately attached to my house and cottage. Possibly to the point of irrationality. In this area, a lot of people would scrape and build a MacMansion. I don't want that. I plan to keep this forever. Even if I move, between the house and the cottage, I can easily make the mortgage and taxes. And it's very easy to rent in this area to good renters (e.g., MDs, visiting scholars to the top-ten university).

So I was wondering if/where there are people that have more experience/objectivity than me that could give some sage advice?

A lot of my questions are about putting more $ and/or features into the house than make sense.

For example, in redoing the kitchens, the contractor will be stripping the walls down to the studs. But the house is plaster (rock lath, I think, but I really need to get into the attic ...) I really feel like putting plaster back up but I'm wondering if I'm being to obsessive.

I guess it comes down to that I'm not really restoring the house, I'm actually taking a '48 house and, in some ways, making it more of a '20s house (because I think that's what it always wanted to be.) Trying to walk the line between obsessive and insane. I may already be over that line.

Any sage advice? Recommended place to ask?

Comments (10)

  • weedyacres
    9 years ago

    This is the forum to ask such questions.

    I don't have any advice on your plaster question. We had to strip the plaster walls down in our kitchen to move doorways and change a window size, and we put drywall back up in its place. But our house is only worth $60K fixed up, so no bang for the buck by re-plastering.

  • dainaadele
    9 years ago

    Here you will find many who have an interest in maintaining and preserving, but for the over the top guys, you may want to go to
    oldhouseweb dot com slash forums.

  • sacto_diane
    9 years ago

    oldhouseweb dot com was overrun with spammers. A lot of the regulars that posted there went to wavyglass dot com. The American Bungalow magazine had a web forum that was pretty active but it also got pretty overrun with spammers too. I haven't frequented it much lately but you can check it out and see if it's still going.

    Here is a link that might be useful: American Bunglow Magazine Forum

  • jmc01
    9 years ago

    Ditto to Sacto Diane's comment.

    Wavyglass dot org is the place for old home lovers who do a lot of DIY!

    Dot org, not dot com.

  • powermuffin
    9 years ago

    I just gotta say that if someone said that they had to strip my plaster walls down to the studs to fix something, I would be looking for a second opinion - from someone who respected old houses! Plaster can be patched; we did it and knew nothing about it. Dry wall just doesn't compare.

    Check out wavyglass.org for help.

    Diane

  • aptosca
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks, all. I've started hanging out on wavyglass.

    I'd been looking at oldhouseweb, too. wavyglass seems more active. ambungalow seems to have surrendered to the spammers.

    I'm not a DIYer: I'll end up paying someone to make changes. But I want to understand and direct the process. I think I have someone that will do what I ask, even if he's not used to doing that kind of work: most people don't want it. We have a good relationship.

    As to stripping the kitchen down to the studs, this is a complete kitchen redo. I'm not looking at moving the water or gas much but all all new cabinets/new layout, new flooring, new lighting, pocket doors. So In this case, it may well be more economical to strip and replaster. In other rooms, I doubt it (with the possible exception of the bath).

    Thanks again.

  • jackfre
    9 years ago

    I would require that it go down to the studs. You have a lot going into those walls with elec, plumbing, comm, vents, etc. the mechanicals need the room for rough-in, otherwise it is a nightmare and each trade is tracking up the other. My new kitchen has only about a 16" strip of Sheetrock showing between the backsplash and cabinets. Personally, I'd rock it but the walls didn't meet my obsessive compulsive limits. Other things did however. Plaster it if you like. You have the resources. I have to say this though. I just took a pretty good pile of liquid assets and turned them in to fixed assets. It is amazing how much it all cost. Pick your spots for originality, but watch your pocketbook!

  • energy_rater_la
    9 years ago

    you have a/c in title...but talk about bungalow...did you
    need hvac advice also?

    the hvac forum here is good, with input from some
    pro's & homeowners.
    for homeowner questions answered by hvac pro's only
    hvac-talk.com

    best of luck.

  • dirt_cred
    9 years ago

    I just happened across myartsandcraftshome.com today and haven't checked it out carefully yet. Now I'm going to check out wavyglass.

    Here is a link that might be useful: myartsandcraftshome.com

  • aptosca
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Jackfre: yeah, that's about where I stand. There won't be that much wall showing in the kitchen. I'm waiting to see how things look in the bath. There are the ceilings ...

    I need to get some pretty minor cracks repaired. If that happens/goes to a plaster guy, I'll see if he can fix the cracks that were poorly repaired in the past. And find out about the sheetrock/plaster $ difference.

    And I'm trying to figure out how I come down on the whole "is X worth Y" thing. Just because I could find some way to afford it doesn't mean I should. At least that's what I'm thinking ....

    energy_rater_la: in this context, A&C means "arts and crafts" aka craftsman, not AC as in HVAC. Sorry for the confusion.