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robbin
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join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

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robbin to iLearn

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Re: What to expect on a 50 year old house

A house of that age does not have lead pipes. Personally I believe that many houses of that age were better constructed than a lot of the newer ones I have seen.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
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join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
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KrK

Premium Member

I'd tend to agree. My house is built in the mid 60's and it seems more well constructed then modern light weight construction. It's a brick over wood frame structure. I like brick due to the maintenance and strength benefits, but the color of brick chosen does period date the home. Many people in the neighborhood have repainted the bricks to modernize the exterior, but that seems to defeat one of the main reasons for having brick--- ease of maintenance.

The most obvious thing about this home was the terrible original windows and sliding doors. I replaced those. The home is surprisingly energy efficient. The outer walls have fiberglass batt insulation, the attic has blown in cellulose insulation with a thermal cover lying over the tops of the joists. Due to some settling part of the home had to be piered by the original owners about 20 years ago and you can see where the bricks and drywall had some cracks as a result and were repaired (although not that well IMHO.)

An interesting thing about my house is that the drywall was hung with nails instead of screws and some of them have clearly "popped" up some over the years as the house settled. I'd definitely recommend screws over nails based on this experience but I believe drywall nailing is still common today. Other issues I feel are related to the time period of the house I have found... IMHO the attic ventilation isn't up to modern standards, with just three of the spinning vents and some soffet vents that were pretty obstructed when I bought the home... also, both the bathroom fans exhaust directly into the attic, not outside. That's something that still needs to be fixed and as a result I rarely if ever use them. The ceilings are popcorn ceilings and I don't like that, would prefer flat smooth ceilings... they may or may not contain asbestos, they have been painted over so economical removal isn't really an option, so they stay.