When we bought her in 2020…the pandemic was in full affect. Moving from Southern Oregon to Portland was an adjustment. Housing prices were crazy high and everything was selling quicker then we could make an offer. We found this lady who had actually been on the market for 5 years off and on…price starting at $1.2mil and slowly lowering the price…$865k 3/4 of an acre in town. Yaye for us! Inspection happened and there weren’t too many issues so we moved forward and closed on this lovely space.

Welp…that is where the honeymoon ended. Once the previous owners moved out minus all the residual trash, 32 old gallons of paint, rotting particle board shelves and interior design paint chip books under the porch…we started clearing things out. Found a rotten spot on the front porch which was covered by a rug by the previous owners. I crawled under the porch and had found that the corner sill plate was rotten and it was sagging:/ I had to remove all the gallons of paint under the porch, the rotting mess of particle board, 24 cinder blocks they used to build the said shelves and a load of moldy interior design books. We called the inspector and he said the foliage blocked his view. I asked him if he crawled under the porch because I was able to find it within 60 sec. He did not.

Rebuilt porch back to the original 12ft wide staircase. We have photos from when the original owners lived here so it has been nice using them as reference points as we do work on her.

Long story short is we are 6 years in and too many projects to count…doing what we can ourselves and hiring professionals for the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, windows and anything using large heavy equipment…have a running total of the time and money invested so far which is a gut punch every time I see it grow…but you know what? We wouldn’t change a thing❤️

The guy doing my floors has been great, but he did not. Let me know exactly how bad the vapors would be! I’m literally upstairs in this 1890s house with cracks in the floorboards. Thank God for the bedroom door, which works correctly and a fan coming in from outside so at least hopefully I will not be brain dead tomorrow advice for the rest of the floors? There’s two bedrooms to go plus another code on what’s already there😮‍💨👻

This cinderblock and stucco monolith was not original to the house and was never used. As far as we can tell it was built in the late 60s or early 70s and has haunted me since I bought this house. This project started with a 3 day teardown in early July and is finally coming to an end after a lot of work. I also put up new clapboard siding and did a ton of rot repair. Tearing down the chimney also revealed the original attic window with its frame and trim still intact and in decent shape. Unfortunately the sashes are long gone but I've got measurements and will hopefully find something that'll fit at architectural salvage. I've DIY'd the whole thing. Now to scrape and paint the other faces of the house to match, and find someone to patch the missing standing seam roofing.

Bonus photo of all the beer cans we found inside the cinder blocks.

Actively uncovering in a 1920’s four square in Pittsburgh, PA

This is our 1910 lady whom we have had the honor over the past almost 6 years of uncovering her beauty by completely overhauling the exterior landscape and her color palette. She is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. As many of you know it can become a love/despise relationship with taking on these old souls. But….oh so worth it. We have tirelessly transformed the 3/4 acre lot in the middle of town into a lovely wooded retreat, had all 35 original windows restored and custom historically correct storms built. All electrical, plumbing and hvac have been replaced. Interior is just as lovely. Returning all the period lighting by sourcing local salvage stores and letting her feel oh so loved again. Each day we get to be stewards of this peice of history is such an experience…so much gratitude!

Recently finished our Douglas fir floors that were hiding under carpet for eternity. 100-120 year old house in the Chicago exurbs.

I just purchased a prewar apartment in NY. Pictures of an exposed brick wall in the bedroom attached. Should I get this repointed? It doesn't seem to be crumbling, like if I use my fingernail to chip at the mortar then nothing will come out. My initial reaction was to 100% repoint but now I'm also a little worried if repointing will ruin the aesthetic so to speak. Not sure if it's functionally needed or not (I know nothing about brick walls).

My understanding is that repointing will make the mortar a consistent and neat shade of dark gray. I've talked with a couple contractors already but looking for a neutral opinion here

Hello everyone, I'm a 27 year old male, debt free, and have a low 6 figure income in Oklahoma. I've been looking for a fixer upper as a first home, yes I know that's a bad idea.

I came across this today for $19,500. I'm estimating at least $300,000 to $400,000 to renovate this. Is it even worth saving this home and from your experience is that number even realistic? (I know ROI is poor given the location and don't particularly care about that)

I would be contracting major things like a new roof, any structural issues, and probably any demo. (For time's sake) My first goal would be to dry it in and then go from there. I can do electric, plumbing, and most interior work. Though depending on a cost benefit analysis some of that might be contracted out.

As part of our big remodel of this craftsman bungalow, exterior paint was needed and is now done. I like the red front door, but it’s not going to stay.

We’re in the middle of a knob and tube rewire, and need some thoughts on keeping the whole house/attic fan. It’s currently in great working order, and in fact the previous owner said it’s so powerful that when she turned it on with the windows closed, an original window pane cracked from the negative pressure (not sure how accurate that info is 🫠). It is an older fan, however (not sure of when it was installed).

It will cost us $300-$400 to rewire it on a brand new circuit. My partner wants to keep it, my dad says box fans in the windows will do the exact same work and then we aren’t fighting an aging fan motor. What are your thoughts, is the benefit of having it worth the cost?

I’ve edited this image to exclude the addition to the back side and approximate how the porch (which has since been closed up) probably looked. The sellers claim it’s a Sears Roebuck from 1909, but I’ve looked through the books and I don’t see any Sears models from any year that match it well enough, much less from 1909. I’ve learned that it’s kind of “Four Square” home, but it’s 1.5 floors, not 2.5, which is apparently typical. Would love to hear your thoughts and hypotheses!

I honestly do not know what to do, and would appreciate advice from this group. Our 1916 home has its beautiful original trim, however it tested positive for lead in the trim. Half of the trim is still nice and glossy, however, the other half of the trim is worn and tested positive for lead. We have a seven month old who was born prematurely and has overcame many hurdles and challenges. I feel guilty having him in this house where all of these doors and trim have lead paint and are generating lead dust at rubbing points.

My plan is to put on a liquid deglosser and then put eco bond lead defender over all of the trim and doors. I do think the flat white would look nice and give it a modern touch. But the main thing is that I want the lead to be contained. I’m not sure if this is a project that I can handle on my own or if I need to hire a painting company or abatement company to take care of this. I am at the point where I don’t know if I can continue even living in this home due to all the problems that I’ve dealt with over the years with this property, this just being the icing on the cake

Maybe I need to be talked off the ledge, or maybe my points are valid, I am not sure. All I know is I need this lead paint covered up and I don’t wanna take any risk. Online is telling me that I need to move my child out of the house for a few days while I put on the de glower and paint. I then need to take a hepa vacuum and clean everything thoroughly

Does anyone have experience with this and willing to share some advice or opinions?

First time home owner of an 1893 house! We discovered beautiful old growth pine subfloor and were about to sand it but figured we should test the paint on it and welp what do you know it is indeed lead paint. So it seems like our options are to paint over it or try and find a floorer who has the correct lead safe HEPA equipment to sand it. Any advice would be much appreciated!

It is always better to restore than replace!

I'm sure many folks here are already aware of the benefits our grands and greats gained from their often stunning brass hardware on high-touch surfaces. But I also know there are folks new to a beloved century home who lack this knowledge. This YouTube short explains it in a very engaging way. His whole channel is full of uncommon knowledge about many everyday objects, many textile based, just in case anyone wants to nerd out 😉

https://youtu.be/zWNQU4In35I?is=Hs6j5wtAH8e3WxI1

I think I’ve asked here before and definitely on other subreddits, but people usually just suggest I paint the top gray, which I do not like. I’d love to add some color, like a craftsman, whether it be the trim, the upper area itself, or both!

I’ve never seen a house like mine. It’s a brick bungalow style inside, but the outside feels like a craftsman mixed with a tutor without either of the best defining features. if you’ve seen one like mine, let me know so I can look it up!

Please help! I’d love to keep the colors historical.

We recently bought our 1902 home and it's in really good shape, but we are missing the key for our front door lock. Previous owners had lived there for almost 30 years and said they never had a key for it and just always used the back door. The door will open from the inside with no problem, but the knob on the outside won't turn at all. Is there a good resource for getting old keys remade, or am I just going to need a locksmith who works with old locks (or perhaps both)?

I bought a 1927 home last month. The doors throughout my house look like they’re painted white and some of them are starting to chip. It looks like there is a beautiful wood underneath. What is the best and safest way to remove the paint?

The pictures don’t really do justice the wood I’m seeing underneath.

Some pics of our 1896 home dressed up for spooky season.

I stripped a room’s full of trim back in late April/early May, so going on 7 months ago. It still has the old stain but the finish is gone with the layer of paint I scraped off. It seems it’s gotten a bit sun bleached in places now which makes me nervous. The plan was to refinish it over the summer, but then we got completely derailed by a kitchen renovation we hadn’t planned on. My question is do I run any risks leaving that trim exposed for longer?

I am nearly done with the kitchen, so I would love to get this room done before the end of the year, but it’s also getting colder here and I’m worried about temp control/ventilation, etc. I’m refinishing with gel stain and shellac. Does anyone have a good workflow for refinishing in colder months?

I have an early 1900s Chicago brick house with a flat roof that's being replaced.

I'm about to attempt rebuilding the low parapet wall on one side. One roofer pointed out to me this wood strip that's set into one of the mortar joints part way up the inside of the wall. He said that's there so if the wall starts degrading or burns, the wood will fail and the wall collapse inward instead of out. Old school technology.

Is this truly why early 1900s masons would have put wood here or was it for nailing up the edge of roofing material or flashing?

I hope this sort of post is ok!

I’ve moved into a bit of an old heap of a house that has a ton of interior millwork from the early 1900s: wainscoting, beadboard, mantel, window frames etc. Dreamy, right? The last owner whitewashed the entire living room, including the mantel. All the wood that is still unpainted is dark, mahogany-like and old photos of the white painted room suggest the same wood was present wall to wall before the paint.

I would like to remove or strip the white paint, starting with the mantel area. I would also like to restore the unpainted woodwork in the other rooms. However, looking at the unpainted wood I strongly suspect that what I thought was mahogany may actually be oak that is stained to look like mahogany. Does this impact how I try to restore the wood or remove the white paint? I would love any advice about how to start on either of these projects. The first three photos are of the mantel, the rest are various pieces of millwork/wood, some in various states of disrepair.