Rhode Island Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
if you bought/own an older home- questions for you!
what are some of your major headaches?
do you love it or hate it?
do you have central air?
how old is your home and how long have you lived there?
do you find you have termites, spiders, bees , etc excessive
any other comments?
mila belle 3.26.07 and isla leighton 5.12.09
mila belle aka mimi and belle and miss isla aka ileigh : )
mila belle aka mimi and belle and miss isla aka ileigh : )
Re: if you bought/own an older home- questions for you!
Biggest headache in terms of maintenance - horsehair plaster walls. They take time to fill and sand cracks, and the walls look much better with flat paint hiding the little imperfections. Doesn't bother us, but if you're used to perfectly drywalled walls, it might bug you.
In terms of $$ - the fact that none of the walls are insulated. After we upgrade some electrical work, we will be blowing insulation in the walls, so it won't be an issue anymore, but right now it is more expensive than the average home our size to heat.
We love it.
No central air. But, I've never had central air, so I'm used to window units.
130 years old. We've been there 3.5 years.
Haven't had problems with termites, I'd say we have an average number of spiders, and we only get 1, maybe 2 bees in the house per year, and always in the basement. They can get in easily through the bulkhead door that is not air-tight, since you're supposed to have an interior door as well and we haven't built one yet (basement is not finished, so we're not concerned with it).
I find the charm of the house (crown moulding, rosettes and beautiful trim around doorframes and windows, solid wood doors, etc.) to be worth the headaches we've had. We like the renovation process, though, and our particular house has been a lot of work cosmetically to update. We knew what we were getting into going in, and we've been happy with the results.
Are you buying in RI? We paid a little extra to hire an inspector that specialized in inspections of older homes. He spent 4 hours in the place, and gave us a 50 page document complete with pictures and how-to advice on everything that needed fixing, from the big things down to little details. (The roof had 3 layers of shingles which is illegal, down to the bathroom sink not having a trap so you could lose jewelry easily.) I'll look up the name when I get home if you're interested.
what are some of your major headaches?
Our house is older but is mostly redone including a new kitchen, new bathrooms, etc. We know we have old pipes and a boiler than will eventually have to be replaced. Some have commented that the construction in older homes is superior and things last longer.
do you love it or hate it?
I personally love our house. It has a lot of character that you don't see in newer homes.
do you have central air?
When we bought our house, it did not have central air. This was one of our first priorities to install. We ended up installing ductless units in the main rooms of the house. Installation of central air was so expensive and we would have lost a lot of closet space with the ducts. The ductless units are wonderful. You hardly notice them in the rooms and they are very energy efficient. They are used throughout Europe.
how old is your home and how long have you lived there?
Home was built in 1949 and we lived there for almost 2 years.
do you find you have termites, spiders, bees , etc excessive No.
any other comments?
I think things can go wrong with a house of any age, so like anything you have to weigh the pros and cons.
Hope this helps.
what are some of your major headaches? everything seems to be more expensive, more difficult and more expensive to fix. We have asbestos in the basement (thankfully nothing that is damaged, cracked) but it still bugs me and there is definitely lead paint on the window frames (although it has since been painted over). Also, it seems like the previous owners meant for everything to be permanent so it has been difficult changing things. Also, our house is definitely not energy efficient.
do you love it or hate it? I love the character that my house has to offer such as built in china cabinets, built in drawers in the walls, crown moulding in every room, detailed mouldings around the door frames, super high base mouldings, hardwoods throughout (with mahogony inlay on the first floor) and just an overall quality in the craftsmanship that you just don't seem to get with newer homes unless you are building custom and spend lots of money. But I hate the things that I mentioned above along with an extremely small kitchen and lots of overgrown landscaping. Also (and this is just preference), while my house was everything I wanted when we bought it (i.e. separate and distinct rooms), I now wish I had a newer home with a more open floor plan.
do you have central air? Just on the second floor, but it doesn't work:(
how old is your home and how long have you lived there? built in 1938. we have lived there almost 6 years
do you find you have termites, spiders, bees , etc excessive apparently the house had termites many many years ago, but they were treated and there is no structural damage. We did find termites in an old tree stump outside though when we first moved in and had a barrier installed around the perimeter of our house. I have never noticed any other insects.
any other comments? I'm sure there is much more that I am forgetting. Feel free to ask me any questions if you want although I realize that my house may not be considered that old to some people.
Oh and like AmyRI, I completely agree about the horsehair plaster thing. Every room in our house was wallpapered when we bought it. It took us forever to repair the walls and prep them for painting after removing the wallpaper. They are still far from perfect, but I have to say I don't mind this. I realize it is the nature of an older home. However, the plaster and the "ladds" (I think they are called) that they used behind the walls can make it difficult to hang heavy things.
And our house also had three layers of shingles on the roof (llegal) when we purchased it. This was the first thing we replaced the spring after we moved in.
I agree about hanging heavy things. It's hard to find the studs in the walls because the lathe tricks stud finders into thinking there is a stud when there isn't, and the lathe isn't strong enough to support really heavy stuff on its own. That being said... I've never had an issue with normal sized photos, posters, or mirrors.
I don't have an older home (unless you think 1956 is old!), but my grandparents' house was built in 1720....so if you have questions about a house that old, let me know!
I love older homes, but it can be a lot more work. In my opinion, the character that is in older homes makes it all worth it.
I know my grandparents' is all horse hair plaster so their oil bill can be alot, but you can spray insulation in to help them be more efficient. They also have problems with water in the basement, but it is a stone foundation and has never been fixed up and the house sits on an old stream.
what are some of your major headaches? The walls suck!!! I hate horsehair. UGH! A lot of the systems are older: heating, plumbing, etc. and that can be a nightmare.
do you love it or hate it? Overall we love it. There's so much original woodwork and the house has a lot of charm.
do you have central air? Nope
how old is your home and how long have you lived there? My house was built in 1905, and we've been here 6 years.
do you find you have termites, spiders, bees , etc excessive No bugs whatsoever. We've been VERY lucky that way! I mean, not even ants. The foundation is rock solid.
any other comments? I love you! Tee hee....okay really, none. We love our house. We just wish we could finish the basement but it's very wet. We're at the bottom of a hill and we get all the water that runs down it in our basement. Kinda sucks. We do have to run 3 sump pumps to keep up with it.
For us, I think the thing that causes the most trouble is that we have lots of rooms but they're all small. No open floor plans in a hundred year old house!
I love it. It has so much character and I wouldn't trade it for a newer house. A porch, moldings everywhere, hardwoods - so many things I love!
No.
It was built in 1913 and we bought in 2008.
No, we haven't had bug issues (knock on wood).
We have steam heat which I thought I wouldn't like but I really love. No more dry skin in the winter! I think I get sick less,too, with the more humid air. We have some settling, but the house is built very solid (it was an isolated issue and shouldn't get worse).
It took 5 failed IUIs and a failed IVF, but our FET worked!
My pregnancy after Infertility Blog
Our baby girl was born on April 27, 2011!