Promise Acre: Our Journey

Bruce

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It's probably more for the insulation and wiring, etc. -- plus the lead -- than anything else.
True enough about the possibility of lead paint but if they are going with blown in insulation the lath will hold it and they can see that there are no voids ;)

also looking into the cost of adding an elevator.
Um, expensive! Maybe he could make one, functional and "safe enough".
 

promiseacres

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Girl's rode this morning. Kinzey's getting braver, just a little bit.
Then Jocelyn worked Lightning with the help of her instructor. Lots of ground work then a ride. He's doing great, relaxing more quickly and moving off better. 2nd week of school is almost done. And overall it's going well.
Girlsonponies.jpgBabe&Kinzey.jpgLightning&Jocelyn.jpg
I took a photo of our sunflowers, several were knocked down in the storms a week or so ago, but they're blooming anyways.
sunflowers.jpg
 

Ridgetop

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Our old house was all wood lath and plaster. We bought it from my grandmother whose family had owned it since 1920. We had to find someone to repair a large crack over the fireplace and found a German fellow about 70 years old who knew the lost art. o one knows that anymore. The closest thing to that is the exterior plastering over wire. Everything now is drywall. Faster and easier but not the insulating qualities. In the old days the plaster was mixed with horsehair to make it stronger.

There was no insulation in our old place. We blew insulation into the walls and ceiling. Luckily we didn't have knob and tube. DH was able to rewire the house because all of the electric wire was run through conduit. Also had basement and attic on the 2 story house which made things easier. There were outlets on every wall but the panel was not heavy enough even adding breakers. Our lights used to go off anytime we had a party with all the lights on through the house and I turned on the coffee maker! On this house when renovating DH added 2 more panels, and out every olug in the kitchen n its own breaker!

Those old houses are made so much better. We had 10' ceilings which made summer heat bearable most of the year with just ceiling fans. We had to do a lot of renovations, adding heating and replacing windows. The day we moved in the dry rot caused the upstairs windows to fall out onto the driveway. With the old lath and plaster walls our house was almost sound proof and we lived on one of the busiest streets. The busy street why DH decided to move since we both loved our huge old house. The only thing this place had going for it was it's seclusion on a private road, and the acreage. Everything else good about it we added. I still don't like the house, and we lost 1000 sf of living space when we moved, as well as our attic and basement. I still miss my lovely cool basement where I stored all my canning on shelves daddy built for me. :hit

Old houses are best! After the good stuff like HVAC, washers, dryers, dishwashers, electricity, and indoor plumbing LOL are added, of course,
 

farmerjan

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I am with you on the old houses. The one I am moving into is 100 yrs old, but it is not one of the big old farmhouse type. Smaller, but it has the lath and plaster on the upstairs ceilings and probably the walls too. The ceilings are going to come down since they are already down in each room in a good size corner, and loose other places. Yes, it is a lost art and mixing with horsehair was very widely practiced. All the downstairs rooms have sheetrock and the sheet type paneling, not the real individual t&g board panelling.
I really want a bigger house just because I like them. And I have alot of stuff, that I really ought to be getting rid of. Don't know if I have any grand nieces or nephews in the future that might cherish the "old ways" and stuff.... pretty sure there aren't any grandkids in the future especially with DS and this GF. No one to cherish the things that I cherished from my grandparents......
 

Ridgetop

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Big old houses are wonderful. Two and three story houses with attics and basements are wonderful. For young families. Now that I'm older, I appreciate this single story ranch. HOWEVER, I would like a basement for canned goods - even a root cellar would work. I would renovate a closet and add a dumb waiter so I could easily move all those jars of canned food into the basement easily. During canning season I used to make many trips each day taking all those quart jars down the old wooden stairs after I finished cooling them. My knees don't like that anymore but with a dumb waiter I could put dozens of jars in the basement on one trip! And the cellar would stay cool and dark which would be better for the jars.

Promiseacres: Do you have a basement? If so, do you have any closet space where you could install a dumbwaiter? When you design your new kitchen, maybe you could hide one in a cabinet! Think of all the trips up and down you would save with a dumbwaiter. All that toilet paper could go down in one trip!!! Although I used to just toss the toilet paper and other soft paper goods down the stairs then pick them up and put them away when I went down. LOL Oh wait, you still have small children at home to do your bidding. Never mind! And they would probably enjoy playing in it.

When our children complained about having to do chores, I told them that was the only reason I went through excruciating pregnancies and childbirths - to produce slave labor. LOL Well those days are past. My new ranch house needs a basement and dumbwaiter. It's now officially on the wish list
 

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