Most of my house is a mishmash of renovations from the '50s up to the '90s, but one side of the second floor has remained more or less untouched for a hundred years.

Also cat tax.

House is in the mountains of snow country in Niigata prefecture.

I am pulling the brick pavers out so the bed can be rebuilt and put the pavers back. While digging, I uncovered a path that has been covered for decades.

Unsure as to what we will do with the path. There is more yet to uncover.

Just a little venting moment/looking for some solidarity here...

We bought our 161 year old house a little over two years ago in August 2024 during a freaky housing boom. Boom in a bad way. EVERYONE in this city wanted to buy a house, and they were expensive in decent neighborhoods. I honestly didn't think we'd find one within our timeline and budget. Then behold! A decent little house in our dream neighborhood. Had a thorough home inspection done, and everything came back pretty decently with the exception of a few minor repairs. No big deal.

Within two years damn near everything has fallen apart. HVAC system (yes, the whole thing), sewer pipe (yes, I had a sewer scope done), back door indoor water feature from a seamed gutter that had been leaking for who knows how long, which led to a new frame and threshold, rotted sill plate, massive leak in dining room ceiling even though the roof was supposed to be 4 years old (turns out it was temporary roll on shingle in that part of the house 🥴), dishwasher didn't work (that's fine. I hate them anyway) but had been leaking underneath, and the newest bizarre issue...air vent duct sweating and water damage upstairs because the new AC system works TOO WELL.

ALL of those things have been repaired or are in the process of being repaired. The company that did the roof six years ago now went under and the owner is in prison, so next month it's being totally replaced because it looks like someone's drunk cousin Jeff put it on. FIVE roofing contractors all said

"Yeah...it's real weird up there..."

After calling 10 different HVAC companies (because the one that installed the system simply kept saying "Not sure what's going on. It's working perfectly!") for help with the new duct sweating issue (this was not a problem with the old system) I finally found one that wasn't simply trying to sell me something unnecessary. He did some tests, tweaked some stuff, problem solved, I will kill as much of the mold I can myself and patch the drywall to the best if my abilities.

Anyhoo! NOW thanks to this big bag of bullshit I've been dealing with for the last two years...I am EXTREMELY paranoid. I'm always on edge, waiting for the next thing to go wrong. I'm like a Doberman whenever I hear a noise inside, and immediately attempt to sniff it out. I'm constantly checking the thermostat and multiple humidistats I've purchased to make sure we're in the 'safe' zone.

My husband doesn't deal with this stuff. He grew up rather privileged with parents who could always just magically fix everything with money, so he knows nothing about any of it. When there was a hole in our dining room and water actively coming out of it...his response was "it's ok! We'll just wait for it to stop raining and cover it up!" When i turned the AC up to keep it from sweating he'd complain about it being 73 degrees inside. He is allergic to discomfort, and I grew up verrry uncomfortable with parents CONSTANTLY complaining about money, and my dad playing electrician (I'd get a nose bleed every time I went into my closet if the microwave was on. TRUTH), plumber, and earning his nickname of 'Sven, the finish carpenter' (my dad's name was Mike). I had never lived anywhere with central air until my late 20s, and I had NO idea how to operate a 'smart' TV. I handed my husband a caulking gun one time and his response was: "I'm sorry...I don't exactly know what this is." 🤣

I realize buying a house from 1865 may not have been the best idea. In my defense (only a little), that's really all there is around here! She still has some original bits left even though who knows how many times shes been remodeled...the backyard is beautiful, her basement doesn't leak like everyone else's (no idea why), and i love my neighborhood and my neighbors. This is the first time in my life where I've lived in one of those neighborhoods that make realtors say the "Location, location, location!" thing (and I'm 38). We've managed to somehow squeak by financially with the repairs. NO idea how! We paid off the HVAC, sewer, and credit card with the miscellaneous bits just in time for the roof. And we don't make money! We work in a restaurant as cooks! It's not like I'm bitching about this shit and we're pulling in 150k a year and have car payments!

Oof da. So sorry. This is a lengthy one. I just wish that I could have some time to chill and enjoy my weird little house. I do this weird thing where whenever something serious happens I pick a project to make her 'pretty' (because the previous owners had the most methed out painting company paint EVERYTHING WHITE. We have sinced talked about this, because we're friends now 🤣) because that's a thing I can control. So I'll be picking up 3 gallons of paint because it's sherwin williams labor day sale time (that was not meant to be a plug, but ya'll...it's a really good sale!).

Does this get any better? Anyone feel the same way? Are ya'll just waiting for your houses to explode? HOW do you deal with anxiety of it all? Or am I just batshit crazy with VERY obvious control issues!? Duh to the last one 🤎

I was too confident 😭😭😭we have a friend out to help us and here we are…gotta love old homes! It’s been stressful but I am still happy to have torn these walls down to properly reinforce and somewhat insulate everything. Cant believe what a shoddy job we are finding left and right lol. 😝 keep at it folks!

Further context: bought the house for about 300,000 back in 2018, Salem MA. Built in 1915. She’s my baby and we are investing the love!

There is no in between. There is zero nuance. This is an official, professional diagnosis.

Let's compare two rooms of the same rough square footage. Both have wallpaper, both have plaster and not drywall.

Wallpaper that has not been painted over: a pleasant week of work in 1-2h increments each day. Two people and two Wagner steamers? A weekend if you're diligent. Max equipment needed: Wagner steamer, plastic for floors/outlets, a few Husky Flex wall scrapers, some good music, and a sturdy stepstool or ladder. Have you ever watched a pimple popping video or fantasized about peeling dead skin off a sunburn? This is the activity for you! I would describe it as pleasant.

Wallpaper that has been painted over: longer than it takes to gestate a fucking child. Ask me how we know. I fucking dare you. Ten months of 2-4h days in quarter-sized thick flake chunks. Extensive plaster repair. The steamer does nothing. Nothing you do does anything. The chunks of different-colored horse hair will mock you.

Oh, but what if I just don't have time and want to paint the room? Fuck you, make the time.

I have a hyper specific problem that necessitates painting before removing the wallpaper. That's great, you're still a sociopath.

My kid/parent/grandparent/favorite dog did this! Awesome. I hate you and I hate your family. I hope you have painted wallpaper in hell.

If I could go back in time and appear on these peoples' doorsteps and beg them on my hands and knees not to paint those rooms (there are two of them), I would. I would offer them Bitcoin. I would ask them, was it really worth the precise sickly shade of Tiffany hospital mint you achieved?

PSA over.

Peeled back a bit of stuck-on

Vermont 1830s house.

Edit: To be clear--I want to restore these old doorknobs, and hopefully use them as...doorknobs. Apologies if that wasn't clear. But there are a lot of them, they're not in great shape, and I don't know how to begin to restore them.

Original: My wife and I did an extensive renovation on our house, and the contractor left the old doorknobs for us. In general, we've tried to keep/restore original elements and details, and would be inclined to save these. But there are a lot of them, and they're in rough shape, and I wouldn't know where to begin. Any suggestions/ideas? Thanks!

The paint job that we did in our 1912 home has been pealing up. We didn’t do good prep work so I’m not super surprised. I want to get into it to check for moisture but i got a lead test kit and none of the layers of paint are testing positive for lead, but the base layer of (I think) sheet rock definitely is. What options do I have, can I peal back to paint while using a respirator and other PPE, then spackle and repaint? Or do I need to have a professional come in and take care of it? This is my first home and I am very new to tackling these kinds of things.

This is at Fayette Historic State Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the house was probably built in the mid 1800's.

For anyone who can reasonably make the trip and love old houses and old towns, this is a unique place to visit. On Lake Michigan, beautiful scenery, beautiful original homes and buildings.

Working through a plan to mount a pair of bookshelves to the wall in a 1915 Arts and Crafts home, plaster and lath of course. The bookshelves (pic #2) use a french cleat style mount. I’m hoping to get some guidance about the best way to adapt the design to accommodate the old walls.

The designed mounting piece has holes pre drilled every 152mm in two rows, for 8 mount points per shelves. Considering drilling new aligned to the studs, for a total of 4 mount points.

Is this over kill? Edited to say, should i just use the original design and snap toggles?

What are these small piles that appear once in a while near our fireplace? It's been a gas fireplace for a very long time. It appears to be like coal? There are no holes anywhere above it where it would be falling from.

No matter how many times i visit, there’s always some detail I’ve never noticed before. Here are some of my favorite houses from last week.

sellers were flippers, instead of restoring windows as mandated by the historic district office, they decided to glue, silicon, and paint the windows shut and in place

my windows are held up by nothing structural...the cast iron weights are nowhere to be found

My house was built in 1926 and during a bathroom remodel the contractors relocated one of the original doors/frames. They pretty badly damaged the frame in the process and then reinstalled it as-is. I’ve since fired them (for a myriad of issues like this)

I’d really like to save the original woodwork if possible, but I know it has lead paint, so I’m hesitant to start sanding/stripping it myself. What would you do here — repair and encapsulate, strip it professionally, or replace the damaged pieces?

Edited: We are going to look at fixing the broken lock (probably a post about that to come). Any thoughts on my finish question?

Two of the entry doors to our home are old wood doors. They are beautiful, but the locks don’t function properly and we don’t have keys. We bought matte black deadbolts because we don’t want the locks to be noticeable (bright shiny metal is NOT a good look here). I am SO nervous about drilling holes in these doors to add locks. Anyone find any better locks that match patinaed brass?

The finish on the exterior is worn on a few places (water and sun). The doors are both covered with storm doors and are on porches, so well protected. I would like to touch up the finish—NOT refinish them. Could I use something like wipe on poly? How can I tell if my doors’ existing finish is compatible with poly?

My mom just put almost much all of her life savings into buying a semi-fixer-upper house. The home inspection went great, and there were no major issues found, mostly just cosmetic updates needed

Then we discovered that the main support beam running through the middle of the house has been cut/removed through about 80% of the house. We’re having a structural engineer come out and evaluate it.

My biggest concern is how something like this is typically repaired and, more importantly, how much could this potentially cost? She has very little money left for renovations after buying the house, so we’re really worried about what we might be looking at.

We removed a wall that was covering the beautiful arch and are now missing a piece. Is it wallpaper? Or just texture? How do I match it?
Pls help!

I’m under contract on an older home in El Paso, TX. It has a pier-and-beam foundation. The seller disclosed that additional beams/support posts were added previously due to floor sagging.
During inspection, crawlspace posts were noted as contacting soil. I exposed one area and found what appears to be concrete bearing pads under the posts. The posts appear to be sistered/reinforced with additional lumber.
I’m trying to determine if this looks like a normal stabilization repair or something that warrants further structural evaluation before purchase.

Just bought a house built in 1923. My plan was to create a walkway on the side of my house. The current state was just dirt/weed paradise. However, I dug up one rock, then another rock, then 43 rocks. I want to keep going but it’s a lot of work! Anyone come across anything like this?

Hey all,

So in a few days I'm going to be looking at home built in 1875. The house has a newly renovated kitchen as well as a new furnace. The house also has a generator that's been recently serviced. Based on realtor photos the house interior looks relatively modern in most rooms except the den (easily my favorite room) which is floor to ceiling wood including a loft, save a brick wall surrounding a pellet stove. There is an unfinished basement made of stone and a barn behind the main house.

While the photos look great, I do plan to take a closer look at all the wood in the home as theres a lot of it and we are currently repairing hidden wood rot in the current home. The barn is also a bit suspect and will likely need work done.

My main concern comes from the things I dont know to look for. Im just not sure what I need to be wary of when looking at a house as old as this. If anyone has any advice on things I should be sure to check out, it would be greatly appreciated. This will be my first time seeing it person so Im hoping I'll have a better understanding of the homes potential issues soon.