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SW “Ohia” | Hello All,
I am currently underway remodeling a traditional five-window farmhouse that was built pre-1870.
To say it now, complete tear down and replace isn’t an option. That isn’t practical budget wise, and the old portion of the house is something I’ve always wanted to own. It’s in a very distinctive spot and was the only house in the area for quite a long time. Also there are tax savings associated with keeping such an old build date on the court records.
Here’s my dilemma. There have been two single-story additions put on the back of the house. This area contains the kitchen, a parlor, bathroom, and utility room. One was added around 1900, the other around 1930. They each have their own roof peak with a trough in the middle that has always caused leakage issues. They layout is pretty bad and because of the two load bearing walls, it can’t be changed. No insulation, the plumbing is junk, bathroom is the smallest I have ever seen, lath needs to come down, floor is sagging in one spot, single pane wood windows are rough, one of them needs new roof tin, and I am going to re-side the outside anyway.
Essentially I have the framework and foundation that would be reused. The front portion of the house contains the living room on the ground floor and bedrooms upstairs.
It has crossed my mind to just rip these two additions off and build a single fresh one. Then I could lay it out as I would want, pour a slab with proper plumbing, no roof trough, and I could offset it to one side enough for a side porch. The new area still needs to contain a kitchen, bathroom, and a utility room.
Has anybody done something similar, and if so, what are your thoughts? How would you lay out those three rooms, and what would be the optimal dimensions? Any other advice?
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Question for those who have remodeled or added additions to old farmhouses.
