West KY, Miss River County | Personally we would go the remodel again and not have second thoughts. We did an extensive update to a 1915 home, when we returned to farm several years ago. The home is in town, and was my wife's grandparents home. Structurally sound, but still had the twisted, green wire, single light bulb dropped from the center of the bedrooms. This with no wall switches upstairs. Still had the original 60amp fuse box with add on's. Everyone has seen the old four square homes like that.
We removed all woodwork from the house, except the stairway. All the woodwork was labeled and stored on the front porch during remodeling. This included installation of new plumbing, central heat/air, central vac, rewiring, installed 1inch Styrofoam on all outside walls, covered by a moisture barrier, then Sheetrock. Fiberglass insulation in attic. Original windows were rebuilt, where necessary, with alum channels installed so the weights were not necessary. Storm windows updated to keep the breezes out. A little re arranging of downstairs converting a hall, an old bath, and two bedrooms into a master bedroom, dressing room, and bath. Still ended up with 5 bedrooms.
All this cheap? No, but we figured a comparable size new house would have been at least 50%maybe 80% more.
If you move out of this house and rent it, the new occupants will not care for it like you have. Everytime you drive by you will see things that will upset you. If you choose this route just remember, it may be your house, but you don't live there anymore. |