Home repairs on a 50 year old, original house? (Sugar Land: how much, houses)

[htownguy]

Hello all, I've been looking into areas where the homes are closing in on 45 to 50 years old. I've been leaning more towards something more on the original side and rennovating it.
I've searched, researched, and gotten a few quotes for different jobs, but was wondering if anyone could give me another ball park figure of the costs to fix/repair these things on a 50 year old, 2500ish sq ft home just so I can have another vantage point?

Replace electricial,
Replace ductwork,
Replace plumbing,
Replace insulation (in attic?)

Anything else I might be missing?

Thanks!

[RCH99]

Are you looking for estimates on these items after you gut the entire house, or are you planning to retrofit these things? Those are two completely different bids.

[htownguy]

sorry, I meant for them to remove existing and to replace

[chicagomama]

We have owned 2 houses over 50+years (and then we moved to Sugar Land, where our realtor told us our house from the early 90's was considered old). First, are you sure you have to replace ALL of the plumbing? ALL of the electricity, etc? We fixed up both of our houses, but never needed to replace the whole system. FOr example we had to replace the whole box of fuses to circuit breakers, and it cost $750.. but the wiring was fine throughout the house. Our plumbing has some issues- we need to replace an old ceramic pipe under the basement floor out, into a PVC, and fix some plumbing around the water heater, and it was $1000 (they had to break up our basement floor and re-pour the cement). We also fixed some plumbing in our bathrooms- but not the main lines, just related to getting a new tub and sink. We found our plumbing to be superior to our friends in newer-lego-type houses bc the toilets never overflowed, no matter how much tp my kids shoved down there. My friends in newer houses were so strict about tp haha, they only could use single ply bc any clump would overflow the toilet bc the pipes were smaller. THe insulation in the attic- we are getting this down right now and it's about $1300, but there is a federal tax rebate bc we're going more eco- can't remember the details right now. When you say ductwork- are there problems with the current ductwork? Are you talking about completely gutting the whole house, tearing down drywall and rebuilding it from the bones up? That is a lot more than the repairs we did.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by htownguy

sorry, I meant for them to remove existing and to replace

The question still stands. Will you be gutting the house or not? Lot different story if they have to open walls or fish things through, it costs more. If the walls are already open becausre the house is gutted, the work is easier and generally less expensive. I have a 60+ house and recently got a quote for a larger breaker box, addition of 4 circuits, and whole house surge protector. The quote was about $2700 (also had to bring weather arm and box up to code). This was a case where they have to fish the wires through but luckily not in spots that are too difficult.

[AlexTx]

Originally Posted by htownguy

Anything else I might be missing?

Thanks!

Off the top of my head:

new windows (replace with more engery efficient ones)
new roof
foundation work
sewer line

[htownguy]

sorry again, will probably not gut the whole house.

[EasilyAmused]

Replace electricial, - New service panel and putting GFI on all the plugs on a house that size would probably be around 3500 +/-. That includes that pipe on top of the roof that brings the power in.

Replace ductwork- Just have them cleaned, unless they are the new flex type. They are destroyed by cleaning.

Replace plumbing: How much do you need to replace? Is it cracked under the foundation? I've never had to "replace" plumbing. Just put in new pipes whenever I remodeled a wet area.

Replace insulation (in attic?)Have EAS blow in on top of the original- 1000-1500 depending on attic size and how many recessed can covers you need.


*** Do budget framing replacement. Every time I've opened a lower floor or bathroom wall, the studs are rotten.
*** Do budget AC balancing. No one spends the money on that and it makes a difference
*** Do budget french drains around the house and the irrigation system most likely needs help.
**NOte the ages of the water heaters and furnaces
***If it has a pool, most likely it will suck 3500 out of you within the first 2 years. The motors and filters go down amazingly right after you buy the house...without fail

Someone mentioned windows. It's an expensive fix and unless you are planning to spend over 10 years in the home, they really don't pay for themselves until then. My power bills are honestly NO LESS with the new windows. And during IKE that house when it had the old windows was cooler..and they opened.

[modster]

One of the most common problems on homes this age is the under slab plumbing. The plumbing in the walls is usually okay. The lines under the slab may have been converted from cast iron to PVC. If they haven't, you are looking at about $15,000 for a house that size.

[Oskar_Z28]

I'm with EasilyAmused as far as suggestions go on what to do:

I did the following on my 1963 house when I bought it:

1. added insulation to that attic - did it myself, but would recommend hiring someone else.
2. changed out 1972 vintage A/C - dropped my electical bill 70%. I kept original ducting.
3. replaced faucets / lines for faucets and all drains for sinks
4. replaced water heater

- later on (5 years into living there)

Remodelled bathroom and kitchen and replaced all tile in the house. At the same time did some plumbing work (both water and drains) in the kitchen while I had the sheetrock off and added electrical lines. I also replaced some rotten studs. At the same time I replaced electrical box.

- last year I removed 8 trees and replaced the driveway and patio (old concrete was all cracked by tree roots).

I will be doing windows next and roof eventually. I am doing windows because many of them do not open or close properly and also we want larger windows (the 7 ft x 2 ft tall windows in bedrooms suck). Also will be improving drainage from the backyard as right now I have water pooling there and also on the side of my house.

Most of the wires in my house are fine. If I was gutting the whole house I would definately replace water lines with non metallic lines. The water takes forever to warm up in my master bathroom.

BTW, I lived in the house since 2002, so this is 8 year project so far. I like doing stuff around the house, so this is a never ending project .