Searching for Homes by Construction Type (Burke, Annandale: sale, townhouses, transfer)

[PSUinNoVa]

Maybe I should make 1970 the effective cutoff for the search. So long as the house is large enough, I am not too concerned about the layout; we can fix that over time. The one problem I saw with some of the older homes in Arlington was that it would be virtually impossible to do much with the upper floors on the colonials because of the way that the roof is pitched. I guess you could take the whole roof off, but I imagine that would be really costly. Knocking down some walls, on the other hand, is usually not that big of a deal.

Originally Posted by Middlin

Thanks. The frustrating part of the search is not the compromise; it is the fact that the home that we are looking for does not seem to exist! The majority of homes we have seen that we liked from an architectural standpoint were between 2 and 3 times the size of what we are looking for. In some cases, the homes were not that far outside of our budget, but we just have no use for something that big. Did home builders refuse to build anything under 4000 square feet after 1999?

I am starting to think that it may make sense to buy some land and build. Neither of us has ever been involved in home construction before, so that whole process appears to be pretty daunting.

Thanks again for all of the good comments

Considering that a lot of homes in this area that are all brick were built prior to 1970, you might find a house with the square footage you're looking for, but would need $ to probably reconfigure the floor plan. Since I was curious I did search in the Burke/Fairfax Station area and there was 1 house (built in 1969) that was all brick. Gorgeous lot too!

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by RamblingMan

I don't think it is accurate to say that "ALL houses have wooden framing." Older houses are often "structural" brick houses, meaning that several layers of brick or layers of brick and block actually hold up the house. There is no frame, although there may be pieces of lath to which plaster is attached. Newer houses usually do have a wooden frame which provides the basis for the strength of the house. The "veneer" of brick attached to this frame can be a thin panel, but it is often a full layer of real brick. The key is that it is primarily decorative, and not structural

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Ramblingman, that's interesting. Since your house has no frame, then what is your lath/plaster attached to?

My house is solid brick -- all four sides, but I own an older/historic house, a 1930 Arts & Crafts.

We have not opened up an exterior wall so I am not sure 100% if the brick is laid against concrete. The foundation, however, is solid concrete (walk-up basement). The interior walls do consist studs or wooden framing (much bigger/thicker than today's boards), with the lath and plaster. Wooden slats (lath) are laid horizontally and nailed to the studs. And then plaster is laid on top. We several layers of the plaster (which, I believe is common in many older houses). However, we also have the steel, diamond mesh within these layers that helps the plaster adhere to the walls. The walls are incredibly thick and very solid (also helps with sounds).

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by PSUinNoVa

My wife and I are thinking of purchasing a home in Northern Virginia. One of the "must haves" for us is quality exterior construction. We would prefer all brick (not veneer) or some combination of brick, stone and stucco. Is there a way to screen out homes by exterior construction type on the main property search databases (e.g., Homesdatabase, Redfin)? I specifically want to exclude homes with vinyl siding.

On realtor. com, although there are many options in the search, I don't see this specific option.

Aside from Arlington, I am wondering of Manassas (Old Town part) may have what you're looking for or some of the older, smaller towns south and west, outside of Manassas.

I own an older/historic house (1930s) with solid brick exterior and no vinyl anything and live in a city/town filled with solid brick, historic houses (Winchester, VA). Not sure if you'd be interested in heading this far west, but here is a sample of wonderful, brick homes in town:

1931 Arts & Crafts/American Foursquare:
318 W Leicester St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7759866 - Realtor.com®

1929 Colonial, Classic deails:
437 Handley Ave Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7713830 - Realtor.com®

1929 Colonial:
709 S Stewart St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7690742 - Realtor.com®

1916 Not brick but stucco (the old stuff not the new stuff that's been banned in some states):
800 S Washington St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7752708 - Realtor.com®

[stpickrell]

Look at 306 Amelia Street in Fredericksburg. All-brick, built in 1847, about six blocks from Fredericksburg Amtrak/VRE, walk score of 85 (middle of downtown), small yard, probably needs some updating, but it is going for $530k, so you have some money to put updates in.

I'd be looking at Frederick, MD, too, 123 East Patrick is going for $675k, literally two blocks from the middle of downtown, four blocks from the MARC station.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

My house is solid brick -- all four sides, but I own an older/historic house, a 1930 Arts & Crafts.

We have not opened up an exterior wall so I am not sure 100% if the brick is laid against concrete. The foundation, however, is solid concrete (walk-up basement). The interior walls do consist studs or wooden framing (much bigger/thicker than today's boards), with the lath and plaster. Wooden slats (lath) are laid horizontally and nailed to the studs. And then plaster is laid on top. We several layers of the plaster (which, I believe is common in many older houses). However, we also have the steel, diamond mesh within these layers that helps the plaster adhere to the walls. The walls are incredibly thick and very solid (also helps with sounds).

Sound very familiar! This is what we had in our old house (c. 1936), and it's also what we have in our new house (c. 1940). We did take one wall down in the old house, so I was able to see the lath/plaster/mesh you refer to. Yeah, the 2x4s back then were actually 2x4, unlike now. (Since sometime in the '50s, I think they're 1.5x3.5 close to that.)

I'm still dubious that there have been any homes built since the advent of electricity and gas heat (1870s?) that were not built around a frame. If you as a builder know you're going to have to install water pipes (for faucets and radiators), as well as electrical outlets, it seems like it'd be in your self-interest to put a frame up so that you can have a space between the exterior and interior walls in which to run those things. Sure, you can run a lot of the plumbing in the basement, but you still have those pesky electrical outlets.

[PSUinNoVa]

Those are some very good looking homes (and prices). Unfortunately, that would be the commute from hell.

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

On realtor. com, although there are many options in the search, I don't see this specific option.

Aside from Arlington, I am wondering of Manassas (Old Town part) may have what you're looking for or some of the older, smaller towns south and west, outside of Manassas.

I own an older/historic house (1930s) with solid brick exterior and no vinyl anything and live in a city/town filled with solid brick, historic houses (Winchester, VA). Not sure if you'd be interested in heading this far west, but here is a sample of wonderful, brick homes in town:

1931 Arts & Crafts/American Foursquare:
318 W Leicester St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7759866 - Realtor.com®

1929 Colonial, Classic deails:
437 Handley Ave Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7713830 - Realtor.com®

1929 Colonial:
709 S Stewart St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7690742 - Realtor.com®

1916 Not brick but stucco (the old stuff not the new stuff that's been banned in some states):
800 S Washington St Winchester VA - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #WI7752708 - Realtor.com®

[PSUinNoVa]

Also a very nice home. In fact, this place would be perfect if it wasn't so far south of DC. I was surprised to see that it was only an hour from the Fredericksburg VRE to L'Enfant Plaza. If I missed the train, however, that is one nasty drive in the morning.

Originally Posted by stpickrell

Look at 306 Amelia Street in Fredericksburg. All-brick, built in 1847, about six blocks from Fredericksburg Amtrak/VRE, walk score of 85 (middle of downtown), small yard, probably needs some updating, but it is going for $530k, so you have some money to put updates in.

I'd be looking at Frederick, MD, too, 123 East Patrick is going for $675k, literally two blocks from the middle of downtown, four blocks from the MARC station.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by PSUinNoVa

Also a very nice home. In fact, this place would be perfect if it wasn't so far south of DC. I was surprised to see that it was only an hour from the Fredericksburg VRE to L'Enfant Plaza. If I missed the train, however, that is one nasty drive in the morning.

An hour?

For this area, 1 hour is reasonable for many people. We have friends in Manassas who can't even make it to work in Tysons Corner within an hour.

I am not sure what the average commute time is in the area but it wouldn't surprise me if it was something like 1.0 to 1.15 hrs (one way).

[PSUinNoVa]

It is an hour from one train platform to the other, if there are no delays. Throw in the drive to the station, waiting for the train, the delays, and the walk to office from L'Enfant Plaza, and you start converging on a two-hour commute pretty quickly. Looking at the travel times on Google, which tend to be underestimates around here, on a good day the door-to-door commute from Fredericksburg would be about an hour and a half to my office; my current commute is about 30 minutes, door to door.

I am willing to increase that commute somewhat in order to get a nicer house, but not there is no way I could add an hour to each end of my work trip. I had a similar commute a few years ago, and I was absolutely miserable. There is really no point to buying a nicer house if you only get to see it in the daylight twice a week.

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

An hour?

For this area, 1 hour is reasonable for many people. We have friends in Manassas who can't even make it to work in Tysons Corner within an hour.

I am not sure what the average commute time is in the area but it wouldn't surprise me if it was something like 1.0 to 1.15 hrs (one way).

[g3org3]

I put "all brick" in the keyword search field of Homes for Sale and Rent in DC, Maryland, Virginia | HomesDatabase.com and got 52 hits. There were a lot of townhouses since I didn't specify SFD, and lot of old ramblers, but there were some that seemed pretty decent.
A few examples:
9804 CLARKS CROSSING RD, VIENNA, VA 22182 | Listing Information | HomesDatabase.com
5410 JULIET ST, SPRINGFIELD, VA 22151 | Listing Information | HomesDatabase.com
6100 RIVER DR, LORTON, VA 22079 | Listing Information | HomesDatabase.com
8526 FOREST ST, ANNANDALE, VA 22003 | Listing Information | HomesDatabase.com

Also there was/is a local builder that only did "all brick" homes. I can't recall the name, but one of his subdivisions is off of Braddock Rd. in Chantilly, near the country club.