New Construction Houses vs Old Construction Houses (Pittsburgh: asbestos, contractor)

[captainmidnight]

I have a house built in 1910 and my wife and I are in the process of tearing out the carpet from the old owners and restoring the hardwood floors underneath. I understand why carpet was used but it is just criminal to me. The old owners also put in a drop ceiling in one of the bedrooms, living room, and dining room. We hate it and want it gone but that will be have to be for another time. The ceiling underneath the tiles looks pretty bad. Ceilings are great in the other rooms.

[Der Schwabe]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

I have a house built in 1910 and my wife and I are in the process of tearing out the carpet from the old owners and restoring the hardwood floors underneath. I understand why carpet was used but it is just criminal to me. The old owners also put in a drop ceiling in one of the bedrooms, living room, and dining room. We hate it and want it gone but that will be have to be for another time. The ceiling underneath the tiles looks pretty bad. Ceilings are great in the other rooms.

We just did this to our 1910 house in January. Some of the carpet had been down 40+ years. The difference is immense. Worth every minute.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by Der Schwabe

We just did this to our 1910 house in January. Some of the carpet had been down 40+ years. The difference is immense. Worth every minute.

The act of pulling old carpet is enough to make you shudder in fear. Thinking that I have actually sat on the "clean" carpeting, and then seeing what is trapped in it is horrifying.

It is also upsetting to see what little regard for the wood flooring and trimwork carpet installers have. It's almost like they were ensuring to do enough damage so that you would need carpeting forever. They are also a big fan of using a razor to cut the pading, and making sure they push hard enough to leave a nice line all the way around the room.

[norcider]

The old houses were built to outlast all of us. Sure the angles are off, man they settle after 100 years are you kidding me? The worst of the new construction are those Ryan homes plans, can you say caustic Chinese drywall?

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by bmantz65

I have a house built in 1910 and my wife and I are in the process of tearing out the carpet from the old owners and restoring the hardwood floors underneath. I understand why carpet was used but it is just criminal to me. The old owners also put in a drop ceiling in one of the bedrooms, living room, and dining room. We hate it and want it gone but that will be have to be for another time. The ceiling underneath the tiles looks pretty bad. Ceilings are great in the other rooms.

I have no idea why people put tile drop ceilings in residential homes. Is it really that much cheaper than repairing the plaster or covering it with drywall? Maybe they wanted to save on heating by having lower ceilings?

One of the first things I did to my house was tear out the drop ceilings in the bathroom and kitchen.

[youngabe]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

The act of pulling old carpet is enough to make you shudder in fear. Thinking that I have actually sat on the "clean" carpeting, and then seeing what is trapped in it is horrifying.

It is also upsetting to see what little regard for the wood flooring and trimwork carpet installers have. It's almost like they were ensuring to do enough damage so that you would need carpeting forever. They are also a big fan of using a razor to cut the pading, and making sure they push hard enough to leave a nice line all the way around the room.

Granted my house was built in 1966, so it's hardly as old as what some have described, but it has all the original hardwoods. They're in beautiful condition--which was a selling point of the house for me. With that said, after having hardwoods, I'll NEVER have carpet again. I'm OCD with my cleaning regimes. I have three cats, so I generally use my dry Swiffer sweeper mop daily. The amount of hair I pick up daily is enough to make another cat. With that said, the thought of all of that harbored down in carpeting just makes me nearly ill! Hardwoods are the cleaner, better way to go, in my opinion!

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by ferraris

I have no idea why people put tile drop ceilings in residential homes. Is it really that much cheaper than repairing the plaster or covering it with drywall? Maybe they wanted to save on heating by having lower ceilings?

One of the first things I did to my house was tear out the drop ceilings in the bathroom and kitchen.

I think one reason they did it is they wanted to rewire without fishing the wire through the ceiling. Where I removed a drop ceiling I found tons of wires strung through the house that way - not only for the ceiling light fixtures, but the second-floor wires in general seemed to mostly run through this area.

The worst is of course when they dropped the ceiling, and then dropped the window openings as well. It's relatively cheap to fix on a frame house, but can easily cost $10,000 to fix on a brick one.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I think one reason they did it is they wanted to rewire without fishing the wire through the ceiling. Where I removed a drop ceiling I found tons of wires strung through the house that way - not only for the ceiling light fixtures, but the second-floor wires in general seemed to mostly run through this area.

The worst is of course when they dropped the ceiling, and then dropped the window openings as well. It's relatively cheap to fix on a frame house, but can easily cost $10,000 to fix on a brick one.

And good luck finding matching brick....

I cannot stand houses where the windows do not match or fit the front proportionately. It is a complete no budge thing for me. House could be perfect price and everything else, but have mismatched brick, and look like it is "winking" from the front because it is missing a window...

[Der Schwabe]

Speaking of matching brick, does anyone have a brick pointing guy they've been happy with?

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by Der Schwabe

Speaking of matching brick, does anyone have a brick pointing guy they've been happy with?

Let me know what you find...I am going to need to tackle this project next, and I do not want it to look like they used toothpaste to repoint it....I want it to look aged and house appropriate...