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Portland Oregon resident seeking information on pre-WWII homes in Triangle area, difficult to cool home, keep home warm, foundation issues, termites and fire ants
I have the old house bug again. I've been trolling real estate websites looking at old homes. We loved our 90 & 80 year old homes in Portland, but I wonder a few things about old homes here. So if you have a home that is pre WWII in the Triangle I would LOVE your feedback.
Specifically:
1a) How old is your home?
1b) Is it difficult to cool your home in the summer? If not do you have 2 floors above ground w/ a dual ac?
2) Basement: do you have one? Is it walk out? Is it usable? Is it musty smelling/ wet/ damp? What do you do to keep your basement dry?
3) Termites and fire ants: has your home had issues w/ either? If so is this common here in old homes?
4) Dry rot: is this common w/ old homes here? If so did you have extensive repair?
5) Foundations: any common foundation issues to be concerned about. (In Portland homes that used a certain cement in the 20s were know to have major crumbling issues... anything like that?)
6) Repairs: have you been able to find handmen and repair people and HVAC who know old homes? Or is it difficult to find people who have worked on old homes?
7) Any old home issues that are common to this area that I am missing?
8) Whats your favorite Triangle old home repair /remodel story?
PDXmom- We live in a 80 year old home in the Bloomsbury section of the Five Points area. We have restored our home over the last almost 9 years(this is our 2nd five points restoration). We have no regrets and love our home and neighborhood. We have far more than doubled our money even though our children will be the only ones to ever benifit from that. Our neighborhood is very stable. Our schools are wonderful with no reassignment in my lifetime. A We have a sentricon termite system. We have two floors above ground with a walkout daylight partially finished basement. We have two HVAC units. No dry ever. We have several craftsmen that specialize in older homes and truly know what they are doing. We have 10 foot ceilings, pocket doors, original Butler's Pantry, window seats, plenty of built-ins, all plaster walls, original hardwood floors, professional kitchen, flagstone patio off of covered porch, we finished the walk up attic etc etc. Feel free to DM me if you would like.
At the moment I do not live in the actual house but along with a few relatives, I still live on the land that my great + grandfather bought in 1756 on the courthouse steps in Hillsborough which I have massive pride in.
My grandma currently lives in the second original home, really isn't too hard to heat/cool. Our original home burned to the ground in 1907 I believe. But I completely love it, would love to live in it someday. Grandma really hasn't had any problems with it, folks have helped out to care for it. There is no basement but there is two bars, a chicken coop and an outhouse on the land so there is something people don't see often anymore.
Don't really have any favorite stories unless someone actually repairs the Colonial Inn in Hillsborough.
PDXmom- We live in a 80 year old home in the Bloomsbury section of the Five Points area. We have restored our home over the last almost 9 years(this is our 2nd five points restoration). We have no regrets and love our home and neighborhood. We have far more than doubled our money even though our children will be the only ones to ever benifit from that. Our neighborhood is very stable. Our schools are wonderful with no reassignment in my lifetime. A We have a sentricon termite system. We have two floors above ground with a walkout daylight partially finished basement. We have two HVAC units. No dry ever. We have several craftsmen that specialize in older homes and truly know what they are doing. We have 10 foot ceilings, pocket doors, original Butler's Pantry, window seats, plenty of built-ins, all plaster walls, original hardwood floors, professional kitchen, flagstone patio off of covered porch, we finished the walk up attic etc etc. Feel free to DM me if you would like.
I would rather not show my home. You can go to paulsetliff.com and click on Bloomsbury or any of the neighborhood links to view pics of vintage Raleigh homes. Our house is shown but I would rather not point it out.
1b) Is it difficult to cool your home in the summer? If not do you have 2 floors above ground w/ a dual ac? No.
2) Basement: do you have one? Is it walk out? Is it usable? Is it musty smelling/ wet/ damp? What do you do to keep your basement dry? Yes. Has a single walkout door. Not damp/musty. Keep dry w/ small dehumidifier whose small tank we empty every three days or so.
3) Termites and fire ants: has your home had issues w/ either? If so is this common here in old homes? No.
4) Dry rot: is this common w/ old homes here? If so did you have extensive repair?
No, but our home is relatively new compared to your above mentioned 80 to 90 y-o.
5) Foundations: any common foundation issues to be concerned about. (In Portland homes that used a certain cement in the 20s were know to have major crumbling issues... anything like that?)
Zero crumbling/cracks/settling here in our basement/slab.
6) Repairs: have you been able to find handmen and repair people and HVAC who know old homes? Or is it difficult to find people who have worked on old homes?
B4 we bought our home, our home inspector seemed familiar w/ older/basement homes, again relatively speaking-- 40 y-o home is relative to 80/90 y-o
7) Any old home issues that are common to this area that I am missing? Ours is "all-good" but perhaps others can weigh in on potential 'issues' in older homes.
8) Whats your favorite Triangle old home repair /remodel story?
Mmmm, we had our 1970 era linoleum-floored kitchen remodeled in 2008...to bring it into the 21st century..looks fantastic..but that's about it.
1b) Is it difficult to cool your home in the summer? If not do you have 2 floors above ground w/ a dual ac? We have 11 trees including 5 or so oaks on a .3 acre lot in Trinity Park, so the shade really helps keep the house cool in the summer. It is a one-story house with single zone A/C.
2) Basement: do you have one? Is it walk out? Is it usable? Is it musty smelling/ wet/ damp? What do you do to keep your basement dry? It is a damp basement (partial; remaining part crawlspace) with walk-out. We use it for some storage though with the dampness not as much as we might. We run a dehumidifier that hoses out to the drain.
3) Termites and fire ants: has your home had issues w/ either? If so is this common here in old homes? We did a pest inspection and that didn't find anything.
5) Foundations: any common foundation issues to be concerned about. (In Portland homes that used a certain cement in the 20s were know to have major crumbling issues... anything like that?) The red clay soils in much of the Piedmont make this a fact of life unfortunately. Our house's foundation has had repair twice in the last 25 years. This is discussed frequently on our neighborhood listserv and there are lots of good folks around town (local contractors, not the RamJack type people) who do this work.
6) Repairs: have you been able to find handmen and repair people and HVAC who know old homes? Or is it difficult to find people who have worked on old homes? Hasn't been a problem in Durham. Most of the top companies (Bryant, Acme, Vaughan, Brown Bros., etc.) are based in or around downtown and have been around for decades, and we've found them very good at dealing with old home issues. Also, Preservation Durham runs an annual series of presentations on maintaining and fixing up your old home, including DIY plaster repair, etc. That can be a good place to learn skills or to network with professionals. A few neighbors regularly circulate a list of "known good contractors" on the Watts-Hillandale and Trinity Park listservs.
8) Whats your favorite Triangle old home repair /remodel story? Ask me when our remodels are done!
...
Actually, there's one other thing I'd like to share. My neighborhood had a "Hard Hat Home Tour" last year to show off old houses under renovation in the neighborhood. On the TPNA web site (Welcome to Trinity Park) you can download a PDF copy of the book from that event, which contains stories of some of the renovations and tips from local experts on renovating an historic property in the area. Highly recommended.
UncleT, Hnative, & BCR, thank you for your very informative posts. I knew a couple of you were old home dwellers and really hoped you would post. Thank you.
UncleT, I loved the link .... your neighborhood is the bomb! But I bet you knew that already. Oh and how I miss my plaster walls. If you have kids you should have plaster walls. It's sooo much easier to clean up finger prints!!!
BCR, I did not realize some lots in TP were .3. Wow! That is slightly bigger than my .27 suburban lot!! Your comment about when you are done remodeling made me laugh. You do realize with an old home you are never truely done remodeling or fixing. That's one of the beauties of care taking an old home... it's always changing and keeping life exciting.
Hnative, WOW! How cool is your story!!! I hope you get the old main house one day. It sounds like you truly love it!!!
I think these rainy days make me nostalgic for my old Portland Craftsman. There really is nothing like raising a family in a place that has so much history. I always considered it a privilege.
Enjoy the fruits of your home improvements!
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We loved our 90 & 80 year old homes in Portland, but I wonder a few things about old homes here. So if you have a home that is pre WWII in the Triangle I would LOVE your feedback.
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Oh and how I miss my plaster walls. If you have kids you should have plaster walls. It's sooo much easier to clean up finger prints!!! 
