4th March 2007 09:21
In terms of construction, is there anything specific to the area we should look out for?
Rich_007 -
I found this interesting....
"I bought a 25 year old house. It is built from straight fir full dimension framing that is so dense and well dried that it is difficult to drive a nail into it any more, not punky, knotted, boreholed and warped spindly spruce that the beetles seem to love so much. And sheathed with real dimension plywood, not metric thickness chipboard or powderboard. The foundation is thick, intact, solid and rooted in undisturbed ground, not fill, and well served with updated perimeter drainage that is properly installed and works. The floor is almost two inches thick, made up of diagonally placed tongue and groove 1 inch planks, overlaid with a layer of 3/4 inch real plywood. Not a squeek to be found anywhere, and when you walk on it it is like walking on a rock. You can even jump up and down on the floor without the pictures on the walls going wonky, or the dishes in the cupboards rattling. The exterior finish is stucco so thick and solid it is difficult to drill a hole through it without a hammer drill. "
I guess, in a nutshell, that's what you should expect from an older home. Some of these new builds are awful, poor finishing, tatty work, angles, lack of attention to detail, flimsy construction.
In an older home IMHO you're paying most attention to structural integrity, no cheap nasty badly-built additions, wiring & water in need of overhaul/update, furnace condition, surrounding land should be well settled, driveway upgrade (possibly). Roof, when to renew ? All depends on overall condition. With a lot of the older homes, yards=huge=mucho $ cost to landscape/design/finish so could be looking at a lot of money for that. Big long stretches of fences = money overload if replacing. Look for hideous fireplaces dominating rooms, usually painted white with ceramic cats on the mantle :-(
R.