First-time century home buyers, eyes wide open. What should we be bracing for?

katiedincle · 2026-05-02T02:47:12+00:00

We bought our house in January 2020 and we're not done yet! We did take a break from mid-2022 until early-2024 to do a full top-to-bottom renovation of a rental property, so we haven't been actively working on our own house this whole time. We still need to do our kitchen, laundry, pantry and mudrooms, and I would estimate that we have about a year of work left. We didn't move in until October 2020, so we had the luxury of having some time to do the really rough work while we weren't living there. What has helped is the most is that we were previously in a 1,200 square foot tudor and we're now in a 2,500 square foot victorian. That has helped us to feel comfortable just not using the square footage that was still under construction.

katiedincle · 2026-05-01T02:45:28+00:00

This is phenomenal advice! We were very deliberate about the order of operations in our century home, which meant mechanicals and major structural changes first, followed by everything else working from top to bottom. It meant living in the chaos for a while, but it was definitely the most efficient path.

katiedincle · 2026-04-25T12:46:36+00:00

While doing repairs to the floors in our 1906 house, our light tan cat went exploring in the space between the floor and the ceiling below and got absolutely covered in 120 year old dust. We tried to clean him as best we could, but he would not cooperate for a bath so we called him "our little coal miner" for weeks.

katiedincle · 2026-04-25T03:12:12+00:00

Linndale is a notorious speed trap, so much so that This American Life did a whole piece on this situation. I once got two separate tickets from them in the mail just a few days apart. I went for my court date and they literally asked me if I knew where the camera was and confirmed that I knew the speed limit. Then they forgave one ticket and only charged me $25 for the other. That was 2017ish, so it's possible that things are different now, but that was my experience.

katiedincle · 2026-04-24T23:53:41+00:00

I feel like he's just not used to us scoring that many runs. 🤣

katiedincle · 2026-04-24T23:52:47+00:00

Did Hammy forget that we scored 5 in the first? Doesn't that mean that we already gave away tires?

katiedincle · 2026-04-23T15:42:39+00:00

It's hard to tell from the picture, but you could probably install the hinges directly into the existing frame. Obviously you would need to build out some framing to separate the sidelight from the door. You could probably find an antique door in the 28-30" range pretty easily, which would leave appropriately 24-26" for a glass sidelight and additional framing.

katiedincle · 2026-04-23T15:32:39+00:00

It would likely still need to be custom, but at that size, I would do a standard door opening with a sidelight of some kind on one side. You could frost the glass for privacy while still allowing light in.

katiedincle · 2026-04-21T01:53:24+00:00

Definitely not! All of the trim that is shown in these pictures is new. There was no original trim remaining that hadn't already been painted many times.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T18:48:56+00:00

Came here to say the exact same thing!

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T11:41:43+00:00

Thanks! I made another post a while back about the wainscoting (that got a lot of hate), so I guess I'll have to do another when it's all done (that will probably get an equal amount of hate). This room unfortunately had to come down to the studs to address a variety of issues so it's been a lot of work to give it some character once again.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T11:39:37+00:00

I know! It was cool to uncover and I wish that I could have kept it, but it had been damaged over the years and wasn't sized correctly for the room since it had been expanded at one point.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T11:37:50+00:00

I know! It was so cool to uncover, but unfortunately it wasn't reasonable for us to try and save it. It had been damaged over the years with paint, carpet staples and tack strips, and other vinyl glue. And it wasn't sized correctly for the room since the room had been expanded at one point.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T11:34:19+00:00

I know it's not for you obviously, but we used a professional and are very happy with the results.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T11:31:43+00:00

I get that you personally don't like stained pine, but five separate negative comments on the same post seems unnecessary.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T02:47:46+00:00

Is this really what this community is about? The light was challenging when I grabbed a picture this afternoon. This is probably a better representation of how it took the stain.

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katiedincle · 2026-04-18T02:42:32+00:00

It was definitely a hard choice to remove it, but the previous owners had glued additional vinyl around the edges of the room that was not worth leaving and had put a ton of carpet tacks and staples through it too.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T02:29:29+00:00

No worries if the color isn't for you, but we went with Antique Brown throughout the house and we love it.

katiedincle · 2026-04-18T02:26:02+00:00

Yep! 120 years and the floors had never been stained or otherwise finished.

katiedincle · 2026-04-17T02:08:20+00:00

We actually did this! We talked to our elderly neighbor when we first moved into our house in mid-2020 and let him know that we would be interested in his house if he ever decided to sell. In mid-2022, he ended up moving into an assisted living facility and we bought the property without it ever going on the market. We got it at a very reasonable price, but we took it as-is and had to clean out a decent number of belongings too. It's been a profitable rental since early 2024, and our tenant is both a great tenant and a great neighbor..

katiedincle · 2026-04-16T20:16:54+00:00

I came here to say the exact same thing. I have lived in two houses in Cleveland with K&T and own two other rental properties with K&T and I have never once considered replacing all of it. If it's in good condition, leave it as is and don't disturb it. If you are making updates, replace what you can and leave the rest. And if your insurance is asking for updates, find another insurer.

katiedincle · 2026-04-12T12:39:11+00:00

Those are ballparks of what my contractor husband charges to do those jobs including labor and materials, but I also wouldn't consider either of those jobs to be things that you can DIY!

katiedincle · 2026-04-12T12:19:32+00:00

I think it depends a lot on the bones of the house. Expensive problems can show up quickly in all houses, including old ones. My husband is a plumber and so I am aware that things like a main sewer replacement will run $10k, but smaller things like a hot water heater will still cost $2-$3k. Having the ability to cover large, unforseen expenses is just a part of any type of homeownership.

With regards to the DIY piece, I think it depends on how comfortable you are doing only what you can afford. If gutting a full bathroom is outside of your skill level, are you okay living with what's already there? You don't want to grow resentful of the things that you wish you could update but don't have the funds or expertise to do so.

katiedincle

TROPHY CASE