Loving Old Houses

There is something about any old house that is enormously attractive to me.  I can't pin point one specific thing about an old house that draws me to it, rather, it is a slew of characteristics that suck me in, tickle my fancy, and make me want to either move in, or work in that house.  I'm currently working in an old house, one that was built either in the late 1800's or early 1900's, I don't know specifically.  While there are many more hazards that are encountered with an old house from lead paint to horsehair plaster to rusty nails and more, there is also a unique beauty to be found, one that can't be seen in any newer house.  Sure, newer houses can be built really well and look really nice, but many of them, even the multi-million dollar houses, don't have the history that comes with an older house.  This house I'm currently working on needs a lot of tender loving care.  There has been a lot of settling over the years leading the plaster to crack and flake, the floors to all sag towards the middle of the house, and for doors to not fit quite right in their frames.  Yet part of my love of old houses has to do with seeing the flaws and seeing what can be done to bring the house back to looking like new.  Some may claim that trying to make an old house like new diminishes the character, takes something away from the house, yet its not the look of the walls that add the character, its the feeling you get when walking through an old house.  The knowledge that someone a hundred years ago walked the same floors that I am walking now, ran down the stairs that are still standing (albeit a little crooked), and raised families in the living room that a family still gathers in today.  To consider the history of such a place, the dents in the floor possibly made from a toy being dropped 70 years ago, is to take a quick trip back in time to a different era.  The biggest thing that has changed over the years in houses is the quality with which they are built.  A hundred years ago, while there were flaws with the way things were done, houses were built to last.  The lumber used was from old growth forests; sturdier, harder, and more resistant to the stresses of the environment.  Today, we tend to use softer woods that flex more, expand and contract more, leading to quicker settling and issues arising sooner than in an older house.  And while plaster is rarely used these days in houses (a combination of difficulty, time consumption, and price), it is still a better product when done correctly over Sheetrock.  Don't get me wrong, Sheetrock is a fantastic product, but plaster beats it out any day in my mind. 

But back to my love of old houses.  The one I am working on has a feel about it that just draws you in, whether you want to call it good karma, mojo, or good history.  A year ago I painted the exterior of the house and while potentially hazardous, it was one of my favorite jobs that I have done.  As I peeled away the layers of paint coating the exterior of the house, it was almost as if I was trekking back in time through all the previous colors, back to the day the house was built and the shingles that were once new.  All things considered, the shingles buried under perhaps 25 layers of paint were in better condition than some of the shingles I could buy at the store today.  I'd like to think that I brought the house back fairly close to what it looked like when it was built.  I obviously couldn't make it perfect as there is no perfection to be had when renovating old houses, but it was pretty damn close.  To look at the house now is to see it as it was a hundred years ago.  All this talk makes me think about my house and the history that my house possesses.  The original part of my house was built in the 1850's and it was a barn that was moved to the current location and turned into a one room house.  From there, the homeowners over the years expanded backwards first, and then to the side.  If you go down into the basement under my living room, the original room, there are tree trunks supporting the floor.  Talk about character.  The sill plates on the sides (what the house essentially rests on directly above the foundation) are not 2x10's or 2x12's as you will find now, rather, they are 8x8 beams, solid as a rock and unlikely to shift or move any time soon.  When we started redoing our kitchen last year, we found newspapers used as insulation in the floor, fully intact, and capable of being read from the 1920's.  It was like stepping back in history.  Even the telephone numbers at the top of the newspapers were different.  Instead of the 7 digit numbers we have now (10 if you include the area code), they simply read Chicago 2008, that was the number.  We even found a periodical that was in full color, probably one of the first to be run in color at that time.  The list goes on as to the unique finds that were made just in my house. 

For me, I don't know if I could ever truly live in a house built after 1980.  Even though that would still make the house 30 years old, I crave the houses that have been around a century or more.  I can't describe it except to say that I feel something stir inside me when I see a well built old house, a feeling that I never get in a newer house, despite the charm that a homeowner might have put into it.  Even though my current house is small, about 1200 square feet, I don't know if I will ever be able to move away from it.  If we do eventually move, I have my conditions upon which we can move.  The first being that we can not sell our house.  There are two main reasons for that, the first being that I have put too much work into the house, making it my own, to want to get rid of it, and the second being that the previous owner started building a bomb shelter and at some point I would like to see it finished.  The second condition that would need to be met if we moved is that the house we move into would have to be an older house, at minimum 80 years old.  So I am fairly certain that we will not be moving any time soon, both because of my conditions and also due to financial reasons.  All of that simply means that I can continue to work on my house, slowly transforming it, bringing new vitality to it while maintaining the character that came with the house when we bought it.  Unfortunately, when walls do have to come down, they will be replaced with Sheetrock because plaster is not one of my forte's.  I have a love affair with old houses, their character, their spirit, their unique ability to surprise and welcome.  What about you?  Would you prefer living in an older house or a newer one?