I HATE old houses!

[Lavender Brown]

There is an inch of ice that formed on the INSIDE of my bedroom windows (which are due to be replaced soon). I slept in a sweater and jeans last night, with two pairs of socks on. I am soooo cold! :scared:

[Callalily]

1. I do not envy you.

I lived in an old house (up until last March), although I truly loved the old place. But I would have had to spend major dollars to make it energy efficient so decided to move.

I too remember sleeping with a hat on and the electric blanket turned up on high.

Wishing you good luck!

Stay warm and stay safe.

:hug:


edit: stupid spelling mistakes

[Lavender Brown]

3. I actually considered putting gloves on before bed.

The living room is warmer than my room but it is a mess of paint and boxes. Waaah. Thanks for the :hug:

[MorningGlow]

2. Windows and insulation (or lack thereof)

We've been in our old house for three years, and Mr. MG has spent nearly the entire time stuffing every crevice with insulation. Our kitchen is about 20 degrees colder than the living room--we had a thermometer in there last winter and when it topped out at 57 degrees, we removed it because it was too depressing. We replaced the window over the sink during the summer (the one with no storms that howled when the wind blew) and it helped a bit, but we have next to no insulation on the back wall, so it's still cold in there. Our back wall apparently is structured like this: from the inside out, bricks (homemade hearth for a woodstove that can't be used because the chimney liner is shot), clapboards, aluminum siding. Insulation? Feh. Who needs insulation! Aren't bricks insulating?

...I hate everyone who lived in this house for the past 25 years. x(

[Lavender Brown]

4. Seriously.

There are a hundred things in this house that make me think the people who used to live here must have been insane. It seems like nothing has been altered since the 1920s.

[MorningGlow]

6. Apparently our house was very well maintained by the first three owners

The original owners (1860s-1900s), then their daughter, and then a couple that bought it in the '40s who kept it historically accurate and spotless. After they sold it in the '80s, however, everything went to shit. The subsequent losers (a family that let the side porch collapse and let it rain inside the back bedrooms instead of fixing the roof in a timely manner), then the next owner, "Mr. Caulk" (every gap was filled with the stuff--he even used it like glue, the moron), and then (HORRORS) his renters, who put the finishing touches on the destruction. We've been trying to bring it back from the brink ever since.
:scared:

[Lavender Brown]

11. Some previous owner removed all the doors from the closets

:wtf: They are down in the basement, and I don't think they're in good enough shape to be re-installed now. I'm squeamish about anything that's been in the basement, becuase of mold and stuff.

[MorningGlow]

13. We found a bedroom door on the back porch (upstairs sleeping porch)

Some idiot had put up a new plastic door instead. The wood door had been outside for years--the paint was peeling off in chips the size of chihuahuas. Mr. MG scraped it, stripped it, planed it, and sanded it. It's now going to be the downstairs powder room door. If we ever get that bathroom done, that is. :eyes:

[tigereye]

24. yeah, the people who owned our house, too!

the backwards switches, the long-gone cherry kitchen cabinets, the weird panelling, the dropped ceiling... execrable carpeting we've had to scrap. Bah. We also have a cold kitchen, part of which was once a porch.... Sigh.

But the house has good bones and some really nice woodwork...

[MorningGlow]

30. My husband curses the electrical work

He's a computer geek by trade, but he's a really good electrician, plumber, carpenter, and drywall hanger (thank goodness)...although he swears a lot more than any contractor we'd have hired. Anyway, he swears we're going to burn in our beds. We did have a professional electrician replace our main and our breaker box, and he said the very old electrical work from the '30s and '40s was quite good. But the stuff from the '80s... :scared:

I was sucked in by the architecture too, I must admit. Even though the house was half destroyed by people "improving" it, they couldn't manage to mess with the 11 ft. ceilings in the living room, the fireplace mantel, the enormous bedrooms and closets, and the great front staircase.

[tigereye]

31. sounds like a cool house!

your husband sounds like mine - he's also a software guy, who once painted houses and drywalled, etc. for a living. He draws the line at plumbing and electical stuff for the house, though - computers, no problem. He just doesn't have the time or energy anymore to fix much... but he also swears more when fixing stuff he has to...


We spent a lot one year to have the front rooms rewired for the computers and the electricians just laughed at some of the weird crap that had been done. We had a lot of knob and tube stuff that they replaced - house is about 100 years old...

I love old houses. I can't stand the newer ones. :hi:

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. I love old houses

as long as I don't have to live on one!

They have character and personality . Sorry you got a grumpy one :hug:

[Lavender Brown]

8. There are a lot of nice things about it

That I will appreciate in the spring. :D Like all the cut glass doorknobs.

[Kali]

7. No you don't.

But I know what you mean. It is warmer outside than in, here.:eyes:

A hint I learned from camping: get warmed up before you go to bed (run in place, or hot shower/bath) and DO NOT sleep in jeans - you will feel colder. Socks are ok and believe it or not a head covering (remember pictures of old times - the nightcap?) but jeans will make you feel colder and going to bed feeling cold will make you suffer for hours - might as well be awake working than laying there shivering.

[Lavender Brown]

9. They were the warmest pants I had to sleep in

I slept in sweatpants the night before and was too cold. I did warm up the bed with my heating pad beforehand.

[Kali]

15. I think the trick is to have your legs together - like two bodies

and not separated by a lot of fabric - especially cotton denim. Sleeping bags always feel warmer when you are nekid than with a clothes on too. At least to me. It is not intuitive, but something I learned from observation (and always being freaking cold AND tangled up:rofl: )

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. As one who lives in a 120-year-old house, I feel your pain.

The windows need to be replaced; there is minimal insulation; and the floors are really, really cold. I just can't afford major repairs right now, but I hope eventually to get the place more livable in the winter.

[Lavender Brown]

12. The floors are like ice.

I really need a nice thick carpet for my bedroom, but they are expensive.

[WolverineDG]

14. 3 words

heated mattress pad

I feel your pain.

dg

[Lavender Brown]

18. I'm definitely going to order something like that.

Thanks. :donut:

[WolverineDG]

19. I love mine

thanks for the donut. :)

dg

[NNN0LHI]

16. This house isn't that old and I couldn't keep a match lit in it until I did some major remodeling

New doors, windows and insulation made a huge difference. Best investment I ever made.

Don

[Lavender Brown]

20. We have old radiators that previous owners painted too many times

I think that and the old windows are the biggest culprits. It's going to be a looong winter.

[stuntcat]

17. new windows!

Old houses need new windows. I love them though.

I was about to go on a killing spree when we FINALLY got new windows.. I was really about to freak out, feeling the wind blow when I lay in bed.. in JANUARY :mad: We had to wait until our landlords felt like getting the windows redone, now we use like half the energy we used to.

[Lavender Brown]

21. I'm worried that the contractor won't be able to put in the new windows

because of all the snow. I think they install them (or at least do some of the work) from the outside of the house, but I'm not sure. I imagine the snow will make that hard if not impossible. :(

[tigereye]

22. we bit the bullet and put in new windows - double- paned

it made a lot of difference... maybe a space heater?

[Lavender Brown]

27. I was thinking about a space heater

I heard they can sometimes be fire hazards, so I was afraid to have it on when sleeping (my bedroom is the coldest part of the house).

[tigereye]

32. get one of those ones that look like a radiator - they cost a bit more to run

but they seem safer than the fan-type heaters...

[elleng]

23. SO SORRY!

I own an old house (1916) with excellent insulation and great radiator steam heating system. Am NOW in 'new' townhouse, lousy everything!

[Lavender Brown]

28. I'm really ok, just whiny.

:)

[surrealAmerican]

25. Have you tried covering the windows with that plastic film?

It looks horrid, but it worked for us before we had our windows replaced. A humidifier helps too, if you have one.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. I tried that once. It would have worked, except for

cat claws.

Cat discovers he can't put his furry face right up to the window to watch birds. Cat carefully taps at strange invisible film. Cat extends claws. Cat discovers how to make the annoying film go away.

x(

[Lavender Brown]

29. I haven't really been able to go out shopping since moving in last week

Too much snow. x( But I'll look for them when I get to Home Depot.

[davsand]

35. I was gonna suggest that plastic film too.

We used that in our first house and it did stop some of the air leaks due to the old windows. That house had hardwood for days, big rooms and it was COLD as the hubs of hell in winter. I miss it still because we were happy there for quite a few years.

If you have not had time to get to the Hardware store, you maybe could do an emergency fix (very temporary) with some saran wrap and some duct tape. If you are planning to pull those frames out anyway--I'd be tempted to try it just to avoid freezing to death in bed between now and the time you replace them. Can't hurt too much but it will probably look like hell...

:shrug:

Our house now was built in 1960, done right (mostly) and has been fairly well kept except for the "do it yourself" guy we bought it from. Luckily, he didn't get around to doing too much while he owned it, but I Do wake up in a cold sweat some nights because he put the roof on...

:scared:

I say this about my current house because it isn't just older houses that suffer from the bad home repairs people. I have a shower wall that is rotting out because Mr "Do it Yourself" used formica board for the shower surround rather than an honest to gosh shower surround. Further, he CRACKED it while installing it then didn't seal it. Sigh. This is next on the list and probably a summer project.


Laura

[csziggy]

36. Tip for a cheap shower surround - vinyl flooring

Honest - we put that up in our old house. Got a vinyl scrap for $10 at Lowe's. It looked like tile. Glued it to the walls from tub edge to the ceiling. Put some edging at the tub edge with silicon to seal.

Even though it was just glued to the horrid wallpapered sheetrock, it never leaked or molded. Keeping it clean was easy and we never had to worry about scratches. At a glance it still looks like real tile.

[Skittles]

33. get some of those foot warmer toasty things

they've got 'em where they'll stick to your socks now :D

[Danger Mouse]

34. wow.

that sucks.
:P