40 to 50 year old houses - what to be aware of?

[SiValleySteph]

We're contemplating joining the house hunt. The majority of the houses we will be looking at were built in the 1960's, maybe 70s.

Are there any key issues we should be looking at? We're coming from new construction, so we're not aware of the pitfalls. We're not going to have the money for a whole house rehab after buying one of these houses, so we need good bones. Cosmetic issues are fine.

We're in SF Bay Area, and in our area of interest, the new homes are all the patio home type (i.e. you can reach out and touch your neighbor) or townhomes, which is what we live in currently. This is why we'll be looking at the older homes - to get the yard and the neighborhood.

PS - I tried a search, but didn't find anything, so feel free to merge if there is some thread already.

[Jenyfer9]

Well, the houses that we've bought have been 50-60 years old, but I think that the things you would look for would probably be the same. Obviously, you want a housing inspection after you put in an offer that would tell you more hidden things, but I would look for the following:

-make sure the electrical is updated. Our insurance company required us to upgrade from fuses to a circuit breaker box after we purchased our house, and that wasn't cheap, but it is something that gives additional peace of mind

-you probably won't have as many outlets in a room as you would have with newer construction, and sometimes it's tricky, but if you have a lot of electrical appliances, look for them. It changes the way you can set up a room if you need to put a lamp or something in a specific spot and there's no outlet on that wall. This is especially true in the kitchen.

-you might want to check and see if the walls are plaster or drywall. We have plaster walls and they are sometimes a pain to deal with.

-check the windows. I don't know if our windows are original or not, but they're definitely not any newer than the early 60s. Windows are an expensive job to redo, but soooo nice to have. If they aren't new/newish, then make sure they all open and lock! We have a couple of windows that we can't open and it's very frustrating.

that's about all I can think of right now. Hope that helps!

[pixielou]

we just bought a 1950's colonial on the east coast.

a huge thing is to find out the age of all the major parts of the house - roof, siding, furnace, hot water heater, etc. when was the plumbing and electrical last updated? how many layers of shingles are on the roof? if home improvements were done, was a building permit pulled? has a lead paint inspection been done? have windows been replaced? what's the insulation like?

if the kitchen hasn't been updated, check to see if there is a dishwasher and garbage disposal. if it has an old, tiny refrigerator, is there room for one of the new larger refrigerators? a surprise to me - older kitchen cabinets didn't have adjustable shelves. my ketchup bottle, vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, etc. don't fit in my cabinets!

if the house has a garage - cars are wider now adays then they were in the 50's and 60's. on our house, if we put our suv or sedan in our garage, we can barely open our doors to get out of the car!

those are a couple things off the top of my head. . .

~pixie

[Sandie78]

Some friends of mine have a house that is 45 years old. They are in the process of removing some lead paint from it. So that would be something to think about.

[Jenyfer9]

I think that you have to disclose if there is lead paint in the house (at least in IL you do), and I'm sure that there is some in ours, but you just paint over it. Unless you are licking the walls (before they've been painted) I don't think that it is a real issue.

[jennylou]

-lead paint (most houses built before 1978 are likely to have lead paint used at some point in them. You'll be given a pamphlet.)
-old windows (though, this isn't a hard DIY job to replace with vinyl). You can also put up storm windows.
-new siding? If so, you'll have more insulation than the old stuff that hasn't had it blown in.
-does the attic have enough insulation in it?
-age of furnace?
-roof
-hot water tank
-pipes - are the galvanized or copper?
- toilets - are they older or the new energy efficient ones?
-electrical. Is it updated?
-depending upon the area - you'll need a pest/termite check.

[jessesgirl]

Our house was built in 1968 and I believe all the windows are original, but they need to be replaced due to rotting wood.

I agree with updated electrical from the fuse box all the way to the outlets. We don't have many outlets (an easy fix since DH has experience in electrical work) and we had to replace outlets to configure to the 3-prong plug that almost all appliances and lamps have today.

Open up cabinets if they haven't been updated and look inside. Our cabinets need updating and under the kitchen sink needs to be replastered/new drywall/something to that effect. We knew about it when we bought it, but it's definitely something to consider if you are thinking about potential and your pocketbook.

[EJM]

I think that you have to disclose if there is lead paint in the house (at least in IL you do) ....

The disclosure is if the owner is aware which doesn't really mean much unfortunately in some cases. We know the house we are buying this week has lead paint since we tested a few places in the house ourselves, but the disclosure we were provided said the seller wasn't aware of any lead paint. :rolleyes: We'll be repainting everything anyway and in the case of the original windows, we'll probably be replacing those in any potential kids rooms with vinyl just in case. So there are ways around it even if the house has some. I read a thread on here about deleading, one poster said they paid $12k or something to get the entire house done.

Definitely hire an experienced inspector who is familiar with homes built in that time period.

[kindermom]

I agree with many of the PPs. One thing no one told me about was that the old tubs can be leaching lead paint into your bath water. No big dea for adults. But if it is ingested, it can give a nice exposure to lead. We just had our reglazed which is how I found this out. The reglazing takes away the exposure issue.

[snoopy30]

Check for any water damage, especially underneath bathrooms. We have a 70year old house and the subfloor and concrete in one of our bathrooms had to be replaced b/c it was rotted from water damage. Most likely from the toilet.

When we bought our house the previous owners paid to have some of the subfloor repaired but we gutted the bathroom above that area and found alot more damage than we thought :rolleyes:

That's one general thing to be aware of with older homes...you just never know what is behind the walls or underneath the floors! But as long as you have a good inspector (and sometimes a structural engineer) you'll be fine!

[SiValleySteph]

Wow! Thank you so much for your tips on what to look for. We will definitely get a thorough inspection. It's a bit overwhelming. So much to think about!

I found a house that looks promising that is 62 years old. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, because I think it might go quite a bit over asking and we can't do that.

If this doesn't pan out, we'll take our time!

[carrie9142]

I just moved into a house built in '53 and most everything I have noticed has been touched on here. A good inspector is a huge must!

-We have one electrical outlet on the kitchen counters, and one in a cabinet. Not lots of options there! Our inspector brought it to our attention or I would never have noticed-until I moved in.

It probably will have lead paint. I had to sign a bunch of stuff when we made our offer stating we understood. You can get a specific lead paint exposure, but our realtor said with houses built in this era, lead paint is a given. I am just going to try and keep the dog from gnawing on the wall:rolleyes:

-We have 3 very small closets. And our master bedroom is about half the size. I have bought a couple extra rods for the closet, and a fabric wardrobe type thing for our off season clothes. We also don't have a pantry, and have 1 very small linen closet. We have had to get pretty creative with storage!

-No garage. Carport. With an outside utility room. Boo!

-Our dryer hook up was only wired for gas. And we had a number of 2 prong only outlets. We had an electrician (3 of them, actually) wire the dryer for electricity as well as change the outlets. I thought they would have to rewire the outlets, but it was pretty much just a swap. If you guys are handy you could probably do that yourself. It ended up being like $180 for labor and parts. The wiring from the circuit breaker to the dryer was decently expensive since ours are on opposite ends of the house.

-Roof, water heater, HVAC ages are all needed!!

-Your inspection will tell you more about the plumbing and electrical materials. Sometimes you can get an idea about the modernity of the electrical wiring if you look at the circuit breaker. New looking components usually mean newer wiring.

-Overall, we were really surprised how good everything seemed to be. We have a brick house and the electrical and plumbing had been redone at some point which was good. I think they built things a little sturdier. But, it is nervewracking wondering about the inspection! I am somewhat handy, but I don't really know much about structural/electric/whatever issues. Luckily, my dad knows tons, so he was a lot of help in reading the inspection. If you guys don't know much specifically about inspection issues, try to find someone who knows a lot and can help you understand.

Good luck!

[SiValleySteph]

I went and looked at the 62 year old house and it had almost all the issues you all mentioned!

It would be $25k additional to make it move-in ready (replace roof in garage, treat termites, replace subfloors in bathrooms, fix leaky plumbing, etc). I don't think that even included if we wanted to tie in to the sewer instead of staying on septic.

Added in with the fact it was most likely going to be sold for over asking, that put us over our comfortable price range!

One thing that was interesting to me, that I didn't realize would happen, is that the seller had done their own inspections. I would still do my own, of course, but it gives a good idea of the type of things that would be needed. The listing realtor had an idea of how much each thing would cost to fix.

On to the next old house! :)

[LRL]

Steph- I think that most sellers in our area do their own inspections, it's expected by buyers. The only time I have not seen one is when it is being sold by an estate or is a foreclosure. If it was done by a reputable inspector you can decline your own inspection, although we had one done for our resale by a different inspector.

I would look at the electrical, foundation, pest report, windows (although less an issue where we live than other parts of the country for temperature control purposes), sump pump/drainage (check out the backyard and see if it is too moist, there could be moisture issues which would eventually lead to foundation problems with wet soil). Other have also given good suggestions... lead paint is something we just assume is there in all the homes we look at, but generally these homes are 70-100 years old. If the walls are plaster and lath, you may want them replaced, but usually they don't create any problems. I happen to like nice plaster walls if they are properly insulated. Also make sure that any brick fireplaces are checked out for leaks, cracks and general wear. People don't check or use their fireplaces sometimes for years, and there can be issues with them.

[penybryn]

Our house built in 1951, was kept up pretty well by the previous owners (decorating aside). We had to replace the pipes under the bathroom and kitchen sinks in addition to the faucets. Both were rusted out.

The house came with a refrigerator (only 5 years old), dishwasher, stove, washer and dryer. All have died in the 2 years we have lived there and have been replaced. Just as well since none were very energy efficient.

Our water heater will be replaced this summer. Its about 14 years old, with only a 10 year life span.

We upgraded all the outlets in the house and replaced those that needed ground faults. We also rewired the entire basement and put in recessed lighting. It originally had 4 overhead lights, all on different switches and none of them near each other. A few were on the ceiling. How weird is that?

We also replaced the roof, as it was beyond repair and found it had 3 layers of shingles.

We got a fabulous deal on this house and knew that all of these repairs were necessary from our inspection.

Just know that you aren't buying a brand new house and that you will need to have the necessary dollars to upgrade to todays standards. Do big jobs first (electrical, roof) and save the small stuff to do as you can.

[SiValleySteph]

I think we're going to put in an offer on a 45 year old house!

I'm excited, but not sure if we'll get it. I think there may be multiple offers.

There are a list of things to take care of if we do get the house.

We shall see!

[LRL]

Good Luck Steph! I hope you get it! :D