The Trials and Tribulations of an Old House

I was going thru my facebook memories today, something I do every day.  It’s kinda fun to see what you were doing over the years.

Hint: If you have a significant other on FB also, do them and yourself a favor and leave those loving comments for them.  If in the event you or they are no longer amongst the living, seeing those comments are good to read.  I look for those every day, and sadly, my husband was not one to do much of that.  Those I love you’s are very special to me now that he is not here to say them.

Back to the topic at hand.

This time last year we had that really bad cold spell that really messed with my house.  Water lines were frozen.  The septic froze and backed up into the shower.  The water hydrants outside froze. 

So much fun.

I thought it might be fun to have a run down of what it’s like living in a 112 year old house.  Happy Birthday house!!!  The original part was built in 1912.

The only level floor in the house is in the bathroom.   And that is only because we had to remodel it.  If you walk thru the place, you will find the floors all lean slightly towards a wall.  It makes me feel like the house is tired and dropped their shoulders in exhaustion. The worst one is in the living room.  It’s interesting if you sober, but it’s like walking thru a fun house if you’re not.  Up down up down ooohhhh don’t fall!!! 

The staircase is narrow, steep and there is no handrail.  I don’t go upstairs very often.  I hate having to try and traverse those stairs.  It hurts my knees, and I get a sense of vertigo coming down.  I have to park my butt against one wall and hold onto the other wall with a hand and come down one step at a time.  Michael has biffed it a few times coming down, he will slip in his socks and BAM down he comes.  I also don’t recommend this if you’re inebriated.

It leaks.  Badly.  Very badly.  The north wall of my bedroom has gaposis where it meets the foundation.  Big enough to stick your hand thru.  I’ve heard wind whistle thru it at times.  During the winter we either use old hay or straw bales to block it off.  If not, it’s like getting out of bed and stepping onto a skating rink it’s that cold.  About half the windows are original to the house, and thus also leak air.  The back door has gaps also after I put my head thru the knob and busted it up.  It’s not been right since and no amount of weather stripping has made a difference.  We jam a towel in it to keep some of the cold out. 

Here’s what happened to the door:

And its not just air leaks.  This place has developed a case of squirting in water this year.  First time was between the kitchen and mud room, it dumped almost a gallon of liquid from the ceiling.  Second time, it let loose thru the ceiling fan in my bedroom onto my bed. Thankfully it came down onto the dog pee pad on the bed. The very odd thing is that there are no water lines that high up.  I’m guessing that there is a separation of the mud room, an addition, and the original house.  I have not been able to get my son up there to check and squirt stuff around the roof.  Either one of us has been working or the roof is coated in frost/snow and I’m afraid of him slipping and falling. 

The funny thing is there is no ceiling or wall damage from the water.  Maybe the Gods have decided to pee on me for some reason. 

Pipes freeze.  Last year was the worst for that.  Course I have not experience temps that low while living here.  We hit -52 a few times. The biggest problem has always been the kitchen/mud room.  After our first winter here, we had a contractor come in and try to follow the water lines.  He was not able to do it.  Said they disappeared into the concrete, and he had no idea which way they went.  Speculation is they are running up an outside wall somewhere.  I have to keep a trickle of water running at night or we have nothing in the morning. 

The main waterline into the house did freeze last year.  We believe we took care of that problem by back filling over the line this summer.  Fingers crossed, so far it’s been ok, but again, we have not had those bad cold temps yet this year. 

The original water into the house was via windmill to a cistern, and then gravity fed to the house from the looks of what is left here.  It drained out, under the driveway to a hand dug grey water pit covered with wood and dirt. 

Septic did freeze last year also.  Boy that was fun.  So glad I have an outhouse.  Yup, I have a real life 2 seater working outhouse original to the property!!!  Dang cold though, it’s no wonder our ancestors were cranky.  Made me cranky to sit my butt on that seat out there at -52.  Nothing more fun that a frost bit tooshie.  Men sure have the advantage when it comes to this process. 

The bathroom.  The bathroom was in very sad shape when we bought this place in 2019.  It was part of an addition put on who knows when.  It was basically a death trap.  The shower surround was peeling off the wall and had black mold behind it.  The tub was a nasty shade of orange due to the iron in the water, and no amount of scrubbing got it off.  The tub also had a really high front side, which scared the crap out of me to try and get into and out of with knees that don’t bend that high. 

The toilet was the biggest problem.  When you sat on it, the floor dropped about an inch.  You were taking your life into your own hands every time you used it.  We were in constant fear of falling into the crawl space with each use.  My plan had been to try and dive into the tub if it decided to move into the bowels of hell while I was sitting.  During the remodel, we found out that they did not support the toilet and it was floating between two 2x4’s and a particle board floor that was rotting away.   That has since been rectified and I am no longer in fear of leaving with the loo.

Before and after the remodel

One thing we found helps during the really cold weather is to put a milk house heater into the crawl space under the bathroom to help keep the pipes from freezing.  We put that back into place last night in case I need to plug it in this week.  Thankfully Michael fits down there.  If I had to go down there they would have to call the fire dept to extract me.  I have no desire to be on the receiving end of a confined space rescue.  It was way more fun to be on the giving end of that deal.

Good thing about this place is that when they built it, its all solid wood walls.  Not 2x4’s with sheet rock over them.  That was discovered when 1) we could not find the studs to hang pictures, as it’s all stud so to speak, and 2) when they did the bathroom remodel, we had the door widened and saw the “bones” of the wall.  This makes the place pretty well insulated despite all the air gaps in the place.  During the day I can keep a fire going and it’s enough to warm the house to a comfortable level.  In the summer, keeping it dark helps it to stay cool without air conditioning, which I don’t have to start with. 

The house talks.  Like so many old places, it makes noises.  Some are easily identified; some are WTF noises.  I am grateful that none of the WTF noises have resulted in a wall falling down or something like that. Maybe it’s the ghosts that reside here doing it. 

It’s an adventure living here.  I adore the history of the place.  The quirks do give me something to write about!  I hope that maybe someday I’ll have enough money to do some of the repairs this place desperately needs.  Until then, I’ll just keep doing what I need to so that I can keep it in one piece. 

Blessed Be!