Our old house

My husband and I live in an old house, built in 1896. It’s been in the family from the beginning, and so the history of repairs and changes and improvements is documented. My father used to say he learned the best swear words from watching those repairs and changes and improvements, but that is a claim without proof.
This story is for people like us. They have an old house, maybe a very old house. One that needs significant work. And maybe, like us, they need to save some money and do as many repairs as possible themselves. In, you know, their copious spare time and with their extensive home repair skills.
I’m going to walk you through our collection of starter projects, which range from easy (kill the plant) to harder (stained wallpaper in closet) to very scary (the corpse hole).
If you’re interested in a brief history of the repairs etc., see sidebar below.
That first step
Is of course the hardest. Maybe you have projects too. Maybe you’re unsure where to start.
Breaking down the projects into manageable sections helps make it less overwhelming.
Or maybe you’ll give up, save up and hire a professional. That’s fine too! (Start with the people listed at www.riverreporter.com/stories/best-of-2023-for-2024,137222.)
1. Planning
The first step is to list everything that needs doing. Buy a notebook.
Start at the top of the house. Attic or second floor or only floor, whatever you have. Leave plenty of room, or maybe devote a page to each project. You’ll flesh out each entry as you learn what needs to be done and what you’ll need.

Attic
Do something about the mice.
Repair the mouse damage on the ceiling.

Second floor
Despair.

The chimney damage. What even happened? It looks like a leak leaked while we were away.

Mouse damage. A theme.  This is in a closet. Probably from a food stash the mice built up over a year or more while living in a pile of fabric. I guess we steam off the wallpaper? Put up new paper? Maybe there’s some of the old stuff under the bed. Hopefully the mice didn’t eat it.

The corpse hole. When I was a kid, my dad told me there was a dead body behind the bulge in the hall wall. This, it turned out, was not true: when part of the wall fell down in the middle of the night while I was home alone, it was obvious that nothing was there except lath and plaster. (Or the body finally broke out. Opinions are divided.) My mom, by the way, argued that Dad invented the corpse so he wouldn’t have to fix the bulge. Knowing what’s in the bulge hasn’t stopped us from not fixing the wall. 

First floor
Finish fixing the plaster on the stairway wall.
Do something about the floor, which looks like a 128-year-old floor.

Outside
The house-eating plant. It’s invasive. Kill it. Kill it now. 
Kill all the weeds.

2. Permits
Go to the permit people and make sure you can do this work yourself and that no permits are required. For example: I have been told that depending on where you live, you might not be able to do your own repairs and then someday sell your house.

3. Process
How will this be done? YouTube has a plethora of videos showing you how to do your own repairs. There are books! Visit the local library. If you stop by a local hardware store, ask the people who work there for advice, and then buy what you need there.

4. Price
Research the materials needed and get the costs. Are there alternatives that might be cheaper? If your carbon footprint is important, that needs to weigh in as well. You might prefer something that’s more expensive but easier on the planet.
What about tools? Do you have everything you’ll need? Add the cost of new (or rented) tools.
Congratulations! You have a plan!
The final step, of course, is:

5. Begin work.
Start small. Keep going. Ask for help if you need it. Good luck!

The past is always with us

Especially when it’s a home repair.
Improvements began on our old house almost as soon as it was built. Amenities were added: By the 1920s or ‘30s, the house had acquired indoor plumbing, including a sink (!) and a toilet (!!) and had abandoned the acetylene gas that was made in a gashouse (!!!) out back. It gratefully received electricity and a coal furnace.
Wallpaper was pasted over the uniformly dark green walls. Only the kitchen and the bathroom (which might once have been a sewing room) were spared the green. The kitchen is (still) battleship grey and the bathroom is (still) white with pretend tiles.
The coal stove was changed to an LP stove in 1959. We still have the “new” stove, the instruction manual and at one point the receipt. An illustrated plate thing was stuck over the stovepipe hole to keep the bats from coming in.
And… that was it till my husband, daughter and I took over as caretakers in the ‘80s. (And I just realized the stove wasn’t even 30 years old at that point. No wonder it worked well.)
We evicted the attic-full of bats (humanely—they exited via a pipe and went away). Childproofed as much as possible. Updated the electricity because it would be nice to have more than one outlet per room. The exterior was painted a couple of times; my dad got the house re-roofed. About 15 years ago some major exterior and structural work was done because, for some strange reason, nobody wanted to suddenly find themselves in the basement with the dining room on top of them.
Now we’re bracing for more work. It should be an interesting ride.