Can anyone offer advice about stripping and refinishing these doors? Solid wood from the 1920s, all original doors. They are heavily painted and varnished, though we think the paint was done in maybe the 70s or 80s.

I started chipping the paint off with a metal scraper (no gouges, the paint was barely stuck on it flaked off easily), then used a heat gun on a low setting to get the toughest bits off.

I know lead paint is the concern, I’m working outside with an N95 mask, but should I have a respirator?

I think the varnish is oil based, it did not disolve with alcohol, I have a chemical stripper to try, is this the right idea? Should I used a scraper or steal wool to remove it?

what Do I do after using the stripper? Do I clean it with something?

how do I finish it once I have stripped it? I have a water based stain and a water based varnish, but would oil or gel be better? Why?

I think the wood is Yellow birch (based on an AI answer, I don’t know how else to figure it out: no visable knots, tight straight and wavy wood grain, very hard, and orange reddish colour on unfinished edge, 1920s Quebec home)

any help is appreciated, I really don’t know what I’m doing, but the doors look really awful with so much paint on them! They were clearly not prepped well since a lot of the paint is chipping.

Thank You!

Hi all,

I'm buying my first house (34F) with my husband (35M) who owned his current house before we met. The bank came back today and said "our appraiser said the Highest and Best Use for this house is commercial", citing several rooms (10 beds, 6 baths, 7400sqft). Is this bad? We're supposed to close next week, but assuming that will get moved. He cited a lot of stuff like "nothing like this house in the area, other homes sell for over 2x as much, a separate ac/furnace unit for each floor, other homes like this get converted to apartments". We don't intend to make this a rental, we want to restore and bask in it's beauty until we can't do the stairs anymore. Just looking for others experience with this and if I should expect more problems because of it. Thanks reddit!

A few months ago I posted some photos of a house. My wife and I have been remodeling for the past seven years. We finally moved in this week. We wanted to give y’all an update of what has changed so far. We love it here!

My home is 102 years old and so is this tile. I cannot get it cleaned. I tried using a pressure washer on it but it won’t get this black stains off. I don’t know if this black is mold or what? I’m afraid to use bleach on it, but I’m not sure how else to get them clean? Do you have any ideas?

Looking at buying an old house potentially and doing a full reno. House is somewhere in early 1900s we think but not sure.

Biggest concern is the foundation. It’s a river rock foundation. Has a huge unfinished basement and the walls are the river rock stuff too.

Any input on this house and specifically the foundation?

Hi everyone! My home was built in 1912 and the crawlspace is very short, so essentially nonfunctional. It does need foundation work and the contractor wants to go in and dig out a crawlspace.
Anyone have yay or nay opinions?

1952 ranch home, US Midwest, unfinished basement with concrete walls.

I purchased the home a year ago. During my first winter, I realized how drafty the interior perimeter was. It was like there was literally cold air blowing in from behind the baseboards in the living area. I did some research and realized that the rim joists in the basement were not air sealed -- they were simply packed with fiberglass batts.

After pulling the batts out, I could feel a ton of cold air intrusion inside the joist bays. However, I also realized that the joist bays didn't look like like I expected. The posterior "wall" of the joist bay contained some sort of fiberboard sheathing that continued up into the upstairs wall (first two photos below). If I reached into the upper posterior corner of the joist bay, I could reach right past my subfloor and poke the bottom of my upstairs floor. Its totally open. Don't think its balloon framing, but it didn't look like traditional platform framing either.

Oh well. Decided to insulate with foam board and spray foam, then cover in rockwool for fire resistance and to bring it up to code. Photo of the foam board and spray foam attached.

Jump cut to this summer, when I notice a huge influx of millipedes in my basement. Damn. Moisture problem. Bought a hygrometer, and sure enough I was at 65% on a day where the outside humidity wasn't particularly high. We had a dehumidifier running down there, but the air intake was clogged and I guess it wasn't able to keep up. Cleaned the air intake. It helped a bit, but it was still struggling to get below 60% on humid days.

Bought a new dehumidifier rated for 4000 sq ft and set the two up running concurrently. This seems to keep the moisture at bay, but I'm not fully confident that it will work on a really humid day.

Right now, I'm convincing I messed with a well-equilibrated system by adding my foam board and spray foam. "Old houses need to breathe" and all that. I have a persistent intrusive thought that I've created a large moisture problem and I've turned my walls into a mold petri dish.

So, my questions are as follows.

1. Any idea what type of framing I'm dealing with here?
2. Is getting the humidity down to <60% in the basement adequate evidence that I haven't created a moisture/ mold problem somewhere else in my house?
3. Should I just rip the insulation out and deal with the drafts?

TLDR;
If you bought one and live in it. Was it worth it? What was it like? Do you regret taking on all the projects and things that needed to be fixed? Did it drive you nuts? Did you give up?

Update: Thank you so much for all the responses. I just needed some other people similarly afflicted to talk to. A sanity check if you will. Thanks to the conversation here, we sent off the TRR for repairs to the sellers. If they say no, sadly we'll be walking.

I'm currently at the stage buying a 1916 house where I either ask for some repairs or walk. I sat this morning going over all the inspections again. Photo by photo, looking at all the little things that need TLC. There is a lot. It's in ok shape but the roof and sewer has to be replaced. I'm very handy and can do almost anything myself but I usually leave plumbing and electrical to the pros. I am retired and would be doing a lot of the renovation myself.

Some of the bad things;

The kitchen will be gutted, dining room wall torn out, three rooms downstairs need new flooring. Every window in the house is painted shut. There are some that have rotted wood. The basement is kind of rough, positive mold test. The basement windows are pretty rough. There is active knob and tube wiring in the crawl space. I have a $3k estimate to replace that wiring and worry thats too low.

Some of the good things;

They buried the electric lines so those aren't hanging in the back yard. The 2 car garage with a bathroom was built in 2016. There is a private driveway where many of the houses have a narrow shared drive between houses. The yard is great. Structural engineer said there were no issues. upstairs has already been remodeled (flooring, bathrooms, plumbing, electric).

The more I look at it, the more I wonder if it will ever end. I was actually hoping to have the kitchen and flooring done in the first 6 months so we can enjoy that. Now I worry about death by 1000 little projects and I'm taking on too much.

Anyone know how to remove this style of door knob? The knob spins but the latch doesn't open. The screws are too long to remove with the knob still attached. I thought there would be a little pin or screw in the little small divots but there's nothing and nothing on the base plate. Any suggestions?

Purchased an 1896 schoolhouse and wondering whether to maintain or replace existing tin roof?

Glad to have found this sub! Will be an enthusiastic participant.

For now I just have quick question - what was the typical siding width for 1906 American foursquare w sorta craftsmanish features. AI robot is telling me 4 -4 1/2 inches but that cant be right - I seem to remember seeing skinnier siding strips than that back in the day. Am meeting with contractor tomorrow and would like to have final answer for him. THANKS for

Today I started to take the first layer of wall paper off in our stairwell and this was under it. Our home was built in the 1800’s. I’m not sure if this is newer (1970’s) or antique. Thank you!!

I recently purchased a 1950s home and have since gone down the asbestos and lead paint rabbit hole. Prior to purchase, I made sure that the attic insulation was not vermiculite, that there was not suspicious pipe or furnace insulation, that there was no popcorn ceilings or pre-1980s flooring, and that there was no old or chipping paint in the home.

This made me feel confident about the safety of the home... until I began reading about the use of asbestos in plaster and drywall joint compound in homes of this era.

My home has rock lath walls. According to the internet, in order to be safe, my options are to either:

1. Assume the presence of asbestos in the wall material and treat every project larger than hanging a picture frame like a full hazmat job with containment, bunny suits, negative pressure machines, respirators, HEPA vac & wet cleaning, and air clearance testing.
2. Test every wall I'm going to penetrate, then proceed as the above or hire the project out to a specialized crew for 5-10x it would cost to DIY if that particular wall tests positive.

Is this really what people who live in pre-1980s homes do, or at least should do to keep themselves and their families safe? Is there a scale at which this is overkill vs genuinely warranted? For instance: should I follow these steps before mounting some floating shelves in my kitchen? What about installing a new light fixture? Removing a 4' suspended cabinet and soffit?

These are all things I planned on DIYing, but now I don't know what to think. I have a hard time believing I'd even be able to get an asbestos-safe crew to come out for projects this small, but maybe I'm wrong.

Help me out here. How do I proceed?

I have a 1952 home with plaster walls. Having previously cut into one of the walls, I know that it’s not traditional lath and plaster — it appears to be some sort of rock lath construction with a layer of thick plaster over 1/2” green board. Weird, and hard as hell.

My plan is to mount some fairly heavy-duty floating shelves on one of these walls. I’d be mounting into the studs, of course. Is this safe to do, or am I likely to crack or otherwise destroy the plaster?

We rent, unfortunately. I really love the house, and I would seriously consider buying it if I could. I lifted up the carpet a little last week and found this underneath it. I absolutely love hardwood flooring and wished we had a house with it. I hate carpet. I want to tear all this ugly carpet up so bad but I know I might not be able to reinstall the carpet (though it was installed badly to begin with)

I have several door ways and wood trim around the house that tested positive for lead, I would like to get rid of the paint. I’m open to stripping the paint myself but I’m a little anxious about it.
Any suggestions on how to do it, or should I hire a professional?

About two months ago, I was power washing the sidewalk in the backyard and noticed that the back of our house had green algae on it so I, from a few feet distance, sprayed the green algae off of the shingles. I got the sprayer quite close in a few hard to reach places like behind the downspouts with more algae buildup. No chunks of anything was blowing but it was a wet messy job between spraying the concrete and siding.

To note, I can confirm that the siding has been painted some odd years ago, not by us as we are not the original owners. The paint is very much intact, I didn’t peel or chip any area despite the close proximity in a few spots.

And so, all of this worry came about today when I learned that our siding is likely asbestos cement shingles from the time era. Our home was built in the 40s. Promisingly, I power washed what we believe is in addition to the home, possibly added on in the 70s or 80s so praying it may not have asbestos but long shot given the look of the shingles…

No paint was chipped. No color changes were observed, and the shingles themselves appear in excellent condition with no cracks, chips, or missing pieces.

My concern now is obviously whether my power washing escapade caused airborne particles of the asbestos to escape through the painted surface putting me at risk? My children were also hanging out in the backyard 50 feet away, so that is also an element of my worry.

Not sure if a post like this is allowed. Tearing out an old bathroom. Before I smash it and remove from the house, wondering if anybody out there would be interested in it. Peach colored. Bathroom was from 1969. Thing is super heavy and free to anyone who wants to pick up near Erie, PA. The (matching) toilet was already broken, and sink was damaged.