# Folks in the UK, How Old Is Your House?



## Jules (Apr 2, 2022)

@hollydolly got me thinking when she mentioned how thick the walls are and how well built her home is.  I’m guessing it’s older, by N.A. standards and presume many of you live in these solid homes.  Can you tell us more about these homes?  

We once bought a house that was ~30 years old.  It was listed by real estate as an Oldtimer and was really difficult to get house insurance.  Ridiculous.  It actually had a better basic structure than many newer homes I’ve seen.  

Houses should be built to last for at least a century with good maintenance. 

Does anyone in the US or Canada live in a much older house?  Do you feel it’s built better than average?


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## Lewkat (Apr 2, 2022)

Our family homestead was built in the mid 1800s.  Sturdy and solid as can be.


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## hollydolly (Apr 2, 2022)

No my house isn't  old by UK standards Jules, .. at just 65 years old... built around the year I was born.... however the new builds particualrly those built from 1990 on near here have walls which are almost literally paper thin and rooms which are tiny and hold barely enough funriture for a nights sleep.... and you can hear the next door neighbour talking through the wall or turning a switch on 

Many houses around here are hundreds of years old, with 2 feet thick walls, and tiny windows, but usually they're ''listed buildings'' so the owners aren't permitted by law to alter them, and that included adding simple additions like double glazing... without specific planning permission which is usually denied unless it's needed as part of an urgent repair

Here's an explanation about listed buildings..

https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/your-home/owning-historic-property/listed-building/

they would include family homes as well as businesses.. and typically look like some of  these..


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## Alligatorob (Apr 2, 2022)

The center of our house was built some time before 1890, we have no records but it appears on an 1890 map.  

That core was built with adobe brick, made we are told within half a mile of the house at a spring.  Those walls are about a foot thick, but adobe is not very strong brick, easy to breakup by hand and easier to dissolve in water.  That would make it one of the oldest houses in this area, the first European settlement here was not long before that.

Then it had a significant expansion sometime around 1910, wood this time, and then we expanded further when we repaired and remodeled about 5 years ago.  Result is a large rambling and architecturally marginal house, but I like it.

pre-remodel


adobe


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## MickaC (Apr 2, 2022)

My house I bought in town is 54 years old.....not ancient.
It’s a bungalow style......many upgrades over time......wood frame.....cinder block basement.....kept up very well.


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## Alligatorob (Apr 2, 2022)

More pictures

Pre-remodel adobe

In progress


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## Alligatorob (Apr 2, 2022)

Recently



Some of the adobe left exposed in a built-in bookshelf.  Had to lime plaster it to stabilize the dirt.


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## Alligatorob (Apr 2, 2022)

My office/mancave was built more recently, in the 40s.  It was made from concrete block salvaged from an old army building destroyed after the war.

When we bought it


After remodel


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## Jules (Apr 2, 2022)

Those are amazing changes to an ‘old‘ house.  You’re really talented.

Lovely location too.


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## Lavinia (Apr 2, 2022)

I live in a flat (apartment) in a converted church. It was built in the mid 19th century and has mullioned windows. The ceilings are extremely high which makes the heating very wasteful.


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## Jules (Apr 2, 2022)

Lavinia said:


> I live in a flat (apartment) in a converted church. It was built in the mid 19th century and has mullioned windows. The ceilings are extremely high which makes the heating very wasteful.


Bet it’s beautiful and full of character.


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## Lavinia (Apr 2, 2022)

Jules said:


> Bet it’s beautiful and full of character.


It is certainly a landmark.


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## Alligatorob (Apr 3, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> Here's an explanation about listed buildings..


That is interesting, more restrictive than anything I know of here. 

I have mixed feelings about things like this, I do favor preservation and in the UK it has done a lot to maintain character.  The problem of course is that it puts much of the burden for preservation on the landowner, not always fairly.

In most of the US the only such thing, I know of, we have is putting a house or building on the National Historic Registry.  That is done voluntarily, and you get tax breaks in return for it.  Then you have to accept and live with the restrictions.

A partner and I bought and rehabbed a building in Georgia once.  It has been originally built in the 1830s, we put it on the Registry and got the tax breaks.  We turned it into an office building.  In the end I am not sure it was worthwhile financially, made no real money on it, but I do still have a bit of pride in what we did.  An old antebellum plantation home saved from the wrecking ball, a good thing.


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## C50 (Apr 3, 2022)

I'm not in the UK.....I grew up in an old farm house that part of it was built in the late 1800s.  That original section was actually a general store/barber shop when first built.  Big ole pegged hand hewn beams and hand forged nails, very cool.

The first house I bought was built in 1904.  You hear the expression of a house having "good bones" and man that house did, absolutly beautiful construction and details.

My current house sucks, I had it built in 1988.  It's nice but boring, no character, no history, just shelter.


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## jimintoronto (Apr 3, 2022)

The house that I live in here in Toronto was built in 1907, by my Grand Father who was a master home builder. Between 1905 and about 1930, he built over 40 2 story solid brick homes in a area in west Toronto. My Father and I were both born in this house. When my Dad  died  in 1981 at age 83, I took over the house. It is what is known as a "four square 2 story " meaning there are 4 rooms on the ground floor and 4 more on the second floor. In the 90's we renovated the basement to create a bachelor apartment, with a side door entrance. In 2005, we renovated the second floor to create a two bedroom apartment, with a shared front door entrance. We live on the ground floor, with a living room/kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The two renters pay us a monthly amount that covers all of our costs including utilities, insurance, and city property taxes. Of course we don't have a mortgage. When walking around our part of the city, I can point out homes that my G/D built a hundred years ago. JimB.


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## Bellbird (Apr 4, 2022)

I enjoy watching Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp, (English) mainly to see the old homes and buildings of yesteryear, and the countryside. I noticed in the really old homes many of them have lower doorways and ceilings plus smaller rooms. Obviously over the years people have grown taller so a higher doorway is needed.  The thatched roof is chocolate box picture.


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## Jules (Apr 9, 2022)

When we were walking in a different area, we stopped to read the sign at a registered Heritage Home.  1931.  Good grief.  It didn’t even have an interesting history.


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## Capt Lightning (Apr 10, 2022)

This is my house.  It was originally built around 1830-40 and extended in 1896.  The stone for the walls were quarried locally, but the slate for the roof probably came from west Scotland.  The rooms are of an adequate size and at 8 ft. the ceilings are slightly higher than modern houses.  The outhouse at the back has been converted since this photo was taken into a workshop, fuel store and utility room.



The kitchen.. (at Christmas - hence the tree)


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## hollydolly (Apr 10, 2022)

That's 2 house tho' isn't it ?.. which one is yours ?


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## carouselsilver (Apr 10, 2022)

Our home is 95 years old, known as a brick twin. So there are always two houses sharing a wall. The wall is very thick, but a little sound can carry through. There were only two prior owners, and they took very good care of it. Here is a pic of a typical brick twin, taken from a real estate website:


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## hollydolly (Apr 10, 2022)

carouselsilver said:


> Our home is 95 years old, known as a brick twin. So there are always two houses sharing a wall. The wall is very thick, but a little sound can carry through. There were only two prior owners, and they took very good care of it. Here is a pic of a typical brick twin, taken from a real estate website:
> View attachment 216730


yes we have many houses in the Uk similar to that , they're called semi-detached


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## Capt Lightning (Apr 11, 2022)

The oldest house in the village dates from around 1760, which is almost modern by European standards.  The oldest occupied house in Scotland is Traquair house which dates back to 1107.  The remains of older dwellings date back as far as 3500 BC.

I realised that I have very few photos taken inside my house, and this is one that I seem to have taken accidentally.
It shows the fireplace in the lounge with the stove set within the thickness of the wall which is about 30 inches thick.  The lounge is upstairs and the  fireplace is made of solid stone which must have been very heavy to lift and set in place.

I made the wooden fire surround and the TV cabinet from American white oak..   Excuse the mess......


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