When you are thinking about buying an old house that needs to be renovated, consider hiring a contractor with experience in renovating old houses.
Renovating old houses presents a very different set of challenges compared to new construction or even renovating a newer home. Old houses are unique. It took a long time to build each and everyone of them, at the time the focus was on quality, not on speed. Building materials were different, construction techniques were different, lumber sizes were different. People’s needs were also different and this was reflected in the layout and floor plan of the house. Oh… by the way, 100 years ago there was no Building Code to follow!
As these old houses got renovated during their life, each renovation added one more piece to puzzle. When renovating an old house, weather you are putting in a new bathroom or a kitchen or changing the layout, the key is to be able to tie the new with the old in a seamless way. A good renovator is one that knows how to take the puzzle apart, add or replace some pieces and then put it all back together.
You are right Daniel, these old houses can be full of surprizes. We renovated a home in Ottawa a few years back. A full gut reno! When the contractors were taking out the front hall closet to open up the space they found the huge, cast iron plumbing vent was running from the basement through this wall to the attic. This delayed the reno by a few days to remove same and revent the plumbing stack.