Does Anyone Rehab Historic Homes?

[Ibrahim Hughes]

Hi All. Has anyone restored or renovated a historic home or one in a historic district? I landed a great deal on one and the bones are pretty solid. It was built at some point in the 40’s and everything is in really great shape. Just old.

The wood floors look fantastic. All of the bathroom and kitchen tiles are in great shape but just need to be cleaned. The doors are solid wood with brass door knobs. Most of the closets are cedar wood and the basement is all knotty pine with a built in bar. It has a slate roof and carriage house doors on the garage.

I want to preserve most if not all of the classic features of this house.

Unfortunately the HVAC system is 25 years old and the electric is outdated with only 50 amps coming into the house (according to my electrician – don’t know how the HVAC was able to work).

My thoughts are to replace the outdated HVAC with a 2 zone system, brand new without running any duct work through the cedar wood closets (the rooms have plaster walls so I may end up running the duct work behind the walls and sheetrocking - can’t use existing duct work, btw). Does anyone have other ideas for where to run the duct work?

Also, I’m going to completely rewire the house and bring it up to 220 amps. I’ll likely replace all of the plumbing in the basement including the undersized hot water heater (may go with a more expensive tankless, yet more efficient water heater). And I’m going to get the slate roof professionally cleaned.

That takes care of the guts. But I’m not sure where I want to go with the kitchen and baths. Again they’re all in great shape with good tile. Except there’s ugly wall paper all over the place. So I was thinking of getting rid of the wall paper and painting the walls while having the tiles professionally cleaned and the tub glazed. I also want to replace the bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Any thoughts? Does anyone here rehab historic homes?