Should I insulate the walls of my old home?

Your historic house is drafty and cold. Your electric bill in the summer is rising. Your natural first thought and a questions we are often asked, “Should I insulate the walls of my old home?”

The wrong method can have a lasting negative impact on your home… and health.

Based on what we’ve seen assessing a number of homes and the National Park Service’s stance on it through their Preservation Briefs, we do NOT recommend insulating the walls of a historic home.

If the vapor barrier is not installed carefully and the correct products used, it can cause mold, mildew, rot, loss of paint adhesion and start the home down a path of rapid decline.

The pictures in the post are of an 1890s home in a Level 4 Wood Deterioration Zone that had holes drilled around the entire exterior, then was filled with insulation, and the holes plugged. This has caused water vapor to be trapped in the wall cavity and due to the region’s ideal conditions for rot, mildew and mold growth, the home is now covered in mildew as well as has a number of additional issues that will be difficult and costly to remedy.

If it is going to be insulated, it should be completed in conjunction with a full interior remodel or a full siding removal and exterior restoration. As to what products should be installed, that’s a post unto itself.

In addition to this, if you only insulate one room of the home, it can actually increase the pressure in the home, forcing air into other areas, causing additional issues. This means that it can be better for your home if you do not insulate the kitchen only during a remodel.

What should you do?

1. Insulate in between your floor joists following the guidelines for your region and home.

2. Insulate your attic.

3. Ensure your roof has proper ventilation.

4. Seal penetration in the floors, walls, cabinet, ceiling.

5. Add EnergyStar rated aluminum storm windows - Some may say weatherstrip your windows, but due to the cost of weatherstripping, labor to install and risk of damage, storm windows have a higher ROI with less risk.

6. Add a wood or aluminum storm door

7. Caulk/seal the joint between the baseboard and the floor.

Air infiltration is the biggest enemy of energy efficiency, and these 7 items create a more cost effective solution to decreasing the drafts in a historic home WITHOUT causing long term issues.

🔨🏠🪟🚪🧱🔨🏠🪟🚪🧱

Needing help with your historic home, building, or structure?

📞 405.549.9880

📧 info@oldhomerescue.com

What to do After Hail or Storm Damage on an Old Home

Hail and storm damage is stressful for any homeowner; however, when you’re in an old home or a historically preserved neighborhood, this can be even more stressful as you’ll need to ensure repairs are handled properly, stay within historic preservation guidelines, and work with insurance companies to cover the true cost of restoration work. We know this, not only because we work with old homes, but we live in old homes too.

Hail damage to a historic home in Norman, OK in April 2021

Here’s what you need to know if your old home has hail or storm damage:

1. Document your entire home and property with pictures and videos

   • Hail covering the ground or any surface and its size

   • Take pictures of the damage from far away and up close

   • Take pictures of all parts or elevations of your home, even if you don’t see damages. A good contractor or your insurance may be able to find additional damage that you don’t notice.

2. Secure your home first

   • From leaking roofs to broken windows, the most important thing is to stop additional water from getting inside your home.

   • When boarding up windows, ensure that you or the company completing the work do not inflict further damage to the windows securing your home. This can happen by screwing OSB through the aluminum cladding of windows, compromising the window integrity.

   • Leaking roofs should have a quick fix completed until the roof can be assessed and repaired or replaced properly by a roofing contractor who understands old homes and their different roofing rules.

3. If there is no emergency at your home, contact a contractor who understands old homes to inspect the damage.

   • Find a contractor who understands old homes, old home construction, and historic preservation guidelines.

   • Not all contractors are the same. This is through no malice or fault of many contractors. New construction and old construction are not one and the same. The typical contractor understands new construction well; however, if those rules are applied to old homes, it can cause premature failure of roofing, siding, painting, and window products.

   • Following large storms, everyone becomes a roofer and many of these scammers will lie to you about their experience or promise things that are illegal.

4. Contact your insurance company to file a claim

   • With your pictures plus the contractor’s conditions report, you’ll have a much smoother process with your insurance claim process to put your home back together right.

   • After you’ve submitted your claim, an adjuster will likely be sent to your home to assess the financial damage. At this point, you can have your contractor on-site with the adjuster to talk about the damage.

Tips for Old Home Repairs after Hail or Wind Damage

• Broken glass on single pane wood window

• Glass can be easily repaired with the right products

• Wavy glass is often scare but can be salvaged in small quantities

• Reproduction wavy glass is not carried by most box stores or glass shops; however, Old Home Rescue works with suppliers to source replica glass

• Replacement flat (not wavy) glass should be 1/8” double strength glass. Often box stores carry 3/32” single strength glass, which is fragile.

• Use a quality glazing putty product.

• Consider adding a storm window for future protection

• Storm windows can come in wood or aluminum

• Your double-hung wood window can cost $1500-$4000 for high-quality replica windows; however, they can be protected with quality storm window that ranges from $400-$1000

• Not only will you have the protection of your primary wood sash window, but storm windows will create a more energy-efficient window as well as lengthen the maintenance cycle of your double-hung windows.

• Consider upgrading your roof to an impact-resistant shingle

• If you’re having your roof replaced, it may be a good time to upgrade to an impact-resistant shingle. If your home doesn’t have this type of shingle already, it may be an out-of-pocket expense for the upgrade; however, it could pay for itself by eliminating the need for a roof replacement by the next storm.

• Consider Removing the damaged aluminum or vinyl siding

• If your non-historic siding has been damaged, you may be able to work with your insurance company to follow historic preservation guidelines, which are considered code, to remove the non-historic cladding that could be causing rot and damage, if the damage is on more than 50% of a side to the home.

• Before you replace, make sure it’s being replaced correctly

• In the hundreds of homes we’ve worked on at Old Home Rescue, most of our work has centered around repairing bad repairs from the previous decade. Often the original construction and materials on the home are still in great condition, it is the repairs that have been completed incorrectly that have failed that we’re called out to fix.

Why is Renovating an Old House So Expensive?

"I did not know owning an old house was going to cost this much."

This is a phrase we often hear when talking to old home owners. Our neighbors find that when they begin a renovation, the project expands, and costs go up. The bathroom renovation becomes a renovation, plus a new sewer line, reframing the floor joist, and lead abatement. The exterior painting becomes painting plus replacing siding, repairing windows, and installing new gutters. The sad part is, most contractors and house-flippers are notorious for covering up the problems during the project. Driven by unrealistic budgets and short-term financial gain...they defer the future repairs and maintenance to you, the homeowner.

This is where OLD HOME RESCUE comes into play. We cut our teeth on historic preservation projects. These projects not only require it to look beautiful, but they require it to be sustainable. When we present OHR's LIFETIME RENOVATION PLANS to our neighbors, they are surprised at the cost. The homeowner calls for a quote on new half-round guttering, only to find out that we need to replace all the facia with a naturally rot-resistant wood and back prime before we can even do the gutters. The cost quickly doubles or sometimes, more than doubles.

Oklahoma City, Ok

The good news is, doing it correctly returns significant ROI in the lifetime of ownership. Imagine doing a project on your house and it being the last time you do it. That is what we love doing! But how can an average old home owner pay for it?

The sad part is, some people join the defer repair club, and pay it forward. Old houses just get older; it never gets better without action. Many people choose to have a lifetime project, constantly repairing something, enjoying the process. Others choose to finance a large project with a second mortgage, a line of credit, or putting it on a credit card. These all have benefits and drawbacks. We believe we save the future by rescuing the past. When RESCUING, you take advantage of all tools available! Therefore, we are launching a new tool in LIFETIME EXTERIOR RENOVATIONS.

OLD HOME RESCUE FINANCING from Ally® Bank.

We have partnered with Ally® to make your next RENOVATION PLAN affordable. We have installment loan programs with extended terms for low monthly payments. We also have Promotional Financing Programs with 0% to 3.99% APR.

NOW is the time to RESCUE!

Historic Preservation Guide to Roofing

What are the Historic Preservation Guidelines?

The general policy for roof repair and replacement in historic preservation districts is to retain the original roof shape, details, and roofing materials when possible. Guidelines can be broken up into three general areas, maintenance, appropriate and inappropriate roofing renovations, and repairs.

This is an excerpt from our free ebook, Field Guide: Historic Home Roofing

Roof Maintenance

Historic preservation always recommends maintenance first.  These roof repairs often do not require approval or application fees. Recommended roofing care is typical:

• Annually Inspect shingles, chimney, and gutters for leaks, wear, and damage.

• Regularly Clean debris from gutter, roofs, and valleys regularly.

• Immediately Repair damage and leaks as soon as noticed.

Roofing Renovations

 Appropriate vs. Inappropriate

Appropriate

Guidelines vary between districts and cities; however, many hold the same principles. Some roof repairs may require an application and approval by municipal staff. Others require an application and a commission review. It is vital that before any homeowner proceeds with a roof renovation, they consult their local city and district. Historic roof replacement and renovations are appropriate when they:

• Repair less than 50% of any material on any side using similar material and design.

• Replace a non-historic roof with asphalt architectural shingles.

• Replace all-metal flashing with painted metal flashing that matches the color of the roof

• Replace non-historic gutter with powdered finish gutters that match the color of facia

• Install new items or additions on the rear of the roof were not visible.

Inappropriate

Historic preservation commission may deem many repairs, renovations, and replacements as not appropriate. The most commonly requested inappropriate roof renovations are:

• Replacing historical or original roofing material.

• Adding on to or altering the front elevation or street visible part of the home.

• Changing or removing the original shape, pitch, and overhang of the roof.

• Installing galvanized gutters or flashing.

• Installing metal panel roofs where they did not exist historically.

Before you start any renovation on your historic home and roof, check with your local historic preservation commission or city.

Read before Renovating!

At Old Home Rescue, we work on hundreds of projects every single year. While most of these are repair projects, some of the work we do require major restorations. This often leads us wanting to return the home back to its original state but items like windows, siding, porches and trim have been removed and/or replaced. However, how do we know how to repair these items for a historic home? How do we decide how something should be restored? How do we find out what route we should take?

In this blog, we will discuss four books we find to be foundational to fully comprehending old home renovations. They are all focused on helping you not only understand the type of home you have, but also the character defining features and why these features should be preserved. These books should be a mandatory read before a sledge hammer is ever swung!

Virginia McAlester’s “A Field Guide to America Homes”

The first book we want to cover in our must-have book series for restoring any historic home is “A Field Guide to America Homes.”  This book will cover one of the most crucial parts when you’re looking into doing a renovation, as it covers how to identify and understand America’s domestic architecture. You wouldn’t want to renovate, restore or add to the home unless you know the type of house you have. 

Using this book as a guide can help you find inspiration on how to add on appropriately and how to restore elements that may be missing from your old home. Each style of architecture is illustrated with key design features that include roof, windows and cladding with regional differences. This is super beneficial as it will help you make sure that your home doesn’t turn into a hodgepodge house that doesn’t meet the time period. 

This book is available on Amazon and can be picked up for under $25! This is a must to keep the integrity of your home! 

Marinee Custato’s “Get Your House Right”

The second book we’d like to recommend suggests architectural elements to use and the ones to avoid. Covering all the features that make up a great design in a home, this book should be used, not only for restoring a home, but also for building your own house too! 

The key features that make up a well designed home are all fully written out with beautifully detailed illustrations that show what you’ll want to “use” and what you’ll want to “avoid.” This will give you great insight as to what is appropriate for your windows, doors, porches, entryways, roofs and more!

This book can be purchased off Amazon for under $20! A must have for knowing the dos and don’ts of restoring or building a home!

Scott Hanson’s “Restoring Your Historic Home” 

The next book we’d like to suggest is fairly new! Published in 2019, this book will cover hundreds of DIY projects on how to manage the restoration of your house. With step-by-step photos, illustrations, charts and decision-making guides; it can help you from the very beginning on identifying the type of house you have. It can also help you understand how to get the right documents and how to work with local bureaucrats to get the permits you’ll need to restore your house. 

Using this book as a guide, homeowners can overcome one of the biggest challenges they have with contractors and supplies. By having a great understanding and knowing the language of what your project demands are, you’ll be able to communicate clearly with contractors and know what exact supplies you are after and your expectations!

Found on Amazon for under $33, this book is super beneficial for any homeowner!

Certified Local Government (CLG) Historic Preservation Handbook

The last book we want to urge you to add to the collection is completely free and can help you save thousands of dollars! These handbooks will be valuable to you if you are planning projects which may alter the exterior of the property and therefore impact the overall character and integrity of a historic district. These handbooks are typically created by cities and funded in part by a grant from the certified local government program. 

The handbooks typically start with going through the history of your city's development and then cover some defining characteristics of your neighborhood. A map of the historic districts may be included, which can be really handy as a homeowner. Knowing if you’ll be purchasing a house in a historic district or if you’ll need to go through any type of certificate of appropriateness for renovations is crucial information for anyone. You want to make sure you are following the rules and guidelines that are intact.

Unapproved alterations can prevent building permits, reduce value, lead to a fine or prevent the receiving of a mortgage. These books will let you know what’s expected in your cities historically preserved neighborhoods to prevent any unapproved alterations. It also will answer your “can I do that” questions!

These handbooks are often available on your city's historic preservation link on their website. You can also go to the office of your Certified Local Government or you can request for them to mail you one.

Have a question or want to suggest a book to the community? Leave a comment below!

Removing Vinyl Flooring

We may not know why some people insist on putting plastic into an older home, but we do know how to remove it!

Removing vinyl flooring can be a breeze and can be done over a weekend, if you have the right tools to get the job done. Here's how we can help!

You'll need to know some things prior to starting any project like this. Like, what dangers are involved with removing linoleum or plastic from a surface? When it comes to linoleum flooring, there is a chance that asbestos is involved but this is easy to check. The sign you'll be looking for is located underneath the linoleum itself and the color you see. If you see black backing or adhesive, take caution during the entire process as this is an indicator of asbestos. If you see white instead, you should be in the clear. If you feel uncertain at all, we'd like to encourage you to wear a mask during the RIY process. 

With this in mind, you'll also want to make sure you're using the correct tools. Here is a list of the tools we recommend for this:

• End Cutting Pliers = For removing nails and staples.

• 5-IN-1 Tool = For pulling up backing. If you'll be focusing on a much larger surface area, a floor scraper would work as well. 

• Clapboard Paint Scraper = This versatile tool will come in handy for your more challenging areas. 

• Profile Paint Scraper = Great tool for profiling a surface.

• Speedheater Cobra = One of the easiest ways to remove paint is by heating it up. This will help to loosen up paint and/or adhesive. 

• Gloves = For safety.

• Mask = For safety.

Available

Speedheater™ Cobra

$499.00

Add To Cart

Once you are ready to begin, you want to start by heating up a surface area with the Speedheater Cobra. We want to remind you to be cautious while heating up a surface and not allow it to get too hot, as it can catch fire. Once you feel the surface is heated up enough, you'll use the 5-IN-1 tool to pry the top up on the vinyl flooring. If possible, try to lift the paper backing up with the top as well.

Now, what should you do if the paper backing doesn't come up with the top of the vinyl? You'll want to scrape it off by heating up the surface and scrape with the grain as much as possible. Scraping against the grain will result in damaging the wood itself.

If you have any remaining stubborn pieces of backing left at this point, it's time to bust out the clapboard scraper. Since these pieces are stuck on very well, be careful while scraping these off as you may pull up some wood with the backing.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!

A Secret Way to Improve Your Homes Value!

Are you wanting to improve your home’s curb appeal for selling? Or wanting to increase your historic home’s value? Regardless of your reason, we all know there are quite a few ways to get your property to really shine. However, there is one thing that often gets left behind. We are talking about our "EverStorm" Storm Window!

Now you maybe asking if an aluminum storm window will raise my early 1900's home value? They may be energy efficient and be protecting a historic window but it really doesn't do much for the home. It's not aesthetically pleasing. If you are wanting to improve your home’s value, an aluminum storm window will not do the trick.

An EverStorm window is a traditional storm window that is a very practical and a cost effective way to improve your old home value. They improve the comfort and privacy of the home without replacing a single window. They will also reduce the transfer of heat from the outside into your home. 

Another great thing about having an EverStorm protecting your primary, antique sash is the amount of maintenance required will decrease. The way it is designed, this type of storm window will preserve your old home. You won't find yourself needing to repaint or restore your vintage windows underneath! It will protect the old wood window from all of the elements! 

Keep in mind, storm windows have been around for a hundred years and are often just a 1 over 1 design. Our EverStorm is made with Accoya wood and is the perfect storm window to protect a historic home and reduce cold drafts. These EverStorms are available through any of the Wood Window Rescue locations or can be shipped nationwide!

Have questions? Leave a comment for us below!