[Greenbuilding] Rebuild or Refurbish or..?

Sun Jan 14 12:22:15 CST 2007

Zack, there are a lot of variables left out. Often I go through a long
process of estimating and designing only to find the people have really made
up their minds to do something else and were just bouncing a thought off me.
First is the question of whether you are already dissatisfied enough that
you've already made up your mind and just need justification. Other
questions are how long do you expecting to live there? What is your family
situation (near empty nesters often jump into expansions at the time their
kids fly the coop and they really don't need the room but now have the
money)?

    Economics (and taste) are often different than basing your decision on
being green. Often local codes won't allow the reuse of construction
materials such as framing so you might check with the Austin code people to
see if they allow the reuse of framing material. Often that is the only
portion left when you tear down a house. The 1 x 12 wall and roof  sheathing
is usually discarded because it is more time efficient to use plywood or
foam than to denail it and reuse the old material. Your concern about lead
paint will require it to be stripped before reuse, and much will be broken
in pulling it off, so don't make a large portion of your decision on reuse.
When you think of all the materials you'll be hauling to the dump; plaster,
lath, siding, shingles, trim, paint, counters, cabinets, flooring, it will
have to be replaced with new labor, new mortgage,etc,etc. The additional
space will cost you as new regardless of your choice.  So the question seems
to be what is gained by tearing down, replumbing/rewiring, replacing
windows.  Your walls are probably uninsulated but cellulose is cheap and
while you are at it add more to the attic. In most cases the most resource
efficient and economic thing is to make the house work.

   If you have a basement or even a reasonable crawl space, rewiring and
redoing plumbing is not such a difficult job. Wiring is usually run through
the basement joist spaces and can easily be used to pull through the new.
The only portion that is difficult is where lighting wiring is sandwiched
between a finished ceiling and a floor above. If your home is single story,
then this shouldn't be difficult either. I am of the opinion that the lead
paint and most asbestos is best left covered and alone. If it is on your
ductwork, paint it. About the only asbestos containing insulation I run into
is vermiculite but that is easily recognizable. A hardware store will have
test kits. If what you have in the attic is gray it is likely to be mineral
wool made from iron slag.

Bill Dorsett
Sunwrights
Manhattan, KS

----- Original Message -----
From: Zach Douglas <zachd73 at gmail.com>
To: <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 3:56 PM
Subject: [Greenbuilding] Rebuild or Refurbish or..?

>
> Hi, this is my first post here.  I have read some of the previous
> digests and you guys seem to know quite a bit.
> My question is not entirely about green building.. at least not yet..
> once I move on and make a decision on my current situation I'm sure I'll
> have some questions that are more related to the focus of this listserv.
>
> Here is my situation and a question I would like to pose to you all...
>
> I purchased my house in Austin about 5 years ago. It's a 1300 sq foot
> 2-1 built around 1940.  It has gone up in value since
> I purchased it and I do have some equity in it.  While it's not in
> terrible shape, it's starting to develop some issues. Also, even if the
> house
> didn't have any issues, I would like to build a custom (green) home.  I
> do like my location and neighborhood and I see this area as continuing
> to appreciate
> and I would like to keep the lot I am on.  Most people tell me it is
> crazy to try and build a new house where my old house sits now and that
> I should just add-on and refurbish my old house.  I see some problems in
> doing that but I am open to it if it was more economically feasible AND
> I could achieve the same results.
>
> Reasons and problems with my house now:
>
> A. House is small and 2-1 so it will never appreciate or be worth as
> much as a larger 3-2 in this neighborhood
> B. We could use more room and more storage
> C. A laundry room was added on to this house that was a disaster..
> poorly built and it leaks water (moldy)
> D. My wiring is original cloth covered aluminum wiring + a dishonest
> 'contractor' screwed up a lot of the wiring in my house.  Most issues
> are inside the walls and I don't see any easy fix for this.
> E.  I'm pretty sure I have all lead paint under the more recent paint
> F.  I may have asbestos insulation under the fiberglass insulation in my
> attic (how can I find out if this is true?)
> G. I've recently developed some roof leaks and have noticed that some of
> the boards on the roof are rotting or damaged.
> H. The plumbing is as old as the house and it's developing some problems
> too.
> I.  The windows all around the house are large old style windows that
> are very drafty and in pretty poor shape. They are the kind on vertical
> hinges that can be opened out with levers at the bottom. They really
> need to be updated. You can see daylight through some of the cracks as
> they don't seal.
> I.  I could come up with similar laundry lists for each room and how
> integral parts are starting to wear out OR are just too small (bathroom
> tile, kitchen tile, no room in kitchen for dish washer, small counter
> top space, and so on)
>
> So it seems I have several options:
>
> 1.  Sell the house to someone and have it moved from the lot and build a
> new one on the lot
> 2.  Tear down the house, recycle what parts can be re-used and build a
> new house on the lot
> 3.  Refurbish and add on to my current house which might mean removing
> everything except the foundation and floors and even some of those would
> have to go such as in the laundry room.
>
> Which is the most feasible economically or otherwise??
>
> Just recently a crew started working on a house down the street from us
> that looks similar to ours in age.  It looks like they completely
> removed the walls and roof of the house and replaced the supports and
> studs and then are going to rebuild the walls and roof from scratch.
> And they appear to be adding on a room to the back of the house.  This
> seems like an OK idea although from my perspective it looks like they
> all but tore down this house so I am wondering if there is an advantage
> I don't know about to not completely tearing the house down?
>
> I'm also interested to know where I should start with all this...
> should I figure out the cost.. or talk to the city about what I can
> do... or talk to an architects..
> I figure maybe it was best to start with some people like you who might
> have gone through something similar and could tell me what to expect.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions and or starting points
>
>
>
>
>
>
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