When I was a kid I had a friend who lived in a house that was unfinished in the interior. I think they'd built it themselves and just given up. So it was bare studs everywhere. Only the bathroom had some walls around it, all the other interior walls were see-thru. And no insulation on the exterior walls. Everyone slept in sleeping bags. Big family, like 6 or 7 kids - probably couldn't afford to fix it up. I was too young to appreciate that at the time, but I was old enough to appreciate the occasional glimpse of his sister less than fully dressed through the 'walls'. I'm sure this story helps HCP in some way, that's why I'm offering it. barfo
Think, plan, think and plan some more. There will be times when you can't be fun dad, or cool dad, you're going to have to be man of the house. Here's an example: You have a one bathroom house. One. That's it. You're wife says, "Honey, lets remodel the bathroom first. I already know who we should hire." You're tired from working late and just agree with her. So Bob the contractor rips out the only working bathroom you have in your house. For the next month your family is going to be sharing a portapotty with the contractor and his crew that has been set up on the street in front of your house. One of the workers will take out a sharpie marker and draw a picture of your wife's boobs on the wall of the portapotty. You'll be out there in the dark huddled over your iphone trying to pinch a loaf and suddenly some drunk 20 somethings from one of those really cool bars in your really cool neighborhood decide it would be funny to tip the portapotty over. And I haven't even mentioned the no working shower part. Also you have to be honest with yourself. No matter what they claim or how cool they look, YOU ARE NOT A LOW FLOW TOILET KINDA GUY. Big dudes make big turds. Keep your old toilet. Have it rebuilt. Anyway, by thinking and planning you decide to have the 2nd bathroom installed in the master bedroom before doing anything to the original bathroom. Cool. That should solve the problem right? Except that means no sleeping in. You think, I'll just go sleep in my son's room, he'll let me, I'm cool dad. Remember how you would jack it 6 times a day in your bedroom when you were a teenager? Now with internet porn your son being a healthy normal teenager is doing it twice that. He don't want you in his fucking room. So now you have a skulking teenager in the house. Naturally he decides to pick on his sister. They fight. Your wife is upset. And you're just trying to get some sleep because the Blazers couldn't beat the fucking Pistons in two overtimes last night.
Also look into an addition instead of a remodel. Lots of websites dedicated to additions to Craftsmen era homes. An addition could mean bigger master bedroom. Master bath inside master bedroom. Bigger kitchen. Bigger living room. Family room. Basement sex dungeon. And in that neighborhood you'll always get the money out of the house when it's time to sell. http://www.houzz.com/craftsman-addition http://www.houzz.com/craftsman-bungalow-addition https://www.pinterest.com/natejrogers/craftsman-bungalow-house-addition/
If you go the Sly...one room at a time....you better have great contractors or you'll get fleeced...they'll demo the same wall for every new line they run to the fuse box....sure....dry wall patch and paint everytime...if you want to remodel.....put your money in rewiring ...panel box and grounded wiring. Plumbing....same thing..get it done right once. once you swap out your electrical harness in your walls you'll see any dry rot or damage....DON'T upgrade your AC/Heater without safe wiring first. Sly is right about additions though....my neighbor had a bedroom added to his downstairs ....small addition...whole room including finish and painting only ran him 8k with a contractor out of Junction City...if a contractor can start the job immediately.....it's sometimes a flag. Sometimes you can get contractors from the rural communities cheaper than city based contractors as well.
You don't have to demo a wall to replace wiring in a room you're remolding. Especially in a house with a basement. You don't even have to remove the old wiring. Leave it in the fucking wall. No one will see it or care. Why hire a contractor to put in a new breaker box? Just hire an electrician. A new breaker box with the existing home wiring installed to it is much safer than what he has now. So you're telling him to have contractors cut into lathe and plaster walls and replace it with dry wall patch? Really? And when he did install a new furnace and AC unit he wouldn't use the existing wiring. They would run new wiring to the new breaker box that had already been installed. You're actually telling him to rewire the old furnace with new wiring and then rewire the new furnace again when it's installed. Also you're home most of the year. HCP fucking travels half the year. You're talking 6+ months of continuous remodeling with him not being there for 3 mos of it. Wife, son and daughter at home with different men in the house all the time. That doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense for the safety of his family.
Wait does HCP have knob and tube wiring? If he gets rid of it the only thing original to the house could be that a knob still lives there.
You should get that inspected and tested every 5-7 years. There have even been some major recalls on the sprinkler heads because they rust/rot and will suddenly go off.
I don't think we're thinking along the same lines here...if I'm spending big money on my house....sure, your can leave it in...depends on what lights and fixtures you want to keep....I can plaster and paint myself...different....I just say if you're remodeling....put in new stuff...and I think of an electrician as a contractor...he can't do that work without being bonded I don't think..I'll give you one example....I recently had a burst pipe...once I opened up the wall discovered some serious dry rot ......replaced about 4 ft of wall studs and plates top and bottom.....glad I found it. It was a bearing wall....I framed it in myself so that's not an issue.
I'm not saying not to replace the electrical. After the new breaker box is in then you replace the wiring as you remodel each room. In these old houses many of the walls share wiring so if you're fishtaping the one room you have easy access to replace the wiring in the adjacent room. I mean, sure, the perfect scenario is to move into a condo for a year and gut the inside of the entire house. But I don't think HCP has that kinda money. HCP doesn't sound like a plaster and paint kinda guy. There's a thread on here from years ago asking how to install a fucking basketball hoop on his street. A contractor is very different than a plumber or electrician.
And this isn't meant as an insult but HCP doesn't even know how to paint the exterior and interior of his own house. He's a contractor's wet dream.
