1910 house, the work begins

[Improbcat]

My G/F & I are in the final flurry of paperwork to close on this 1910 hours in East Providence RI. While it isn't completely original we're fortunate in that it hasn't had any major changes inside.

In addition to the ubiquitous "What kind of house it is?" I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of questions as we slowly restore & rebuild it. Slow is definitely going to be the name of the game as well, as a new roof & replacing the knob & tube are going to likely eat most of our renovation budget for the near future.

[csnyder]

Looks nice — congrats! I don't have enough experience with old house styles to give you any help there (we've had our 1916 house for just over a month now), so I'll leave that to those with more knowledge than I.

Best wishes with the renovations. We're getting a new roof on ours this week (currently on hold due to rain), and we have a lot of K&T as well. Have you had the wiring examined by an electrician? We were planning to do a complete re-wire, but our electrician pointed out that the 96-year-old wiring is in excellent shape, so we're now looking at supplementing it for functional upgrades rather than replacing it for safety. A lot depends on how careful/less the POs were; if they up-sized a fuse (or used the penny trick) whenever one blew, then the wiring may be in bad shape from overloading. I'd also look into replacement if the original wiring was hacked by POs looking to make modifications.

[triguy128]

I'm starting to just call those 1900-1920 homes, post victorians. They aren't quite true foursquares, but have most of the elements, but they are more symmetrical and less ornamented than vics.

Great commont on K&T. Modern wirign for example uses wire nuts to more conenctions in junciton boxes. Prior to plastic, the connects will be soldered and then taped. The tape is almost like mastic and you can barely get it off even if you wanted. I trust my old wiring more than any done afterwards and up to the time I moved in. In my case, it's post K&T (althogh some people call anything that's not moden romex style K&T) that rubber insulated and then cotton cloth wrapped and inside EMT (flexible metal) conduit. Fixtures are hung using heavy cast 1/2" treaded fittings that can support the fixtures that often weighed over 20lbs.

Actually the EMT is probably grounded anyway, since it eventually conencts back to the service panel. I'd trust it to last another 50 years more than I'd trust modern paper insulated vinyl sheathed Romex to last even 40.

As mentioned, downsize AL fuses to 15 Amps first thing, unles it's a dedicated circuit. (not common in ould houses) and you can inspect the wires and see that it's a larger gauge. Most old wiring is only something like 16 gauge and can only support 15 Amps. Repalce a fused main disconnect with a new breaker panel if you can't afford a full upgrade and pull new dedicated circuits to major appliances like your furance, AC, refrigerator, etc. and entertainment centers (you largest loads)

[SkipW]

Nice looking house! Congrats!

If I'm not mistaken about your ID, and that is your garage in the pics, you will have a place to continue work on the Falcon Wagon

[Improbcat]

Nice looking house! Congrats!

If I'm not mistaken about your ID, and that is your garage in the pics, you will have a place to continue work on the Falcon Wagon

Yep that's me, and yeah we're looking forward to having a place to keep the toys out of the weather.

[Ttowle]

I think it has a nice 'arts and crafts' feel to it, but yes, I think the term 'post-Victorian' could be used as well. I love the ornamental woodwork around the door.

[steponmebbbboom]

The post-victorian period would be referred to as Edwardian (King Edward, 1900-1910, sometimes extended to 1912 depending who you ask)
I love the ornamentation and the bracketed eaves. Great project.

[Kansas. 1911.]

Edwardian works for me. I like the porch as well as the roof symmetry. Congrats, and welcome.

[Don M]

Looks like you have an upgraded electric system with breakers from your pictures. Good the POs didn't allow the roof brackets be stripped off when they applied the vinyl . The attic dormers appear to have been added. If you strip off the vinyl at some point you will probably find several changes were made to the front of the house. The set of 3 double hung windows don't look original or correct to me. Fun house & project though.

[Improbcat]

Looks like you have an upgraded electric system with breakers from your pictures.

The panel is upgraded, but all the wiring in the walls (with a few exceptions for new circuits) is still knob & tube.

Good the POs didn't allow the roof brackets be stripped off when they applied the vinyl . The attic dormers appear to have been added. If you strip off the vinyl at some point you will probably find several changes were made to the front of the house. The set of 3 double hung windows don't look original or correct to me. Fun house & project though.

Yeah we got lucky with the roof brackets, most are gone on similar homes. The triple front window is a fairly common design piece in this area, so if it isn't original it was probably done fairly early in the house's life, like the side addition.