Old house refurb- creepy

[laureah21]

Hi everyone,
I am from Australia, and looking for help with an old sandstone house looking at buying. It is unusual in Australia but thought the UK might have some ideas
Myself and partner are looking for a project property, something to stay in for awhile.

We found an amazing place full of character from the outside and very old for Australia (1800's), sandstone 1400m2 block.

It is an estate, so someone I'm assuming died recently, now the executor has died last week so we are waiting to see what happens from here.

I am going through phases of I LOVE and want it, to freaking out. When we viewed it, the whole place made the hair on my neck stand on end, when inside. I don't know if it is the layout (funny weird little bedrooms everywhere) or the lack of light and old musty possum wee smell. Or if I was picking up on something else .. I keep telling myself to stop being silly.

It worries me though that if we got it I will hate it because of that.

Has anyone else experienced this with an old property. What did you do to help that feeling go away. I was thinking more natural light and clean colours new kitchen/bathroom and a good scrub. I worry too, as the layout will be hard to change. Every single wall inside is solid sand stone about 1 foot thick, so a pain if you want to knock anything down.
The bathroom is up the opposite end of the house to the kitchen as well. it is also a draft heritage listed item so council permission for nearly everything I believe. Is there anything I should check before taking the plunge with it?

Opinions please! here are some pics
here it is: http://s139.photobucket.com/user/laureah21/slideshow/house

 

[TheVictorian]

It will feel like yours as soon as you own it! When we bought our current property it needed an awful lot of work, however before we started any work and before we had even moved in we painted every room white from top to bottom. This gave us a blank canvas (even if we were taking some of the newly painted walls down shortly afterwards) and also eradicated every trace of the previous owners. We also ripped all the carpets up and lived with bare floorboards for months.

Hope this helps.

 

[pred]

I know what you mean about creepy, when I got married many many moons ago, we stayed in a cottage in Hunstanton and we both felt a bit uneasy, in fact I was scared shatlass, maybe we were letting our imaginations run out of control, I don't know, but definatly not the happiest of honeymoons

Three years later we were divorced, but I think a certain fraulein had something to do with that

 

[pred]

The property looks fantastic, why is there a spade at the back door?? Only joking, I would remove the roof tiles and kick the lathe and plaster down from above, i don't think you need thermal plaster board in Aus. The room with batoning on the ceiling, if that was on a 1930s house in the UK I would expect the ceiling boards to be white asbestos, if so remove the batons and try and get the sheets one at a time, this can be quite dangerous, especially when some dikhead has left a half brick on top which slides swiftly down to bounce off your head, apart from that, do not drill or sandpaper white asbestos, and in the UK it has to be double bagged in 1200 gauge poly bags, the other thing that concerns me is the galvanised sheet, IF it rains there, that would be really noisy.

Oh and yes, the carpets will have to go!! but after the dirty work has been done, it's so much easier to roll the mess up and carry it out, be sure to keep us updated.

 

[securespark]

You will have to decide if you can live with the basic internal layout as it is.

Have you measured room sizes, shapes and areas to make sure you can get everything you want in the house in there?

Is the price right?

Is the location right for you?

How long do you envisage living there? Will it still be the right house if your circumstances change?

Does the person/ people you viewed it with feel the same way as you?

Can you view it again? If so, do you feel the same way? Do they?

 

[peterperfection]

I have partially demolished and rebuilt lots of old houses .
They can be spooky indeed. In fact when knocking off old plaster- you can actually smell the life that has been in the house throught the years . Bacon smells and even perfume etc .
Sometimes I can sense the people who lived there and so can people who have worked with me .
Takes ages to rid the house of these things though- but- after you have knocked the place about a bit and redecorated- all will be fine .

 

[securespark]

Bacon smells and even perfume etc .

Really? I just get old plaster smells.

 

[peterperfection]

Bacon smells and even perfume etc .

Really? I just get old plaster smells.

ENT dept for you bud !!

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

I have partially demolished and rebuilt lots of old houses .
They can be spooky indeed. In fact when knocking off old plaster- you can actually smell the life that has been in the house throught the years . Bacon smells and even perfume etc .
Sometimes I can sense the people who lived there and so can people who have worked with me .
Takes ages to rid the house of these things though- but- after you have knocked the place about a bit and redecorated- all will be fine .

Another load of lies from Richard cranium aka walter mitty as thin lizzy sang "don't believe a word" ....... honestly don't the noobhead is a compulsive liar and a right d.head

 

[EFLImpudence]

Why is the sky a funny colour and why does some of the grass seem to be 'lit up'?

 

[Nige F]

Hi everyone,
I am from Australia, old musty possum wee smell. Or if I was picking up on something else .. I keep telling myself to stop being silly.

It worries me though that if we got it I will hate it because of that.

I`ve been in hundreds of houses and of them only 4 were real Wierd and spooky I mean things happened But I`ve never smelled possum wee

 

[tony1851]

If you considered that house 'creepy', how about restoring this one? Never know what you might find in the cellar.

Untitled

• tony1851
• 25 Apr 2013
• 1

 

[securespark]

"Norman........? Norman............!"

 

[Graeme1983]

Whilst reading about old houses in general although Im focused on parts about granite stone and earth bricks, sandstone comes up in the same topics and the same advice applies.

Lime seems to be the best way on these houses for mortar and rendering and limewash with natural pigments for painted walls.

I wouldnt kick down the wooden lathes, Id check if the plaster was in lime and just repair it or replace it. This is the common wisdom from groups like the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in the UK and their publications.

Be very careful before letting anyone do any modern plastering and painting and locking in moisture and taking away the houses ability to breathe. Modern methods shoehorned into an old house can cause loads of damage, my house was cement rendered and concreted before I bought it and needs taking back to its original materials, cracking walls and something that looks like the The Thing coming out from under the bitumin lined floors now found out its called cellar rot.

A couple of people know the script here about old houses, might be worth finding and looking through some of Pinenot's posts.

Quick bit of googling:

"Cement mortar sets rapidly to create a dense, impervious
material. This is ideal for cavity walls that rely on physically
keeping out the rain. In a mass wall, where the mortar joints
are crucial as evaporation routes, the use of dense cement
mortar is not advisable."

As you say your walls are a metre thick, mine too. Ive found loads of cement render behind the paint on my walls behind the worst of the damp patches, the less cement render the more original clay render on mine the less damp.

http://www.angus.gov.uk/devcontrol/advice_note_30.pdf
http://www.sandstonerepairs.com/page001.aspx
http://www.spab.org.uk/

Definitely worth doing more research on old houses before jumping in, personally if I knew then what I know now Id have had a Finnish style wooden house built instead of buying an old one, or at least Id know what to look for in an old house before I bought this one and got drawn into the history around it but Im trapped now.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-House-H...1366928154&sr=8-1&keywords=old+house+handbook

This book is a good read, starts off with "Do you really want to buy an old house?".

 

[laureah21]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the response and info. It is really interesting.
I will have a look at the links as well All very helpful

I wanted to have a look this weekend but no viewings. The agent who is dealing with it has been rushed to hospital for surgery
First the executor and now this. Thinking about how I felt, properly after. It was more of a very sad feeling then spooky. Im assuming I linked an old lady living in there and it falling down around her ears.

Possum wee is a bit like cat wee and when it is running down the walls and drying not the most pleasent experience