Exploring buying an amazing older home, need advice.

[24Carat]

Have found a solid (literally) 1953 ranch on a walkout finished basement . It was constructed with 8" concrete block from the footer to the roof line with a beautiful limestone exterior on the first floor.

I am concerned about the R factor of the exterior walls from a utility standpoint. I have the past utility bills coming but was primarily concerned with the insight older INGO members might have to offer.

It has had few upgrades since new and I can get it for a song. It even has a top load dishwasher in the kitchen that might have antique value!

24

 

[halfmileharry]

Mine is the same age as what you're looking at. I did the foam into the walls and it helped a lot. Mine's Bedford Stone with wood interior walls.
I know my insulation was inferior compared to todays products.
I cut my heating (LP) about 1/3rd. Still running the same old Bryant furnace and it's in good shape. I know a newer furnace would save even more. I use my fireplace when I'm home enough to enjoy it which is seldom..

 

[r.gray87]

I'm not older (most likely) but I did buy a 1952 rancher with a limestone exterior in June. 15 year old gas furnace, $60-85 in the winter time, although my wife and I do like it cooler than most, we rarely turn the heat past 64 and usually only for a few hours a night when we are watching the tube.

In the summer time we run our AC, but not hard. It is older as well, same age as the furnace, but was tuned up and recharged prior to closing, even with the 100F+ days this past summer we were about $80/month (I'd have to confirm when I have more time). I think our normal temp in the summer was 68-70F. We do however have an attic fan and lots of windows (that are brand new, which helps). We use the attic fan unless it is unbearably hot, the attic fan works wonders, it saves us having to use much AC.

Our home is right about 1600 sqft and we also have a few large trees in the yard that shade the home, I'm sure that helps. We find the bills extremely manageable, but everyone does have their own limit for what they can afford.

Good luck with your purchase is you decide to go through with it.

 

[JokerGirl]

Depending on how the attic was constructed, you should be able to get up there and blow insulation into the space between the exterior/interior walls if they are lacking. This is what we did with out 1918 school because of the sheer size of it.

Having good insulation in the attic will also help to keep your lower floors warm/cool depending on the season.

One thing you should definitely look at are the windows. Those will be a huge factor in how much heat you lose through the seasons. We usually end up putting plastic up over our old windows while we wait to have them restored, as this generally cuts the bill down quite a bit in the winter. Although, yours may be just as easy as throwing some weather stripping on them and being good to go.

 

[snorko]

Mine is the winner. I have a 1948 duplex that is of clay block construction with, originally, a painted stucco exterior and some kind of masonry plaster interior. The plaster is not the traditional on-wood-lath but rather applied directly to the block face walls. Thus there are no voids in the exterior walls except for the sealed hollows in the clay block.

To add insult to injury, the windows were the old single pane, metal frame crank out style. Half the cranks did not work and the seal was painted metal on painted metal. Curtains moved with heavy winds. Those too have been replaced.

I had the building sided several years ago and had a couple inches of rigid foam applied under the siding. I plan on having copious amounts of insulation blown in this spring.