HomeHome Improvement

The Old-House Doctor: The Essential Guide to Repairing, Restoring, and Rejuvenating Your Old Home

The Old-House Doctor: A Comprehensive Guide for Old Home Lovers

If you are a proud owner of an old house, or you are planning to buy one, you might be wondering how to maintain, repair, and restore it to its former glory. Old houses have a lot of charm and character, but they also come with a lot of challenges and problems. How do you deal with old plumbing, wiring, insulation, windows, doors, floors, roofs, and walls? How do you preserve the historical features and architectural details of your old house? How do you make your old house more comfortable, energy-efficient, and safe?

These are some of the questions that The Old-House Doctor: The Essential Guide to Repairing, Restoring, and Rejuvenating Your Old Home by Christopher Evers aims to answer. This book is a comprehensive and practical guide for old house enthusiasts, covering everything from the basics of old house anatomy and history, to the most common issues and solutions for old house maintenance and renovation. Whether you have a Victorian, Craftsman, Colonial, or any other style of old house, this book will help you understand its quirks and quirks, and how to take care of it with respect and love.

What You Will Learn from This Book

This book is divided into 12 chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of old house care and improvement. Here are some of the topics that you will learn from this book:

  • Chapter 1: The Old-House Doctor Is In: This chapter introduces the author and his background as an old house expert, and explains the purpose and scope of the book. It also gives some general tips and advice on how to approach old house projects, such as doing your research, setting your priorities, hiring professionals, and following safety precautions.
  • Chapter 2: Old-House Anatomy and History: This chapter provides a brief overview of the history and evolution of American houses, from the colonial era to the mid-20th century. It also explains the basic structure and components of old houses, such as foundations, framing, siding, roofing, chimneys, and porches.
  • Chapter 3: Old-House Plumbing: This chapter covers the most common plumbing problems and solutions for old houses, such as leaky pipes, clogged drains, low water pressure, outdated fixtures, and lead contamination. It also gives some suggestions on how to upgrade your plumbing system, such as installing new pipes, faucets, showerheads, toilets, and water heaters.
  • Chapter 4: Old-House Wiring: This chapter covers the most common electrical problems and solutions for old houses, such as faulty wiring, overloaded circuits, inadequate outlets, flickering lights, and fire hazards. It also gives some suggestions on how to upgrade your electrical system, such as installing new wiring, switches, outlets, circuit breakers, and lighting fixtures.
  • Chapter 5: Old-House Insulation: This chapter covers the most common insulation problems and solutions for old houses, such as heat loss, cold drafts, moisture, mold, and pests. It also gives some suggestions on how to improve your insulation, such as adding or replacing insulation materials, sealing air leaks, and ventilating your attic and crawl space.
  • Chapter 6: Old-House Windows and Doors: This chapter covers the most common window and door problems and solutions for old houses, such as broken glass, rotten wood, peeling paint, stuck sashes, and air infiltration. It also gives some suggestions on how to repair, restore, or replace your windows and doors, such as reglazing, repainting, weatherstripping, and installing storm windows and doors.
  • Chapter 7: Old-House Floors: This chapter covers the most common floor problems and solutions for old houses, such as squeaky boards, loose nails, worn finishes, stains, and gaps. It also gives some suggestions on how to refinish, repair, or replace your floors, such as sanding, staining, varnishing, patching, and installing new flooring materials.
  • Chapter 8: Old-House Walls and Ceilings: This chapter covers the most common wall and ceiling problems and solutions for old houses, such as cracks, holes, stains, sagging, and wallpaper. It also gives some suggestions on how to repair, restore, or replace your walls and ceilings, such as plastering, painting, stripping, and installing new wall and ceiling materials.
  • Chapter 9: Old-House Roofs: This chapter covers the most common roof problems and solutions for old houses, such as leaks, missing shingles, curling shingles, moss, and ice dams. It also gives some suggestions on how to maintain, repair, or replace your roof, such as cleaning, patching, re-roofing, and installing new roofing materials.
  • Chapter 10: Old-House Exterior Details: This chapter covers the most common exterior detail problems and solutions for old houses, such as damaged or missing trim, shutters, railings, columns, brackets, and ornaments. It also gives some suggestions on how to restore, repair, or replace your exterior details, such as scraping, painting, caulking, and installing new or salvaged details.
  • Chapter 11: Old-House Interior Details: This chapter covers the most common interior detail problems and solutions for old houses, such as damaged or missing moldings, fireplaces, mantels, staircases, built-ins, and hardware. It also gives some suggestions on how to restore, repair, or replace your interior details, such as cleaning, polishing, refinishing, and installing new or salvaged details.
  • Chapter 12: Old-House Additions and Alterations: This chapter covers the most common issues and considerations for adding or altering your old house, such as zoning, permits, design, budget, and contractors. It also gives some examples and ideas of successful old house additions and alterations, such as kitchen and bathroom remodels, family room and master suite additions, and attic and basement conversions.

Why You Should Read This Book

This book is a must-read for anyone who loves old houses and wants to learn how to take care of them properly. It is not only informative and educational, but also entertaining and engaging, as the author shares his personal stories and anecdotes from his decades of experience as an old house doctor. He also provides plenty of illustrations, photographs, diagrams, and charts to help you visualize and understand the concepts and techniques he explains. He also includes a glossary of terms, a list of resources, and an index for easy reference.

This book is not only a guide, but also a tribute to old houses and their owners. It celebrates the beauty, history, and personality of old houses, and encourages you to appreciate and respect them as well. It also inspires you to make your old house your own, by adding your personal touch and style, while preserving its original character and charm.

Whether you are a novice or an expert, a homeowner or a renter, a DIYer or a hiree, you will find this book useful and enjoyable. It will help you solve your old house problems, improve your old house performance, and enhance your old house appearance. It will also help you save money, time, and energy, and avoid frustration, stress, and disappointment. Most importantly, it will help you love your old house more, and make it a better place to live.

Trending:

Related Articles

Back to top button