Cover it Up or Tear it Off?

When undertaking a home improvement, it's often necessary to decide whether to demolish and rebuild, or cover up and refresh.  After nearly thirty years of home ownership, the Murphy's have learned that the former yields  better results.  Of course, demo and construction makes a bigger mess.  However, in the end another owner would have to tear off cosmetic fixes and start from scratch. A conscientious homeowner does it right the first time.

Murphy's world is going through a major renovation.  The exterior was flaking and could no longer hold another coat of paint.  Closer inspection showed that a number of siding shingles were rotting.  While about 1/2 of the exterior was in good shape, the South and West sides were hurting.

One challenge of an old home, is that you don't know what is beneath the surface.  We knew the exterior shingles were an added layer but we didn't know what was underneath.  Now we know!

The house was built in the early 1800's and moved to where we are now in the 1950's.  The tear-off has revealed gorgeous barn
wood -- which we knew would be there.  While we would have loved to keep that, prior owners had insulation blown in.  Doing so required large holes being drill into the wood, the insulation pumped inside. During the process, a small secret compartment was discovered -- along with remnants of those who briefly hid within during their trip along the underground railroad, as they traveled to escape slavery.

The areas that are patched are a bit of a mystery -- maybe they were windows?  With the house having been moved, it is entirely possible that it needed to be re-configured to fit the new lot.  There is another layer of board under the vertical boards.  The barn wood layer is being covered with Tyvek to keep out moisture during the job.  The sides and front also have a layer of clapboard.  The new exterior will be vinyl siding that is mounted on a thermal foam board.  It will be a well insulated structure!
                                          

Many people chose to just cover up old deteriorating surfaces.  We did that once with a roof and regretted it.  After that, we did a full tear-off.  The bathroom was the first big renovation project in this house, which involved stripping the room down to the studs and starting all over again.  A "Bath Fitter" shell would not have addressed plumbing problems under the rotting tile.

There is a home-flip in progress next door and the flippers are just boarding over rotted wood and decayed stucco.  The roof was put on before they bought it, but it was a quick cover up and sits atop layers of decayed shingles and rotted wood.  That will probably look nice enough to sell, but it won't hold up in the long run.

Cosmetic fixes are attractive because they cost less.  In some cases it may be the only thing a homeowner can afford.  This house is at the point where it makes no sense to just cover up what was  wrong.  It's an expensive undertaking and this is going to be around a 25K job.  That is a huge chunk of change, but we have saved to pay for it.

Banks suggest you open a Home Equity Line of Credit to pay for a job like this.  Having used that approach in a prior home requiring a roofing job with tear-off that cost 18K, it wasn't as easy as the lenders make it sound.  The problem with that approach, is you still have to pay for it and the added expense is more stressful than it is to build the money without having the burden of debt.  When saved and paid for at the time it is done, once the job is over, is done -- physically, emotionally, and financially.

We are taking pictures of all the improvements done on this house.  When the time comes to sell, we will be able to show the next owner that there is no hidden damage beneath what looks new.  Along with that, we'll know a little more about the house itself.  What's under the skin really does matter!