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Remodeling
Nightmares of Period Homes
On
June 23, 2007 Nouveau hosted a booth at the
First Annual Old House Fair at the Architectural
Heritage Center in Portland. We asked booth
attendees to describe their worst remodeling
nightmare for their period homes (or those of
their friends). Here's a compilation.
“Our
1913 kitchen was remodeled in the 70s: dropped
ceiling, cheap wood paneling, orange Plexiglas,
ugh.”
“Put
on vinyl siding over wood siding, Replaced original
cabinets with fab-wood, amateur sanding of fir
floors.”
“A
friend remodeled her whole house in Country
Kitchen style. So much plaid!”
“Putting
hardwood floors over hardwood floors, each laid
in a different direction.”
“Lowe’s
tile counter install: tile lines didn’t
match, installer was a paranoid schizophrenic.”
“Had
a window with light squares (wood) replaced
with vinyl, I hate it!”
“A
Jacuzzi tub in period bathroom.”
“Over
and over again, a remodel that removed a major
structural element and did not replace it.”
“Apparently
they thought no one would ever want to pull
up their mauve carpeting, so they didn’t
bother putting a drop cloth when they painted:
white footprints were all over the hardwood
floors.”
“Additions
that don’t fit with the current architecture,
bad windows.”
“A
2X3 Sawzall cut in the main joist to put a thin
furnace wire though the floor.”
“Contractor
broke out concrete in driveway and sidewalk.
It snowed the next day. The driveway was not
graded to the street, and concrete and water
backed up into garage and the neighbor’s
yard.”
“Fireplace
wall: drywall covering the wing window on either
side of the fireplace, they were on the outside
but not on the inside!”
“Builder
boxed in upper floor. No architectural
design.”
“The
previous owner turned the library into a powder
room. It looked like a bowling alley with a
toilet in the corner!”
SOME
OF OUR FAVORITE ANSWERS:
“Light
switch in the shower.”
“A
builder ordered materials for his house,
on my job.”
“1865
cape cod remodel, when we first arrived a barn
owl was flying around the second story and it
took tennis rackets to send him out.”
“Digging
out under a house until it fell in.”
“Shag
carpet up the walls to serve as baseboard.”
AND
OUR FAVORITE ANSWER:
“Too
much to mention. By the time we got to it, it
was more of an exorcism than a remodel.”
Getting
ready to remodel your period home? Check out
Nouveau’s Top 10 remodeling tips!
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