Skip Navigation

Do It Yourself @beehaw.org

SkepticElliptic @beehaw.org

2y ago

Does anybody else have an old house?

45 comments

Those and round phone jacks about every 10 feet or so. There's a phone jack in the hallway! Not even connected to a landline anymore. And because we opted for the ultra-deluxe old home, an intercom system that made a zapping noise accompanied by a perfect little curl of smoke when we turned it on for the first time. Yeeeehaaaaaa!!!
- I'm not even lying when I say that if I had a low wattage intercom system preexisting I'd drag new wire everywhere.
  
  Easy pathway for some Cat6!
- We also had the owner installed intercom system! I pulled it out since it didn't work anymore either. On top of that we have Central-Vac! It still works, and my toddler has yet to figure out she could put stuff in there.
  
  Lucky!

Yes, I live in Europe and have an old house dating back to the 19th century, with thick stone walls.
- If big bad wolves invade america we're cooked!
  
  Speak for yourself, my house is structural brick.
- Same here, we tried to figure out how old our house was once and the furthest back we got was 1850. The house existed before that for sure but that's the oldest bit of paperwork we could dig up for it.
  
  Have you checked with the church? Oftentimes their books are more complete compared to other sources before 1800 something…
- Stone? We had only unburned bricks, no right angles, several kinds of walls put together and bulging out to rooms. It is always funny to add or redo some furniture, electric work ...
  
  The outside walls are stone, but inside it's a big mess: I never know what color the dust will be when I drill a hole. And I can't even imagine right angles or straight walls. It must be so handy.

As a north american I am so confused.
- Me Too :/
- Same, an I've been around and in some old houses by American standards and I have no idea what Im looking at.

Wow, fancy, you have a PLUG for your TV antenna? I just have the wire coming through the wall from the attic. Although I did think it was rather modern that my antenna was mounted in the attic instead of on the roof.
- I mounted a modern antenna on the roof, It spins on demand!

•°•

What does the other end of a plug like that look?
- Oh I think it’s

Yes, did you have a real question about the TV antenna?
- NO, this is supposed to be a freindly discussion board on beehaw. if you want to be toxic go post on stack overflow.
  
  Toxic? Man you’re sensitive.
  I’m trying to start a discussion, snowflake.
- The internet is full of places where low grade antagonistic sarcasm is considered a desirable way to communicate. Those places tend to be toxic shitholes, but whatever. Point is, if you feel like that communication style fits you better, go forth and prosper.

My house isn’t even that old but there’s still technology built into the walls that I’ll never use, and speakers in the ceiling that I’ll never hook up an amp for (they’re in such bad spots they serve no practical purpose)
I wish home builders knew how quickly technology aged so they could be more careful about what they drill into the walls. But they just wanna flip a house. They don’t care otherwise.

Heh, the first thing I noticed was the wood paneling, which yes, we have a whole lot of in our 1950 house in the PNW.
- This is the only room with the panelling in it's natural state. The rest of it has been painted over before we bought the house.
  There is also faux title paneling with a floral accent in the laundry. Textured paneling in one bathroom. And we had faux marble with gold veins in the master bath before I removed it.

My old house from the early sixties has electric radiant heat in the ceilings as the sole heating source, a large sun room running the length of the house, and almost no insulation to speak of. I'm in Ohio.
Incidentally, when we moved in, the inside doors of the cabinetry were all wallpapered in newspaper clippings about the 1970s energy crisis. I can't imagine why!

45 comments