Will your new home still be standing in 50 years?

[kent]

Interesting stuff

realestate.msn.com/will-your-new-home-still-be-standing-in-50-years?GT1=35012

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

Nope... it will be gone after the Rapture in October... ;D

[iono1]

Here's another question:
In 50 years how dangerous will the trees around your house become?
I've had to spend thousands getting rid of trees & deadwood that ruined the driveway and/or became a threat to come crashing down on my house or the neighbors' homes. Yesterday it was $2,200 to get rid of a tree that crashed taking out 2 other trees & some yard maintenance.

[Deleted]

Probably. It only has 19 years to go.

However, craftsmanship and this house do not belong in the same sentence. Nothing is straight, not even the juncture boxes or whatever they are called that contain the light switches.

We keep fixing it one screw at a time.

[Frugal Nurse]

Jun 3, 2011 11:06:55 GMT -5 Mardi Gras Audrey said:

Nope... it will be gone after the Rapture in October... ;D

Geeze, everyone knows this is bible-thumping hogwash. The true end of the world is Dec 2012. So your house has to last another year.

[Deleted]

In 50 years how dangerous will the trees around your house become?

Yes, we have had to take down some rotted ones that look perfectly fine. One snapped in the recent tornado in April. If it had fallen to the right, it would have taken out the carport and maybe my car. It fell to the left.

We still paid $150 to have it cut up. Article in the paper today says that people are getting bills for $15,000-$20,000 for tree removal from the tornadoes.

Trees are only covered by your insurance if they land on your house or car or if they block access into your property.

[thyme4change]

foundations that are wildly out of plumb,"

I thought plumb was up and down and level was side to side? Wouldn't the foundation be "not level" and the columns be out of plumb?

That said - I call my old house a fun house - there isn't a straight wall or room in the place, but you can't tell until you are trying to put a new countertop in or something.

[thyme4change]

Okay - I finished reading most of it. It seems to say that materials are better, but craftsmanship is worse today.

[alabamagal]

I have known several people who bought new homes and have all kinds of issues. My house is 32 years old. I like to think it has all the "bugs" worked out.

[Waffle]

Meeting code "is like getting 70% in a test," quips Carter

I found that quote a little disturbing. I live in what you'd probably call a typical subdivision - the oldest houses in it are about 11 years old (mine is 10).

When it was first built a lot of people came over to see it - some went in before it was finished and told me after I moved in that they had been in it. People told me that the company "built me a good house". While some other people in the neighborhood weren't so happy with their own houses.

I thought that mine was better, if it is indeed better, because I was a bit of a pest during the building process. And I made them fix things that I saw as they were building.

But years later I was told that with this particulary company it was sort of a "crap shoot" as to whether or not you got a well built home. It depended mainly upon who the foreman (that might not have been his actual title) assigned to your house was.

In any case, I expect my house to be standing when it's 50 years old, but I will probably be dead by then, so I don't really care.

[thyme4change]

That certainly isn't a ringing endorsement for the 50-year mortgage products.

[resolution]

I own a 15 year old home and DH owns a 72 year old home. My 15 year old home is more comfortable but I would rather be in the 72 year old home in a big storm. One is made out of Styrofoam and the other is made out of good, solid wood.

[swamp]

Jun 3, 2011 12:03:11 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

That certainly isn't a ringing endorsement for the 50-year mortgage products.

People really take 50 year mortgages?!

[Havoc]

We are in a 98 year old house that is built like a tank - huge old wood beam framing, plaster interior walls, metal roof. Everything is plumb, and there is a ton of wood trim in every room. It does have the "old home sin" referenced in the article - previous owners blew in insulation into the exterior walls, and we will need to replace the windows... but barring a tornado or the like (knocking on wood furiously), this house will be standing for another 100 years.

On the other side, it would probably be a stetch for the 20 year townhouse we moved from to be around and in good shape in 30 years... it was built as an "up-scale" development for the area at the time, and was supposedly built by some of the better builders, but there are a lot of nits (things aren't straight), siding blows off, roof trusses were at the max width and weren't made to take a lot of weight/pressure, interior floors were developing sags/low points...... so it will probably be standing in another 30 years, but unless someone spends a lot of time and/or money gutting and re-doing the inside and then re-doing the outside.... I suspect that it will be a falling-apart .

[KaraBoo]

Our house is 60 years old and not a single surface is plumb, level or lined up properly. Everything is out of whack.

We've been remodeling slowly and as we open walls up, we've come to a couple of conclusions.
1) Our house must have been one of the very last in the sub-division to be built as every wall joint is spliced together with multi-length pieces of wood.
2) Nothing new that we put in will ever fit properly anyway, so as long as we get it "between the lines" level/plumb/whatever, we're doing better than the original construction.

On the flip side - with the remodeling we've been doing, parts of our house are considered brand new anyway (all the way down to the studs and supports due to termite damage), so it better darn well last another 50 years!!

[thyme4change]

People really take 50 year mortgages?!

I don't know - but they exist - YIKES.

www.50year-mortgages.com/

[Sum Dum Gai]

I don't know about the whole house, but our roof is one of those 50 year guaranteed tile numbers. It's 5-10 years old already, but I think it has a good shot at lasting another 50.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Our home is 32 years old ~ so 18 to go!

[qofcc]

My house was originally built during the depression as a little worker's house (probably 600 sf to start) to go with the big farm house next door (apparently by drunk people with leftover materials) and added on randomly over the years. It has 6.5' ceilings in a couple of rooms, some of the wall studs were 6x6's but the floor joists under where the refrigerator was were 2x4's. We did a big wrap around addition with a basement underneath (and dug out the old basement from under the house the old fashioned way with shovels & buckets). Nothing in the old part is square or level, but everything is tied together so tightly with an obscene amount of nails and layer upon layer of materials, I'm not worried about it ever falling down or blowing away.

[DVM gone riding]

my parents are "second owners" on a house that is approaching 60 years old (actually it might be past that) and there is no reason to think that house wouldn't go another 60 years. some of these newer houses though.... we are such a throw away society.

[lulubean]

Dec 21 2012.......I will be 39 forever.

[Deleted]

Yeah, ours (30 years old now) might be but it, and all the other McMansions around here will become money pits as the shortcuts the builders took develop into problems over the long term. Add to that the fact that I believe the demand for 5 BR houses is going to go way down as the baby boomers downsize and I don't feel too great about the prospects for this area. Fortunately, we'll have it paid off in 7 years and equity from a house sale isn't a big part of our retirement plans.

[midjd]

Ours was built in 2010... it seems pretty solid (and is VERY energy-efficient), but I think it's going to take us 50 years to get the landscaping done

[dancinmama]

Barring an earthquake, ours will definitely last 50 years. It was built in 1998. Both the neighbors and the contractor have told us "stories" about the couple (mostly the female half) who had the house built. She was P I C K Y!! I can rest assured that she was at the house every single day during its construction making sure that everything was done to perfection. After the roofers laid the multi-colored tile roof, she made them remove it and relay the tiles because she didn't like the original color distribution.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

[txbo]

Our house is 29 years old and in excellent condition. I am the original owner and had it build to my specification. The house was completed in 1982, its 3200sq ft, has two four-ton central air and heating units. We have two 50 gal gas hot water heaters and a central vacuum system and two fireplaces. I had the builder, Owens Corning and Texas Power & Light design the house to be highly energy efficient the Dallas Morning News also selected it as house of the month. Both of the AC & heating units are now 29 years old and still work like new. I still have the same 29-year-old water heaters that work great. We made serious updates by removing all carpeting and had wood floors installed. We had the kitchen and bathrooms completely remodeled with granite counters and all new SS build in appliances. The house has been paid off for many years and will still stand after I am not. I realize that eventually I will need two new AC/Heating units and water heaters they are inspected and service annually.
I paid $250K in 1982 and added a swimming pool the same year. The remodeling was also expensive. I will probably not recoup the cost for all this if I sold today.
I had three trees trimmed today for a cost of $350.

[Deleted]

The condo was built in 1959 so it's already 52.

The cabin, the Bay Area house, the San Diego Area house and I all turn 50 over the next few months/year. So far so good!

The AZ house was built in 1982 so another 20 to go.

Heck, I know of Quonset huts which were built in the 40s which are still standing. For example the original Price Club (now Costco) in San Diego was cobbled together from 4 of them and is still being used 60-70 years later. Ditto at my alma mater UCSD.

There was a saying at the Railroad where I worked "No building is permanent and no building is temporary"