jcguy05 wrote:
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MDM wrote:
A home is a home.. not an investment. If you can afford the renovation work and the property tax increase that will come from it.. do it. You only live once and it is better to live in a home with a good kitchen (which is something my wife reminds me constantly that we DON'T have yet... landlord's apartment gets done last).

You might also qualify for the 5 year abatement. You should take that into account as well when putting your budget together.

I disagree, a home is ALWAYS an investment, and probably most people's biggest investment. It is an asset just like any asset you have, if you invest poorly, you will be poorer..

It doesnt matter if you plan to live in it until you die, you will never know what happens tomorrow that may cause you to sell. If you want to use that argument, than same can be said about anything - i will never sell this stock, i will never sell my gold bars..etc.. until you actually need to sell it..

Regards to the OP question, you need to look at it as a percentage of your current property value. If your house is worth 1mil, 60k is only a 6% and probably a good deal that will increase the overall property value long term.

But if you house is 100k, that becomes 60%, then you have to be batsht crazy to make that kind of investment.

Kitchen redo + 1 bath are both pretty higher on the list as far as investment vs return is concerned. My own opinion is ~10% or lower of the property value sounds good, especially since you will get enjoyment/use out of it now.

Sommerman wrote:
Your fireplace looks like almost everyone I've seen downtown. It is shallow because it was never meant to burn anything (I was told). The hole in the cover is where the flue from the coal stove which sat in front of the fireplace connected to the chimney. Your mantle probably came from a catalog. It is possible that some of the houses dating from the 1840's have wood-burning fireplaces and so might the more luxurious later ones such as those on VVP. BTW, is your original flooring yellow or pumpkin pine rather than a fancier hardwood? That's because looms had just been invented to make wall-to-wall carpeting affordable (and your house warmer).
If anyone has a different explanation, I'd be eager to hear it. These houses were built during a time of technical advancement in heating, plumbing, energy, etc. I'm always curious for updates.

JCman24 wrote:
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Yardl3y wrote:
Hi all, wondering if anyone can help me figure out what was done to my fireplace. It looks like it was sealed however half of it is hollow and the other is filled in with brick. As you can see in the video below, the hollow side was covered using what looks like sticks and plaster which makes me think it was done long ago, but why? I assume they would have needed the fireplace to keep the room warm back then. Any help would be really appreciated as we're thinking about opening up the cavity.


https://youtu.be/BaD_YSnfMes

The top part where you're banging isn't necessarily hollow, though it could be. If there's slight separation in the covering over the bricks you could get a reverberation that sounds hollow. On the other hand, there could be a hole there because of failed brick or bricks that were removed to install a vent for an external coal heater. I had the latter... it was a quick job to refill with matching bricks and appropriate mortar.

The bottom is sealed with plaster and lath. It could have been done as recently as the 70s. A proper heating system was probably installed at some point and they sealed it up on the cheap to keep air from escaping up the chimney in the winter. You can just tear that stuff up with a claw hammer if no utilities were routed through the chimney.

griffin wrote:
Not really yet. Seems like folks want to do full installs, still having a hard time finding someone to do repairs. Can you share?

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Yardl3y wrote:
did you find someone for this? I have a guy who did the same to my home with great results.