I am lucky enough to get my hands on the house and what is left of the family estate (operational dairy farm till 1979) that has been in the family since my the early 1800's (50 acres of what used to be over 300 acres). The current house was built in the late 1800's and although I would love to update it and keep it because it's where I spent my childhood, it seems like it would cost more money to modernize it than to allow the local volunteer FD to use it for training and build new. All the plumbing, and electrical have to be replaced to meet current code because the last time any work was done on the house was the 1940's. The only plumbing that goes to the septic tank is the bathroom... the kitchen and utility sink on the back porch drain into the yard. The basement is field stone walls and dirt floor and a sump pump that works overtime every spring.

I am trying to decide between 2 building locations. 1.) Destroying the house and building in the same spot, .1 mile off the road because of the electric, septic and the best tasting well water ever already there or 2.) In a field .25 mile off road on top of a hill that has an awesome view of the surrounding hills.

Either place I evetually build, water is a major concern. I will not build a house that doesn't have a full basement. There are natural springs all over the property which keep most of the property well irrigated all year round even without rain. What is the best bet for keeping water out of the basement? I would rather go a little overboard with water mitigation measures than have even a damp basement floor. The basement will house my computer room, home theatre, home brewing, and chest freezer for storing Bambi's family

First, welcome to the pool. I hope you will find your answers here.

I am not an expert here but I think your first problem is where you septic field will be. The ground has to test to see how well it can percolate the sewage away.

I am sure you will get more answers shortly.

Don't build a basement - that is the one and best bet to keep a basement from flooding.

Although there are many methods out there to mitigate flooding, if the soil is not draining from the house then flooding is going to be an issue. Some fo the methods include reverse irrigation trenches back filled with gravel and piping around the exterior cellar wall, the water is captured then flows off to either a sewage system (in cities) or to a cistrine where it is pumped out with a sump pump. Other methods include newer building materials applied to the exterior as the house is built to “seal” the walls – then the more popular method is to dig half a cellar deep, then back fill around the house sloping the dirt away from the house the house is thus on its own little “hill”.

As for that old house - I wouldn't burn it too fast if I were you. I do not know what local building codes are, but I would check to make certain you can build on the property first. For instance you can in many places build a house on the spot that an older one was - as long as you keep one wall of the old house. This is due mostly with things like sewage/septic tanks. If there are a lot of springs in the area - then you may have a very difficult time getting a permit to install a new septic tank anywhere else than were it is now. Those springs that keep the property watered may be the biggest stumbling block to your new build.

As for septic tanks - they do not wear out. The plumbing to the septic tank, and the leech field can get clogged, even a pipe broken now and then.

I would strongly urge you to contact a building contractor to look over the existing house for its soundness. I would also suggest you contact the local building inspector and find out about the code and laws pertaining to septic systems and how that fits in with your local soil conditions and water (springs)

Yes it will be somewhat expensive to rewire a house and replumb it - but it is far less expensive than tearing down or having the burnt wreckage of an old house removed, then building from scratch.

Further before the firemen come you may want to scrape away some of the pain on trim, base boards and pull back the carpeting. Most 1800 houses had hardwood floors. Most were built out of local hard woods, like popular and oak. To build with those woods today with that much wood would cost you at least 3 times the amount you pay for pine wood studs. Even if it is pine - the 1800's pine came from old growth forests - pine trees hundreds of years old, the wood has narrower rings, more rings per inch means stronger wood. Today we use 25 to 50 year old planted trees from tree farms - less ringer per inch, weaker wood. And of course today we use a lot of man-made wood products like OSB, MDF, Plywood, Laminates - That 1800's house would have been built out of solid wood - irreplaceable in so many ways.

There are flood mitigation methods that can be used to salvage the cellar of the old house – you can dig out a foot (more if you want as long as you replace the footers for any supporting posts, keep a minimal distance away from the exterior foundation/footer/cellar wall –different areas have different building codes) of dirt floor and have a poured slab installed. If you do that you can also dig a trench around the perimeter near the exterior wall, in that trench you would lay in drainage piping that slops down to one area collecting all of the water that comes through the walls in one area where the sump pump can pump it all out. Further things like sloping the ground soil around the house away from the house could reduce the amount of seepage into the cellar.

Then there is historical value of the house. Depending on its age and where you are there may be historical preservation funds that you can get that will cover some of the finances of updating and restoring the house.

Most people think that historical value is based on if a famous person spent the night or not. However Historical preservation is aimed at preserving old buildings – period buildings that reflect a long gone day and age. It is possible that a farm house (I assume this is what we are talking about) may fall inside of historical preservation interests, especially if it was built in the early 1800’s – meaning that this is a pre-civil war structure.

Now this house may reflect the period it was built in: An idea of the possibilities:

Greek Revival (1818-1850)
The first truly national style in the United States. Strong associational
values. Permeated all levels of building.

Gothic Revival (c. 1820-1860)
Strong associational values of religion and nature. Found in both ecclesiastical
and residential architecture. A wide range of archaeological accuracy, from
Richard Upjohn's urban churches to "Carpenter's Gothic" cottages.

The "Corporate Style" (c.1800-1900)
Practical architecture for engineering and commercial purposes; especially
early factories. In its time thought to be a "style-less style."

Egyptian Revival (1820-1850)
Used primarily for memorials, cemeteries, prisons, and later, warehouses.

Italianate, or Italian Villa Mode (1840-1860)
A residential style used by A.J. Downing and others; a Renaissance revival.

Second Empire Baroque (1860-1880)
French origin; used for public and residential architecture.

High Victorian Gothic (1860-1880)
English origin; used for ecclesiastical, public, and residential architecture.

If it is any of those then it is of historical significance and should be kept just because of that.

Anyway – I like old houses – old buildings – the older the better they are in my books.

The old saw is they don’t build them like the used too – That is so true.