New mechanicals means tearing down the walls?
I have spoken to two contractors about working on my new home, a 120 year old row house. Both contractors have said that they would tear down all the plaster walls and ceilings in order to replace the plumbing and electric. The walls are in near perfect shape. Is this true?? I am in the…
I have spoken to two contractors about working on my new home, a 120 year old row house. Both contractors have said that they would tear down all the plaster walls and ceilings in order to replace the plumbing and electric. The walls are in near perfect shape. Is this true??
I am in the process of finding a contractor to work on my new home. It is a 120 year old row house in unbelievable condition. Same family lived in it for 60 years and maintained it beautifully. There is some peeling paint and a few hairline cracks but absolutely no holes or water damage or rot (that we or our architect has found). Both contactors said they would rip down the walls to replace the mechanicals and then drywall. They said, “Its fast and cheaper to do that.” and “You aren’t going to find a GC to poke around to save the old plaster walls.” Then they quoted 2.2 million dollars for the work on a near perfect (but old) 3500 sq.ft. rowhouse. We are not looking for perfection. I like the old hand plastered walls. The occasional bump has a thousand times the character as new dry wall. Does anyone have a contractor who can replace mechanicals in an old house without gutting it?
We just had to have plaster removed because of the circumstances of the renovation, and I felt really bad to see the mouldings go. It was sad. Fight to save your plaster
We just had to have plaster removed because of the circumstances of the renovation, and I felt really bad to see the mouldings go. It was sad. Fight to save your plaster
No to tearing down all the walls, no to sheetrock, none of it. I replaced all the electric and all the plumbing years ago in a house and they tore only small holes scattered throughout, in the walls. And I managed to live there at the time, no problem. However now in post-bubble Brooklyn you find contractors telling newbie homeowners they need to rebuild the entire house. It’s BS. A negative side effect of the huge interest in buying and restoring Brooklyn brownstones are these contractors who will do too much that’s unnecessary, and charge far too much for it. $2.2 million is criminal, it’s so unrealistically high. No matter how many rooms you move or how high-end the reno is, nothing should cost that. Plus don’t spend too much more than the house will be worth, two years from now when everything is done. What if you suddenly had to sell? Sometimes life throws you surprises. A big mistake of new homeowners is believing everything has to be done perfectly, and done right away. Spread it out.
JUST SAY NO TO SHEETROCK!!! If we managed to save our plaster on our miniscule budget, anyone can. It’s time to interview more contractors. And don’t you dare use those guys even if they come back and say they can do it. They sound like hacks, I don’t care how high their rating is!
If the architect had the GC bid it like this, and ran it by you, then it’s not their fault. You just need them to rebid it or find a new GC. Projects come in over budget and have to be value engineered all the time.
Your architect should be able to find you another GC who is less expensive, too. Just remember that you get what you pay for. $640 per sq. ft. is not unheard of for a gut renovation. Sometimes clients eyes get really big when the architect starts showing really fancy expensive finishes and fixtures to them…and before they know it the budget is blown.
Like the poster above said, though. Save your money for where it counts to you. Don’t put it where the GC wants you to put it.
And yes, you can find a GC who will poke around your plaster walls. They do it all the time.
They want to tear down your walls so they can rebuild them.
Just make sure whoever does do the installation does it correctly.
OK, just read your second post, and I see where you need the architect, and I can see where maybe a couple of walls would need to be replaced. But there is still no reason why all walls and ceilings should be replaced with sheetrock.
When I see Franklin Report, I automatically picture some kind of Sutton Place home. They have good people, but at what cost! I’m sure someone here will suggest the right person. I don’t know where you are, but you might want to get in touch with a block association or community group, like the people who run house tours in various areas. T’m thinking of a house like one in Fort Greene that had a beautiful period restoration, and was for sale a while back. Perhaps the FG group could put you in contact with them, and they could recommend their contacts, or some combination thereof. There are so many people around who have done what you want to do, and used local or unknown people who are as good as those firms listed in the Franklin Report.
No, no, no!! Don’t let them do it! Bob is absolutely correct. Why would you tear down perfectly good walls and ceilings, just because it’s easier for the contractor? It is possible to find electicians and plumbers who respect the craftsmanship and beauty of an old house. See Brownstoner’s reno blog. He was able have the house rewired and upgraded without sacrificing the plaster. It takes longer, and involves sometimes cutting tracks in the plaster to run wire, fix pipes, etc, but those are easily repaired by a good plasterer, who could also put a new skim coat on all of your old plaster, if necessary.
Bob said it – you may need a different architect, one that is more in tune with restoration and preservation. You definitely need different GC’s. Your money would be better spent on other things than “fixing” what isn’t broken. If the ceilings and walls are a wreck, that’s one thing. This is a whole different animal.
A friend just had major electrical done, and they didn’t tear up her walls, I’ll see if I can get a recommendation. Hopefully someone else here can also recommend the right people, as well.
We need an architect for a number of reasons: we are adding two bathrooms, moving the kitchen and we want to be in there in under a year so we want someone on site who is responsible for all that. It is a landmarked house so we need someone who can deal with that business.
The architect is suggesting good guys (rated very high in the Franklin Report Book) but they are just over our budget and do not have the vision to work within the confines of an old house.