Discovering the History

The purchase price of an older home is often less, and those with the ability to take on home remodelling projects have found it a good way to get into an area they want. They can do the projects that are necessary over time. It could seem like a large undertaking with few rewards at the beginning, but discovering the history that is contained within the walls can be an exciting adventure. Older homes often have their own share of history that has been unwittingly preserved.

Opening up and combining rooms is a current trend in home remodelling, and it is often when the walls come down that interesting discoveries are made. It was common years ago to use wadded up newspaper pages to fill in gaps where insulation was needed. This fact alone can lead the new owners to find out when a particular part of their home was last upgraded. They can spend hours smoothing the old pages and reading about the daily lives of those in another era, and it can be a fun project for the entire family.

While finding old newspapers can be amazing, there are other historical relics that might be encased in old walls. Some people would place valuables in spaces that they later forgot and covered up. Finding a box of treasures encased behind an old wall can bring hours of pleasure even if the contents have little or no monetary value.

The materials used in many older homes can also be of historical interest. Wood slats and plaster used to be common in houses, but it has been replaced by drywall. Many homes in former centuries had brick fireplaces and chimneys, but they may have been replaced by furnaces. Discovering these types of structural leftovers can create a new and interesting design motif for a remodelling job without any additional cost.