What surprises turn up when you remodel an older Pasadena home?

Why are surprises in an older home so predictable?

Because houses of one era were built from one era's materials. Much of Pasadena's housing was built between 1900 and 1940, and a Craftsman bungalow or Spanish Colonial Revival house from those years usually started life with cast iron drains, galvanized steel water pipe, a clay sewer line, knob-and-tube wiring, and lath and plaster walls, often over a raised wood floor and a crawl space. We know the list before the first wall is opened.

Condition is the unknown. Owners since have added their own layers: a bathroom redone mid century, a kitchen circuit spliced into old wiring, a copper repair joined straight onto galvanized pipe. Each layer was built to the standards, or the shortcuts, of its own decade, and that mix, more than the original construction, is what makes remodeling an older home hard to price sight unseen.

Pasadena's mid century post and beam houses follow the same logic with a different list. Their drains and water lines often run under a concrete slab instead of through a crawl space, which makes them harder to inspect and slower to reach, and their original electrical panels were sized for far lighter loads than a modern kitchen puts on them.

What is usually wrong with the plumbing?

Three things turn up again and again: cast iron drains, galvanized supply pipe, and the clay sewer line. Cast iron rusts from the inside, so the bottom of a horizontal run can wear thin while the outside still looks solid, and the old joints, packed with oakum and lead, crack. Galvanized pipes close up with rust scale over the decades, which is what causes weak pressure at the shower and brown water after the taps sit unused.

The real decision is where to stop. Replacing the pipe a remodel exposes is straightforward; the risk sits at the tie-in, where new pipe meets old. On a cast iron drain replacement we cut back until the pipe is sound, not just to the edge of the room, and join new to old with a shielded coupling made for the transition, so the weakest joint in the house does not end up sealed behind new tile.

In a pre-war house, the sewer lateral that carries everything to the public main is usually short sections of clay pipe, and roots work into the joints. A camera run through the cleanout shows roots, cracks, offset joints, and low spots that hold water. We want that video before a remodel adds a bathroom or a laundry, because new fixtures send more water down a line that may already be struggling. The house often shows the trouble before anyone opens a wall.

• Several drains run slowly at once, or a toilet gurgles when the tub drains.
• Water runs brown for a moment after the taps sit unused.
• Shower pressure drops sharply whenever someone opens another tap.
• Cast iron in the crawl space shows rust streaks, damp stains, or old repair clamps.
• A sewer smell hangs around the crawl space or one bathroom.

What will the electrician find inside the walls?

Often a mix of wiring from several eras. The original knob-and-tube wiring runs as two separate conductors on porcelain knobs and through porcelain tubes, with no ground wire, and it relies on open air around it to shed heat. Later circuits added cloth-covered cable that also lacks a ground. The newest runs, left by earlier remodels, may be modern cable spliced into the old at a junction no one can see.

That reliance on open air is why knob-and-tube should not be buried in insulation, which matters the day someone wants insulation blown into the attic or the walls. A three-prong outlet is not proof of a ground, either; some were swapped onto two-wire circuits. A plug-in outlet tester from a hardware store shows which outlets actually have one, and it is worth using before any electrical design starts.

Capacity is the bigger surprise. Many older houses still run on a small electrical service and a panel that filled up decades ago, and an induction range, a heat pump, or a car charger asks far more of it. An electrician's load calculation shows whether the existing service can carry the new work. If it cannot, an electrical panel upgrade joins the scope, and any larger service from the utility runs on the utility's schedule, not yours.

What structural problems hide under old floors and walls?

Rot and termite damage around old wet areas lead the list. Framing and subfloor under a tub, behind a toilet, beneath a kitchen sink, or at an exterior door sill can rot for years before anything shows, because the leak was slow and the finished floor hid it. Subterranean termites, which build mud tubes up from the soil, and drywood termites, which leave small piles of pellets, are both found in Southern California.

Earlier remodels account for much of the rest. We find joists notched or cut through for a drain or a duct, bearing walls removed without a proper beam, and ceilings that sag where the load lost its path to the ground. Some older houses were never bolted to their foundations, and some sit on brick or unreinforced concrete footings that an engineer should look at before new loads land on them.

Expect nothing to be square. Decades of settling, often on expansive clay, leave floors out of level and walls out of plumb, old framing lumber is often larger than modern lumber sold under the same name, and lath and plaster is thicker than drywall. New cabinets, tile, and doors have to be shimmed, scribed, and furred out to meet the old house, and that fitting time belongs in the schedule.

Why test for lead and asbestos before demolition?

Both do their harm as dust, and demolition makes dust. Any home built before 1978 may have lead paint, and in a pre-war house it often sits under newer coats on trim, windows, and doors. Federal EPA lead-safe work rules apply to contractors disturbing painted surfaces in those homes, covering containment, cleanup, and disposal. Until a lab result says otherwise, we handle old paint as if it contains lead.

Asbestos and lead testing is quick next to what a positive result changes. Samples go to a lab before demolition, and if asbestos is found, a specialist removes it before walls or floors are opened, which usually moves the start date rather than the design. Skipping the tests does not skip the problem; it spreads it through the house and into the ductwork. Asbestos tends to hide in a few predictable places.

• Have vinyl floor tiles and their adhesive tested, including layers hidden under newer flooring.
• Have popcorn ceilings tested, since in a pre-war house they came with a later remodel.
• Have the wrap on old heating pipes and ducts tested before anyone cuts it.
• Have older plaster and joint compound tested in any wall that is coming down.

What if a previous owner did work without permits?

Find it early, because a permitted remodel can pull it into your scope. A garage turned into a bedroom, a closed-in porch, an added bathroom, or wiring run by a handy owner may never have been permitted. The simplest check is the property's permit history: ask the City of Pasadena for its building records, or LA County Public Works for a house in Altadena, and compare what is on file with the house in front of you.

A permit puts an inspector in your open walls. Anything the new work connects to, such as a spliced circuit feeding the new kitchen or a drain tied in without a vent, is likely to get a close look, and the building department decides how much has to be corrected. Known before the contract is signed, that correction is a priced line item. Found halfway through, it is a delay and a change order.

What can you check before the walls come open?

More than most owners assume, and none of it needs demolition. On the walk-through for a Craftsman bungalow remodel or any house of that age, we check the crawl space and the panel before we price, and the likely fixes go into the estimate as named items. A few specialist checks cost little next to what they prevent, and they turn guesses into prices.

No check shows the inside of a closed wall. A camera sees the sewer, a flashlight sees the crawl space, and a lab sees the paint, but a splice buried in a wall by a previous owner stays hidden until the plaster comes off. That remainder is what the contingency covers, and the checks below shrink it.

• Order the permit history and compare it with the rooms, garage, and additions on the property.
• Have a plumber run a camera down the sewer lateral and send you the video.
• Have someone check the crawl space for foundation bolts, damp soil, rot, termite tubes, and pipe material.
• Look in the attic for knob-and-tube wiring, cut rafters, and insulation packed around old wires.
• Ask an electrician to open the panel, confirm its capacity, and test outlets for a ground.
• Find the termite report from your purchase, or order a fresh inspection before design starts.

How much contingency should you hold for an older house?

A common rule of thumb is 10 to 20 percent of the construction budget, and for a pre-war house where walls and floors will be opened, plan toward the top of that range. A cosmetic job that leaves plumbing, wiring, and framing alone can sit lower. Keep it as its own line, separate from the finish budget, so it is still there when the crew finds something.

A remodel contingency is for hidden conditions, not for upgrades chosen halfway through. The hidden costs of remodeling an old house are predictable in kind, so the way they are charged can be settled in advance: set prices for the likely fixes, such as a run of drain or a section of rotted subfloor, or an agreed hourly rate and markup for the rest. Whatever is not spent should stay yours.

The better move is to give the contingency less to do. In a 1920s house renovation in Pasadena, the likely items, such as a stretch of cast iron, a panel, or rot under the old tub, can be priced into the estimate once the checks above are done. That lets the contingency sit lower in the range and cover only what nobody could have seen.