Is Your House Aging Appropriately? A Look at This House

This is an old picture of a home from the City of Victoria Archives:

The picture is from the fifties and the house looks a lot different now. But in the fifties, this house was then fifty years old and it no doubt it looked a lot different from 1907 too. Houses change over time. Siding and roofing gets replaced. Windows get upgraded. Additions get added or removed. Porches and out buildings come to the end of their useful lives. Houses change.

Nothing lasts forever, but a good home inspector can tell you if the building is “aging appropriately” or what maintenance is required. He or she can examine the parts of the house that have been altered and how it compares to the rest of the house in terms of aging. Materials and building techniques evolve and change over time, and the inspector will have a robust body of knowledge that relates to how homes are renovated according to emerging trends.

Here is a picture of the house in 2020:

In the fifties, it had a hedge.  It was then replaced with a fence, and now it's a hedge again. Almost all older homes have some kind of interesting history that reflects the story of each home owner. As well, the house are a snapshot of the technology available at the time, as well as the stylistic fashions happening in that era. This is what makes inspecting older home interesting. I inspect older homes because I like older homes.

Fairhome Building Inspections serves Victoria B.C., Saanich, Sooke, Metchosin, Langford, Sooke, Colwood, Sidney, Millstream, Shawnigan Lake, MillBay, Cobble Hill and other parts of Lower Vancouver Island