Old Home in Louisville?

[lucalove]

We are moving to Louisville this summer, and we found an older home right across the street from Cherokee Park in the Highlands. It's beautiful, and totally renovated, but I worry about toxins because it is older and my son is 8 months old. It's over 100 years old, but totally renovated. They took out asbestos around one year ago. Two families have lived in the house over the past 3 years and then moved out for different reasons. Anyone have experience with older homes in Louisville? Is there a company I should call to check for environmental toxins? Would you feel comfortable with such an old home or look for something newer? It's a really incredible space! Thanks.

[toyarmy]

i WANT an old home.

not that im terribly educated on the matter, but the stuff they use now, scares me far more than that thats been around longer than my great grandmother.

and obviously, if you do find anything to be an issue, it can be remidied. just my .02

[mama2elisabeth]

We bought a 100+ year old home in Georgetown last summer. One of the things we did was buy some lead paint testing strips at Lowes and test the paint around the house. I'd say if your house has been renovated then it's safe. However, I will say that my house was supposedly renovated...the renovations the previous owners did are joke and they didn't do all they said. Just be sure to have it thoroughly inspected (our inspector, who specialized in historic homes, failed to notice anything) and check everything out yourself before purchasing. We (stupidly) bought sight unseen since we were moving 2000 miles across the country. We've since been out thousands just to make the house habitable, and are currently living with it in it's current state. As a matter of fact, the previous owners had "renovated" the kitchen and the cabinetry fell off the wall last weekend. I'm not trying to freak you out, but I just don't want anyone else to fall into the mess we have. We love our old house so much, but aren't currently in a financial situation conducive to making all the necessary repairs. One thing to keep in mind is that even if it is in "perfect" shape right now, it's still a good idea to have a fund for household projects as they always arise with old houses.

Good luck! I really do love my old house, but it has brought us a lot of financial stress we weren't expecting. I think old houses are so much more interesting and fun to live in than newer ones...IF you have the resources to take care of it .