My wife has bought a circa 1925 pier and beam home in East Texas (Zavalla) from her Aunt. It is about 1750 sq ft with 12 ft ceilings. It sits on 60 acres of long leaf pine. The house has been cared for but not lived in for 10-15 years.

What we have done so far is line up a leveling company, as the last time it was leveled, it was done improperly. We have also got the utility company, and electrician, modernizing the electrical supply.

Here are my questions.

1. The septic system is shot. I know zero about septic systems. Any thoughts or suggestions?

2. It has old propane heaters, but no AC. We want AC. I have done a bunch of internet research but not really found a bunch of info on old pier and bean houses. What I have read seems to lean toward multi zone ductless split system for pre-AC homes. Thoughts? Again, it's only 1750 sq ft but does have the elevated ceilings.

I've remodeled a few of these over the years. Start with leveling it. Also when rewiring make sure to have at least a 200 amp service panel in case you want to go with a heat pump and electric water heater. Retrofitting central HVAC can be done but make sure you address insulation in the ceiling and walls as well as the windows and doors. If you have propane you can stay with gas heat or convert to electric heat pump if you are upgrading the electrical service. For septic your choices are conventional with field lines or aerobic with spray heads. Check with your county to see what their requirements are for conventional. Old houses are fun but I'm going to tell you upfront it often requires some decent money to get them up to par if they have been neglected for a while.

I purchased a late 1800's house 6 years ago and the first project before moving in was a/c. I went with central upstairs because it was easy to run ducts and drop vents from the attic. I went ductless down stairs because I did not want to fur down walls/ceilings for ducts and did not want floor vents either. 6 years later, I wish I would have used ductless upstairs too. I have fewer problems with ductless. I have two mini split compressors handling 2 and 3 air handlers apiece. Multiple compressors is nice because if one goes down, you can still a/c a potion of the house. I have heat pumps on the mini splits and they work well for me in the south Texas winter climate. Biggest down fall is having to change/clean the filter on each air handler every few months versus changing out one filter on the central unit

I would not go with a central system/ductwork underneath the house. Lots of things can go wrong there on the installation end and if you're in a humid area you may end up with brown rot growing everywhere from the ductwork chilling the crawlspace to below the dew point. Especially if there are any leaks at all.

Thanks for the responses. A 200 amp service panel is what was suggested to us and should be installed this week. It seems the ductless split system is the clear choice. The Lufkin area has plenty of installers that do that.

We do realize that there could be hidden issues and costs. Luckily, any repair costs will be deducted from the price of the property.

Any suggestions on type of septic system?

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Any suggestions on type of septic system?

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We have properties with both conventional & aerobic. As someone stated above, check with the county to see what they require. The county where we are did come out for inspections but that, permits, etc. are things the company you hire will handle.

If you are close to any water sources: creeks, lake, well, etc. you may have to go with aerobic. If I had a choice, I'd go with conventional. The ongoing costs for aerobic include electric use for the aerator & chlorine tablets that aren't cheap, plus it's just kind of a pain to keep up with.

At our home, we had to replace the old conventional with aerobic since we are on a lake. The spray field had to be around 100' from water. We also had to have an old well of our next door neighbors filled in because it was too close. (He was happy because he'd always worried someone would fall in.)

Your new old house and property sound fantastic!

https://www.anra.org/divisions/wastewater/ossf/index.html

Odds are you'll end up needing an aerobic system given the local clayey soils and high water table.

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If I had a choice, I'd go with conventional. The ongoing costs for aerobic include electric use for the aerator & chlorine tablets that aren't cheap, plus it's just kind of a pain to keep up with.

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I agree, especially considering it's just a weekend type property. That's what it has now.

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Odds are you'll end up needing an aerobic system given the local clayey soils and high water table.

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Except the soil is sandy with no clay. In my OP, I mentioned that it sits on 60 acres of long leaf pine. In East Texas, if only loblolly pine grows, you can bet it's a clay soil. Anywhere long leaf is growing, it has to be sandy and not clay otherwise they won't grow. Not sure why, since I'm not a geologist, but East Texas has these bands of sandy soil and bands of solid rock that run through it. Which is why long leaf just grows in certain areas of East Texas.

The septic company will come out & do a perc test to determine what you have.

"A percolation test (colloquially called a perc test) is a test to determine the water absorption rate of soil (that is, its capacity for percolation) in preparation for the building of a septic drain field (leach field) or infiltration basin."

Find someone with extensive knowledge of building envelopes and vapor migration in retrofit conditions. You could do more damage in 5 years than the previous 100 if you install HVAC and insulate the wrong way.

DO NOT take the advice of the first A/C guy who says you shouldn't have any problems.

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Find someone with extensive knowledge of building envelopes and vapor migration in retrofit conditions. You could do more damage in 5 years than the previous 100 if you install HVAC and insulate the wrong way.

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While researching the ductless mini-split systems for older homes, I ran across a great article by a Houston based building inspector. It was on adding air-conditioning to older pier and beam houses, and how different folks in the building trade had different opinions on how they should be insulated. He also gave his opinions on the subject.

Most agreed that attic insulation was OK. It seemed the contention was in the walls and underneath. Some said they should not be insulated at all. Others, like the writer, thought wall insulation was fine as long as there was not any form of moisture barrier. It was all about letting the house breath, as they were designed to do in the 1920's. The author was a little less sure about insulating underneath the house but said many homeowners had done it successfully.

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The author was a little less sure about insulating underneath the house but said many homeowners had done it successfully.

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We have 2 rent houses that have floor vents. We didn't put them in but have not noticed any problems in the couple of years we've had them. One house is 1899 & the other was probably built in the 1930's. Both all wood, pier & beam. No insulation in the walls. We did have insulation blown into the attics. So far, so good. What I don't like is that the floor vents really jack with furniture placement, but that's not my problem - I don't live there.

aggiedent said:

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Find someone with extensive knowledge of building envelopes and vapor migration in retrofit conditions. You could do more damage in 5 years than the previous 100 if you install HVAC and insulate the wrong way.

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While researching the ductless mini-split systems for older homes, I ran across a great article by a Houston based building inspector. It was on adding air-conditioning to older pier and beam houses, and how different folks in the building trade had different opinions on how they should be insulated. He also gave his opinions on the subject.

Most agreed that attic insulation was OK. It seemed the contention was in the walls and underneath. Some said they should not be insulated at all. Others, like the writer, thought wall insulation was fine as long as there was not any form of moisture barrier. It was all about letting the house breath, as they were designed to do in the 1920's. The author was a little less sure about insulating underneath the house but said many homeowners had done it successfully.

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I generally agree with that opinion. The underside of the house gets dicey depending on ground water situations and elevations. You definitely don't want to create a cool surface for water condense upon. Some recommend heating and cooling the crawl space as part of the house.

Currently going through the planning on a balloon-framed house built in 1890 that I am going to rebuild. Consensus is that wall insulation without vapor barrier & direct contact with wood siding is a no-no. Vented crawl space with interior A/C is a no-no (unless spray foamed, which requires the wood in the floor to dry up into the house).

What I am currently planning on doing is removing old, existing cypress siding, putting in rock wool bats (and fire blocking, it has none), sheathing with zip sheathing or plywood/tyvek, and then ripping furring strips (and periodic exterior blocking that still allows draining) to install new cypress siding on the outside. Leaves an air gap between siding and sheathing to allow water leaks to drain and dry out. Will have to extend window casings, corner trim, etc. I will say this solution is particular to my situation as I do not have exterior sheathing, but have solid interior sheathing boards already covered with drywall.

Going to encapsulate the crawl space with perimeter drain and vapor barrier on the ground, steel framing, insulate those walls, and run low-dewpoint dehumidified air in the bottom just in case the perm through the cracks and floor isn't enough to condition the crawl space. Trying to figure out how to get a thin "rat slab" under the vapor barrier due to the rodents we have... may just be better off trenching a perimeter curb deep enough to keep burrowing critters out. I could also likely use pile sheeting.

SWCBonfire said:

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Currently going through the planning on a balloon-framed house built in 1890 that I am going to rebuild. Consensus is that wall insulation without vapor barrier & direct contact with wood siding is a no-no. Vented crawl space with interior A/C is a no-no (unless spray foamed, which requires the wood in the floor to dry up into the house).

What I am currently planning on doing is removing old, existing cypress siding, putting in rock wool bats (and fire blocking, it has none), sheathing with zip sheathing or plywood/tyvek, and then ripping furring strips (and periodic exterior blocking that still allows draining) to install new cypress siding on the outside. Leaves an air gap between siding and sheathing to allow water leaks to drain and dry out. Will have to extend window casings, corner trim, etc. I will say this solution is particular to my situation as I do not have exterior sheathing, but have solid interior sheathing boards already covered with drywall.

Going to encapsulate the crawl space with perimeter drain and vapor barrier on the ground, steel framing, insulate those walls, and run low-dewpoint dehumidified air in the bottom just in case the perm through the cracks and floor isn't enough to condition the crawl space. Trying to figure out how to get a thin "rat slab" under the vapor barrier due to the rodents we have... may just be better off trenching a perimeter curb deep enough to keep burrowing critters out. I could also likely use pile sheeting.

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That's a lot of work. How big is the house?

It's a 2 story "plantation plain" style (or I-house), long, tall and narrow, 46x16 approx. Preserving the original 1890 part as much as possible (I think siding from 1890 has had a good run, but it's time to tag out). Original wavy windows will be saved with a new set of "indows" to make them more airtight/e coated without damaging the originals.

They added on numerous single story extensions over the years (original kitchen was detatched). They suck. One part I think was added on during the depression with used lumber. Original part of house is worth any effort in saving (most of the people in a 3 county area wouldn't ever talk to me again if I tore it down!) Going to level the single story extensions and greatly expand into a 2-story H configuration.

It is going to be a quite the project. I probably will buy a used articulating boom lift and sell it after I'm done. If anyone has experience dealing with differential settlement between pier and slab on grade, let me know, because otherwise this is going to be a test subject. Thinking I may have a bit of a transition between the two to allow for some movement. Fortunately, we have very stable gravelly soils and only dealing with one subsurface strata with some clays/moderate PI. Top 18" has a PI of 2.