Things That Go Bump Behind the Walls
Five frights we find inside older Triad homes, and how to keep your remodel from turning into a horror movie.
Every house in the Triad has a few ghosts. The floor that creaks at 2 a.m. The furnace that groans awake on the first cold night of October. The door that drifts open when nobody touched it.
Most of those are harmless. The scary ones don't rattle chains. They hide behind drywall, under floorboards, and down in the crawlspace, waiting for the day someone picks up a sledgehammer.
Since 1984, our team at KC's Improvement & Construction has completed more than 2,000 projects across Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, and the rest of the Piedmont Triad. We've seen what's lurking inside a lot of local homes. Here are the five frights we find most often, what they mean for your remodel, and how to keep your project from turning into a horror movie.
01The Ghost in the Wiring
Knob-and-tube wiring was the standard in American homes from the late 1800s into the 1940s. You'll still find it in older Greensboro neighborhoods like Fisher Park and College Hill. It has no ground wire, and its cloth-and-rubber insulation turns brittle with age. It was also designed to shed heat into open air, so it can run hot once someone blows insulation over it.
Newer homes have their own spirits. Some panels installed between the 1950s and 1980s, especially Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco brands, have a reputation for breakers that don't trip when they should.
What it means for your remodel: When we open a wall for a new kitchen or bath, the electrical in that space has to be brought up to current code. A modern kitchen also needs far more power than a 1940s circuit was built to carry.
Lights that flicker or dim when an appliance kicks on, two-prong outlets, breakers that trip often, or outlets and switch plates that feel warm.
02Something Wicked in the Walls
If your home was built before 1978, there's a good chance lead-based paint is hiding under a few fresh coats. It's mostly harmless while it stays put. The danger comes when it's sanded, scraped, or torn out, because that creates fine dust that's especially harmful to young children and pregnant women.
Asbestos is lead paint's partner in crime. It shows up in homes built before the 1980s in places like popcorn ceilings, 9-by-9-inch vinyl floor tiles and their black adhesive, old pipe and duct wrap, and some siding. You can't identify it by looking. It takes a lab test.
What it means for your remodel: Federal lead-safe rules, run in North Carolina by the state health department, require contractors who disturb paint in pre-1978 homes to be certified and to follow lead-safe work practices. KC's is an EPA Lead Certified Renovator, so containment and cleanup are built into how we work. Suspected asbestos should be tested before demolition starts, and any removal belongs with licensed abatement professionals.
Chipping or chalky paint on old trim and windows, cracked or curling vintage floor tiles, and textured ceilings in homes that haven't been updated.
03The Creature Under the Floor
North Carolina summers are humid, and a lot of Triad homes sit on crawlspaces. That combination is a perfect lair for moisture, wood rot, and mold. Add a slow leak under a toilet or behind a dishwasher, and the subfloor can quietly rot for years before anyone notices.
Then there are termites. Subterranean termites are active in every corner of North Carolina, and the damage they do often stays invisible until the old flooring comes up.
What it means for your remodel: Hidden rot or termite damage has to be repaired before new floors, cabinets, or tile go in. Building a beautiful new bathroom on a soft subfloor is how you get cracked tile and a sequel nobody wants.
Soft or spongy spots near tubs and toilets, a musty smell, floors that sag or bounce, peeling paint near baseboards, or mud tubes along the foundation.
04The Previous Owner's Curse
Some of the scariest things we find weren't built by the original builder. They were left behind by a past owner with a free weekend and a lot of confidence.
The usual suspects: a wall that was taken out without a proper beam to carry the load above it. Wires spliced together inside the wall with no junction box. A bathroom fan that vents into the attic instead of outside. Plumbing with no vent. A porch that got enclosed without a permit.
What it means for your remodel: Work that was never permitted or inspected may need to be corrected before your project can pass its own inspections. It's far better to find it during planning than halfway through construction.
Ceilings that dip in the middle of a room, doors that stick or won't latch, a room or addition that doesn't quite match the rest of the house, or a breaker panel with labels that make no sense. In many cases you can look up your home's permit history through the city or county.
05The Pipes That Moan
Older homes often have galvanized steel water lines, common through the early 1960s. They corrode from the inside out, slowly choking off water pressure and eventually springing leaks.
Homes built from about 1978 to the mid-1990s may have polybutylene, a gray plastic supply pipe that was once marketed as the plumbing of the future. It turned out to be prone to sudden failure, and some insurers now hesitate to cover homes that still have it. Old cast iron drain lines can also crack and corrode with age.
What it means for your remodel: If we're opening walls anyway, it's often the smartest and cheapest time to replace aging supply lines in that part of the house. Doing it later means opening those walls all over again.
Low water pressure, rusty or brown water when you first turn on a tap, gray plastic pipe at your water heater or under sinks, and slow drains that never quite clear.
How to Keep Your Remodel From Turning Into a Horror Movie
Every horror movie has that moment where the audience yells, "Don't go in there!" Here's how to be the character who makes it to the end credits.
- Know your home's birthday. Built before 1978? Plan for lead-safe work. Before the 1980s? Think about asbestos testing. Between 1978 and the mid-1990s? Check for polybutylene.
- Don't ignore the small noises. A soft spot in the floor or a breaker that keeps tripping is the opening scene, not the whole movie. Catching it early keeps it small.
- Ask how surprises are handled. Before you sign, ask your contractor how they'll tell you about something found behind the walls and how changes get approved.
- Leave room in the budget. Older homes almost always hold a few secrets, and a cushion keeps a surprise from becoming a crisis. Our Price Guide shows real starting costs for Triad projects, so you can plan with some room to spare.
- Hire people who know what they're looking at. Look for a licensed, insured contractor with lead-safe certification and a track record in older Triad homes.
- Keep design and construction on the same team. With design-build, the people who planned your project are the same people who find what's behind the wall. That means faster answers and fewer finger-pointing scenes.
Happy Halloween, Triad
Most of the bumps in the night really are nothing. But if your house has a sound, a soft spot, or a flicker that keeps you up, or you're planning a remodel in an older home, we'll give you an honest read.
Sometimes the honest answer is, “It’s nothing. Enjoy your Halloween.”
