How to Determine How Old Your House is by the Materials Used

The history of American houses is easily followed by the use of certain materials in certain eras of the times. During the 1700's, Americans didn't use drywall. During the 1800's the easiest way to determine the age of a house is by looking for these obvious hints:

1. The Material used for the outside walls can easily tell you the age of a house

Nails

In the history of using nails on American homes, you can determine the age of a house by what kind of nail was used. Up until the current age, there has been three common kinds of nails used on homes in America:

1. Hand-wrought nail-These circulated before the 1800's. These nails were hand-made by a blacksmith or nail-maker and could easily be identified by the crude methods it was made from. Often, these nails were squared and had a beaten look on the top of the head whereas the product was flattened to make the head of the nail.
2. Type-A cut nails-Circulated from 1790-1830, these nails are made from wrought iron. This type of nail was basically squared because of the "guillotine" style shape it obtained of cutting these down to produce a shank effect. Earlier nails of this sort were hand-made. The later version of this type of nail was called the "B" nail. These nails are identified by the burs sticking out from the shank. Type A had a bur on one side; type B had burs on both sides.
3. Wire Nail or common nail-Circulation began in 1890 and is still used into the present day. These nails are machine-made for quality. Finding these nails will definitely determine that your house was not built before 1890.

Drywall

The history of drywall, (also called sheetrock or gypsum board), is as old as 1915, but it never caught on with home builders right away. Most houses that were built before the 1940's were made from plaster that was inserted between lath boards, so if you have a house that has the original drywall walls, chances are, it is newer than the 40's era.

Pipes

Iron pipes were first introduced in 1804, but up until the year 1929, a lot of houses did not have adequate plumbing. PVC pipes were not introduced in houses until the 1950's, and copper pipes are usually found in homes that are less than 30 years old, replacing the galvanized pipes. In alot of older homes, the "outhouse" was common, so there were alot of changes in older homes, making it harder to determine the age they were built.

Heating and air conditioning

1935 was the year America was first Introduced to forced air furnace. Air conditioning systems were first introduced in the early 1950's, and a lot of technology involved with this new invention came after WW 2. This is also around the same time line porches were starting to disappear, which resulted from the introduction of air conditioners. With the exception of style alone, a lot of houses that have big porch areas have been built before this era.

Overall

Putting an exact year onto a house is quite hard by just going by looks, but if you use this simple guideline, you should get a better idea of the house you are looking at, whether if it's to buy or invest. Most homeowners can give you a year on when their house was built, but if you were out house shopping for yourself, or for an investment, this doesn't work. This guide should determine within a decade when the house was created.