Your sixty-year-old house

If your house is original, the honest expectation is that several major systems are at or past their design life at the same time. That is not a crisis. It is a maintenance schedule you should be running deliberately rather than discovering one emergency at a time.

This page is what to look at, roughly in the order it tends to matter. It is not an inspection and it is not a promise about your specific house — every one of these streets has homes that have been fully updated and homes that have not been touched since 1968.

Water first, always

Everything expensive in an old house starts with water getting somewhere it shouldn't.

• The roof. Asphalt shingles don't last sixty years, so yours has been done at least once — the question is when, and whether the flashing and valleys were done properly or just the field.
• Grading and downspouts. The cheapest fix on this list and the one that prevents the most expensive problems. Soil settles over sixty years and often now slopes toward the house.
• The sewer lateral. Homes of this era frequently have clay tile laterals running to the street, and this neighbourhood has magnificent mature trees. Those two facts do not like each other. A camera scope costs a fraction of what a backup costs.
• Foundation and basement. Look for efflorescence, staining at the base of walls, and any patched cracks. Ask what was done and by whom.

Then the systems

• Furnace and air conditioning. A mid-life replacement is likely already done; a second one may be due. Ask the age and whether it was sized for the house or just swapped like-for-like.
• The electrical panel and service size. Homes of this vintage were built for a far smaller electrical load than a 2026 household puts on them. If you are planning a second unit, an EV charger, or a heat pump, the service is where that conversation starts.
• Branch wiring. Worth having identified rather than assumed. Some materials common in specific late-1960s and 1970s build years carry insurance implications, and insurers ask. Have an electrician tell you what you actually have.
• Supply plumbing. Galvanized steel supply lines corrode from the inside and show up as poor pressure long before they show up as a leak.
• Windows. Original single-glazed units are the most visible upgrade and, unhelpfully, rarely the highest-return one. Do them for comfort, not for resale maths.

What to spend on, in what order

If the budget is finite — and it always is — this is a defensible order:

1. Anything letting water in, from the cheapest fix upward: grading, downspouts, flashing, then roof.
2. Anything with a safety dimension: electrical, gas appliances, alarms.
3. Anything that will cost more to fix later than now, particularly the sewer lateral.
4. Efficiency and comfort: insulation and air sealing before windows, almost always.
5. Cosmetics.

Insulation and air sealing are dull, invisible, and beat new windows on both comfort and cost. Nobody wants to hear it.

The part that's bad for me to say

I sell houses for a living, so read this with that in mind: most of this work does not come back to you dollar for dollar at sale. A new roof does not add the price of a new roof. It removes an objection and prevents a discount, which is not the same thing.

Do this work because you live here and want the house to be sound. If you are doing it purely to sell, read what to fix before you sell instead — the answer there is a much shorter list.

Getting real numbers

I've deliberately not put cost figures on this page. Prices for this work move constantly and vary enormously with access, scope and how much someone wants the job. Any number I printed would be wrong within a year, and you'd quote it back to a contractor to your own disadvantage.

Get three quotes. Ask each one what they'd do first if it were their own house, and why. The answers tell you more than the prices do.

Last checked August 2026.