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First thing I would do is print out all the source code and cover the floor of a room with the source code. Spend a good couple of days understanding the source code annotating it with markers and highlighters.
Then you might be in a better place to decide on whether to rewrite from scratch or refactor.
One very good piece of advice I read is - the quirky code that appears to be buggy was written the way it was written for very specific reasons, if you go rewriting it there is a chance that you might break a lot more than that one method.
The advantage of refactoring code is that you can gradually fix the code - so while it may be buggy in places you can be fairly certain that what you are doing is improving the code and 'correctness' of the code.
There is no reason why in your refactoring that you cannot in effect be writing a new framework at the same time, so slowly the code morphs into a better framework - it's not necessarily a start from scratch or fix the buggy code choice.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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It's a rare opportunity to be able to start from scratch -- you can fully own, not just the design, the architecture, and the code, but usually the other bits too that make for a great project, the documentation, the testing process, etc.
The "free time" thing though bothers me -- it sounds like a skunk works project. Management needs to see the sense (or in their terms, the cost benefit) of properly sanctioning the effort. If not, honestly, I wouldn't do it. You'll find it frustrating to work on it in a halfass way, and you and the project will suffer for it.
Marc
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Marc Clifton wrote: The "free time" thing though bothers me -- it sounds like a skunk works project
I have a umbrella cost center which I fill my time against in between project. It cannot be more than 25 hours in a month.
My manager has suggested that I spend some time to decide the approach and then he will back me up to make this an official project where other departments can work on it too.
cheers,
Super
------------------------------------------
Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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Spend a week or two as if you would never consider throwing the old code away.
After that, you can make what management likes to clal an "informed decision": you should have learned to read and navigate the code base, gotten over the "uh, those member function names are all lowercase, the code is total crap", and learned a few of the complexities / details that you would have missed from the spotty specification.
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If you can wrap the old system in some dirty API's and then build the new in the preferred architecture. If you get this right, then you can switch to the 'new' architecture at little or no cost. The first cut would simply be the old gubbins wrapped in the new container. Then as new work comes along it can be written as 'native' to the container.
veni bibi saltavi
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I would probably try to fix and glaring issues with the current software and at least get it stable first with an eye to eventually rework to a simpler model. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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You've got two monitors, haven't you?
Work on your new solution in one, but keep the old "dissolution" open in the other, so you can look up all the little things that were added with duct tape, over the years (because they're probably more important than the core).
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So, after discovering few of the racist tweets from Microsoft's twitter bot TAY, I decided to check out its website[^]. It is such an eye burning design that after looking at the home page for a couple of minutes everything around me seemed to be changing its color 
I mean, look at the color combination and don't forget to re-size your browser window. The Microsoft logo will overlap with social buttons. 
Now I am wondering what was badly designed? website or the bot? I think still latter beats the former. Were the people at Microsoft in a hurry? Is the end of the world around the corner? 
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My eyes! 
Zafar Sultan wrote: Were the people at Microsoft in a hurry?
Probably the same reason every dev is in a hurry; the longer you work on something the more expensive it becomes
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Yes. And now they will release a patch. The same old story...
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A patch for the website? The only thing it is lacking is Comic Sans
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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No. A patch for bot.
But they are never short of comic-sense
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A scrolling text would fit in there nicely 
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. — Lyall Watson
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And a couple of animated Gifs.
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<blink>Welcome!</blink>
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Comic Sans? Pah! That's for amateurs!
A bloke I worked with in the Windows 3.0 days wrote his status reports in Wedgie[^]
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Zafar Sultan wrote: And now they will release a patch
I need two patches.
One for each eye.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: the longer you work on something the more expensive it becomes
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Zafar Sultan wrote: Were the people at Microsoft in a hurry?
Maybe they just didn't want to have to look at that for too long either?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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isn't it supposed to be a web site of a US teen ?
(just sayin').
I'd rather be phishing!
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I think i died a little while looking at that site 
Rules for the FOSW ![ ^]
if(this.signature != "")
{
MessageBox.Show("This is my signature: " + Environment.NewLine + signature);
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("404-Signature not found");
}
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Whatt?? I know I slept late today but have I fallen through a time warp to the early '90s. It looks like a very early attempt using notepad, not notepad++!!!!!
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Didn't you hear?
Hot pink is the new black.
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Click the "menu" icon in the top-right
*shudder*
I think what has happened is maybe something that might happen more...I think they've designed a website for use on a mobile device, forgetting that mobiles are not the only way people use the internet.
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1990's everyone uses Javascript and websites have gaudy colours with some pages being filled mainly with advertising.
2000's that Javascript you were using can be a security risk so best not use it. Websites become flat, simple and readable.
2010's everyone uses Javascript and websites have gaudy colours with some pages being filled mainly with advertising.
...and the cycle continues...
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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