This Old House
When I bought the house, it had recently been a duplex, and rented out, while in general the walls were painted well, everything else was pretty far gone, the 1st floor bathroom in particular had carpet on 1/2 the floor, and wall tile on the other half. I'm sure several people slipped and died, i nearly killed myself the first time I walked in there without shoes on. Needless to say, I ripped that floor up the same day I got the keys. The 'move in' pictures show the replacement floor in put in. The first two rooms, painted blue and adorned in the original woodwork were very impressive as i walked into the house for the first time. The 1st floor bedroom also has the original wood work (no pictures). As you can see the kitchen is mostly broken, the cabinet under the sink was actually warped from water damage, you can see the curvature in the picture. The side of the kitchen now shown had built in cabinets, which are now shelving in my garage.
Condition Summery Before Alan: (BA)
If I had to guess: This house was given minimal maintenance for at least 10 years before I bought it, the wiring was rotten, and Hacked, the workshop roof was about to fall in, there were holes in the floors where it had been converted to a duplex and back 3-4 times, the kitchen was incredibly small, and mostly broken. All of the window AC units were used up, the heat was incredibly inefficient, The water and gas lines were a labyrinth, half dead lines, some even galvanized and bend using a pipe bender, which is incredibly illegal.. All of the faucets and utilities were the least expensive available, half the doors didn't open, including exterior ones, and in general the entire place was in need of something besides paint..
Condition Summery After Alan: (AA)
As of this writing (2005-08-13), I have replaced all of the Water Lines, Gas Lines, phone, and Electrical Wire. Stove, Dishwasher, Fridge, New Furnace, Water Heater, Central AC Installed, New Ductwork, New Back half of house (yea...), replaced sagging garage trusses with beam. I have installed a 200 amp electrical box with all new breakers. Basically the only thing left, is the 2nd floor, and some plaster on the 1st floor. All other utilities have been replaced. Any anything else I missed, has been either fixed (or more likely) replaced. Read on, this should be entertaining.
So why buy this house? It wasn't a house to me, it was a (big) garage, a place to sleep, and something to do, most of the things in immediate need of repair I could easily knock out in a week, which took about a month, but after that rather than sit still. I got the Bug. So Here Goes:
Original Photos, about a week after move in: (I Had Already Replaced the 1st floor Bath Floor)
Summary of layout changes:
| Floor Plan as Purchased | Floor Plan after re-build |
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Project #01 - Save the Garage (Roof Support, Man Door)
The 100,000 BTU furnace, and incredible lack of fundage that the original owner allotted towards trusses resulted in a ridge line that looked more like saddle than a block of cheese. Rather than attempted to add additional trusses and leave the roof as is, I instead built temporary supports on either side of the ridge line (no pics), then removed the trusses all together. A 4' tall, 28' long beam I fabricated was then brought in through the man door and winched up into the ceiling. New cross bars tied the existing roof into the new beam. I was then able to jack the beam up on each end at a rate of 1/4" per month. I raised the Ridge about 1 inch. The Original garage door, I think it had a lock but cant remember, the frame was rotten, and the door would not open all the way, a new garage door is in the works too. I have to keep my back straight and really tug hard to get it started.
| Looking North East | Looking North East | Looking North West. |
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And the New Door...
Project #02 - First Wall Down
Notice the gas line sticking up through the floor, this room was the 2nd kitchen when the house was a duplex. The smaller area enclosed by the wall was a closet for the 1st floor residents. I might also note that inside this closet was a LIVE electrical wire, sticking up through the floor, about 1 inch. It appears to have been walked on for some time. The floor in this picture has since been removed, as were two of the walls of this room. This room became the new dining area during project # 10...
<--- Note: Bear can did most of the work:
Project #03 - Deck, Was Postponed....
Project #04 - Big Closet Upstairs
The Original closet was... Hodge Podged. After Dehodging the Closet it looked like this:
Notice the addition of R-19 Insulation, as well as the floor under the original closet, as compared to the new lighter colored strips to support the new floor.
Drywall in a triangle shaped room is a real pain...
The bedrooms carpet had a giant stain near the doorway, so I pulled it up, trimmed from the stained side and used the remaining carpet to carpet the closet. I plan on re-doing the upstairs bedroom after roommates I have currently living with me move on. Notice the electrical outlet in the closet near the small cavity located between where the chimney used to be and the bedroom. I like putting outlets in closets, good for wine fridges, toy car charger etc.
Project #05 - Flower Garden, and Tree
With all this work on doing on the house, I have little time for a garden, so after donating the plants to my parents, i mowed the rest and replaced the garden with a nice grassy area. Here's a picture of what it looked like, at night, from a bad angle, it was pretty nice. Also notice the tree, more like a bush since it wasn't pruned properly, I've been working on the tree. Its grown 3-4 feet since I moved in and trimmed the lower branches.
Project #06 - Stairwell
Sooo the foam? Really, walking down stairs is more of a controlled fall if you think about it. Unfortunately on my way down, the ultra low doorway took a bite at my head, the foam saved me for the next 3-4 months. Until one day I hit that hard enough to get a knot, an hour later I had a big mess on my hands, and a new project. Now a king sized bed can fit upstairs.
Note these next two pictures are Before and After, The red circles can be used to line up to two photos.
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<Insert Finished Picture>
Project #07 - Save the Garage Part 2, Heat and AC, and Insulation !
Heat and AC - Winter 2004/2005
Ye Olde Furnace, I turned it on once, and the guy who used to use this garage was correct, it will burn you out. Aside from being to big for such a small (1000 SF) garage, the weight of it caused the roof to sag. This 100,000 BTU behemoth was replaced with a more reasonably sized Unit. Which was capable of heating the garage prior to insulation. I was told the AC unit in the garage worked just fine, I suspected it was working mainly to fill the hole in that piece of plywood, so it was donated to junk day.
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There was no insulation in the garage when I bought the house, I added it one year after purchasing the house, and I have to say, my garage, is now officially "The Workshop", as comfortable as the house I spend a good deal of time out there doing whatever, the first big project was a model for sales people at my workplace to take to shows rather than the full sized machine. Its hard to see in the photo's however the insulation is being covered with 1/4" thick wafer board. I could have used 1/2 plywood for the same price, however I don't think I could have lifted it. Drywall would have been alot cheaper, but its just not well suited for a "Workshop". I will primer the ceiling white after the panels are fully installed.
<Insert Picture insulation covering completed>
<Insert Picture Foam Board and Eves>
<Insert Picture insulation covering painted>
Project #08 - Upstairs Bathroom (Part 1, Make it Usable)
The 2nd floor shower had only drywall around it when I moved in, before using it I placed some 'shower board' around the tub, I went ahead and added molding to this room to match the closet molding in the master bedroom. I also replaced the light fixture, and put a marble shelf on the end of the tub.
Project #09 - 200 Amp Service Upgrade
Click to see a larger image of the original box. Need I say more...
<-- Old Box
Now Click to see a larger image of the new box, its fun to wire things neatly. Please note the 6 guage wire running in from the side is only to feed the new box from the old, this is not the 200 Amp service line.
The new box ran of the old box for a while until I was able to remove the original concrete step for the original back door which was relocated in project 10... With the giant concrete block gone, ill be able to relocate the new 200 amp service line to the back of the house, rather than on the drive way side. That will allow the big dumbo ears on my truck an extra couple of inches.
Project #10 - Back 3 rooms
This project is the driving force between #9,10,11,12, and 13. All of which occurred at the same time
Here are a few progress movies, (same as at the top of the page) unfortunately all in the 1st 25% of the project.
Photos Taken Prior to starting:
Photos which showing the replacement of the main load bearing wall with an I-beam. A Temporary wall is wedged in on either side of the wall to be removed, then the beam is set into place. Once the beam is supporting the load, the temporary wall can be removed, and the ceiling is being supported by the Ibeam.
The Framing on the back wall was a complete..., well it wasn't good.
So i took the wall out and fixed it.
Finally ! Drywall !
Thinking ahead about what the room might look like with Photoshop....
How it turned out... Pretty close huh?
The Kitchen cabinets were postponed about a year, so I built in temporary cabinets to last until i am ready to being my cabinet making hobby (which will last long enough to finish this kitchen)
Project #11 - New Furnace and Water Heater
Condensing Furnace, Powered Exhaust Water Heater.
Project #12 - Remove Chimney
This had to be done in order to make room for the fridge, I wasn't about to give up space in my house for an old rotten chimney that is no longer required.
Project #13 - Remove Old Furnace
asdfasdf
Project #14 - Remove the old Concrete Steps:
I don't know if I had any pictures of this...
Project # 15 - Front Room Closet
Project # 16 - New Fence
I didn't really consider this to much work when i started, but i think i dug up about 200 lb of metal, and about 100 bricks from under the old fence before i was finished
The first picture shows what it looked like before i started, its the best shot I've got... From derby 2005
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The second pictures shows the new fence posts in place before the chain link was stretched. (In other words, there is no actual fence, this is just the framework for it)
<Insert Finished Fence>
Project # 17 - Paint Garage
Along with the fence, I felt that there was a need to paint the old cinder block garage before derby 2006, and so along with redoing the fence and the entire yard, I also painted. The white garage is primer, and the tan color is the final coat.
You can kind of see the finished paint... (Derby 2006)
Project # 18 - Upstairs Middle Bedroom
The main goal of this one was to insulate the room and upgrade the electric, of course the new windows, drywall, and light purple paint were a nice touch as well. Before starting the room had 1 working outlet, paneling, rag rolled paint, and no insulation.
| Before | After |
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The Demolition begins...
Insulation on outer wall...
Drywall and Paint ! I think i need a wide angle lens :)
Project 19 - Upstairs Front Bedroom
This was done within a week of finishing the middle bedroom, by done i mean i got started, the work itself took 2 months, you will notice that not only was this room gutted, re-wired, carpeted, re-windowed, and insulated. I also moved the ceiling up 3 feet, so that now there is a 9 foot vaulted ceiling instead of the low 7 foot ceiling of the original room. Notice the top of the windows in the before VS after photo.
| Before | After |
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Project #20 - Front 2 Rooms Become --> Large front room
Hopefully we are getting close to being done, after 21 (1st floor bedroom) and 22 (kitchen cabinets), i think it will be just about there :) This project, like many others, started out small, it was intended to only remodel the 1st floor bedroom (which used to be in the front part of the house), once i had the walls torn down, i decided to go ahead and remove / move several of them, so here goes, a picture is worth a thousand words:
Before Shots:
The red walled room is the original first floor bedroom, the blue walled room,
is the original family room, or entry room that guests will enter when coming in
the front door, notice the shallow closet in the bedroom below.
Demolition:
Here you can see the view from the bedroom, into the original family room
after i removed the plaster from the walls:
And here is the view from the family room, looking at the entry door, the right portion of the pictures show the original 1st floor bedroom.
This image shows how i supported the second floor with a couple of lally posts while installing the header for the hallway entrance. The original opening here was for a doorway and was much smaller, the new header for the hallway allows the walls to remain the width of the hall all the way into the room. To the right you can see some blue plaster remaining, also notive the 2x4 blocking that part of the room off, this is the new closet for the new 1st floor bedroom (located elsewhere)
In this photo, you can easily see on the left side of the room where the new studwall blocks off part of the original family room to make way for a closet for the new 1st floor bedroom. This closet wall is directly inline with the bedroom wall which makes the room a perfect 11.5 x 23 foot rectangle.
These images show the insulation added in between the floors, the walls are not yet complete.
Boy that 100 year old wood burns fast ! The flames here from the lathe removed from these two rooms are about 20 feet tall.
Hanging the drywall, hanging and finishing was close to 70 hours, I cannot explain why it took so long, it just did.
The first paint color i chose, wow... well i was looking for a cross between orange, red, and brown. I think i got the color right, now if only my idea was right.
I repainted the room in a light green, similar to the green used on the second floor bedroom.
Laying the hardwood flooring took about 20 hours.
I cut all of the molding at once, only had to trim 3 pieces :)
All I have left is the window molding, so I went ahead and moved the furniture in.
<Insert Picture of finished window moulding>
Project # 10b- Kitchen Cabinets
The kitchen cabinets did not exist until now, here are pictures of the installation: I finished the upper cabinets out the shop, the lower ones i decided to finish in place.
The corner cabinet was not the same as the dimensions published, so i had to recess it 3/4" I made an offset piece to join it with the rest of the countertop.
Here is the counter top going on...
And finally, after I cut the holds out for the stove and sink (new sink) its 'done', I say that tentatively because I still have to make a decorative piece to cross between the upper cabinets over the sink, lots of curliness. And I also need to put the crown molding on the top of the cabinets.
Project # 21 - Master Bedroom
Well, the master bedroom being last, is the nicest room in the house, I had to relocate the central air return, move the door from a 4 foot arch facing the basement stairs door, to a regular interior door facing the bathroom. The movement of the doors is what required me to move the return air duct, also, I didn't want any vents in the floor. To accomplish that, I built in a shelf with a little arch (Ironically in the same location as the arch I removed). The base holds the plenum for the return air duct (Sound proofed with MDF to protect the master :). The arch has pocket lights in it to highlight a nice big painting, or equally sized flat panel television.
Without further adieu, a plethora of pictures should tell the rest of the story.
This is the original room, looking into the room through the archway, notice the plaster walls, 100 year old beat up window molding, and rotten windows (Covered by 3$ Blinds). Oh, and the distasteful floor. I crammed my bedroom in here while re-modeling the front room because at the time I still had 2 room mates, or maybe I had one, and was also working on the second floor bedroom (The Green one). I think the latter is the case.
| Before (Looking West) | Before (Looking East Note: Already tore some blue plaster down)) |
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| After (Looking West) | After (Looking East) |
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<Insert Picture, From Same Angle> |
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The first picture in this demolition series is looking from where the clothes are at the in the above picture, towards the location where the picture was taken from.
In this picture, to the right, you can see the arch that is in the image above. The arch that shows on the left side of this picture will become a square... after some structural changes. That square will hold a mirror closet door.
Looking from the front of the house (Project # 20) down the hall toward the arch... Arch is about to go !
Same as the second picture, only with the plaster removed on both sides
Nice pile of plaster.... Also, starting to cut the floor up to configure the new ducts, notice the original floor mounted vent in the bottom right of the first picture. That is right smack in the middle of my doorway (Door is going to be left side of first picture above). Also notice in the left picture, that the wall is gone, ready to be re-framed with the door located wherever I want :)
In the right pictures, you can see the 3 vents i have framed to open up into the return air plenum (aka shelf thing)
Here is the new door, framed in, a direct shot to the bathroom. Note that hole for original return air duct is still in the doorway, I haven't patched it yet.
Once again, the shot from the front room, now showing the new framed door (arch show in the smaller photo for reference)
The following are shots attempting to describe the incredible mess created by pulling down a plaster ceiling encrusted with coal dust ! The rubble varies from 6 inches, to 2 feet deep, the lathe pile (wood strips) is about 3 feet tall. (This is just the ceiling !)
Ceiling is 'Cleaned' ready for soundproofing and traying.
This is the sound proofing, R19 insulation in the ceiling to silence the room overhead. You can also see the framework for the trayed ceiling.
Here is the arch, on the ground, and on the ceiling. To curve the drywall, I calculated the perimeter of the arc, cut a straight piece, and laid it on the cutout from the arch. I then sprayed it with water (Spray bottle) twice an hour for about 4 hours and watched it take on the form of the curve. After letting it dry for a day, I had a curved sheet of 1/2 inch drywall. (Contractors will use 1/4" drywall and just bend it) I think you can definitely do 3d curves in drywall the same way, just takes a little time :) So I look forward to doing a domed ceiling in my next house :)
Finally, some drywall, notice the trayed ceiling. Its basically just a box around the edges of the ceiling, and of course, twice as many corners to finish. And yes, the arch and shelf thing also added corners. The drywall was a bear, a big big bear, that just wouldn't go away. Ultimately that's what stopped me on this project for nearly 4 months before starting up again. Well that and derby, the need to finish the front room molding, and molding in the back of the house, and the need to install the kitchen cabinets first (since this room was well suiting for finishing the cabinets) It became the resting place of the base cabinets for nearly 2 months... Then finally, I started up again and...
Like an idiot, i picked the wrong color again. Light peaches colors might as well be white.
So lets try that again. Yes, that's much better. I took the first picture to show how horribly white looking the peachy color was before I painted it this really odd orange sherbert color, I think this is the color I was shooting for in the first project. (Every just say f*ck it and go bold?) I was choosing between a light brown and this more autumn like color. I like fall more so than brown, specially at red rover gorge, and while this color matches most other colors in the house, it doesn't match the green. The brown matched every other color in the house, but... it was brown.
This color matches well with the hardwood, and lets the molding stand out. People REALLY like this room, and i have gotten more compliments on it than any other room in the house.
This room juts out over the yard about 2 feet, so I pulled up the sub floor and insulated, to ensure that I was able to spread the insulation well enough to prevent drafts and cold spots. It could have been done from below, but not very easily, and not without compromising on quality.
I purchased my wood from "Stone River Hardwoods" Nice people...
Before installing the wood I put 2 deck screws in each sub floor board, at each joist, across the entire floor. Same as the rest of the house. So there should not be any squeaks for a very long time, if ever.
Anyways, I took the opportunity over the month I waited on the flooring to go ahead and go nuts on the moldings, and closet shelving. The pictures don't show much, the boards on the side of the closet are fluted, 4 flutes, with a blank spot in the middle for the glass doors. I made all of the fluted molding, window molding (27 Flutes, decorative edges), shelf's, and crown molding (Dental Teeth, 5 other decorative cuts) for this room, several 55 gallon drums of sawdust :)
Here are the closet shelf's... LOTS of work (2 Weeks), had to cut, glue, sand, paint, trim, hang... WOW I had no idea it was that much work. They are not even done yet, still have to hang the clothes bar, and the lower shelves.
<Insert>
clothes hanger bar
mirror door
crown molding
finished floor
Archway Columns
Project #
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Project #?? Future Project
This attic space next to the closet for the master bedroom as the potential to become a large 4th bedroom, a nice study, or even a good sized modern bathroom. This would be my last major renovation if i decide to undertake it, and will involve extending the roofline out in in a large room wide dormer. Which of course will involve more fun structural calculations. Which makes it a motivation to finish my 'list' of things that would have to be completed before I could sell the house. At that point ill decide if it would add any value to the house. Don't wanna price this thing out of the neighborhood...
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HPIM1361
- Before Walkthrough.MPG
