That was one mess....

Well I spent much of the day cleaning out the basement...old wood, shelves, table, trash, and much more... It was an interesting day filled with dust and more. At one point I had a mountain of trash 45 gal trash bags on the back porch, a mountain of old wood outside the basement window (thankfully they open), It took two trips to the Cowan city burn pile and one trip to the trash drop point...couldn't even get all the bags in back of the truck. So below is the picture of the basement before today and after today. I still have about two hours and three bags of trash to go to get it clean. Pictures to come.

I also finished tearing the Sheetrock from the living room ceiling. I was happy to be able to save the trim. Part of the ceiling has the old ceiling paper. This is the fun of working with an old house...discovery. Then Christy came and was searching the upstairs and found a book the original owner had. It's copyright was 1929. I believe she was a teacher. Some of the teachers at school knew her and said she was the school grandma for a long time.

Up...up...and...away

Wow, crazy day. Removing old plumging that went upstairs via the stairwell wall...lol. Pulled the sink from the wall in Jonathan's bedroom...how many kids can say their bedroom had a hug ceramic sink...? Pulled some more redneck wiring out...they had the neutral and ground wire powering the outlet...amazing... Repaired a floor joist. Jacked up the house enough to remove the old posts...found one was totaly rotten below the concrete and wasn't supporting anything anymore.

Finally, I got the new 12 feet long 6x6 pressure treated-super heavy beam put into place (glad I am a rock climber...old ropes come in handy when doing things like this... and three jackposts holding it up. Notice the picture above. This is what the floor joist looked like before the beam was installed. Notice the 2x8's and subfloor are about 1.5 inches lower than the wall! This is part of the sag issue we are addressing. Now notice the picture on the left. The gap is nearly closed...now we begin adjusting the actual sag. This may take about a week or two to work most of the sag out of the house. The actual sag in the middle of the house is about 1 7/8". I hope to get this down to within 3/4".

The pictures to the left are of the original posts...notice no beam...and then the new beam with posts.

The boys also helped me rip more of the kitchen floor up as well.

Tomorrow, I get to clean the basement of all of the trash and debri, check all outlets for proper wiring so we can get some power turned on, if time permits clean up the living room ceiling where the leak was, and work on some plumbing. Not much to do...lol. Feels good to be back in the family business...

Sunday discoveries

We did get a little time at the house today. I worked in the basement for awhile. There had been some bad wiring done in the past so I removed much of this, cleared the ceiling of all of the loose hanging wire material. Even sprayed a bit more mold treatment...lol. The basement houses the original heating system. It is an old burner style. I will have to research it. There was even a damper control unit still wired...though the damper was disconnected long ago. So, an interesting time in the basement today.
Christy and the boys showed up. So, Jonathan tried his hand on the kitchen floor...but not much luck..lol. I went out and purchased him a "J-bar" to use on the floor. Should come out pretty well now! Christy started scrubbing but not enough lighting. Jace was running the house having a good time. So, next we set our curiosity on the panelling on the stairs wall. So, we started attacking it...the layer behind the panelling had what looked like Christmas paper for wall paper...it was thumb-tacked on with red tacks. Behind it was the original teal colored cloth paper. We will have to take pix tomorrow and post.
I also took out the damaged ceiling in the living room. Nasty---dirty---amazing...we found the original ceiling paper behind the sheetrock! One thing for sure...the entire house is wrapped on the inner walls with one-by's. They range from 1x6 to 1x14! This will make putting up sheetrock much easier.
Tomorrow's plan...start preparing to jack up the floor, get the wiring ready for power to be turned on, contact the water company to see if we can't get the water on...much easier to clean with it on...praying for no leaks. Remove the kitchen floor (down to the original)...except for where the cabinets are located...but then may pull them as well to get the flooring up. And...much, much, more!

Day 1 complete

Day 1 of working on the house. This picture shows the weeds and all. Whoever planted the climbing vines by the house...

So, we worked on the yard...interrupted by the county Christmas parade...which passed right in front of our house.

New locks installed and knob. You gotta love the hole-saw guides for installing them.

We pulled up a part of the flooring in the kitchen to discover old flooring. Not quite what one hopes for but interesting. I'll have to post pictures on Flickr.

Our biggest dent for the day was on the outside. Jonathan helped out for a while. I got the vines pulled from the top of the chimney, even put the top back in position, trimmed the bushes, and ran we weed eater. There was even more work completed but this was the last chance to get a picture for the day.
Now to rake up the debris, pressure wash the debris from the siding and bricks, and put down some roundup...lol. Overall a great and productive day!

12/4/2010

Today's agenda:
Treat the white stuff in the basement especially around where the Jack posts and beam will go.
Clean basement
Mow, weed eat, clean out weeds and old flowers from in front of the porch, and remove vines.
Remove the 220 line that runs upstairs...on the outside wall of the house.
Start scrubbing the first floor!
Install a new knob and deadbolt in the old door on the rear of the house.
Watch the Cowan Christmas Parade from the front porch!
Pictures to come!!!

The Renovation Begins

Today we took posession of a classic Arts and Crafts era Craftsman style home. Our goal is to share with those interested through this blog. We will post info, details, photos, and much more as we go through this to make it our home.

Dec 3, 2010-Jaces' Birthday and the day we start working.