This old House

“Glad I discovered this thread. It's encouraging to see all the great work undertaken. I have a 1913 Craftsman highwater bungalow (I live in a flood zone) that is in pretty good shape (hey, all my double hung windows work), but it always needs something. Currently getting ready to strip, stain and seal the front door which has nasty, bubbling paint on it. Have been removing privets that are digging into the siding (not the foundation yet). The big undertaking will be to finish the basement which is currently just a dirt floor.”

“There were 32 photos under "Before." Are those progress and before pics or just before?”

“dh - all before so far. after pics coming soon

rosey - do you have pics of the house? How the heck do all of your double hung windows work?!”

“That's what I thought but I didn't want to actually ask if they were before when some could be after, ya know.

Heck, it looks good now.

rosey - you might look into fiberglass. The good ones have a dang good wood grain and they're more energy efficient. Check this out: http://www.askthebuilder.com/533-Fiberglass-Doors-are-Superb.shtml”

“BB: Time, bro. Time. Oh yeah, and I live in CA where the weather doesn't rot stuff. Actually, I can't take credit for all of them as they were kept in pretty good shape and not totally painted shut which always makes the job easier. Plus, I had practice from when I rennovated a couple of Victorian apts. about 15 years ago. I'll post some pics in a while. A lot of it was rennovated when we moved in, like it had an new kitchen, which pretty much sold us on the place. It's small -- 1,200 sf.

DH: I have no doubt it's more energy efficient. Then again, I do have lots of original windows that rattle and are drafty as hell. Our front door has been shaved on the edges, weatherstripped, etc. Even has a crack in it. But it is original, and I am somewhat of purist, so I will probably keep it unless something catastrophic happens in the refinish. I appreciate the link, tho!”

“I wished I would have taken before pictures.

I will do that with the back and front yard”

“Original door, neat.

As our house construction progresses I'm taking a photo from 2 different vantage points as construction progresses so that at the end I'll have a time lapse of the whole thing.”

“I was back at the old farm house this morning to remeasure a few things we missed. While I was sitting in the attic redrawing the rafters, I ended up face to face with one of the houses residents. I hat rats.”

“Never heard of a hat rat before.”

“That's supposed to say heart, he hearts rats. Touching isn't it?”

“lumber, about 5 years ago we were involved with a renovation of an old hotel. 4-5 stories made of cast in place concrete. It had been abandoned and was being lived in by lots of homeless folks. One day I was there with the architect doing some measurements. I was up on a table holding the tape to the underside of the slab and she was at the floor level with the tape. She didn't look where she put the tape and her hand wound up on an old condom.

I think I tried to be tactful. Afterall, what do you say when someone does that? I thin my words came out something like, "HOLY $HIT, WATCH OUT FOR THAT RUBBER!!!"”

“I just can't resist those beady little eyes.”

“lmao @ dayhiker

someday maybe I'll get to go in one of these buildings when they are actually not falling down and clean.”

“It was a weird project, there were probably 10 different floor elevations. A fire had gutted it so my initial involvement was to figure out what had to be gutted. If concrete is pink it has to go, end of discussion. The spalling stuff is a bit different. You get highly technical. When the flooring (tile on sleepers) get removed you drag a chain. If it sounds funny, it's removed. Again, very technical.”

“Another thing about that job, one day I was in there and there were 2-3 empty Heineken bottles. That just hit my wrong that day and cracked me up. 'least the homeless have taste I suppose.”

“Probly an engineer.”

“Engineers don't drink fru-fru drinks like Heine's. That's more like something that an architect(lumber) or union lobbyist(BB) would drink.”

“Sorry to disappoint you dayhiker, but I don't drink beer I can't pronounce after I've drunk a few.”

“http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20057325,00.html

The photos for Home inspection Horrors 8 is up now. Dear god its amazing these things haven't killed anyone yet.”

“Stabilization work on the MacNaughton House got finished up last month.


Before


After”

“Well that's looking a lot more secure.”

“At least things are solid now for when the restoration work finally begins. When we did our survey work, we weren't able to figure out how the house was still standing.”

“Looks nice now. Probably was held up by rat crap and termite spit.

Love the inspection pics on thisoldhouse site.”

“I was just on a roof last month that had the same situation as #15.

BTW placing a clipboard over the vent pipe is a good way not to get stung.”

“I'm going to install the metal chimney for my wood stove this weekend. Old (1930) two story farmhouse with a steeply pitched metal roof. Any hints from the pro's?”

“Holy crap! That junction box is skeery!”

“Any hints from the pro's?”

just be careful, and always remember that if you slip, the ground will break your fall.

edit*

That is some messed up electrical work. I love the copenhagen tin.
last edited: 9/19/07 6:24:09 PM”

“I talked with a guy Saturday night that owns a portable sawmill. He had heard that I'm planning some renovations and have a few trees on my property. In short, I'm wondering if it's a good ideas to cut, saw and plane my own lumber for such things as flooring, decorative support posts, beams, etc. I have lots of yellow and white poplar, birch, red pine, jack pine, red oak, white oak and spruce. There's some sugar maple, but I'm thinking about tapping them when I get some time. Any experience, ideas out there?”

“Hickory is my favorite.”

“Sounds dang cool. The ultimate in local sourcing, local production. Very green.

The red or white oak would make good flooring, its pretty hard. My kitchen cabinets are red oak. The oak burns well so keep your scraps. Pine and spruce are soft so might only be good for decoration.”

“Very cool nimble. I would certainly look into it. Sounds like a great way to get high quality lumber and custom work for a reasonable price. I What would your costs be up front? Do you have the tools to make trim etc? At least look into it.

My aunts house was built out of lumber harvested off their property, their kitchen cabinets are made from birch trees harvested on site too. Funny, when the house was built it wasnt called being "green" it was called being practical (actually poor).

I am hoping we get to buy the place in 10 years, my cousins dont want it.”

“Red Oak is pretty much my primary source of fuel, Tech. I'm not thinking so much green as being practical. I have the stuff, why not use it? My woodworking tools are almost non existant. For somethings I'd need a planer. Learning about moisture content in wood with respect to air drying would be practical. There's got to be a way to measure it. We're at the start of winter, so not much will get done for quite some time. No doubt my head will be turned in a different direction come spring due to my whimsical nature, but who knows?”

“I am no expert but don't you have to dry (cure) the lumber before using it? There is a lot of water in fresh cut lumber.
I have heard of homeowners trading their timber for dried cut lumber.
last edited: 11/08/07 6:36:54 AM”

“Shade, you're right, but I think that was addressed in the post above yours.”

“The log has to be cut and then let air dry(cured) untill the moisture content is correct for that area. This takes time, then it should be sawed and then put into a kiln dryer, for those boards going inside fpr use. And have the moisture reduced futher. All said and done, giving shares to the saw mill owner or paying cash to him outright. If you have the time, and were expecting delays to happen along the way. It would be cost effective to do this.”

“I'm in no rush to do any of this, not being exactly task oriented anymore, lol”

“I found a pretty decent article on this subject
http://www.plesums.com/wood/tips/lumbermilling.html”

“That's helpful, thanks.”

“My father-in-law cut down some diseased oaks in his yard. He had them rough-cut at a local mill, and air-dried them in his garage. He would rotate them a couple times a year for about 3 years. Now we have a complete bedroom set, bed, 2 dressers & 2 end tables--mostly from that lumber. He also made 2 other head boards.”

“Sounds dang cool. The ultimate in local sourcing, local production. Very green.


Unless, of course, you don't replant the trees you cut down! ;-)”

“Does Canabis count?”

“Cannabis isn't a tree.”

“Yeah, but it's green, Canabisbait.”

“Never tried it, never will.”

“You have to check with the mill to make sure the tree is considered "virgin" (ie. zero chance of having nails or other man-made metal objects imbedded in the tree). Non-virgin trees will wreck very expensive saw blades.”

“I'm about to begin renovating my bathroom. Not looking forward to it.....

Before:




Changes:
rip out tile - replace with subway tile around the tub, wainscoting in the actual room.

new period mirror

paint

electrical work - new fan

glass block window

new period floor tile (or refurbish the original stuff underneath what I have now)

period lights/accessories.
last edited: 11/09/07 3:53:47 PM”

“BB, the mill is portable and owned by a friend. There's seldom an absolute guarantee of the absence of nails, but considering the remoteness of my property I feel fairly comfortable as long as I stay away from the original fence line.

Nice job on the bathroom, btw. Mine is on the list as well as everything else in this old place. I'd do before and after photo's, but want to forget about the before. Lots of working and learning in front of me.
last edited: 11/09/07 4:12:51 PM”

“how old is your place? renovating is fun, and expensive.”

“It's an old farmhouse built in 1930, surrounded by 40 rolling and hilly acres. There's a trout stream going through the front yard, dumping into the Namekagon River about half a mile away. I own land on both sides of the water for some distance downstream. Most of the wood used in the original construction of the house was cut and milled on site. There's also a large pole barn, old but functional 2 car garage and a solid chicken coop. Most of the property is tree'd with red oak, a few white oak, white pine, spruce, jack pine, red pine, balsam, sugar maple, birch and yellow and white poplar. There's also other trees I cannot identify.

Renovating is not really a choice if I want to eventually live in comfort. The only question is how much, both in terms of money and personal energy expended. My early grandiose thinking is begrudgingly giving way to reality as I realize my age and all the remaining trails to be hiked. It's all good, though.”

“Yesterday was another big work day at our house. Many projects were started, some completed. I am living in a nearly completely gutted first floor now. Dust settles on everything. No matter how often I wipe it off, it comes back. I really look forward to the completion. But I am at the same time so thankful for all the time and energy so many of my friends have put into helping me further this project.

One of the things done yesterday was to tear out the plaster in the ceiling in the dining room. This was done for two reasons: to open up the channel where a duct will be run and to gain access to the electrical so that my eventual dining room fixture can be installed. In doing the work, one of the guys clipped some of the old cloth-covered wire from the knob and tube system. All this time we have worked around this stuff thinking it was all dead and just had never been removed. Wrong! A good bit of it is live. Fortunately, no one was zapped.

Today as I walked around the house alone and surved all the work, I looked up and found something that had been written between the joists in the ceiling of the dining room. It was written in pencil on the underbelly of one of the floorboards of the second floor. It was never exposed until the plaster ceiling was removed yesterday.

It reads:

"The world is round and has no end
My finger is hard and will not bend."

I find this to be so curious and wonder what compelled someone to write that where they did.”