My Feet Are Tired!

[Trek420]

Keep the pictures coming- I love seeing other's remodeling projects.

Ok you asked.

The circa '70's cottage cheese ceiling is gone!!! Yeah!!

Yesterday Hillary came by and zwoop.. out goes the equally ugly and same era linoleum flooring is gone.

I'm putting it in the trash as soon as it stops pouring down rain.

These old cabinets are going next. Shhhhhhhh, Don't tell them.

You can see the left corner of the kitchen has the dishwasher (whose days are also numbered) and the oven at corner to each other. Not that I ever wash dishes and bake bread at the same time or even sequentially but you can't. Also the corner there is useless space.

There's no storage, no drawers, no cabinet, no lazy Susan ....nothin' there in the corner but a bit of counter. What were they thinking? Well, it was in the '70s

I've ordered new cabs, the design will be L shaped, going to loose that peninsula thing and may add a rolling cart instead. The new sink centers more on the window, dishwasher moves juuuust enough to the right to give me usable space in the corner.

Whata concept, storage space, who knew this could happen?

[Trek420]

..... now you don't. Cabinets largely gone. I'll schedule a bulk waste pick up soon and away they go.

[Tuckervill]

I just discovered the 110 yo floor behind my clawfoot tub is almost non-existent under the peel-n-stick tile the last owners put there. So I guess I'll be ripping up that room pretty soon. :P

And I can't use the tub.

Karen

[Trek420]

There are worse things to find you can't use for a while. This is why though I could only afford a small place I chose 1 1/2 bathroom.

But oooooh, clawfoot tub. Love those. Going to keep it? What kind of new flooring are you putting in?

[Tuckervill]

I hope to have all the original 1" thick oak floors restored in this house eventually. We had a huge leak in the kitchen 2 xmases ago, and had to replace the floor (with plywood), so I've stashed up the boards we took out of there, and I'll use them to patch up the bathroom. I'm having a hard time convincing hubby that this is a good idea, or I'd have it done already. (I don't know what he's thinking.)

Yes, I LURVE my clawfoot tub. I don't think this house had indoor plumbing at it's inception, so the tub is probably not original to the house. But it should be original with the plumbing!

Funny, I avoided using it for the first 3 years we lived here because I knew there was a wrinkled spot under the tile elsewhere in the bathroom, so I already suspected it was from the tub. Then I got over my fear and started using it and watching closely. It must just be seepage because there are no water spots anywhere to tip me off. I'm sad about it.

Karen

[Trek420]

I'm having a hard time convincing hubby that this is a good idea, or I'd have it done already. (I don't know what he's thinking.)

That it'll be a lot of work, and expense, and mess while it's going on and a huge disruption to your life .... and he's right.

But think of how beautiful it will be when it's done. And if you think you'll ever sell - bathrooms sell houses (and kitchens and .....)

Good idea saving the oak flooring. Have you considered tile or something in the bathroom and use the oak somewhere else to really show it off?

[Trek420]

The living room looks like it's painted, a nice antique white.

H. has prepped the accent wall more. Heating grates are off and the hall lights are out so it's clear for painting.

My living room curtains are down so I'd better stop prancing around the living room naked till they are back up.

Remind me, I might forget.

The wall's coming down in the half bath area.

I'm off to get the dishes out of the dishwasher, washed or not they gotta go. She's going to rip that old thing out tomorrow.

[Tuckervill]

Hey! The tub wasn't leaking after all! It was just poorly worked flooring around the pipes behind the tub! YIPPEE!

But once we got going, we ended up gutting the whole bathroom. The floor in there is not the original floor, but it's still tongue-in-groove, probably maple, not oak. It was never actually finished (no varnish). It's hard to tell exactly what happened. My guess is the floor rotted out at one time, and a new floor was installed, intended as subfloor. The plaster and baseboards were below the floor level. It is hard to tell if the plaster was original to the house, but we busted it all out. They had busted out parts of it in order to put the paneling over it at some point, probably when the floor was put in, so we couldn't save it. There was only one coat of paint over the plaster (pink, of course).

So I'm thinking the tub and floor (or the bathroom) are not original to the house at 110 years. I'm thinking 1940s or 1950s judging by the style of the layer of linoleum under the peel-n-stick tile. We'll know more about the floor when we rip out the styrofoam ceiling tile in the room beneath, which we intend to replace with tin.

Now I'm looking for a person who knows something about plaster, lath, and whether to do drywall, veneer plaster, or plaster. We didn't take out the lath, in case it makes the most sense to just drywall over it.

Talk about burning calories! Prying up those layers of floor was hard work!

Karen

[Trek420]

Wouldn't you do greenboard in the bathroom? You know, that stuff that holds up to moisture. You can then put anything over it, such as plaster or even tile. I've seen some wonderful tile bathrooms.

Veeeeery nice that you did not find damage under there. Always nice when you dodge the bullet on that.

Sounds like you're keeping the style to the age of the house just with new house bits. We want photos!

[Tuckervill]

Since it's a clawfoot tub which exposes the floor underneath, and we will probably put marine varnish on the floor, there's not really a reason to put greenboard on the walls near the tub. The tub won't have a shower, just a hand-held for washing my hair and the dogs. (I'm the only one who even wants to use the tub. I consider it "my" space. ) I'm still considering whether to put up a shower curtain loop. I've been using it without, but also without a hand-held shower, using a container to dump water over my head.

Veneer plaster is plaster without the lath...blueboard behind just a couple of coats of plaster. I'm assuming the blueboard is water resistant, but since I haven't found anyone who can do it I haven't really researched it. I prefer plaster, but drywall may be the most practical option.

I've been taking pictures of the demolition. My dad and I trade pics of our projects all the time. This time I made sure they weren't all of my husband doing all the work...My dad thinks my husband does all this stuff, but we share the load! As soon as I get off the couch, I'll post one.

Karen

[Trek420]

I'm assuming the blueboard is water resistant, but since I haven't found anyone who can do it I haven't really researched it. I prefer plaster, but drywall may be the most practical option.

Check into that. Though you don't use the shower and I assume DH does not either there's steam and mist from the bath. Water is the enemy of your home both from inside and out.

If the blueboard is water resistant .... go for it

[Trek420]

Since I'll replace the washer/drier anyway I may want to get a gas drier. My kitchen range is electric.

I'm debating whether to get a gas range or keep the existing newer electric but anyway....since there's gas water heater and heating upstairs is it worth it to pay the extra to bring the gas down to the kitchen/laundry area?

It's already there. And if I want it extended to the kitchen just a relatively quick turn and jog over.

Also I'd wondered if the house is earthquake braced, that is bolted to the foundation. While the house guts I now see are not on a load bearing wall H. pointed out that they are bolted to the foundation so it's likely the exterior walls are too. I'm not going to tear things out to find out, but it is reassuring.

[Brandi]

Can I join in here! I just read through all of your comments! How exciting all these new things happening in your homes. I would like to comment on the to keep or not to keep the electric stove. Go gas! It is so much nicer. And when you go to sell it (if you do) it is preeferred by a lot of people. We lived with one in our house till it broke. I had no problems putting in a gas one. But then I like to cook. One of my cats once stepped on a cooling down electric burner and hurt herself. I was happy to see it go.
We have oak wood floors that we had to fix. Oh I hated the sanding, it got on everything. But they look so nice now!
The people who lived in our house before we bought it broke up while they were in the house. He weny crazy And took an axe to all the kitchen cabnets and a few of the walls! So there were no cabnets in the kitchen when we moved in and axe marks on the counter tops. The day after we moved in everything that had bad karma on it was ripped out! I thought I might feel a little wierd moving into a house that had an angry past but we brought enough love in it to turn it around. Oh he didn't take the axe to her by the way. But we found out later he went away and killed himself! Creepy huh? But like I said you do not feel them in this house at all now. We have been working on this house for over 14 years now. It is a 3 story house with a view of the ocean. We bought it for 139k way back when. and at the time we bought it for the veiw not the house. It was such a wreck! I can't imagine living in any other house now though!
Oh the best feature of the house when we moved in was the bright orange cast iron sink that was in the kitchen. When my dh threw it over the balacony into the sandy drive way it made the whole house shake from it's wieght i swear!

[sundial]

Go gas! It is so much nicer.

And should you lose power, you can still have a hot meal.

[Trek420]

Can I join in here?

Yes! the more the merrier.

I spent part of the evening at Lowes with H. the carpenter. We picked out a sink for the 1/2 bath/laundry room area and a new light for the room, sconce for the hallway, dinning room fixture (a ceiling fan. it gets hot here) and I'm semi stuck for the kitchen lighting, I'm going to take another look.

The designer in me saw a nice halogen track light, the tree hugger wants something that will take CFLs. I will look at a couple other places this weekend and make a final choice.

Good news, we don't need to dig a trench through the foundation to move the sink

Bad news, the electrical needs more work than anticipated

Good news it's about or less than what we thought trenching would be.

Also good news Mae the wonder mutt looooooves the plumber. She's enjoying this parade of new people, activity mess and noise. It's an expensive way to socialize a dog but it's working.