New York Renovator

Today is our Sabbath rest day from work. We chugged along for nine days, packing up the kitchen and dining room, setting up a temporary kitchen in the garage, and demolishing the kitchen and dining room. What a wild ride! It’s like life just STOPPED during that time. I even forgot to water my baby tomato seedlings, and they died. I guess I’ll have to buy plants from the home center this year.

Anyway, we are thrilled that the demolition is DONE! We are now entering the planning stage, now that the walls are open and we can see exactly what’s going on within the structure.

The gutted kitchen, as viewed from the dining room.

The very good news is that few partition walls in this house are load-bearing. It’s rather odd. The house seems post-and-beam with balloon frame walls. In case you are wondering what balloon frame is, I wrote a post about it: Up, Up and Away. It’s called balloon frame for two reasons: one, the studs along the exterior of the home start at the sill plate (the top of the stone foundation) and go allllll the way up up up to the roof rafters; two, the hot air balloon was just coming into vogue at the same time as this unusual style of framing. The history of the balloon frame design is interesting. It is, however, an inefficient method for home building today, because it requires vast lengths of solid beams, which is not economically attainable. The balloon frame house also has two things against it: the second storey relies on the strength of nails to hold it up on ledger boards; and the long voids created inside the walls from the basement sill to the attic rafters is a fire hazard– there is nothing to stop a fire from racing up the walls to the attic.

Old style "cut nails." These were some of the first machine-made nails in this area.

This is a machine-made "cut nail"; these nails were manufactured in the U.S. from 1820 to 1910. Nails were previously hand-forged.

My home has some slight variations of the balloon frame that make it a little stiffer and safer. For one, instead of relying solely on nailing the second storey floor system to ledgers, the builder created beams with notches to set the floor joists. That was swell of him. Secondly, inside the first floor walls, the builder installed brick noggin. I assume this was for the purpose of making fire stops. It also helps to keep the house very cool in the summer. However, it’s also cool in the winter. :S And the noggin interferes with the placement of plumbing, electrical, and insulation (all these were implemented into housing decades after my house was built). If you are interested in reading about the history of Mr. Rogers– the guy who built my home– you can read about it here: Our History. I often wonder what Mr. Rogers would think if he knew his house was still standing.

The studs are still very straight and stiff. I’m impressed that, after 155 years, the studs are so straight. I recently (this week) discovered two support joists that have serious cracks, however. We have to fix these immediately. And the house does sag in the center– it has ever since we bought it. I think the sag is due to the inept “improvements” of previous owners, who hacked into the support structure and had no idea what they were doing. Before I can replace the walls, I need to meticulously inspect them and add support where necessary. After this, we can add electric, plumbing, etc. I’ll have loads more on this to come.

These studs are incredibly straight after 155 years.

P.S. In case you are wondering just how much stuff we removed from these two gutted rooms: the weight came to over 3.5 TONS!

Our dumpster is absolutely overflowing. Overflowing is actually an understatement, lol. BUT THE DEMOLITION is DONE!!! How I have waited for this day! It took us six full days, working 6-8 hours every day. I am SO sore, lol! But I am thankful it’s done.

After we demolished the kitchen, we progressed into the Dining Room.

This room was more difficult because there are so many corners, so many windows and doorways. There are TEN openings in this room– four windows and SIX doorways. And that does not count the basement and garage entry doorway (I’m not gutting that section until next year). We broke no windows, although I did break a window sill. I have to repair that this week.

And to Lin, who left a comment that she misses the multi-colors of the old kitchen (I hope you were being sarcastic there!! LOL), well, the dining room was JUST as colorful.

The old dining room ceiling was a salmon pink. I don’t know when it was painted this color… I assume sometime before the 1980s, because the previous owners installed a drop ceiling sometime around then.

Wow. That’s quite… pink.

(The red walls are mine.)

The old color for the dining room walls were once a mustard yellow. Could it possibly have been salmon pink and mustard yellow in this room?!?!? Whoa.

As for Livvy, she is growing very, very impatient with us. She is sick and tired of being cooped upstairs, away from all the action. We are trying to get the place cleaned up before she is allowed downstairs. She insists that we hurry up, or she is coming down one way or another without our help.

She's trying to squeeze through an old heater vent opening! Egads! It's a 10 foot drop. We covered the hole.

And this is a snapshot of our temporary kitchen, in the attached garage. It’s very cramped, but I think my daughter has made it rather cozy.

So onward we go…. I’m so glad demolition is over. It’s horrible, nasty exhausting work. We’ve never spent so many days doing it. Six days is long enough. I think we are all very relieved the worst is over.

We didn’t find any buried treasure. But Hubs found two pennies dated 1946 and 1956, which is about when the heating system was installed (and installed poorly, I might add).

So this week, we clean out the residual plaster dust and cobwebs, throw junk in a second dumpster, and start the rebuilding process. Oh, and I also have to earn some more money to pay for all this stuff… so far, I have managed to pay cash for everything as I go along. I’m praying we do not incur debt for this project. I have no idea how I’m going to get my cabinets and countertops and flooring, but all in good (and God’s) time.

Kitchen and Laundry Room are gutted! Glory to God! Yay!

This is what is was like two days ago:

We worked 6 hours today with one break. I called it quits early. We are totally beat. Wow. Thank God for coffee, which is perking right now.

And to the brilliant dudes who invented sheetrock? ILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOU. People, there IS a reason why plaster and lathe is not installed any more. Rest assured, it is a very, very good reason.

I’m also very hapy to report that we now have running water once again, thanks to the brilliant Hubs. AND we have a washing machine hooked up in the basement! Hurray! Hubs is actually very good at plumbing, because he is such a neatnik and loves detailed work. He shoulda been a cabinet maker or a watch maker. He’s good.

We took SHOWERS and are relaxing this evening. We still have the dining room to and downstairs bathroom to gut… and we have two days in which to do it. The race is on…

We are officially halfway through the demolition. wow. I’m beat.

We have a total of 2,200 square feet of plaster and lathe to remove, and we’ve removed 1,248 of it so far. Only 952 square feet more to go!

Today we did a big blitz and forced ourselves to get the entire ceiling of the kitchen and laundry alcove, all 12 x 23 feet of it. I didn’t find any big surprises like I did when we gutted the living room. When I saw the shoddy knob-and-tube wiring installed in between the second story floor joists, I barely shrugged. When I saw the corroded copper plumbing with lead solder, I rolled my eyes in expectation. When I saw that the previous owners had hacked a supporting floor joist into huge holes and pieces to make room for a plumbing pipe, I did gape a little. And the dozen or so mouse nests wedged in between the lathe… very, very gross, but no surprises. It’s amazing how desensitized one becomes when gutting an old home!

I did find a rat skeleton, though. That make me very, um, queasy. As far as I know, we do NOT have rats here. Nor do I want ANY. The skeleton was a bit of a shock. I couldn’t tell how old it was… but it had some…. *stuff* hanging on there… kinda like King Tut unwrapped…. pretty dry but still…. enough to make you retch. Anyway, I was going to snap a photo for you guys (see how I want to involve you?!); I placed the remains outside for later, but it started to rain. And when King Tut is left out in the rain, his dry stuff gets moistened… and, well, you know. It reeked. Into the dumpster Mr. Tut went. You’ll have to use your imagination, now. Bummer, I know.

ANYWAY. I don’t have any photos for you today. I was too durn beat. Plus, we now have the added problem of no water in the house. In order to get my washing machine running, we have to shut off the ENTIRE WATER SUPPLY to divert the piping. I cannot believe the jokers who installed the stuff in this house. It’s unbelievable. How they got away with SO much slop, is beyond me. So we have no water supply because the Hubs couldn’t finish the piping job before he had to go to work. We have some bottled water for emergencies, but we had to take sponge baths out in the rain. And I still have no washing machine. And no working toilets. Nice.

UGH UGH UGH.

Well, my daughter is cooking dinner tonight (and we don’t have to worry about doing the dishes in a big tub tonight *maniacal laughter*) and I am here with my feet up. I have this ache in the back of my shoulders, from pulling plaster and lathe down from the ceiling for 6 hours straight. lol. I am taking the NIGHT OFF! And it feels goooooood.

My new kitchen sink and my new dishwasher are in the mail now. They will be here in a week or so. And I also ordered my PEX plumbing supplies today. I can’t wait until it’s installed. You know, we don’t see what it takes to install the plumbing and electric and insulation, so we don’t really realize how wonderful it is until it’s gone or not working properly. I REALLY miss my electric and I REALLY miss my plumbing.

Only 952 more to go…. only….

I can barely muster the energy to write this post, I am so exhausted! LOL. But I figured you all might be curious as to how Day 1 went in the Kitchen Renovation Of All Time.

It went well. We got a lot done, and we are officially exhausted.

After setting up our Temp Kitchen (temporary kitchen) in the garage, we dismantled most of the existing cabinets and countertops. After removing just one cabinet and the stove and fridge, our spirits soared. Already it’s an improvement.

We’re leaving the sink and sink cabinet in as long as possible right now. I spent the morning testing the electrical circuits, shutting them down, removing light fixtures and outlets, etc. This one threw me for a loop.

That, my dear friends, is typical of the wiring in this house. ITS CRAZY. This double-box had FOUR wired connections, with SEVEN wires crammed in the box. One, as you can see, was cut and left without a wire nut. Bit the other wire to the set was rigged up to one of the switches. The whole electrical system makes me foam at the mouth. It’s insane!!!

We worked on removing some plaster and lathe from the far end of the kitchen. This will become a laundry alcove.

While digging out the plaster, we discovered some of the very old, probably original wallpaper. I suspect this area used to be the housekeeper’s area.

And here’s the progress on Dumpster, Day 1. This thing will be overflowing when we are done!

Dumpster, Day 1

Whew! I’m off to check some kids’ homework, then I’m going to bed. Because we have to get up and do this again tomorrow!!!!!!!!! :S

Thank you for your prayers!

It’s kind of weird, how memories are associated with smells.

It’s FINALLY warmed up here in Upstate New York. I think we may hit a record here, over 90 degrees F today. This old house, customarily cold even when the temperature outside is warm, is steamy and very uncomfortable today. There is a pungent smell of plaster in the house and it brings back unsavory memories. That of grunting and groaning, of blood, sweat, and tears…

Check out last years’ post here for a little trip down memory lane. :S I can’t stand the smell of plaster! It’s more distasteful than the thought of medicare insurance!

I was glad to get rid of at least one room of it, last year. Good riddance.

In two days, we completely demolished the Living Room. What a dirty, tiresome job. One 15 x 17 foot room shed enough plaster to fill 10 32-gallon trash cans, with some to spare. What a mess, but well worth it. I am relieved to be rid of the junk. There IS a reason why someone invented sheetrock, and why it is so popular today!

In between all the studs on the first floor are mortared bricks. The bricks do not continue into the second floor.

We consider the bricks (“noggin” as they are called) to be a blessing and a curse. For one, they do have some insulating qualities, in restricting air flow and dust. And they keep the downstairs cool in the summer.

However, they disintengrate with the introduction of water and/or movement. In an old house, water and movement are a given. Thus, some bricks have deteriorated. Also, previous owners punched holes in the brick to install electrical outlets.

After much agonzing, we are going to keep the brick intact.It would be too cost prohibitive to remove it and replace it with insulation, and I think it also helps to keep the studs straight.

I found out many things after we removed the plaster. I found out why previous owners had installed an ugly cardboard drop ceiling: one part of the plaster ceiling had cracked all the way across when the center beam of the house settled. I don’t know why someone would go to all the trouble and expense of installing a horrid drop ceiling instead of removing the plaster, but, oh well. I am so happy to have that drop ceiling in the landfill now.

The wiring is frightful. Mice have chewed through wires still active. I don’t quite know what to do with them, as these wires go somewhere into the flooring abyss in the second floor.

Well, now that we have torn apart the walls and have seen the guts of the room, we can finally begin to make plans and set some priorities. I am determined to redo not just the walls and floor, but to redo the very bad and aged wiring, and reconfigure the furnace ducting (which is a disastrous tangled mess and dirty, to boot).

More later!