As some of you know, I bought a 100 year old house last March. Being 100 years old it was well overdue for some renovations, so that's what I've been doing the past seven months. This house has essentially been gutted and rebuild on the inside. To give an example of the scope of the work involved:
- 144 sheets of drywall and about two dozen buckets of plaster have gone into the place.
- All windows have been "rebuilt" (broken panes replaced, frames stripped and painted)
- one bedroom sacrificed to make dining room bigger (who ever heard of a bedroom off a dining room anyway?)
- Bathroom completely replaced including addition of whirlpool tub
- Garden door added to dining room
- 60-amp electrical service replaced with 200-amp service, entire house rewired including satellite, phone & networking cables. All wiring brought up to current code including GFCI outlets where required
- All new plumbing, the old lead and cast iron pipes replaced with modern copper and plastic
- Electric heat has been added, providing three choices for neat now (wood, oil or electric)
- And much, much more (new floors, light fixtures, etc)
This house has literally turned me inato a "jack of all trades". I did everything in these pictures, and I do mean everything, except the ceramic floor in the kitchen. I did all of the electrical (an electrician friend "signed off" on the permit), plumbing, drywalling, flooring, trim work, plastering, carpentry - ALL OF IT. I did have a helper (my best friend and business partner) but I was the brains and brawn behind the entire job. That explains why it's taken seven months to get this far.
So now, after seven extremely long months I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is a good light. Allow me to take you on a photographic tour of the work that has been done:
First, we'll start off outside. This is the exterior of the rear of the house. The antenna was taken down and the window to the left of itb is now a double garden door, but otherwise it's the same:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/nosheddormer.jpg)
Inside we have the livingroom. This is the "Before" pic:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/livingrombefore1.jpg)
The first thing to go was that panelling (note the holes in the walls for new wiring):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/livingroomduring3.jpg)
Once the panelling was removed the plaster was beyond repair, so new drywall:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/livingroomduring4.jpg)
I kinda liked the paint that was under the panelling, so I tried my best to match it:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/livingroomduring6.jpg)
And finally the finished product:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/livingroomafter1.jpg)
With the livingroom finished it was time to focus on the master bedroom:
Before (note, once again, the fake panelling):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroombefore1.jpg)
Off it came, allowing me to run more wires:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomduring1.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomduring2.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomduring3.jpg)
New drywall:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomduring4.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomduring6.jpg)
And finished, including new floor:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomafter2.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/masterbedroomafter3.jpg)
The kitchen was next - this was the only room in the entire house that did not need new drywall, as it had been done recently. Still, the cushion floor, countertop and blue paint had to go:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/kitchenbefore1.jpg)
My brother put ceramic tile down, and I'm still waiting for him to put a ceramic tile backsplash behind the counter top, which is why that is still white primer:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/kitchenafter1.jpg)
With the kitchen, livingroom and master bedroom finished I could now move in. Then it became time to address some of the other rooms.
First we'll start with the dining room.
This is a pic before I touched it (pardon the drywall dust on the camera lens):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/diningroombefore1.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/diningroombefore2.jpg)
You can't see in the above pics, but there is a small bedroom just off the dining room. The door to this bedroom was in the wall on the right hand side of the above pics. I would rather a big dining room than a small one with a bedroom off it, so the wall came down. I also wanted a garden door to open onto the patio area so a double door was installed.
I don't have any "during" pics of the dining room, but the "after" pics show the breathtaking results (I'm very proud of this room, I see it as the centerpiece to the whole house). All of the drywall was replaced (including the ceiling), wainscotting was added, Birch hardwood floor (I would rather have had something darker but it was given to me) and some new light fixtures:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/diningroomafter1.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/dinigroomafter2.jpg)
...Now all I have to do is furnish it. That tiny table looks REALLY tiny in that big room :pbb:
The stairway was simply dripping in 1970's "old lady" design:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/staircasebefore1.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/staircasebefore2.jpg)
...So it was updated while keeping an antique look:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/staircaseafter.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/staircaseafter2.jpg)
Still on my list is the bathroom, other bedroom, and office (where I make my sequencers and stuff). They are all about 1/2 finished, but I'll wait to post pics of them until they're done. Needless to say their transformation is even more dramatic, especially the bathroom.
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/housead.jpg)(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/house/housead.jpg)
Cool!
It looks like you're doing very well with the house. That's something I'll have to tackle in the future.
I cant believe you painted the trim around the door under the stairs! thats the only thing I'd change, the rest looks great.
I hate that chintzy wood pannaling, all but two rooms in my house have that , the exceptions have old granny wallpaper and real wood :yuck: One of these days when i'm big and rich like you i'll re-do it :p
Looks nice. I know alot of hard work goes into stuff like this.
I like doing things on the house as well....just need to get a better house to do things on now :p
Believe me, I'd rather have left it original, but the pics do not show the condition that wood trim was in. The nicotene was caked on so thick it was cracking. It took a good deal of sing and filling the millions of thumbtack holes and carpet staple holes before that wood was even suitable for painting.
it looks really nice!! it doesnt even look 100 years old.
but is it haunted though?
Not to my knowledge, tho the basp00get is kinda creepy and the "stairway to nowhere" was absolutely spine tingling before I redid it (no pics of that yet, but the difference is unbelievable). It's not a stairway to nowhere anymore, for one thing - the previous owners had boarded up the lower entrance (into the kitchen) to put cabinets in, but I made an opening in a wall so it comes out in the laundry room (you can see the laundry room in the kitchen pics)
looking good. So when can we come over for a cook out? :grinno: When ever my grandfather dies I get his house so I'll be doing alot of this stuff at somepoint as well. His house has dark wood paneling and lime green furnature:yuck: . That stuff has to go.
Reminds me of back home in Vermont, very good work. Can't wait to see the finished product.
looking good, nice work:) Keep the updates coming I like reading home improvement stuff..
I have my house up for sale right now, so when I get my next one I'll have work to do again. Houses are like cars once they are done and all modded up they get boring and want to do up another..
looks awesome man, keep up the freakin awesome work
looks great. im desperately trying to dabble myself. we are flip flopping on weather or not to buy, build one myself or set up for a modular. thats if we can realy find a way to afford one.
My family is working on our house too. We have lived here for about 2 1/2 years and it was built in 1899. But your house it truly awsome. I wish my hosue was half that nice when it's done
Woah, Excellent Job Sir! Congrats...
And you say you cant do a T5 swap or a HO conversion ? Yu´r da man!
Who said I can't do a T5 swap or HO conversion? The only reason I haven't is because I'm spending all my time on the house :D Actually the HO conversion is officially out. The 351 is going in :deal:
Cougarcragar: The old couple that had the house (they were in their 90's when they died months apart, him when he rolled his '72 Bronco and her from pancreatic cancer) must have smoked like chimneys. There was actually a hardened nicotine resin covering everything in the house - walls, trim, light fixtures, ceiling fans, windows, etc. Thankfully it's all gone now.
To anyone considering doing this: Unless you like doing this kind of work, don't. In addition to the cost (I've got upwards of $30k in renovations so far, and that is materials only. Labour has been free because it's been me doing it) it was a HELL of a lot of work. Aside from the few days I did the suspension upgrades to the 'Bird I have had zero free time. Hell, I've still got a TC rear sitting on jackstands in the garage, waiting for rebuilding the traction lock and installation into the car. Then there's all the TC body parts still waiting to go in...
Wow, great work!
I don't know why you didn't keep the floral wall paper though :rolleyes:
For $30k that is amazing. I love house work, hate drywall work but love most everything else.
Looks like a looooooot of painting involved there.
I just recently refinished a 50-some odd year old dresser from our house to put in my apartment. I wanted the dresser, but the paint on it had to go (years ago my mom painted the body red, and the drawers blue, green, and yellow....:yuck:) I was gonna strip the entire thing and redo it, but as I started stripping the paint off I found that it had 3 other coats of paint under what my mom had put on there (from my grandma repainting it). It was such a pain in the ass stripping the paint, I actually ended up just stripping the faces of the drawers and the top bare, sanded em down, stained them with "golden oak" and put some tung oil on there. Then I painted the rest black. It actually looks really nice :) It was definitely not fun, though.
Nice work!! When I was married and building my TBirds, I was doing the same thing. The TBirds were a way for me to get out of the house and retain some sanity!! :crazy:
The house we restored was built in 1916, and was pretty much an identical type of project. I can't tell you how many sheets of sheetrock we hauled in and nailed up, but I don't wanna do it again any time soon!!
We made about $90k on the sale of the house when finished, but we also had about $30k tied up in the renovation along with all the free labor me and the ex put into it. I loved the house when it was finished, but man, that was a lot of work!! We sold the house when the divorce went through. I would have liked to keep it, but the timing just wasn't right...
Before you hung the sheetrock, did you take all the plaster down to the lathe, or did you sheetrock over the plaster? We took all the plaster down in the entire house, as most of it was flakiing anyway. That was by FAR the worst part of the job!! What a friggin mess!! But, it gave me the opportunity to put all new plumbing and wiring in!
I wouldn't mind doing another restoration like that, but I won't do it while living in it at the same time! :)
Looks GREAT. Keep up the good work.
But I would save some of the house work for winter and work on the car before it gets too cold. Inless the garge is heated.
On walls that needed plumbing and wiring I did, but on walls that only needed drywall I just out the drywall right over the plaster.
The garage is heated :shakeass: I'm gathering parts for the rear end swap now (master cylinder, trac-lock rebuild kit, brake cables, etc)
Dude, Im absolutely in love with your house. Youve done an amazing job, not to mention, you pulled off keeping the house rather vintage, and country looking, while still making it more modern. I love it.
Wait...I dont give compliments..........uhh.....meh. ;)
That is super nice. You must have been working non-stop to get all that done pretty much by yourself in only seven months. I really like what you did with the dining room. A lot of newer houses combine the dining room with the kitchen or living room and it's nice to see one with an actual room to eat in made as the centerpiece of the house, so to speak. I wonder how many families have spent time together over dinner in that room over the past 100 years.
I'm sorry it took you so long to get that settlement money, but I'm glad to see that things are working out for you now.
Yes, the settlement money took a while but it was well worth the wait. As an aside, had I not had the back injuries I probably would have gotten three times as much done in less time. Working two or three hours a day before the pain gets too great takes a long time to add up, especially as I wasn'tworking particularly fast when I was working (between trying to take it easy and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing). The doctor was glad I was doing it, though - he said it would help strengthen my back muscles as long as I didn't get stupid. The fact I lost about 30 pounds (half from the extra exercize, half from the 40-mile one-way trip to fast food) probably helped too.
It's amazing the things a person can come up with when trying to do big things, too. Simple but very useful things, such as a pair of 2X4's nailed together in a "T" to hold drywall sheets up to the ceiling while I was screwing them in, f'rinstance.
Shawn: Keeping the "antique" look was very high on my list of priorities. I did not want to make this old house look modern, I wanted to make it look old (but in new condition). That's why I tried to paint it in its original colours where possible or practical (the livingroom and diningroom) while using old-style colours in other rooms where the original colours were either not visible or not acceptable (the bathroom is now a pale slate blue instead of bright pink, for example). I also tried to salvage the original wood trim where it could be salvaged, and to replicate it where it couldn't be salvaged. The dining room, for example, had long ago had all of its original colonial trim and molding removed, to be replaced with those plain brown mahogany things you see in a lot of 30-40 year old houses. When I enlarged the room, removed the wood panelling, and added the wainscotting, I installed colonial style mouldings (the baseboard will be installed this week). I would have loved to have saved that orginal maple hardwood flooring in the diningroom, but when the wall came down the hardwood no longer covered the entire floor, and it was in very bad shape anyway. Even when it came to chossing light fixtures I went with old-looking. Somehow a modern stainless steel and glass chandelier wouldn't look right in that dining room ceiling. I really lucked out with the one I chose, too - the chandelier and wall sconces were on for half price when I found 'em :D
Basically I leapfrogged past the last time this house was renovated (early-mid 70's judging by the wallpaper and wood panelling) and tried to capture its original character. I'm sure ol' George and Neta Burns (the old couple that owned the house) liked their wood panelling at the time, but it was simply a dated design. True classical designs (simple, earth-tone paints, real colonial trim, hardwood and ceramic floors, etc) are never dated. People build new houses today and try to capture that classical look, but a copy is only a copy. When you look through my century-old windows and see the flaws and ripples in the glass and the hand made cedar wood frames you know you're looking through history. They may not be the most effective at keeping the heat in, but they still exude a certain warmth. You just can't get that feeling with vinyl and aluminum.
That brings me to the siding. At some point about 35 years ago ol' George had the place done in vinyl siding. I have nothing against vinyl as it is an excellent, durable, zero maintenance house covering. I just don't like the stuff on this house. I may try painting it next summer, or I may go with a new siding. If I go with vinyl again it will be the type with 4" "boards" instead of the 8" ones on the house now. I may also go with this new suff that is almost like asbestos (some kind of fibre) but looks like cedar shakes. Depends on the price or my mood, I guess. Anyway, that's a long way off...
Carm, a double-4 or double-5 Dutch-lap style would look great on your house. It is made to replicate heritage wood panels. My father is a siding contractor...I know a little bit about that stuff. ;)
You can also have the existing vinyl siding painted, for sure. For now it would be a lot cheaper, and you'd probably get a good 10-15 years before the paint fades enough to do again.
Nice!!!
Looking good!! with infinitly more character than all the cookie cutter houses I see going up around Winnipeg.
Another sideing idea: If you like the rustic look but want to keep the maintence free and cheep aspect of vinal sideing; try using rustic pine (or other softwood) timbers placed vertically to break up sections of vinal sideing. In otherwords, have timbers running vertically every 6 feet, then fill the sections in with horizontal sideing. Perhaps finish the gables with "W" framed timbers and cedar shakes? With this look you can dado the timbers to overlap the ends of the sideing rows eliminiating some of the "cheepness" look of strait vinal sideing. That look is popular around here.
Are you using well water out there? When you did the plumbing, did you end up setting up any filtration system?
We're on well water, and jesus christ the water here tastes like ass.
I am on well water, and I installed an undersink reverse-osmosis filter. I figured there was no point in installing a "whole house" filter. Who cares whether the toilet, laundry or bathtub water tastes like jesus christ's ass? :D
Even then I rarely drink out of the tap. I've got one of those spring water dispensers in the kitchen. Still, I cook with tap water, hence the filter.
Lucky at my grandma's house we cant even cook with the tap water. Nice work I have done all that stuff myself before too and i got paid very well so you must be happy to have done it yourself. Ruthless and i finished his basp00get and it turned out excellent. Oh and if you have the opportunity to build your own house by all means do it, its an amazing experience. An awful lot of headaches but the payoff is just awe inspiring, so i hear.
What kinda pump setup do you have?
My well has some kinda fancy micron filter thingy installed, It along with the water softner will be gone as soon as possible, theres a 6X6 well house FULL of tanks and hoses!It drives me nuts!
My well is fed by a spring that comes outta the ground a couple hundred feet from my house :grinno: everyones well is dried up this summer, 'cept mine and a few others.
If your white clothes start changing color because of iron oxide or some other material in the water, you may have to look at a whole house filter. I've got one at my house now, and it's just a simple filter housing in-line between the pressure tank and the house. I change it about every three months. Of course down here where I live we have a lot of red clay. You may not have that problem up there. Just a thought though.
I have a Kinetico system in my house...it's about 20 years old but runs great. It's all chemically treated--no electricity--and uses shock treatment (chlorine) meant for swimming pools. Chlorine costs a measly $20/year. There is also a softener that is absolutely stingy on the salt pellets (maybe 150 lbs./year). Then again, it's only me in the house and I'm pretty frugal on using water. The water table where I live is very high...I think my well is only 40'-50' down. My folks' next door have a 35' deep well. On the other side of the county, new wells have to be dug at least 200' down per code. So we are very fortunate where we are.
The raw well water isn't the greatest but I've definitely tasted worst. Out of the tap the water is very good. There's also an r/o system that I use for everything. Overall I've never tasted or used better well water. Kinetico systems are quite expensive but they are the best on the market for a reason. A few people here have stayed at my house and they will attest that there is no rotten-egg smell at all. But Will said it takes forever to rinse out the shampoo. LOL
Generally, when my white clothes change colour it's not the water's fault. Usually it's car grease :hick: Which is why I don't have many white clothes. I don't even have to work on a car - walking by one that's being worked on is usually sufficient to cover me with grease :pbb:
The well setup I've got is a simple dug well down about 25 feet with cast concrete "crocks", with a jet pump and iron pressure tank in the basp00get. The well didn't even come close to going empty this relatively dry summer, probably because of the two rivers bordering my property. There's also a spring in one corner of the mowed portion of the lawn about 50 feet from the well that keeps the ground muddy - it's a PITA going over it with the ride-on mower. The people I bought the house from (the sons and daughters of the owners) stated in the PCID that the well has never gone dry, and I believe it. Even still, if it does there's always those rivers :shakeass:
Isn't it strange how that happens?
I dont even have to put the white shirt on, I just look at it and its got a grease stain.
This also applies to people around me, my gf's white shirts get grease stains, usually on the chest....
Nice job man!!! 7 months is great time for the amount of work you guys did. It would have taken me 2 years to do that work. Everything seems to take 10 times longer than you think. It looks good. Me and my wife were considering buying a country home on some acreage, but I havn't decided if I want to go through all that work. I am leaning towards putting up with our smaller house longer and just building new on purchased land. It's good to see a regular guy pull off such a nice job. Keep up the good work. Jason