The Belly of the Beast

After all the fun I was having upstairs tearing things apart it was time to head into the basement, the one part of this job I was least looking forward to. I new we had a lot of work to do but it was not till after we cleaned it all out could I see just how much we really had to do.

This is what we had to deal with.


Most of the floor joist had rotted where they went into the stone wall. Partly due to termites but mostly due to moisture.



We cut out the most rotten of the wood, scabbed in some new pieces and sistered in new joist along side the existing. We then put in some new support beams and posts all the while raising and leveling the floor as best we could without disturbing too much upstairs. The floors had sagged a lot over the years. As much as 3" in some areas. Had it not been for all the makeshift supports it may have been even worse.



I found this little guy who wasn't so lucky. I found him inside one of the main beams.


Looks like he has been here a while.


A closeup of some rotten wood that I thought was pretty cool.


Next came replacing the joist in front of the fireplace over the arch ways.


A little cement work was needed.


In goes the new joist. Good as new.


All this fun lasted about 3 weeks with a few breaks in between. I am a few weeks behind in my time line but I am catching up.

A slow start

Well I am getting of to a slow start with this blog thing. It has been a little while since my first post but I am back and a lot has happened.

After tearing out the bathroom we moved back downstairs to tackle the kitchen. Wood Paneling, 50's style cabinets, 3 ceilings, and fake wood beams. I think it was time for an update. I got ahead of myself and forgot to take a before shot but you get the idea.

This was after we pulled down the first ceiling beams and the paneling.


We pulled down some plaster and all the framing.


Then we tore out the basement door and the rest of the plaster.


This was a pretty cool scar left by some old work.


The origional wall framing. Pretty interesting technique.
The boards are just staggered and nailed.
The plaster left some nice marks.



After all this it left me with a lot of ideas on what to do with the kitchen.
We have a blank canvas and now is our chance. I want it to be functional but creative. Break away from standard kitchen design and build something unique that references the architecture of the home but is modern and well fit. Hopefully I am up for the challenge.