Another can of worms.

I had a nice break outside but it was time to get back to the real work at hand. It was time to frame out the bathroom in the apartment. We had some serious work ahead of us repairing the damage done during the previous remodel, probably during the 30's or 40's. The floor joist had been hacked away, in order to accommodate the plumbing, and wet bed for the tile. The joist were scabbed back together and somehow survived all this time.



We sistered new joist along side the old to strengthen them up.



We put down a new plywood subfloor.



Then we framed out the new bathroom.



We then decided to move downstairs and address the floor below the bathroom. There did not seem to be much support in the corner and this worried me. This was to become the laundry room and it needed to support the washer and dryer. I felt we should pull up the floor and see just what was below. It took a bit of convincing but my Dad finally agreed.



It was a lot worse than either one of us expected.



There was no support in the corner. The floor joist were rotten and the first 3 feet of the beam was pretty much gone. The original beam (basically an entire tree) was just a shell. Fortunately this beam was not structural and any load it originally carried had already been supported.



This is a picture of the inside of the original 300 year old beam . It is about 14" x 14" x 20' long and is completely hollow. It looks as if it had been eaten by termites many many years ago. Surprisingly though it still has some strength to it.

We cut back some of the rotten stuff, did some cement work and framed the floor with some new lumber.

Next week we need to put down a subfloor, frame out the laundry room, and start doing the plumbing. Fun Fun Fun!!!! Until then I leave you with this picture. They were scars left in the wall from the old cast iron stack, I though they looked pretty cool.