So why not start a remodel too?
We have been wanting a remodel of the front part of our down stairs since we moved in. It was bad. This was a foreclosure house and the last owners were such scum. They destroyed the home taking no care or regard for it inside or out. We walked into this home knowing the whole thing need remodeled. What we did not know is how long and how much money it would take. If so we probably would have passed it up. It was then the worst house on the street but in a great neighborhood.
The front room was bad it had painted wood paneling, mostly white but a tope in the spots of the missing items that were took upon eviction. The carpet was a gross, nasty brown. Some from the original color and some from the stained up petry dish it had became. The lights and windows were cheap. But all those are cosmetic things we weren't to worried and knew we could change it.
Years later that room still had not been touched. We just closed our eyes and walked through it. But with another baby expected any day we are tight on space. Tight is an understatement. We need this room redone now. We need the extra space and we need a new another bedroom. We have had the ball rolling on this for a while now. But to have the contractor we wanted we had to wait.
Finally we have officially started our renovation. The first part was demolition. Now that sounds easy enough but with this house it never surprises us what is found. We are not talking about a hidden civil war letter or other great find but layers and problems. There is always so many layers of flooring that leads us to uneven floors and old asbestos tile.
Due to a hole in the floor back in December Jay had to start working a little on repairing some of the flooring then. That story is here along with some before pictures. With ripping up the rest of the flooring we found more decorative flooring choices.
This flowery flooring was completely hidden and unknown underneath a stair case. The good part was enclosed in these walls was also a bunch of romex that will be able to be used in the electrical portion of this.
Speaking of electrical work... when the ceiling came down it exposed knob and tube wiring. Wow. It also showed us a lot of do it your self-er wiring jobs. What a mess. Junction boxes everywhere, plugs that made no sense, cobwebs. Anything but code. It is going to have to be redone. Plus all the old light fixtures replaced and additional lighting installed.
Besides the wiring under the ceiling led to many other revelations. The original structure of this house is a log cabin. The original logs were exposed looking nothing like the log cabins of today. They looked as if they just cut down a tree and stuck it up. They had knobs still sticking out of where they cut off branches. The logs were all shapes and sizes with many of these branches cut off. I supposed that is what they hung things on back then?
Something that shocked the contractor was they had applied a white wash cleaning techiqunique to the celing.
He said this was a technique that they used to use in barns to clean them or hide thing to pass an inspection. He had never seen it inside of houses and even went on to say they typically cleaned it off of the barns after it served its purpose.
The original logs are in horrible shape. They are ate through by termites. The wood just breaks apart it is not worth anything anymore, no structural support not at all decorative. The house has been reinforced by 2x4's. And insulated. Jay helped remove the millions of staples and nails in the ceiling, floors and walls. The insulation will also be pulled out and replaced with the new mold resistant good stuff.
It did not take that long for everything to be ripped down. What a mess though. We are left with bare bones and a house in shambles. We are not sure if this is actually better than it was. It is a step forward and everyday we are getting closer to it be done. Our next step is having the new electrical run.
Again we got the electrician we wanted too! It is awesome when you have the people you want to do the jobs able to do them, worth the wait. They are not by any means the cheapest but they are the best. They are good Christian men from and with good families. Their work is reliable and completely. They don't take shortcuts or "half ass" jobs. They do it right and trustworthy the first time always standing behind it. That is worth the expense to me. I have seen the jobs of shoty contractors we are trying to repair a lot of that type of mess in the first place we don't want more problems.
The electrician was out today and ordered the supplies for Thursday. So we are at a little stand still till then but it is only one packed full day away.
Here are a few pictures of the rest of our torn down room. And a baby unhappily gated unable to get in.
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