This is my house….

Present day work:

Time to pull the massive thick walls of flagstone, mortar, and block out of the basement and up and out to make new stairs so i can actually utilize the basement!

Old stairs of flag were narrow and a little bit steep, and I needed a proper staircase from the new addition I put on the house 2 years ago (time flies!) 

Just yesterday, we hit it hard, had two cousins over who tag teamed the removal in a 16 gallon barrel, dump in a loader bucket tractor I borrowed from my boss and drove it around to the back of my garage for a big pile of rubble.

Meanwhile, I was on the big spline rotary hammer punching out the cement blocks, and the flagstone used to build the sides of the stairs and surrounding walls. I put up screw jacks before completely removing the supporting walls!

–

A little ways into the demo:

..

..

..

..

End of yesterday:

..

There was a solid wall of flag on either side of the stairs:

…

—

There a TON of work on this property I did it would take weeks to document it all, but boy what an achievement looking back on it. But there’s still more to do, I bought this as a foreclosure and it had sat empty for 2-1/2 years while raccoons roamed freely in the basement mostly. Fortunately, the neighbors let their dog in occasionally to hunt them out LOL!!! So they are great neighbors and I appreciate them not letting the wildlife take over and make a complete mess of the place

—

Off top of my head:

–Planted bunch of arborvitae along property line, and couple other trees here and there

–Gut the kitchen walls, leaving floor and ceiling, build all new cabinets, new appliances, new countertop, leave the stainless steel sink.

–Redo the entry doors to actually close because the strike plates on the doors were just surface mounted, not sunk in the door! Then I completely replaced the back door it was so bad. 

–Install screen/storm door in back.

–Oh yeah, the furnace was vented to the basement, hello carbon monoxide… route new venting to the outside.

–Then completely remove the furnace and basment ductwork, install new geothermal and ductwork, add second thermostat upstairs.

–Water pipe burst the first winter i was there, they didn’t put proper insulation and now I have mini waterfalls going down to my (unfinished) basment, redo entire bathroom and laundry, new pipe as well to first and second floor bathrooms. Thanks insurance!

–Massive wind storm came through and destroyed my (rickity) barn, so i pulled the entire thing down and burned it on multiple bonfires

–Pulled down all the drywall in the garage, it was so bad, old junk above that was removed

–New double 2x12s across the front of my garage to support new garage door, beefed up, braced up, etc

–All new pole barn metal siding on garage, plus add an enclosed lean-to on side of garage, about 11′ wide, down the entire length

–Gutted front room upstairs, new everything, new duct run to add air supply

–Finished the bathroom the previous owner had started, new everything, tub/shower, pedestal sink, toilet

–Removed two old tank water heaters, new tankless/on demand high efficiency water heater plus recirculating loop for the hot water line, (love my instant hot water!!!!!)

–Install used water softener

–In progress: finishing the baseboard trim the PO hadn’t even bothered on

–New stair treads and balusters and spindles and trim and carpet in about half the house

–Add closet under the stairs, really supported the stairs themselves since they were so bouncy they weren’t done right.

–Add plumbing vents to the system, take them and bath vents through the roof instead of dumping to attic space (Eeewww)

–Had chickens which I recently got rid of, pulled their fence down, planted new grass in a large part of the lawn

–New fence along the entire front of the property along the road, the house is quite close to the road!

–New 19×13′ addition on back of the house, which allowed me to fill in 3 cisterns, and make the rear entrance so much better!!

–Spray foam insulation in the basement at the end joists and sill plates

–Peel off old wallpaper on everything, new paint everywhere

–Corner whirlpool tub was sunk in the floor, thought that was stupid, raised up to be on the floor itself, made cherry shiplap skirting around the whole thing

–New dedicated iron filter media tank, new pressure tank too

oh man this could go on, i’m sure i’m missing like 31 more things …

@ChrisK please have more sanity that I and tell me you got somethinga little more ready to use LOL!!

Damm, KnarlyCarl your never far away from some kind of construction work are you 🙂 A friend bought an older house and we spent days removing bad mortar and re waterproofing the walls. I wish I had pictures of the before and after. The basement before was dank dirty and nasty now it feels like a place you can actually live in. A cool trick we figure out to cover up the rock walls was to float cement board with construction adhesive. It actually worked out really good

DR99 wrote:

1 hour ago, DR99 said:

Damm, KnarlyCarl your never far away from some kind of construction work are you 🙂 A friend bought an older house and we spent days removing bad mortar and re waterproofing the walls. I wish I had pictures of the before and after. The basement before was dank dirty and nasty now it feels like a place you can actually live in. A cool trick we figure out to cover up the rock walls was to float cement board with construction adhesive. It actually worked out really good

 

 

Sweet!! Already getting free advice, LOL

KnarlyCarl wrote:

7 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:

Present day work:

Time to pull the massive thick walls of flagstone, mortar, and block out of the basement and up and out to make new stairs so i can actually utilize the basement!

Old stairs of flag were narrow and a little bit steep, and I needed a proper staircase from the new addition I put on the house 2 years ago (time flies!) 

Just yesterday, we hit it hard, had two cousins over who tag teamed the removal in a 16 gallon barrel, dump in a loader bucket tractor I borrowed from my boss and drove it around to the back of my garage for a big pile of rubble.

Meanwhile, I was on the big spline rotary hammer punching out the cement blocks, and the flagstone used to build the sides of the stairs and surrounding walls. I put up screw jacks before completely removing the supporting walls!

–

A little ways into the demo:

[External image (farm9.staticflickr.com), not copied]

 

..

[External image (farm9.staticflickr.com), not copied]

..

 

..

 

[External image (farm9.staticflickr.com), not copied]

 

..

End of yesterday:

 

[External image (farm9.staticflickr.com), not copied]

..

There was a solid wall of flag on either side of the stairs:

[External image (farm8.staticflickr.com), not copied]

…

 

 

—

There a TON of work on this property I did it would take weeks to document it all, but boy what an achievement looking back on it. But there’s still more to do, I bought this as a foreclosure and it had sat empty for 2-1/2 years while raccoons roamed freely in the basement mostly. Fortunately, the neighbors let their dog in occasionally to hunt them out LOL!!! So they are great neighbors and I appreciate them not letting the wildlife take over and make a complete mess of the place

—

Off top of my head:

–Planted bunch of arborvitae along property line, and couple other trees here and there

–Gut the kitchen walls, leaving floor and ceiling, build all new cabinets, new appliances, new countertop, leave the stainless steel sink.

–Redo the entry doors to actually close because the strike plates on the doors were just surface mounted, not sunk in the door! Then I completely replaced the back door it was so bad. 

–Install screen/storm door in back.

–Oh yeah, the furnace was vented to the basement, hello carbon monoxide… route new venting to the outside.

–Then completely remove the furnace and basment ductwork, install new geothermal and ductwork, add second thermostat upstairs.

–Water pipe burst the first winter i was there, they didn’t put proper insulation and now I have mini waterfalls going down to my (unfinished) basment, redo entire bathroom and laundry, new pipe as well to first and second floor bathrooms. Thanks insurance!

–Massive wind storm came through and destroyed my (rickity) barn, so i pulled the entire thing down and burned it on multiple bonfires

–Pulled down all the drywall in the garage, it was so bad, old junk above that was removed

–New double 2x12s across the front of my garage to support new garage door, beefed up, braced up, etc

–All new pole barn metal siding on garage, plus add an enclosed lean-to on side of garage, about 11′ wide, down the entire length

–Gutted front room upstairs, new everything, new duct run to add air supply

–Finished the bathroom the previous owner had started, new everything, tub/shower, pedestal sink, toilet

–Removed two old tank water heaters, new tankless/on demand high efficiency water heater plus recirculating loop for the hot water line, (love my instant hot water!!!!!)

–Install used water softener

–In progress: finishing the baseboard trim the PO hadn’t even bothered on

–New stair treads and balusters and spindles and trim and carpet in about half the house

–Add closet under the stairs, really supported the stairs themselves since they were so bouncy they weren’t done right.

–Add plumbing vents to the system, take them and bath vents through the roof instead of dumping to attic space (Eeewww)

–Had chickens which I recently got rid of, pulled their fence down, planted new grass in a large part of the lawn

–New fence along the entire front of the property along the road, the house is quite close to the road!

–New 19×13′ addition on back of the house, which allowed me to fill in 3 cisterns, and make the rear entrance so much better!!

–Spray foam insulation in the basement at the end joists and sill plates

–Peel off old wallpaper on everything, new paint everywhere

–Corner whirlpool tub was sunk in the floor, thought that was stupid, raised up to be on the floor itself, made cherry shiplap skirting around the whole thing

–New dedicated iron filter media tank, new pressure tank too

 

 

oh man this could go on, i’m sure i’m missing like 31 more things …

@ChrisK please have more sanity that I and tell me you got somethinga little more ready to use LOL!!

And……..yup. We are closing on a fifteen year old cape next Monday! I went from a 1797 Federal to a 1911 Four Square to a 2001 Cape. Quite the transition! And yet a big part of me is really sad, I wish I was over there to help dude, that sounds like one heck of an awesome experience (yeah dude, I’m mental). My new home will end up having a pole barn and large shed to build and I may be….gasp, cough, gasp….buying a single car garage/shed for an outdoor woodshop. MAYBE!!!!!

Awesome post dude, cannot wait to see more, I eat this stuff up. I love reno work! Of course with a baby on the way in December and a HEALTHY respect for lead paint, this was the safe way to go 🙁 ….. 😀 !

ChrisK wrote:

2 hours ago, ChrisK said:

And……..yup. We are closing on a fifteen year old cape next Monday! I went from a 1797 Federal to a 1911 Four Square to a 2001 Cape. Quite the transition! And yet a big part of me is really sad, I wish I was over there to help dude, that sounds like one heck of an awesome experience (yeah dude, I’m mental). My new home will end up having a pole barn and large shed to build and I may be….gasp, cough, gasp….buying a single car garage/shed for an outdoor woodshop. MAYBE!!!!!

Awesome post dude, cannot wait to see more, I eat this stuff up. I love reno work! Of course with a baby on the way in December and a HEALTHY respect for lead paint, this was the safe way to go 🙁 ….. 😀 !

Need to keep your mental state in check with the baby on it’s way!! ?

Ah yes, VERY good point about the paint. Fortunately, the previous owner gutted many of the rooms and added new construction and redid many of the remaining walls, leaving no old paint behind when i bought, so there’s that.

Forgot I pulled out the old broken basement windows(single pane ) and put batts and osb to stop the air from blowing straight through, it was supposed to be temporary, but that was 5 years ago already! I need to pull the osb out and put proper blocks in, looking a little weather worn.

,If I were to guess, this house would be going on 90 years old

furnace and plumbing vented into the building, amazing.

thought i bought a shack.

(there was a pallet nailed to the basement  rafters. no clue wtf it has to have been doing. i do know it was heavy as sin as i allowed gravity to work as i cut the nails)

Awesome! Saying thats an undertaking would be an understatement for sure. Keep us posted with progress 

Congrats and Good Luck. You never know what you’re going to get with older homes.

Awesome progress so far.

Awesome work Carl. Now just think if you got on one of those HGTV show you would have been done in 3 days. Good luck and keep us posted

regopit wrote:

On 9/6/2016 at 9:00 PM, regopit said:

Awesome work Carl. Now just think if you got on one of those HGTV show you would have been done in 3 days. Good luck and keep us posted

LOL suuuureee, what a joke

STAIRS… minus the finished product, i’ll either have to find a picture, or take a new one

..

…

Kind of see the empty space beneath the stairs

..

Built a closet to close it in and especially support the stairs themselves

..

looking a little better

..

,,..

I turned these by cutting a piece of cherry in half then gluing paper bag between the two halves, turning it in the lathe, then splitting the two halves apart to make two. It’s the transition between the stair trim and the baseboard trim

…

…

Couldn’t find the pictures I thought I took so I snapped a few new ones:

Toys are just part of the normal decorations lol

…

..

…

..

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to do the railing, I simply made it sturdy and appealing and may not have done to typical industry practice but it turned out well. 

Looks good!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Gorgeous work Not Carl!!!!!

The trim work is beautiful and love the use of the stair well too. 

Looks really nice!!!

You’ve done a lot of work!!!!

It’s fun to work on old houses. Get a lot of satisfaction of how it looks when done.

Great job !!!!!

Thanks guys!! Yeah, quite satisfying!

Well I’m going to keep at the basement rubble cleanup tomorrow, and keep posting pics and details about the journey so far so I can weasel some advice from anyone who cares to offer it!.. Nah I don’t have an ulterior motive what are you talking about lol!!!

Great work Carl. 

Really looks great Carl… Nice job 

Man that looks sweet Carl!! Great job bro!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Holy Schnikey’s Carl! Great job!

I think I threw my back out looking at those first pics!

Thanks guys, haha yeah Wild, this thread is going to be like a timeline of events that I was going to try and document and look back and think how I would have done things differently…..

I come home each afternoon but there’s mowing that takes at least two nights after I come home, one night at my wife’s parents, and maybe a night at home to do a few things, then this weekend we’re going to my parents so I don’t get much time to work on the house….. You get the idea

Played around with a time lapse app on my phone!

I take a few hours at a time, pace myself, take frequent breaks, and things start to look a little less disastrous!?

..

Removed the glass surround and door from corner shower because caulk was getting nasty and I didn’t like how i put it in 5 years ago. Then I decided I should keep going because the water has frozen in the pipes before plus my wife was agreeable to having it out of service for awhile since we have the hall bath to use…

..

..

It didn’t want to come off easy, means I adhered it good 5 years ago.

The shower was in the house already, and I had to redo it when I bought it, long story short, I put it in to get by, but it is PVC and cheap and yellowed and cracking.

Another issue is the walls are not level! The guy that was here before did not take the time to do things right, so the surround didn’t fit right, I’m going to have to fudge it when I put one back in… Bummer

June 29th 2012 I was working in a city 30 minutes from home, storm blew through, didn’t think much of it until we started driving home and saw barn after barn blown down, then I came home to this:

:

..

I knew my barn was very weak and had been neglected so I knew it would have to come down, this was just quite a surprise seeing it happen, also a relief, because that meant the process was started….

Nothing like a push from Mother Nature to get the ball rolling.

anyone notice the tidy cats containers?

Jronman wrote:

On 11/14/2016 at 9:43 AM, Jronman said:

anyone notice the tidy cats containers?

HAHA wondering if anyone would mention my collection. They are so useful for things, I haven’t thrown them out. Our cat is the best, though, incredible mouser, great with people, housebroken, low maintenance, will sit still while I trim his nails. Hands down the best cat I’ve ever had.

How about this awful, ugly (IMO) bulkhead…

Look how much space is wasted!!!! I’m a tall guy, my head was just under it.

Plus when i started removing it, I found it was only being held on by a few 8D nails into the plaster lathe…

..

..

You can see how badly warped the counter top piece on the window was..

..

BAM!!!

..

..

Hello floating paneling, time to go….

..

Check this out, when I pulled down the bulkhead, there was some old bricks up in the ceiling, someone just couldn’t pull out a few leftover bricks from an old chimney, too much work lol

..

Plastic up while in the demolition phase.

…

And there we are…

..

Hmm nice window framing …

..

That’s better:

Added a few more pieces ..

..

..

As you can tell, i was using the kitchen while i was still doing the remodel haha Good thing I was still single

..

Oh ya, this was priceless, check out their warm air ductwork register LOL!!!

..

Fast forward from building the cabinets, the frames, and the doors and the shelves, and multiple trips to a friend’s house to use his woodshop, etc etc, PLUS i was getting married shortly, forgetting pictures of the progess along the way, and my new wife took a picture of her own while I was doing some work, it’s all a blur….

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

.

,,.

.

It’s so surreal, it’s just a blur anymore… just like all the work I did on this house…. and what’s to come as well 

How about that mailbox LOL

..

KnarlyCarl wrote:

How about this awful, ugly (IMO) bulkhead…

Look how much space is wasted!!!! I’m a tall guy, my head was just under it.

Plus when i started removing it, I found it was only being held on by a few 8D nails into the plaster lathe…

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

You can see how badly warped the counter top piece on the window was..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

BAM!!!

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

Hello floating paneling, time to go….

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

Check this out, when I pulled down the bulkhead, there was some old bricks up in the ceiling, someone just couldn’t pull out a few leftover bricks from an old chimney, too much work lol

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

Plastic up while in the demolition phase.

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] …

 

And there we are…

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

Hmm nice window framing …

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied]  

..

 

 

That’s better:

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied]  

 

 

Added a few more pieces ..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied]  

..

 

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

 

As you can tell, i was using the kitchen while i was still doing the remodel haha Good thing I was still single

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

Oh ya, this was priceless, check out their warm air ductwork register LOL!!!

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

 

Fast forward from building the cabinets, the frames, and the doors and the shelves, and multiple trips to a friend’s house to use his woodshop, etc etc, PLUS i was getting married shortly, forgetting pictures of the progess along the way, and my new wife took a picture of her own while I was doing some work, it’s all a blur….

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

..

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied]  

 

..

 

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied]  

 

..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ..

 

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] .

[External image (farm6.staticflickr.com), not copied] ,,.

 

 

.

It’s so surreal, it’s just a blur anymore… just like all the work I did on this house…. and what’s to come as well 

 

 

KnarlyCarl wrote:

11 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:

HAHA wondering if anyone would mention my collection. They are so useful for things, I haven’t thrown them out. Our cat is the best, though, incredible mouser, great with people, housebroken, low maintenance, will sit still while I trim his nails. Hands down the best cat I’ve ever had.

 

You trim his nails? Hopefully you don’t cut too far. Might damage the part under his claws.

Jronman wrote:

3 hours ago, Jronman said:

You trim his nails? Hopefully you don’t cut too far. Might damage the part under his claws.

Yes true that! My sister is a vet tech and has given me instructions on that matter

@KnarlyCarl I just say dump catnip on a scratch post and call er good. might not be able to remove the cat though hehe because of the catnip.

Great work!

@KnarlyCarl Great job on the kitchen!!

Thanks guys, it is astonishing to think back and realize I did this work and honestly just played it by ear.. .

.

This Thanksgiving holiday I had off from work on Friday as well, decided to replace my nasty cheap shower with someone of substance.

Kept it simple and functional!

This is with the glass door and frame pulled off:.

..

..

New one will be direct to studs, this way I’ll be able to use thicker insulation since I gain an inch with the new shower walls!

..

So I started out with something like this but pulled the reflective wrap off and put batt insulation behind it first and then put the bubble wrap back in for reflective purpose only, hoping that will take care of the pipes freezing like previous winters. But I already made it so much better than it was I don’t think it will be difficult to make it work…

(Valve and shower head support just hanging out temporarily)

..

Between a bit of a time crunch, and my goal of setting the walls place, didn’t bother with pictures of the progress. It’s what I do at work anyways….

..

..

.

I’ll patch in the drywall and get the glass in once the pieces arrive(I was told it might be a month) 

..

..

NicolasRamos wrote:

On 11/21/2016 at 7:57 AM, NicolasRamos said:

That’s awesome man. It feels super rewarding to finish a project of your own. I have some projects that I still need to finish at home. The job usually comes first, and family time before home improvement time. It’s amazing the amount of detail we can put into a new home/remodel, yet I still have concrete floors(which have grown on me), one 120v circuit for the whole kitchen, paneling that needs to be removed in the hallway, siding that needs to be installed on the old garage….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Get on it! Lol

From yesterday: 

Trim…

Baseboard, just a few pieces. It goes slow when the house is old and the previous owners fixed it and let the walls bow in and out. Plus having furniture in the way didn’t help.

Measure long enough over your measurement and cut the coped end at a 45° miter

.

Then I flip it around and follow the line of the previous cut to hog out the vertical part here

..

Scroll saw for the remainder of the cope. Hmm it looks like it focused on the adjustment knob lol

.

..

.

.

.

.

I actually use the magnet that works with the child safety locks, it’s actual quite powerful.. wouldn’t be surprised if there is rare earth magnets in it

..

This old gun just won’t die

.

.

This is the crap I have to deal with

…

Lol IKR sometimes I get angry at people who built or rebuilt the house I live in now i’m always having to fix their stupid 5 min junk fix….

Anyways have fun with that.

KnarlyCarl wrote:

On 2/26/2017 at 1:21 PM, KnarlyCarl said:

This is the crap I have to deal with

[External image (farm4.staticflickr.com), not copied]

…

eek, thats such a PIA, if only they just put the duct in the wall or a inch the other way

Milwaukee_man_stan wrote:

10 hours ago, Milwaukee_man_stan said:

Lol IKR sometimes I get angry at people who built or rebuilt the house I live in now i’m always having to fix their stupid 5 min junk fix….

 

Anyways have fun with that.

Haha yeah have fun is right

KnarlyCarl wrote:

1 hour ago, KnarlyCarl said:

Haha yeah have fun is right

My mother in laws house is like that, I hang a ceiling fan it turns into a 3 hour project, nothing in that house goes smooth lol