Floors, Framing & Failures – The House series Part 6
Drab winter days turned to beautiful winter days.
We celebrated our first anniversary. And so did the little house.
Floors
Some things just scream “old rickety house!” like uneven, sagging, squeaking floors. The old floor had to go.
These two brothers – Nathan and Caleb – thank you for all your help. {Five years later, Nathan, friend and now Ben’s coworker at Sahlstrom’s HTG as well, is still helping… currently using his skill with septic plumbing in the basement.} But back to 2012.It was wavy, like the ocean. 🙂 That looks good on the ocean, but the only good use for crazy floors in a house would be for little kids to ride wheeled toys down the slant… (and they almost could have, it was BAD.) I screwed screws! So. Many. Screws. Eliminating all squeaks everywhere.
Floor Before and After:
Notice how the shower and stub walls were installed (on the old floor), then removed? Sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one step back.
Straight, strong and beautiful. Ready for that $4/sq. ft. Snapstone tile we were going to do {still hadn’t done math!}.
And just to remind ourselves what it looked like a little more than a year before…
{Oh, yup, we are making progress! Sometimes it’s important to look back, to see how far you’ve actually come.}
Framing
The trouble with renovating an old house is there are an endless number of things that need to be redone, and it can be hard to know where to stop!
In order to level the main level floor, Ben took ALL of the interior walls out, which were in the wrong places anyway for the open floor plan layout we wanted. Notice how he braced the upstairs floor with those jacks in the panorama above. The old steep sagging-in-the-middle steps also went!
The biggest change I wanted, were the stairs to become an open staircase so it would feel spacious with an open floor plan style. Of course the stair wall was a load-bearing wall…
But no challenge was too difficult for my capable can-do husband of one year!
He headered that bad boy out with a beefy beam, transferring all the weight down to new posts he placed in the basement. 😀
Failures
I hate even giving that title to this section. It’s how it feels sometimes, but through this whole project I’ve learned it’s all part of the process. It’s a process. What was that phrase again? Two steps forward, one step back… We decided there needed to be some sort of entry coat/shoes nook. It was the one part of framing I did the most of – still with tons of help from Ben – but it was kind of my baby.
It was a good idea. But in the end, it made the dining room too small, cut up the rooms, and it’s a small-ish house and there just wasn’t enough space so we eventually undid the whole thing and took it out. Oh well, right? It was an idea and we tried it.
But we hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the restructuring yet. There was more to do below the main level floor…
Timeline
These are only the MAJOR milestones that happened, there are so many small details that are hard to quantify but take time too! Unless otherwise noted, ALL the work was done by Ben!!!
Late 2010 (pre-marriage)
- All old junk and broken lean cleared away Part 1
- New siding, windows, roof – by contractor Part 2
- Lath & plaster removed
- Beautiful (tall!) front door found and purchased at discount store
- Layout of house changed from facing south to facing east
2011 (1st year of marriage)
- 3 skylights installed Part 3
- House straightened/reinforced
- Attic (3rd story) added
- Stairs to attic and interior upstairs walls built Part 4
- Outside electric meter wired and electricity run to the house
- Kitchen designed Part 5
Top 5 LIFE happenings in 2011 – engaged, married, visiting relatives, miscarriage, marriage communication lessons
2012 (2nd year of marriage)
- Main level floor leveled; main level headered out for open floor plan Part 6
- All floor joists reinforced with new beams, misc. framing
- New main stairs built (featuring Grandpa Berge)
- Stone foundation rebuilt & cement cornerstones poured
- Conviction to buy a house 100% down
Top 5 LIFE happenings in 2012 – Financial Peace University course, job changes for Naomi, friends’ weddings and visits, family gatherings, fun small trips