The weather has been our enemy since November, when we first moved in. We’ve known nothing but snow and cold in this house. Winter left us with astronomical utility bills, blankets on our windows, and an ever-growing pile of exterior repair work to be done.
This weekend it was almost (gasp) spring-like. I even heard birds chirping early in the morning. The sun was shining on Saturday, and armed two layers and a sweatshirt I worked outside WITHOUT A COAT. After being bundled up in scarves, gloves, and winter jackets for the past 4 months, it was quite freeing.
Poor Teague had to work all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday, so I threw on my iPod for company and did my best to be productive. On Saturday, I cleaned out the back room. You may remember that it was filled with debris, including a rotted floor and ceiling, an old sewing machine table, creepy kids toys, and craft supplies. Here are some “before” photos:
I Sawzall-ed through a section of clapboard underneath a windowsill so that I had an opening to chuck stuff through, and went to work removing EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. By the end of the day, the only things left were a floor joist and some tin ceiling I couldn’t reach.
On Sunday, I got to work pulling parts of the back wall off. This was a delicate process, since we’re trying to salvage the clapboard. I got about 1/2 of the wall removed before big wet snowflakes started to fall.
Here’s what the back room looks like right now:
(click for larger)
That big sheet of plywood might be a repair done to a rotted wall….. the round piping you see coming out near the roof was water drainage for the whole house. Probably the cause of all the rotted wood!
Don and Teague held a strategy pow-wow yesterday to decide the best course of action for this project. So now we’ve got a solid plan of action. Let the games begin!
Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback
Wonder woman!
Wonder couple – Teague has been working 50-60 hour weeks at a labor-intensive job, yet still managed to get half of the porch ripped off in a single day!
I think “obsessed” is a fitting term ;)
I hope you don’t mind me linking to you. Please let me know if you do. Thanks. :)
That is some creative framing! When was that thing built anyway? Is it sitting right on the ground? Hopefully when you reach the original back of the original house it is in good shape so you can get back to the fun stuff. What was the original purpose of this room? Keep posting pictures of your progress, we (the older and less brave) are pulling for you guys.
the plywood covers the rest of the old window hole. alot of your studs may be fir, if they are theyre valuable
Brian,
I thought it was a window hole too – but it goes all the way up to the roofline. So Don (Teague’s father) thinks it might be a fix from bad rot. That back wall pretty much fell apart when I started pulling b/c of all the water damage.
Carol,
The original end of the house is in the middle of our kitchen – at some point, the kitchen was extended back about 6 feet, but we don’t know when. Teague and Don poured new footings for the “end” of the kitchen because it was slanting horribly and had no support under it. The back kitchen wall was literally hanging from the roof! Good times ;)
The purpose of this room is a total mystery to us. It’s about 12×12 I think (but I’m bad with measurements – Teague would know the exact size). There is a closet, so it may have been an extra bedroom. Or the closet may have been the kitchen pantry at some point? The flooring was thick wood planks (covered with linoleum, then carpet) and it had three large windows in it, one on each wall. The window size matched the rest of the house, and very old nails were found in the back wall, so parts of it are probably as old as the house. It had a nice tin ceiling and moldings, which have rotted/rusted beyond recognition. The baseboard was tall and definitely old, but not as fancy as the rest of the house.
I don’t know why you’d add a room this size off of your kitchen…. any guesses?
The neighbor said they closed the room off because of the leak… which strikes me as incredibly irresponsible, but seems to fit the previous owner’s way of handling problems (mainly, to ignore them completely). My guess is that money was an issue so rather than fix things, they just “hid” them.
Mary – link away! Thanks :)
~Mindy
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