Let the Light Shine In

It is amazing what a difference replacing the old windows has made. I know they would let in more light but... WOW.

 Anyhow, we found most of these windows and the doors at a local discount building supply company.  Hey, half off works for me.

A New Foundation.

Now that we have stabilized the old house. It is time to start on the new part of the house. We are adding a new Master Bedroom Suite, front porch and changing the roof-line a little. Remember, to this point we are doing the work our selves. So, this is going to take a while to finish.

We started laying the foundation for the master bedroom. I had never laid block or brick before, so I thought this would be fun. After learning how to mix the mortar we started were laying the first course of brick my dad called (hogging). This is where the brick are turned up on their sides. I thought " This is easy enough...  I can do this... No Problem..."  Wrong!!! Although the brick were easy to lay, the block were another story. They were heavy!! So I backed away from the trowel and let the men do the work. Yet again I am relegated to taking photos. 

Reaping the Benifits of a Simple Prayer

You may be wondering why we would work so hard to save this old Farmhouse.  Well let me tell you... When we first started removing the layers of paneling, we found a prayer written on the old fireplace wall. ( I would love to show you a photo of it but, I forgot to take one.) There were also notes left by the former owners. Kind of like a time capsule. It was nice to get to know a little about the former owners in this way. The one thing I can say about the family is that they loved God and loved each other. And the love that made this house a home is still keeping it safe today.

As we removed the slat wall-boards we discovered that in some areas, they were the only thing holding up the roof. Other areas were so damaged by termites and rot that the floor sagged in the center of the house like a old soup bowl. So, we had to install new supports and leveled the house.

In other areas, the electrical wiring was so damaged you could see burn marks on the wood near it from the arcing. It is a miracle no one was electrocuted because one of the wires connected to the breaker panel was actually partially embedded in the panel. This was causing even the water- pipes to have an electric charge. Now, that's a scary thought. All of the wiring is being removed and replaced. 

Those slat wall-boards hid a myriad of dangers that should have destroyed the home. Removing them was like removing a band-aid and discovering gangrene. In this case the gangrene was not terminal. It only needed to be removed.

As we worked our way around the house to the box we discovered that some of the walls were not properly supported. This made the removal of the second floor even more scary. What if we had removed the floor joists and the exterior walls buckle outward causing the whole thing to collapse. A good gust of wind could have caused the whole thing to collapse. Lots of things could have happened  that did not happen.

I am not telling you these things to complain about how the house was built or previously remodeled. I am not complaining about how it was maintained. It is my firm belief that the Prayer written on the fireplace wall has covered the house all these years and kept it safe for those who lived there.

The Prayer which was written on the wall included the following:
 Psalm 127 A song of ascents. Of Solomon. 1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.

Update

It has been a while since I last posted. I will try to get better at posting weekly.

So, for the last month we have been very busy and house is beginning to take shape.

The two-story section which we called the "Box", (Because it is just a square box addition to the original house) has been one of the most worrisome part of the project.

To begin with, we wanted to remove the stairs and make them wider. Also, the second floor was actually two different levels. One level was much taller than the other. We had raise one side and lower the other to make it work.

We utilized my father's 50 plus years of experience in construction to make this happen. Actually, with out my father help this house would be a big pile of kindling at this point. Thanks Dad!! I can not forget to thank my husband and son for all their hard work.

Anyhow, below you will see the progression of this part of the renovation adventure.

We have not quite finished stabilizing the second floor but it is much better than it was to begin with.

The Den

The den was a complicated mess. It had some of the same problems as the kitchen with several additional twists to the plot.

The floor sagged, termites had eaten part of the main beam and a longstanding roof leak  had rotted the area near the front door.

The fireplace was a useless behemoth that had to go. I'm not sure what I am going to replace it with yet. The wall between the Den and Dining room needed to be moved anyway.

Unwrapping the Box

When you buy an old farmhouse you expect to find some problems.... Boy did we find problems...

Between rot, termites and strange electrical issues, we have been busy just trying to get to where we can begin remodeling the house.

 The Kitchen

 At first glance the kitchen did not look so bad. We removed the cabinetry and appliances only to find layers of paneling.

Under the paneling, we found tongue and groove slat wallboards. At that point I was defianetly wondering, "What were we thinking"

 

The flooring had to be removed so we could level the house. We nailed 2x4x12s to the existing floor joists to level the areas which were not leveled by the addition of the  new main support beams.

We have now added a new sub-floor, which is something the house did not have before. The tongue and groove flooring was nailed directly to the floor joists.  

Time for a change

After twenty six years of living in the suburbs my husband and I decided that it would be nice to live in the country. The kids were all grown and the youngest was looking forward to moving out on her own.

We first decided to buy some land and build a house. Thoughts of a country cottage with a big front porch ran through my head constantly. I even bought a set of house plans and started calculating the cost of our dream home. Then reality set in, my dreams were bigger than my budget. It was time for a different plan.

So, we bought a house. You could call it a fixer-upper. The price was right and the location was great. But...the one thing you could not call it was my dreamy little country cottage with a large front porch...

And Yes; that is the front of the house.

So...the adventure begins...