what have we got ourselves into? we decided during a particularly drafty day this winter that we needed to GUT our living/dining room. This ancient (late 1800s) house has not one scrap of insulation in it (except for the first floor kitchen we gutted in 2006). Why not just blow in insulation? well.. we did consider that. But, we would have had to patch a boatload of holes. And the walls already looked like crap from 100 or so years of wallpaper, half-assedly scraped off and painted over with another 50 yrs worth of paint. Not to mention the suspect electrical wiring. So why not start fresh? We could insulate the heck out of it, especially the ceiling, and deaden some of the constant overhead creaking of our tenants' footsteps. Above is what it looked like before we started. As i was taking that picture I was filled with a deep feeling of dread. As in .. "WTF was i thinking? It looks damn good" I wondered how soon into the project we would have our first "Oh, Sh*T" moment. Well, it came about 5 minutes in:
As soon as we pulled down the ceiling sheetrock layer, we found – what should not have been a surpsrise- ANOTHER ceiling. Plaster, lathe, strapping. Just like in the kitchen. But I guess we weren’t expecting it since the dining room half was just the one layer. We got a late start on a Saturday (1:30) and worked until at least *I* was ready to collapse around 7:30. And we had only finished the ceiling and the front wall facing the street. UGH. About 25% of the work. I was BUTT tired. I could barely stay awake at dinner. I’m so weak and soft from sitting in an office 8hrs a day!.. Mr. LL was fine since he runs around hauling cable everyday. Then showers, martini and tapas afterwards helped soothe my feelings of deep regret.
We finished the rest of it over a couple of weeknights. All the walls had two layers: Sheetrock over horsehair plaster and lathe. Here is the final product of all that hard work:
so you can see why part of me still questions why we went down this road...well, I guess its for the same reason i decided to spend endless hours restoring our old wood windows instead of buying vinyl replacements. Because i feel its the right way to do it. This house has been through multiple owners, the majority of whom seem to have just slapped another layer on until the whole thing is a pile of bandaids.. it feels right to strip back the crap (within reason- i'm not planning to touch the vinyl siding) to the bones of the house, and do it right. People had been asking me "Well did you find any cool stuff? Old newspapers? Money??". Um.. NO. Here is what we did find:
An old bee’s nest occupying an entire cavity beneath a window.. luckily long since abandoned.
What else?..Behind the bathroom wall- a zillion old rusty razor blades and one old toilet seat...ICKKKK.. An electrical junction box concealed in the ceiling. Oh yeah, and structural defects.. I'll save that for the next post.
Reliving this one has worn me out.
