Milestones

It's been one week since I closed on this house. I worked on the river yesterday so essentially, I've had 6 days to work on it. By the way, I've had a few people describe this as a fun project, which I guess, it is in a way but it's also a ton of work. The fun part was ripping these cabinets off the wall. 

Here's how the bathroom sits right now. I tore out the floor, which had two layers of linoleum, a layer of tile and sub-floor but it had to be done. There are floor joists that have been rotted out because of plumbing leaks and just old construction. I knew that going into so it is what it is. 

 The kitchen floor is a bit more problematic. Again, multiple layers of linoleum were placed on top of hardwood floors that all had to come out. There's a serious drop-off in elevation from the back of the kitchen to the front with some rotting joists but more-so, just settling. I'm not sure if people realize this but Montana has the 4th most seismic activity compared to other states in the U.S. This house is well over 120 years old and it's still standing.

Looking at the pic above, there was obviously a minor fire at some point. It was patched with tin and layers of flooring on top. When you start digging into a house this old, you have to wonder the history, right? You start looking at how some of the wood is obviously original and so old while other wood is less than a few years and everything in between. Who lived here? How did they live? What did they do?

Speaking of floors and linoleum, asbestos was used in a lot of floor tile in the early 1900's. When I got down to the second layer, I was sure it had asbestos so I sent a sample to Pro Labs in Florida. I didn't wait for the results but treated it as if it was asbestos. It came back clean so at least I'm safe from mesothelioma for now.

The previous owner had some mental health issues and was a hoarder. That in-itself, is kind of fascinating to me. When I see some of the baby-food jars hanging from rafters or from the walls or tape in random places, or all the florescent light bulbs in the crawl space with charcoal and stacks of real-estate flyers and cat liter...what the hell was this guy doing?

The kitchen was destroyed. It had hot glue and what looked like Ajax cleaning powder all over the place. There was a random frying pan in the crawl space and jugs of some brown liquid. Meth? Who knows?

I'm down to the floor joists and studs now in the areas of the house that are going to be completely re-done. The rest of the house doesn't look that bad. The plan is to level the floor and re-frame the bathroom. In the next few weeks, all the plumbing will be replaced. There was thought in just leaving the galvanized pipes in place until they failed but then I talked to my neighbor. Apparently, a few years ago, there was a main that blew out in front of the house. The city came in and replaced it and ran a copper line into the house along with a new sewer line. Due to the added pressure of the new plumbing, a pipe burst inside the house and according to the neighbor, ten feet of water flooded this house, running into his basement.

Ten feet of water seems like a stretch but regardless, it was significant. It wasn't so much tho, that there's significant damage to the house. Here's the deal though. I rip it out and take care of it now and I don't have to worry. It can also be a selling point. This place will have a new furnace, it already has a new water heater, new plumbing and updated electrical. That means I might not be able to do all the floors right away but it will be worth it in the end.

A hundred and twenty-plus years of patching and remodeling and earthquakes and just living...it definitely influences what I want to bring into the house as far a style and character. I'll leave the hoarding and meth part out.

Keep 'em where they live...