WAY O.T. - Why I haven't worked on cars for 13 months.

Nice work Travis! Kinda like a Bob Vila "frame off" Nothing better than some of that old lumber. It's hard as hell and will probably last forever.
Whatcha gonna make outta the rat skeletons ?

 

Great work! Old houses can be cooler than old cars because you are VERY much more likely to get out$$$ what you put in!

-J

 

been there; done that; lived in it the whole time.

my hat's off to you for a job well done.

 

I'll tell you what Travis, being a single dad renting a place, I can't tell you how much I would value what you have now. I don't know you, but I'd pat you on the back buddy. That is a job well done! I can not wait until I can put up a post like yours on the hamb. You made that place YOUR home, and put new life back into it. That place will be good to you in return no doubt-
congratulations dude
john

 

Good job Travis! I have done similar things, although at a smaller extent with only a kitchen completely gutted, and it takes a lot of time and effort. The end result is nice to have the "new" house and the sense of doing it yourself. Also great to have freinds that helped out.

I just recently built a big storage shed connected to the garage in my backyard by myself, approx 425 sq ft, it consumed four full weekends from start to (almost) finish. Oct was a blur, where did it go? The finished shed with increased storage space is really nice to have and makes the labor and expense worthwhile. Now I can fill it up with all the engines, trans, rearends and other car parts.

 

Wow!! First congrats on a project well done (or at least well on it's way.) It reminded me of my project of 36 years ago. We bought a small two bedroom house that was built from 1920 something to the late 30's. It had been changed several times (and not improved) and not one time was a level or a square brought into play. Our main objective was to put a basement under it and add on in a couple of small areas(bathroom and living room). The house was jacked up on pillars for almost two years and we lived in it the whole time. The fact that we managed to get the job done and still stay married is testimony that God watches over small children and FOOLS. Now when it came to building our new house we left it to the contractors. I had just completed almost 5 years in the hospital due to a severe head injury so I just didn't have the stamina for a project like that.

The kids are now grown, married w/grandkids and I still have the most wonderful woman I could imagine by my side. I guess there is truth in the saying "wharever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"

Frank

 

Yeah, I love old houses. Looks like you are doin a great job. I went through the total ground up on my moms house about 6 years ago. It was a mess. Her house was built in the mid 1800s. With the adition being built in 1900. And right before I started college, I bought a house from the bank. It was built in 1900 as well. It is a mess, it was a repo an gutted of sink/tubs, everythin before they left. It DOES however have new electrical,plumbing,windows, and duckwork but not a/c unit. Tis ok, I only gave 30k fer it..hehe so I have some room to work. The yellow one below is my moms, the ugly green two story is mine... I hope to have it atleast livable when I get outa school. Not bad for a 20 year old huh?

 

OK a few more pictures and then I'll shut up on this stuff.

The back of the house. I colored one picture to make it easy. The green line is where the original wall was prior to 1950 or so... to the left is the added on 'retreat' in our master bedroom. That same wall also has the added on master bathroom and the livingroom. Notice the roof pitch is different (yellow line and blue line). The other thing to notice is we removed a window next to that back door... and where the white box is on the left side of the house... we centered the window under the peak of the roof in that area. Also that entire room was added on sometime between 1930 and 1950 without a permit and the entire thing was added on using 3" tongue and groove subfloor wood!! Cedar, no less. Sure looks weird but they did a great job so we left it as is.

In the retreat on the far left, that wall was only about 5'10" and if you walked into the corner you'd bang your head. so we raised that 18" there and then if you notice the new roof, we straightened it out. We did all the work shown below in 1 day. Now that entire back wall has been completed with the new siding, etc. Here's the pics...

 

I mentioned before we did (are still doing) some work on the inside. One thing that REALLY sucks is that they changed all the interior doors to the new 1980's crap that's hollow with the fake brass door knobs and all that. Fucking disgusting. Here's an example with my devil kitty, Mocha. Now, I was looking for car parts on Craigslist and somehow miraculously came across this guy who was dismantling a house that was built in 1935. I bought 14 original doors from him.. solid with original brass and crystal hardware. These are the correct style 1-panel doors as opposed to the fake 6 panel doors. HUGE difference. Also take a gander of the front left bedroom of the house looking through the new wall into the bathroom (notice toilet). Here's a picture from today as an update on that bathroom...

 

Another thing that was really cool in that 1935 house was that the guy said "Anything else you find attached to this house that you want, take it because it's going to be destroyed". I got about 6 old original art deco style light switch plates and plug outlets and this light. This light was located upstairs in the closet and it's ceramic. I think originally it was for a bathroom fixture because there's a plug on the bottom side where you'd plug in an electric shaver. I liked it so much that I stuck it in the hall and am now looking for a lamp shade or whatever for this light.

Anyway. That's all folks!! I'll post more pictures of this house after we paint the outside.

Travis

 

do the doors have the skeleton key............dontcha love when other people get rid of "junk"...........great job.