Working on the 110+ house

[jeswinehart]

A little back ground on my place is in order I reckon. My parents bought this place in 1961 (dad refused to move in and stayed on the farm until 62). Mom wanted to be a little closer to town.
I bought it from Mom (she built new ~ out in the country so go figure?) after getting out of Uncle Sam's Yachting club in the mid 70's.
Dad passed in what is now the Mrs. hobby room (carburators + cranks )Attachment 121625Attachment 121626Attachment 121627 down stairs (made it home from overseas just in time to hold Dads hand and say bye and watch brother carry him out to the hearse).
Grandma passed in my house in 66 or 67 in the dinning room that was set up with bed and such for her.
Mom passed in the same room, the one I am typing in right now in 98, same spot as Grandma (I made the same set up for her as she had done for her mother, my grandma).
Fast forward to today: The upstairs bath was in dire need of a extreme make over and that is what I have been up to for about 3 weeks now.
I know some of you eastern folks have the old post + beam constructed home (rough framed like a old style barn) and perhaps others too.
There is a lot of truth in the saying you can't build like that any more. Heck, you could build 2 homes out of the timber used to build my place.
The newer looking wood is modern materials that measure out to a whole lot less then what they are called now days.
The insert numbers are true dimension. Real 2x4, real 6x6 and what I refer too as railroad ties,,,, 8x8.
I have been thru this house top to bottom, stem to stern. Always amazed to how things was done at the turn of the century. From the bark still on the attic roof rafters to the 12 x 12 white oak foundation,,, and the (TRUE sized) 2x4,4x4,6x6 and 8x8 lob-Lolly pine.
My upstairs hobby/lab room (older brothers room. oldest daughters room and now MINE), where I do mold reproduction stuff is taking on the appearance of Fibber McGee's closet since it is directly across from bathroom project so that work bench is gathering construction stuff from our small upstairs bath room remodle project.

[cattle-dog]

very nice john i restore the old barns and house`s so post beam is my thing, also live in a post beam 1840 2400 sq ft farm house allways fun to renovate.
i look forward to seeing your progress, if your home improvement skills match your other indevours it will be amazing.

[dcreel]

Definitely awesome. I've never seen a home built like that. It is amazing how much more craftsmanship was involved in building anything back in the day. Makes you wonder if they switched to the sizing they use now to make themselves more money since the consumer gets less wood for what I would assume nowadays is an even higher price. I'll be watching your build for sure.. Looking good John.

[oldtime3wheeler]

My wife and I live in a 118 yr old farm house. When I bought it 8 yrs ago it needed alot of tlc. I spent a month working on it before the family moved in. Took me close to 2 months to transform the attic(wouldnt have stuck my worst enemy in there) into my daughters room. I was amazed at the attic beams. The cut nails and the strength. Have done lots of renovation work on old properties and love the way they were built and there strength. They will aou last any new construction.

[Howdy]

John, I totally understand the remodeling. I am in the middle of a HUGE remodel myself. I will have to take some current pics / video. It's a lot of work, but will be worth it.

[tri again]

Nice to hear how comfortable you are working
with the 'old' stuff.
I always think about the people who built these things,
what was going thru their minds, hand tools and weather to deal
with.

If 'we' live in a place worth being in, you know people prob
lived there for hundreds, if not thousands of years, so the
ancient spirits are still around, if that makes any sense.

We just finished up turning an old church into a bakery.

It was dismantled in the 20's and trucked 100 miles or so and
actually reassembled.
Actually talked to an old lady who said she remembers straightening out
Thousands of nails when she was a little kid.


Have fun with it knowing it will last forever.
We had to copy some odd sized lumber but seems like
people with portable saw mills are not too hard to find.

There's some aspect of immortality that comes with
projects like that.

[jeswinehart]

Attachment 124472Attachment 124474Attachment 124475Well, for the most part the upstairs bath project is done and the Mrs. and I are extremely happy with how it turned out (and done too ! ).
She pretty much had the new lay out in mind in her head saying it would give us more room if we moved every thing around like she wanted it, and it did.
Now don't get me wrong, it is still a very small bath room but she maximized the space very well IMO.
We are now repairing all the dings and things in the hall way that took hits from boards, sheets of dry wall and of course from her + I getting the shower hoisted up the stairs and down the hall way.
Then the down stairs bath gets put back in order since that is where we had a temporary shower (where the deep sink was).

At least now I can get back into my hobby room and start making parts again !

[dcreel]

Looks awesome John.. I need to do some bathroom remodeling as well. I hate to admit it but I think it's out of my realm of abilities.

[hang&rattle]

Right on John, I was thinkin' about you today, knew ya were busy with the remodel, but good to see a post from ya. Listen to the honey's, hey, if their happy, we're happy, lol!!!

[tapper190]

Very nice John! Liway and you did an awesome job!
Tapper

[atc007]

Good stuff!!