7Wannabe5- Take 7- The Money Dimple

[Western Red Cedar]

Looks like a major project! I'm sure it will be incredibly rewarding to bring the house back to life. My only disappointment with the pictures was that the art from the notorious Zuka wasn't particularly inspiring.

Good luck!

[7Wannabe5]

The old chimney might be useful. Watch videos on repointing, to see how repair is done.

First, I have to figure out if/where it exists below the attic. Second, I am thinking that it might permanently scar the neighborhood kiddies to see somebody who looks like Mrs. Santa Claus up on a snow covered roof tumbling to her death into collapsed chimney.

The way to replace a rotted header is to frame a wall, inside, to take the load, then replace anything in your original wall, then remove your temp wall. Time consuming, and awkward, but not rocket surgery. watch videos to see if you want to tackle it yourself. Search for rot before deciding on a plan of action. Get it all at once.

Gotcha. Note to self must price nail gun rental vs purchase/resale potential (When I built the interior wall in my old money pit, I had my extremely unhandy, but young and well-muscled, ex-husband on hand to wield hammer under my direction.) I am a book person even for activities for which videos make more sense. So, I will be reading and referencing "Renovation: 5th Edition" by Litchfield and Harley as my core resource throughout my project. Then I will watch videos and do internet searches. Just how my brain works. I don't trust blind step by step direction without having some comprehension of big picture underlying theory/practice/science/math. Anyways, I am a very fast, strong reader and a very slow, weak manual laborer, so the overall pace of work should remain balanced

im thinking a (metaphorical) minute is going to be a lot faster and cheaper than however long it takes you to set up the house, yes?

so that could be the first space to get fixed, and your base of operations and/or rest/lunch place.

fix the shack, then fix the house with the help of the shack.

Definite possibility. For now, I am using warm car with coffee thermos in cupholder as my office and kitchen sink and cupboard remnants as tool/supply space. I was a follower of the FlyLady for many years, so I've got "First Shine the Kitchen Sink" embedded in my brain as practice for dealing with clutter and filth. This also goes along with Pattern Language core of Locate Running Water and Establish the Hearth. Of course, in current situation, the only way the water is running is if it is diluted with vinegar (to keep it from freezing and simultaneously kill mold) and poured out of a jug by me and then caught in a bucket under open sink drain.

I already got some forms from my friend who runs an insurance agency. The property "as is" might not be very insurable, but she's going to give it a go. If I can and have fit all my worldly goods into my Smart Car, hauling around my more valuable tools isn't really a problem. Big cheap stuff like my push broom and snow shovel, I'll just take my chances with vandals. Really big stuff I will have delivered or rent a small truck for the day. I might eventually get a hitch and small motorcycle sized duo camping/hauling trailer for the Smart Car. I like modular design.

@Western Red Cedar:

Thanks! Poor Zuka. My new brain wave is that I am going to join Senior Americorps and tutor in the district, so maybe I will run into the young artiste in another context

[Alphaville]

this is starting to sound like a really coherent plan with a lot of good energy to drive it forward. go @7w5 go!

[sky]

Before you start putting a lot of money into the house, get an estimate for what needs to be done with the roof, electrical and plumbing. Those tend to be the big cost items.

I noticed a bow in the roof in one of the pictures, which is not good. Also, collapsed ceilings often mean roof leaks.

[Frita]

The description of your office!

Senior Americorps sounds like an interesting plan. It’s shorter stints, right? Tell us more, if you’d ever like a break from house chat.

[George the original one]

I suspect the backyard shed was a well-built playhouse for kids.

[7Wannabe5]

@sky:

The roof is fairly new and I didn’t see anything concerning in the attic. It looks like it is bowed in the photo because there are small cottagey triangles of Mansard at the gable ends. The electrical service box looks okay. It is at least post-breaker era. Since the majority of the run is currently under paneling which I intend to remove and replace with drywall, it should be pretty easy to inspect and repair as needed. The house is so small even bringing it up all the way to current code won’t be huge deal. I will do most of the work myself. The same with the interior plumbing. My main concern expense wise is the water/sewage from/to the road, but I’ve already budgeted it as major expense. Window and door repair and replacement is definitely going to add up too. Also HVAC.

@Frita:

I am going to do some more research about the senior program. It looks like it might be a good complement to my super gigantic project if it is flexible enough. The stipend is minuscule, but health insurance is provided.

@GTOO:

Maybe grandkids? I don’t think the house ever had more than one bedroom. It could have maybe been the accommodations for a railroad employee?

[Alphaville]

looks like a she shed, with all the frilly stuff

what's the law in your city regarding tiny houses?

[EdithKeeler]

Wow! What a project! Take lots and lots of pictures as you progress--I think we all are interested!

I have a friend whose parents, at the start of their marriage, bought a dilapidated farmhouse in New Jersey. It had been built in the 1700's, and they talked about buying it for next to nothing and camping in the house while they worked on it. My friend's mom talked about how romantic they thought it was at the time to, while cuddled together in sleeping bags, look at the stars through the holes in the roof. Years later it was gorgeous and they had great pride in telling me all the stuff they did, much of it through their own labor.

Good luck, and tell us all about it!

By the way: make sure your tetanus shot is up to date. Seriously.

[ertyu]

We both have our work cut out for us. Strength

[C40]

Wow, this is a huge project! I'm interested to see it play out. And rooting for you/believing in you

[Crusader]

I cannot believe what I am seeing. Out of curiosity, how much of the renovations are you planning to do yourself vs. hiring others? To me it looks like would almost be better to knock the whole place down and start from scratch.

[Alphaville]

i got a bigger house than that built for less, so im not worried for her

the real value is in the land

but i await for news and updates with great impatience! this thread has the potential to be more addictive than "the sopranos" and i want the next episode!

[Crusader]

Indeed, who needs reality TV?

[Toska2]

I can loan a pneumatic 3 1/2" Senco nail gun, a 2 1/2" Hitachi (nv65) and a cordless light. I charge a dozen cookies a month.

Good luck on your "new to you" house.

[7Wannabe5]

By the way: make sure your tetanus shot is up to date. Seriously.

It's on my To Do List. Seriously.

Well folks, I am one beat up old female endomorph, but progress is slowly accumulating. You requested more photos. Here's the one documenting my classic Scooby Doo in the Haunted House moment.



Yes, I went right through the rotten floorboards. Luckily, I was wearing my super snow boots, and I am of the strong boned and well padded variety of old lady, so I just kind of bounced. It was actually an oddly exhilarating experience and the good news is that the revealed joist seems quite solid.

@ertyu@C40:

Thanks for the encouragement!

Out of curiosity, how much of the renovations are you planning to do yourself vs. hiring others? To me it looks like would almost be better to knock the whole place down and start from scratch.

I was asking myself this same question when I happened upon this mystic message left for me on the floor of the shed from a former owner of house.



Some other artifacts found in rubble heaps.

the real value is in the land

Right and don't forget my fine collection of urban timber.

I can loan a pneumatic 3 1/2" Senco nail gun, a 2 1/2" Hitachi (nv65) and a cordless light. I charge a dozen cookies a month.

Good luck on your "new to you" house.

Thanks, I might take you up on that This renovation is clearly going to require a great deal of carpentry. I bought myself a subscription to the archives of Fine Homebuilding and have been delving deep into questions such as "How do you remove a rectangle of rotted old oak floorboard, replace it with plywood (pressure treated?), but leave the perimeter of non-rotted oak in place, with the intention of covering the plywood with area rug?" Also, in reference to my need for nail gun, I am wondering what reasons besides expense preclude the use of self tapping construction screws?

Tiny bathroom cleared of loose debris with chimney in corner. Living room corner in front of bathroom where gas or wood appliance obviously used to sit. Oops I revealed myself!




The almost clean yellow kitchen sink.



Largest remaining rubble heap, slowly being once more revealed as snow melts away.



Scary place I will have to slither into on my chubby belly when I fix the plumbing.



Very rough layout of house and edge of garage.



My first priority area of concern is the entire front West wall of the house. It is only 24 ft. across, with approximately 9 ft devoted to windows and 8 ft open to "Conservatory" addition. Due to years of neglect of gutters and overgrown plantings, there is rot in portions of window headers and top plate, and the header supporting the open entry to the "Conservatory" while not rotted is insufficient and sagging. It seems to me that there is not enough wall left in this wall, so beyond replacing rotted elements, my initial thought is that I will add at least one post to the "Conservatory" entry and build a boot bench into that corner (NE) of the "Conservatory."

On more upbeat note, I am 50% certain that I will be able to get my water line from the street replaced for free from government program. It's going to take a bit of bureaucratic wrangling, which is NOT my favorite thing, but could potentially save me $$$.

Anyways, I am having fun even through the freezing and covered with filth parts of the project, and I haven't spent too much money yet. My biggest expense so far has been intermittent temporary lodging for me, but it works out to paying myself sub-minimum wage, which I might not even deserve as a manual laborer due to seriously not fit for the task and super frequent coffee breaks taken, but I'm also doing a great deal of information gathering and inspection throughout the process, so not a complete crime against the concept of comparative advantage.

[Alphaville]

this is way more thrilling than watching khaleesi walk out of the flames or whatever hahahaha. seriously, seeing those pictures gets my heart pumping fast, like im a dog and the pictures are a squirrel i wanna chase. if i were your neighboor i'd volunteer to help. i love demolitions

well this is not really a demolition but removing the crap and rot and dead leaves etc is hugely satisfying for me. did you get your dumpster yet? how full is it? i love a clean slate.

also a couple of ideas re: your musings. 1) if you going for cheap-- why not osb? cheaper than plywood... yes yes, it has its problems, o well... but it's cheap. 2) endomorph is good for winter, i'd just add a daily protein shake to the rations, to keep muscle fed, and you'll come out of this in great shape. slow does it, no need to rush things. avoid sugar

re:osb, i once saw photos of a supercool swiss chalet all made of osb and it looked amazing. i will see if i can find photo, but if not i can give you a title for your used book search. interested? i'd photograph and take a photo but dont have my books here.

thanks also for posting pictures of floorplan, i like that it has a rear (kitchen) door. for the onions!

i soooooo look forward to the next episode...

but of course more discussion of this one would be awesome.

and so, a question: what's the idea for the conservatory? passive solar collector? "mud room" as they say? if so-- would you consider east also?



ETA OH HELL YEAH FOUND IT



if my eyes don't lie, that's osb polished and coverd with a clear coat yes?

other models here: https://www.treehugger.com/prefab-chale ... ps-5080268 yes, it's osb!

[Crusader]

I have to say, I am actually jealous that you have time to work on something like this, even if it looks scary. I'll be egging you on.

[7Wannabe5]

well this is not really a demolition but removing the crap and rot and dead leaves etc is hugely satisfying for me. did you get your dumpster yet? how full is it? i love a clean slate.

I haven't been able to get a dumpster yet due to snow, so I've been making due with contractor grade/size trash bags. It's actually against my sense of permaculture principles to just throw everything in a bag or dumpster, but I can't conceive of any further use for filthy old cellulose insulation, chunks of moldy plaster or flimsy, damaged 1970s paneling with multiple layers of wallpaper semi-attached. It's going to warm up some more this weekend, so I will hopefully be able to get my kid crew on site and sort/clear away enough of the rubble pile on the driveway to make room for a dumpster to be parked out of the right-of-way. Then I will start the true demolition taking down the flimsy paneling to reveal the full extent of the rot and allow more access to plumbing/electric. Likely, I will rent a small dumpster for a short time on more than one occasion rather than trying to get it all done with a big one, because my location makes me very vulnerable to having drive-by dumping occur. In order to maintain a sense of zen about this project which will allow me to proceed at much slower than reality TV pace, I have already budgeted several thousand $$ to the category of Unknown Yet Expected Problems with Other People and Bureaucracies, so any/every time I have to replace something stolen/broken by a vandal or pay for a second inspection fee or a ticket for improper permitting procedure, or I get ripped off beyond estimate by main sewage line replacement contractor, etc. etc. etc. , I will not fret unduly.

also a couple of ideas re: your musings. 1) if you going for cheap-- why not osb? cheaper than plywood... yes yes, it has its problems, o well... but it's cheap

It's permeability rating would be a problem for this application, because it will be directly exposed to open, intermittently damp, crawl space. The core of the house was built in 1927, so the oak board flooring is the subfloor. I will preserve refinish as much of it as possible, but I kind of like how the old linoleum extended into the dining room. so I might put new "linoleum" out there too. There is apparently a good deal of open debate in the realm of crawl space ventilation. I am currently leaning towards putting some white poly sheeting over the dirt, but otherwise not messing around with it too much, letting it breathe. The lot is basically flat, but I am going to work on directing the flow of water well AWAY from the house.

The beauty of proceeding slowly with my own labor on a very small house will be that I can afford better materials. The consensus at "Fine Home Building" seems to be "beef it up" at every opportunity. I was even considering building up the entire west wall inwards and adding bookshelves and banquette seating under the windows, but I have to crawl around on my belly and take a look at the foundation first. I was also considering a Taleb barbell option, which would be paying for the expertise of a structural engineer consultation, but then doing the actual carpentry myself instead of the more normative choice of simply hiring a contractor.

2) endomorph is good for winter, i'd just add a daily protein shake to the rations, to keep muscle fed, and you'll come out of this in great shape. slow does it, no need to rush things. avoid sugar

Well, coming off of weird late menopause followed immediately by Covid lockdown, I am the chubbiest I have ever been, so I can't afford to be casual. I also know myself well enough to doubt my ability to honcho myself on multiple difficult fronts, so I signed myself up for the Noom elephant and rider behavioral psychology based healthy weight loss coaching program. Not free, but hiring a virtual diet coach is waaaaaay cheaper than hiring a general renovation contractor. So far, I am blowing away my Steps per Day and Green Food goals, but I still eat too many Red Foods, and oddly not very many Yellow Foods at all. My typical distracted solo eating style is way too much of Giant Salad and 3 cookies, Vegetable Soup and 3 cookies, Fruit and Yogurt and 3 cookies, ...etc. etc. you get the idea.

i like that it has a rear (kitchen) door. for the onions!...
what's the idea for the conservatory? passive solar collector? "mud room" as they say? if so-- would you consider east also?

Well, as you can kind of tell from my rough diagram, the "Conservatory" has a lot of windows (actually the whole house has a lot of windows, which are going to be quite expensive to replace if I can't find missing sashes in the remaining rubble pile), and I am going to have to knock out the very low dropped ceiling (where the raccoon(s) are currently nesting) which will reveal a small roof peak structure and the possibility of some loft-like access to the attic. So, my rough plan is to make it a bit of a greenhouse/solar room. It tickles me to refer to it as the Conservatory. You may have noticed that I also indicated the presence of a Library in my drawing . The Utility Room to the East of the kitchen is almost a complete disaster. The floor is basically gone. I assume that is where the water heater used to live. I am thinking I will make it my Pantry/Laundry/Mud room. I am still puzzling about what to do about the weird staircase to the attic room to the north. The Realtor actually had the gall to suggest that I could turn the attic into a rental unit with separate entrance. This is only likely to happen in a future world where intelligent Raccoons have access to money (or bitcoins) and Covid 276 has rendered me nose-blind to the stink.

For better or worse, I can't share the experience of raccoon stink with you guys over the internet (yet), but maybe next time I will link a recording of the whistle of the train that goes by very close to the Money Dimple every afternoon around 1:11. If I get a giant rainwater collector for the backyard, it will be just like Petticoat Junction, if Petticoat Junction was very short walk to 4.8 star Mexican take out and a tattoo parlor.

[Alphaville]

open, intermittently damp, crawl space. The core of the house was built in 1927, so the oak board flooring is the subfloor. I will preserve refinish as much of it as possible, but I kind of like how the old linoleum extended into the dining room. so I might put new "linoleum" out there too. There is apparently a good deal of open debate in the realm of crawl space ventilation. I am currently leaning towards putting some white poly sheeting over the dirt, but otherwise not messing around with it too much, letting it breathe. The lot is basically flat, but I am going to work on directing the flow of water well AWAY from the house.

The beauty of proceeding slowly with my own labor on a very small house will be that I can afford better materials. The consensus at "Fine Home Building" seems to be "beef it up" at every opportunity.

there is much to say about all the rest but that here is the basis for everything else, isn't it?

first, a tale:

my own cabin was built on flat land "because it was flat" i guess, so nobody bothered thinking further, and i ended up being stuck in a bit of a floodplain (not a real floodplain just a bit of a puddle gatherer). this made the soil damp. the damp soil underneath weakened the osb. then it warped, etc. parts turned soft, eventually i got holes.

as i learned things i realized that the house had been placed on the wrong spot. but it was too late to move it now. so instead i had to correct the water flows around the property.

this turned out to be a blast because i love to operate a backhoe, and i did such a good job that a visiting engineer was impressed by the results.

so now finally my cabin has a dry foundation and is ready to have the old floor torn out and filled with clay and sand and etc... except that we no longer live there (we'll do the floor some day, but there is no rush).

anyway, i used to think that was just a problem in the boonies where things are built by amateurs. now you made me realize it's not. and this is why i told you about the whole mess above (i've lived it)

so then, applying my understanding to your lot: sure, okay, maybe you can dig some strategic french drains around your house and divert water. but how much will that do? i don't know. you get tons more rain that i do. soil is gonna be damp.

so i have to say: if oak rots, and osb rots, then plywood will rot too, and you'll just throw money away into pricer rot. no?

under those conditions then... wouldn't you be better off with concrete or concrete alternative? just saying, if you must beef it up... beef it up good.

ps alternative to poured concrete is perhaps floor-thickness (.42") hardiebacker? it's made to accept tile (but you don't have to install tile) and it eats moisture for breakfast.

eta: look at this interesting product. hmmmm.... https://www.homedepot.com/p/DRICORE-R-I ... /205505261

concrete subfloor panels:
https://www.usg.com/content/usgcom/en/p ... floor.html