• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

Home stuff šŸ” Home improvements

The only thing that works in an old house is the owner. I wasn't planning on replacing the subfloor but as things progressed, it was clear it needed to be done. There was a lot of bounce in the floor. When I pried up one of the floorboards I found an old gas line for a gas light cut into the joists. Not only weakening the joists, but some of the old bridging was removed to make room for the line.
I bought some metal bridging that fits between the joists. However, the must not have had rulers in 1890 because my joists aren't 16" apart. They are anywhere from 14"-18". I had to custom cut solid blocking instead of using the metal bridging.
This helped but there was still quite a bit of deflection. So now I'm removing the old plank subfloor and replacing with OSB. Glued and screwed to stiffen the floor. This is adding weeks to my project.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20220924_081049317.jpg
    IMG_20220924_081049317.jpg
    110.7 KB · Views: 31
  • IMG_20220924_142448408.jpg
    IMG_20220924_142448408.jpg
    126.7 KB · Views: 29
  • IMG_20221009_110149283.jpg
    IMG_20221009_110149283.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 58
Sometimes I hate tearing into things because you'll find more.

My BIL was replacing an exterior door & when he took out the frame, he found alot of rot in the sill.

I thought I had to replace the fluorescent bulbs in the walk-in closet this weekend. Nope, the ballast has kicked the bucket & now that needs to be done.
 
Planit said:
Sometimes I hate tearing into things because you'll find more.

My BIL was replacing an exterior door & when he took out the frame, he found alot of rot in the sill.

I thought I had to replace the fluorescent bulbs in the walk-in closet this weekend. Nope, the ballast has kicked the bucket & now that needs to be done.
Click to expand...
Roofs are frequently bad. Just need to do a tear off and re-shingle, right? :disappointed"
 
I convinced CCG to let me build PeachFuzz a playhouse if I could find some free or cheap pallets. I ended up finding someone that was selling them for $2, so CCG spent Saturday morning hauling pallets, and then PeachFuzz and I made a platform with cinder blocks and set the nicest pallet that also was treated with chemicals so we couldn't really sand it or cut into it on top of it for a foundation. The gentleman we got the pallets from was kind enough to throw in a free piece of perfectly cut plywood to put on top of it, so we have a pretty good base for the playhouse. We were able to use another large pallet and two smaller ones for a back wall and two side walls. Not sure if we're going to put anything in front. But we're really stuck on figuring out a roof.

We have another large pallet we could use that's the same dimensions as the foundation, and originally I was just going to use that one and have a single slanted roof, but it wouldn't quite cover the entire structure if it's at a slant. So then we were going to use two smaller pallets to make an A-frame and then just use 2x4's and make it free-standing to fit inside the playhouse structure and attach to the walls. The problem is that because the pallets are so irregularly shaped, that we're having trouble figuring out the heights to cut the support beams so that they reach the roof in a location where they can also be attached to the walls. We can't just set the roof on top of the walls themselves because there's a difference of about 3" in height between the pallets used for the sides and the pallets used for the back wall.

We're trying to avoid buying a lot of materials - this was supposed to be a budget project. We have two 2x4x8's to work with, and three 4x4's left. We're also using tools we already have which are very limited, so we need to be able to cut any wood pieces with a jig saw (that has been fun!).

Any creative solutions? My current thought is that we could use some of the pieces we already have to add three inches to the side walls so that the roof could set on it evenly, but I'm not sure how we would attach the roof to the structure itself at that point, which is something I feel needs to happen if my three year old is going to play in it.
 
My new furnace was installed today. It is very nice to have heat again. I now have wood for the wood stove, the chimney got a clean bill of health but I needed to replace the seals on the wood stove doors which is a two day process because the new adhesive must cure for 24 hours. Also the people that owned this house before used the wrong size seals before and their solution was some sort of asphalt type adhesive that took a long time to chip out and get down to bare metal. Then it decided it was going to be 70F again.

It started to rain heavily just as the HVAC installer got the furnace fired up. They'll be back tomorrow complete the install of the A/C unit and get everything cleaned up and put back together again in the crawl space. Also it was fun when the electrician cut the power to the wrong circuit and knocked out my network and desktop this afternoon which took a while to get back up in running because the computer protested.
 
gtpeach said:
I convinced CCG to let me build PeachFuzz a playhouse if I could find some free or cheap pallets. I ended up finding someone that was selling them for $2, so CCG spent Saturday morning hauling pallets, and then PeachFuzz and I made a platform with cinder blocks and set the nicest pallet that also was treated with chemicals so we couldn't really sand it or cut into it on top of it for a foundation. The gentleman we got the pallets from was kind enough to throw in a free piece of perfectly cut plywood to put on top of it, so we have a pretty good base for the playhouse. We were able to use another large pallet and two smaller ones for a back wall and two side walls. Not sure if we're going to put anything in front. But we're really stuck on figuring out a roof.

We have another large pallet we could use that's the same dimensions as the foundation, and originally I was just going to use that one and have a single slanted roof, but it wouldn't quite cover the entire structure if it's at a slant. So then we were going to use two smaller pallets to make an A-frame and then just use 2x4's and make it free-standing to fit inside the playhouse structure and attach to the walls. The problem is that because the pallets are so irregularly shaped, that we're having trouble figuring out the heights to cut the support beams so that they reach the roof in a location where they can also be attached to the walls. We can't just set the roof on top of the walls themselves because there's a difference of about 3" in height between the pallets used for the sides and the pallets used for the back wall.

We're trying to avoid buying a lot of materials - this was supposed to be a budget project. We have two 2x4x8's to work with, and three 4x4's left. We're also using tools we already have which are very limited, so we need to be able to cut any wood pieces with a jig saw (that has been fun!).

Any creative solutions? My current thought is that we could use some of the pieces we already have to add three inches to the side walls so that the roof could set on it evenly, but I'm not sure how we would attach the roof to the structure itself at that point, which is something I feel needs to happen if my three year old is going to play in it.
Click to expand...
It's hard to say without pictures. What are the lenghts of the 4x4's? Is it possibly to slide them into the openings of the pallets to use as uprights on one side or the other and use them to suport the 2x4's to create a slant roof?
 
noottamevas said:
The only thing that works in an old house is the owner. I wasn't planning on replacing the subfloor but as things progressed, it was clear it needed to be done. There was a lot of bounce in the floor. When I pried up one of the floorboards I found an old gas line for a gas light cut into the joists. Not only weakening the joists, but some of the old bridging was removed to make room for the line.
I bought some metal bridging that fits between the joists. However, the must not have had rulers in 1890 because my joists aren't 16" apart. They are anywhere from 14"-18". I had to custom cut solid blocking instead of using the metal bridging.
This helped but there was still quite a bit of deflection. So now I'm removing the old plank subfloor and replacing with OSB. Glued and screwed to stiffen the floor. This is adding weeks to my project.
Click to expand...
I like restoration in general. There are many ways to support structure, and I would not dismiss plank subfloor without damage to it's support.

Once a building is occupied codes rapidly drop away in terms of prescribing what to do. Compliance of improvement can be uncertain depending on AHJ approval. The more rural, usually the less qualified of code officials, so compliance can be tricky. If you can afford licensed design it will be a big step to local approval
 
After the plumber advised me yesterday that the leak in my hall bath shower was the result of failed tile and failing shower pan, remodeling the bath has jumped up to first place (with a bullet!*) on the home improvements priority list. I was hoping to get a little farther down the road before I had to undertake this project, though.

It is a small space (just over 35 square feet), so it isn't a modern palace as seen all the DIY channels, and I have no need for anything much larger. And it is vintage 1960s bathroom aesthetics, complete with mint green 4"x4" ceramic tile. I can do all the demo myself and part of the rebuild (though it will be faster to hire someone). I will not mess with the plumbing and probably not the electric. At least I'll get to enjoy it for a few years before I retire and relocate northward (as a climate refugee, of course).

There will be some discomfort, since this is the only shower in the house (the Primary BR has an en-suite but only a tub) and my daughter uses the Primary as her BR, so late night potty runs could be awkward for a few weeks. Ah, well, we're all family ....

*Some youngsters may not get the reference ...
 
Gedunker said:
After the plumber advised me yesterday that the leak in my hall bath shower was the result of failed tile and failing shower pan, remodeling the bath has jumped up to first place (with a bullet!*) on the home improvements priority list. I was hoping to get a little farther down the road before I had to undertake this project, though.

It is a small space (just over 35 square feet), so it isn't a modern palace as seen all the DIY channels, and I have no need for anything much larger. And it is vintage 1960s bathroom aesthetics, complete with mint green 4"x4" ceramic tile. I can do all the demo myself and part of the rebuild (though it will be faster to hire someone). I will not mess with the plumbing and probably not the electric. At least I'll get to enjoy it for a few years before I retire and relocate northward (as a climate refugee, of course).

There will be some discomfort, since this is the only shower in the house (the Primary BR has an en-suite but only a tub) and my daughter uses the Primary as her BR, so late night potty runs could be awkward for a few weeks. Ah, well, we're all family ....

*Some youngsters may not get the reference ...
Click to expand...
Ah that sucks. Demo should be pretty straightforward, we did a lot of the beach house demo ourselves and used the green Bagsters for the debris which worked out nicely. At least you have a second bathroom, when we did ours we had to move out for a week since we only have one. We had a low lip shower pan installed along with grab bars and handheld shower for aging in place purposes.
 
Gedunker said:
(the Primary BR has an en-suite but only a tub)
Click to expand...
First...that's the definition of anachronistic.

Second...while you've got a plumber in the house have them turn this tub into a shower/tub combo. Seems like an easy 100% value add to your comfy little house.
 
mendelman said:
First...what an anachronistic 1960s design relic.

Second...while you've got a plumber in the house have them turn this tub into a shower/tub combo. Seems like an easy 100% value add to your comfy little house.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking the same thing: a diverter from the shower faucet, to a wall-mounted hand held. Not a permanent solution, but a good fix for the short term.
 
Gedunker said:
complete with mint green 4"x4" ceramic tile
Click to expand...
We'd like to remodel some of the bathrooms in our house. We have 4 full baths ranging in size from about 32 sf to 40 sf. They're currently all painted white. Little scratches reveal that one was off-white, one was pepto pink, one mint green, and one an aqua blue. My wife wants to keep the tile, I'm ready for an update.

They are back to back upstairs and downstairs I'd like to build an en-suite with bathroom and closet out of the fifth bedroom and combine the two very claustrophobic bathrooms upstairs together for for the girls. Downstairs both bathrooms including the one that guest use have full tubs and showers. My goal is to move the wall in the "public" bath to take out the bathtub and add that space to the other bathroom which attaches to a downstairs addition that was meant to allow the residents to age in place without a ton of stairs. Or it'd make a pretty nice little apartment if we ever allow income producing ADUs.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
We'd like to remodel some of the bathrooms in our house. We have 4 full baths ranging in size from about 32 sf to 40 sf. They're currently all painted white. Little scratches reveal that one was off-white, one was pepto pink, one mint green, and one an aqua blue. My wife wants to keep the tile, I'm ready for an update.

They are back to back upstairs and downstairs I'd like to build an en-suite with bathroom and closet out of the fifth bedroom and combine the two very claustrophobic bathrooms upstairs together for for the girls. Downstairs both bathrooms including the one that guest use have full tubs and showers. My goal is to move the wall in the "public" bath to take out the bathtub and add that space to the other bathroom which attaches to a downstairs addition that was meant to allow the residents to age in place without a ton of stairs. Or it'd make a pretty nice little apartment if we ever allow income producing ADUs.
Click to expand...
So you'd end up with, basically, still four full baths, 4 bedrooms and a master bedroom suite.

I say yep. You'd maximize efficiency of space and still have a market acceptable 'large' house.

Nice.
 
Last edited:
We also need to update a bathroom (the kids' in the upstairs hallway) as it has been neglected for most of its lifetime. When we bought the house, I assumed it was a cheap shower upgrade. What I didn't realize it that it was literally individual plastic-ey panels covering the original tile with double-sided tape. (Seriously!) When they added the cheap-o panels, they removed the soap holder so we now have a hole in the middle back wall of the shower where you can see plywood.

When the kids are home from college, they've been using the master shower but that will not work well with other guests so I'm planning for the bathroom upgrade to be a priority this fall/ winter. Since the room is tiny, we plan to remove the tub all together and make it into a European style, wet bathroom. I'd like to do as much of the work ourselves as possible but you never know what surprises are in store.
 
Bubba said:
We're a couple of weeks or so away from a contractor we hired breaking ground (literally) on a massive hardscaping project - two new retaining walls to terrace the east side of the backyard that's currently an eroding steep slope, a new retaining wall on the west side of the backyard to extend the usable area of that (slightly less) steeply sloped yard, replacing several existing wood retaining walls with masonry walls, replacing the wood steps with stone, replacing the backyard fence, and I'm probably missing a couple of things.

Me, thinking about this here project:

200w.gif
Click to expand...
Took a while for all of the materials to arrive (20 pallets of masonry blocks and stone), but we're finally breaking ground on this the Monday after Thanksgiving...
 
Whole-unit double-pane vinyl window replacements of the old-style wooden sash windows from 1956. ~$10k for 15 windows, installed. And like I said, they did it in 4 hours which blew my mind. It took me longer to put all the shades back up, move the furniture back in place and straighten up than it did for them to put the windows in.
 
Last edited:
The foundation under my front wall of original house has moved about 6" over the past 130 years. Today, they are securing a new support wall so that it will stop shifting.

IMG_20221122_150526.jpg


I am so upset that I didn't take the day off so I could a) watch them work and b) pick their brain about my historic house...
 
RandomPlanner said:
The foundation under my front wall of original house has moved about 6" over the past 130 years. Today, they are securing a new support wall so that it will stop shifting.

View attachment 58904

I am so upset that I didn't take the day off so I could a) watch them work and b) pick their brain about my historic house...
Click to expand...
Is your house being rebuilt by OCP?

Animation Logo GIF by JOSH HILL


:p
 
Last edited:
RandomPlanner said:
The foundation under my front wall of original house has moved about 6" over the past 130 years. Today, they are securing a new support wall so that it will stop shifting.

View attachment 58904

I am so upset that I didn't take the day off so I could a) watch them work and b) pick their brain about my historic house...
Click to expand...
I have been a building inspector for nearly 30 yrs. Pls describe "movement". Is it lateral or vertical, leaning in?. Jackposts are common but what in the world is that metal wall? Is it a "system"?
 
fringe said:
I have been a building inspector for nearly 30 yrs. Pls describe "movement". Is it lateral or vertical, leaning in?. Jackposts are common but what in the world is that metal wall? Is it a "system"?
Click to expand...
The center of the stone foundation wall appears to have moved inwards over the years. It was unclear how much had happened recently and/ or how long it might have been stable but based on the small pile of dirt there when we moved in (and the fact that another nearby foundation wall already had a section replaced), we went with this solution.

IMG_20221129_141240.jpg


It is a system of sorts in that we now have the ability to raise the floor incrementally over the next some years to straighten out the room above it.

I'm not yet convinced that we'll do that, mind you. The house is old, it has settled; I'm okay with that. I just don't want it to continue to move.
 
So we can say the wall has a bulge in its height and or width. Your evidence of movement is the little pile of detritus? One rule of thumb I have heard is that a wall is considered in failure if it has moved horizontally half it's thickness at half its height.

Re wood floor systems, those jackposts might arrest continued settlement, but if the frame members have "taken shape" over time they won't be made straight again with jacks.

If things are really moving they should show up above at points like door and window frame corners.
 
fringe said:
So we can say the wall has a bulge in its height and or width. Your evidence of movement is the little pile of detritus? One rule of thumb I have heard is that a wall is considered in failure if it has moved horizontally half it's thickness at half its height.

Re wood floor systems, those jackposts might arrest continued settlement, but if the frame members have "taken shape" over time they won't be made straight again with jacks.

If things are really moving they should show up above at points like door and window frame corners.
Click to expand...
No, I have not given you the entire analysis of my house, nor do I plan to. The center of the foundation wall is approximately 6" inward from where the the outer corners are. Obvious shifts upstairs confirm. The recent pile of dirt, leads me to believe it is still moving. That was confirmed by my contractor and I feel confident that the system they've provided will stand firm.

Your opinion of my home and repairs is really not my concern. Perhaps that's my fault for posting; it may have led you to believe I was looking for your advice. I was not.
 
... certainly don't mean to intrude.

Now I can see how the metal arrangement in the other picture is supposed to work.
I have seen a house where the entire front yard was dug out to remove an existing CMU wall that was bulging. They replaced 8" wall with a 12" one. Day of my visit the repair work was impressive, designed by a structural engineer, but the entire backfilled front, about 10' wide, was settling big time.
 
Not a foundation wall or anything, but last year I bought some recessed lighting for my family room so I can get rid of this fixture:

1669819593548.png


...which I totally hate. I never got around to putting up the new lights, mostly because I wasn't sure how I was going to run the wires through the attic. Yesterday I bought these from Harbor Freight:

1669820690042.png
1669820731525.png

So I think I'm ready. I plan to do it over the Christmas break.
 
...always appreciate your levity. With those bikes hanging on the wall, an antique wagon wheel hanger would lend a little historic depth to the room. The existing is a stinker, but might sell well in a junk store.

In attics it is OK to run ordinary Romex cable, best run and fastened to 1x4 tracks across ceiling joists. What you posted looks like a channel for running HTTP single strand. You don't need that to hang can lights as long as you set boxes. Some fixtures including can lights qualify as boxes. Attics can be a tough crawl if height is short and insulation deep.

Of course can lights should be well clear of insulation.
 
I've already got the lights. They're canless recessed lights, each with a little controller box that qualifies as an electrical box and has integrated connectors (no wire nuts needed).

1669827429815.png
 
It's windy today. When Junior came home he found the front door wide open. That's the second time in the last two weeks this has happened. I checked the knob and it seems to work just fine. Wonder whats going on?
 
Maister said:
It's windy today. When Junior came home he found the front door wide open. That's the second time in the last two weeks this has happened. I checked the knob and it seems to work just fine. Wonder whats going on?
Click to expand...
If the door is locking at lock set check the amount of "throw" of the lockset bolt and/or the depth of the "keeper" which is a brass plate on the latch side jamb. If winds make the door push and pull in it's frame those points could fail to keep it shut. Deadbolts are separate and have deeper throw that can resist a kick.
 
Maister said:
It's windy today. When Junior came home he found the front door wide open. That's the second time in the last two weeks this has happened. I checked the knob and it seems to work just fine. Wonder whats going on?
Click to expand...
Probably just the spring loaded bolt not catching the latch plate firmly enough. You can try removing the latch plate and seeing if it will catch and hold-if so the plate is little out of alignment with the bolt and you can fiddle around with the placement of it. The rear door of our garage does this during cold weather when the humidity is lower and the wood jamb shrinks a bit. We just rely on using that deadbolt for that door.
 
My 10 year old is getting a room makeover. We decamped to the beach house during COVID and haven't left. The room she uses was set up with two twin beds and it worked out fine for a couple of years, but she's getting older and wanting her own space. I ordered her a new loft style bed and a dresser, which surprisingly will be delivered on Wednesday so I've had to double time it to get the room ready. The beds were taken apart yesterday and the room cleared out. I spackled and sanded the walls and edged all but the baseboards last night. Hoping to get the baseboards done tonight as well as rolling the first coat of paint.
 
I replaced the floor in our guest bathroom with a waterproof vinyl plank flooring. In the process of doing so I discovered a small soft spot in the plywood overlay, needless to say, I ended up replacing the overlay and sub floor from the floor joist up. It what should have been a 1 day job, three days. While I was doing it, I decided to replace the toilet and install a new toilet flange. I was going back with a basic contractor's grade toilet but came home with an American Standard Champion series toilet that was advertised to be able to flush a bucket of golf balls and was easy to install. It was the easiest toilet installation that I have ever done, well worth the extra money.
 
Big Owl said:
I was going back with a basic contractor's grade toilet but came home with an American Standard Champion series toilet that was advertised to be able to flush a bucket of golf balls and was easy to install. It was the easiest toilet installation that I have ever done, well worth the extra money.
Click to expand...


I wanna try it - with the golf balls!!!
 
Back
Top