Working on 200 year old homes...
 

Can be rewarding, or a PITA. I do a lot of my work in these historical old structures. Today was a day to forget....

Renovating a third floor guest bath, full gut, and replace shower, vanity and toilet. In old town, so access is difficult. Used 12" sonotube on ladder to get 2800 lbs. out. It was full mud job, tile on top of full 1" concrete, on top of metal lathe. That alone was an accomplishment.


So now we are running wires up vent stack chases. But they turn 45 degrees between 1st and second floors. Fun.


Today met with plumbers to design a vent and wet vent..... "Just frame us a 2x4 wall and we will do the rest." Except they need to cut into existing lead stack pipe and need 360 access. Well.... stack is located/touching a true 6x8 vertical corner post.... hmm... Yes, I said 6x8. From ground to third floor roof. Obvious signs of scabbing on many areas, and not recently. Probably when indoor plumbing introduced as pot traps used and not vented. Lot of hacked out lumber that is no longer structural....


So going to vent another hole through the roof. (and not tell Historical Commission) Throw some 2x8 bridging in floors that the plumbers will drill through :af: and hope they can make it work where I decide to set my new plate and framing... Lumber, saws and nail guns going in after the weather clears. Fun Fun....


I think this will be the last bath I do, at least on an upper floor, in +200 year old homes....

Ouch my aching back
You will definitely earn your pay on that job

Good luck Ross
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I am doing an 1847 Captains house on the water in Somerset. Full gut, all three floors. Removed all plumbing, wiring, and reframed all walls. New windows, siding and roof. In the process of drywalling and plastering. I have been working on the stairs, getting them in before they drywall the entry ways. What a night mare! Nothing is square, and the winders are supposed to be 30 degrees but are not even close. The second floor to third has a 8 5/8" run and a 8 1/2" rise. Talk about steep, but the building inspector has been really helpful with us. Letting me duplicate what was there and not busting my beans.

miles of work here

My rule of thumb is to remove what I have to and save what is necessary, especially if it helps my grandfather case with a building inspection. In any event, we are improving what was there structurally. Going back in Monday to "improve" some floor joists that are a little bouncy and find a pathway for the plumber to add a new (wet) vent instead of tying into the existing.

One of the toughest things I have ever encountered in demolition work is.... mud job tile on concrete and metal lathe.

Had a job where it was on the walls up to 48" high. Anything less than a full swing of a sledge hammer will result only in chipped tile.

Filling a 50 gallon trash barrel with that stuff was my first mistake......


Those old houses will have time capsules hidden behind the walls sometimes.


I was working a full gut out remodel long time ago....the masons were repairing the chimney and found a small wooden chest in the attic. Guy ran to his truck with it and sped off...I asked about it and they said it was nothing.:scratch::scratch:

The only things we found hidden were the sins of the builder.... Like this joist that terminates at the chimney. Had to head it off so it won't be floating under new shower. Then sistered 2x6s to either side for the plumber to run drain through. Only challenge now is new framing too close to chimney so need to get non flammable jacket in there...

Love working upside down... but we are building instead of doing demo, so hope to have floor buttoned up soon. Just need plumber to finish rough and get inspection. Then walls and ceiling. More on that later.

Oh, existing floorboards are 4/4..... never easy. They are all going to have to come out.

How are the homeowners dealing with all of these surprises? Seems to me you might have to also play the roll of therapist to break all of this to them
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They are the best clients I could have had for this scenario. They bought it in mid 90s so are in the black given the crazy home sale prices around here.

That’s great! Do they need any custom lighting or colonial reproduction bullseye glass for their front door? ;)
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Need floors, walls and ceiling first.....

But will keep in mind for other houses and mention to other builders. You need to send me a marketing piece.

I will soon.
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1800s house, new bath second floor, blocked off area to opened up floor for weekend, Monday morn kid says, mr. c look up...
Big chunk plaster and lath missing...
Goes to kitchen, what happen, Mrs says , snuck into area didn’t know couldn’t walk on back side of lath and caught a joist u know where,,
Omg u ok,,, she open bath robe proceeds to show me some scratches and way too much more than she should have with a big chit eating grin..

Hit my thumb 3 times that day....

Lmao Ray😄
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nebe, you know of any companies that make insulted doors with the bullseye glass in them? I have a simpson door now that has the glass but has terrible insulating factors.

I don’t. Sorry
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Sometimes, there is no room is those old stairwells...

That’s code... alter a non conforming building system to better but not worse or rebuild to the same

No it all :-)

So why did they make stairs in old homes so freaking steep?

To take up less space in smaller homes it gives you more floor area
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And insurance claims filed due to stairway falls and changing building codes made them less steep
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The two hundred year old mill my employer owns has a sagging floor in one of a client spaces. They run a forklift over the area and say it feels bouncy....and were concerned about it holding up.
Huge granite mill built on a sloping ledge...discovered that access from underneath was not possible...after crawling as far as we could through the catacomb like crawlspaces. So I opted to cut an access hole in the lowest area of the floor, where I thought the problem was. I was certain the hole would be right beside a support beam below and I was correct.
Managed to jack up beam and floor to almost flat, and add new support. Dirty job and had to contort my body in all sorts of ways.