Various Construction/Remodeling Questions

Caver Dave

Caver Dave

Just holdin' it down here in BFV
Moderator
Joined
Mar 10, 2005
Location
Hooterville (24171)
Back in Sept., we bought 2nd house for my step-son (need him out of our basement!).



Quick specs: 4BR, 1bath, kitchen, huge LR, DR, & full basement built in 1949, poured concrete foundation and brick, "finished" attic (in between the trusses), and a 17' x 13' addition (was her "beauty salon") added in the '60s on a slab. Plaster walls (decent shape) & Hardwood floors (rough) in all room(except addition, which is slab & clear pine paneling). Ancient oil furnace with an even older backup coal furnace, plumbed into the same plenum/ducting. Shallow bored well (39' deep).

Condition: It had set for vacant for 6-10 years, so lots of issues and aside from very mowing, grown up = jungle. There were several roof leaks, mainly due to little/no flashing on chimneys/vents/etc, but some tree damage on the addition. The wiring & copper plumbing had been roached by crackheads. HVAC & pump/tank trash. Due to water intrusion (no gutters, poor grading, etc.), there was about 25' of the band joist turned to dust. Several long time water leaks (under kitchen sink & wax ring under shitter) rotted all the way down thru the sub-floor (1"x4" on the bias). 100% of all the original doors, clear pine molding, etc. intact and unpainted.

So far, we've:
  • Put on a new roof with proper ventilation
  • New gutters/drains and grading to route water away from house
  • Band joist replaced and floor joists sistered, and another floor joist sistered where it was cut for the tub drain :(
  • New 200A service/panel, with junction boxes & new wire where all the basement wiring had been hacked (a few circuits have been made in the panel)
  • Removed all the old ducting (snakes nest due to individual room returns), water heater, HVAC pump/tank, and dumptruck load of filth
  • Had bored well cleaned (gained another 1' of depth) and checked. It's lined with 20" concrete pipe, 39' deep and water starts 19.5' down, which I believe equates to 19.5' of water in the 20" casing = 320-ish gallons reserve
  • Rebuilt header on back porch (doubled 2"x6" were rotted to about 2x2 of solid material)
  • Removed the damaged "acoustical" ceiling and asphalt tiles in the addition
Plans: Our main goal is to get him a bedroom, bathroom, & kitchen... ASAP! The rest of the "finishing" (painting, cleaning, etc. ) of other rooms, he can tackle once in residence! :flipoff2:
  • New submersible pump & pneumatic tank
  • ALL new plumbing... PEX supply & either PVC or ABS for waste tieing into the cast-iron stack run under basement floor (was likely dirt and concreted later)
  • Heat pump/AC with propane backup and new ducting with single centralized return
  • Swap out all the old receptacles/switches & covers
  • Bathroom semi-remodel
    • Rip out bathroom floor (tile on concrete on hardwood on sub-floor) to repair sub-floor spots
    • New shitter, faucets/etc., but refinish castiron tub and sink
    • Restore the very cool vintage medicine chest
  • Addition (bedroom):
    • Replace ceiling
    • Insulate
    • Carpet (gonna be his bedroom)
    • Wipe down the gorgeous pine paneled walls
  • Kitchen:
    • Pretty much yanking everything out down to bare hardwood and plaster walls (which were patterned to look like tile below 4')
    • New cabinets, counters, and appliances
 
just a thought...itd be easier to just put a baby monitor in reverse.
Make him listen to you pounding his mom for a week and he should leave on his own.
ha!
Just playing, keep at it brother.
 
This was Oct... prior to mowing (12"-18"), weedeating, a few truck loads of junk hauled off, the roof/gutters/grading...

20181017_185107.jpg

The addition... as you can see, pretty ugly, stained, & warped (likely contained the ugly "A", and why I wasn't sure painting it would help. We yanked it down (with proper PPE) and hauled it off
20190105_111142.jpg

It's stripped with 1x3s on 12" centers and there's some very old batted insulation (says 3") and part of my most pressing questions:

#1 - We don't want drywall or suspended ceiling and we're not looking to spend a mint... so what are some inexpensive options for the ceiling?

#2 - The insulation is negligible... the bottom of the roof trusses are 2"x8"s. Thinking about dropping R-30 in-between the trusses, maybe pulling the paper off the existing 3" and laying it longways over the R-30? Or is is worth the effort for so little R gain?
 
Ron said:
All joking aside, very high likelihood that ceiling contains asbestos...respond accordingly.
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Maybe? Hypothetically, Tyvec suits taped at the cuffs/seems, NIOSH P-100 particulate masks, goggles, and a LARGE fan blowing out the door when pulled, stuffed it into bags, and hauled off... would be a great idea. ;)
 
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Caver Dave said:
It's stripped with 1x3s on 12" centers and there's some very old batted insulation (says 3") and part of my most pressing questions:

#1 - We don't want drywall or suspended ceiling and we're not looking to spend a mint... so what are some inexpensive options for the ceiling?

#2 - The insulation is negligible... the bottom of the roof trusses are 2"x8"s. Thinking about dropping R-30 in-between the trusses, maybe pulling the paper off the existing 3" and laying it longways over the R-30? Or is is worth the effort for so little R gain?
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This is the kind of houses I buy and the bullshit I do daily. What I personally would do and have done is (first I would have torn the chimneys down before the re roof) then either replaced the ruined tiles and kilzed the whole ceiling or torn them all down, screwed drywall up and hired some hispanics to do the finishing. It really isn't that terrible expensive and looks good when you're done. Then borrow the insulation blower from Lowe's and go to town.
I don't know what your future goals with this house are but I would definitely add an extra at least half bath.
That being said be prepared for it to be treated like shit and trashed in no time. Any work you don't complete now will never be done.
 
braxton357 said:
torn them all down, screwed drywall up and hired some hispanics to do the finishing. It really isn't that terrible expensive and looks good when you're done.
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Thanks @braxton357 !
For the record... ALL the ceiling tiles are GONE.
We're considering drywall, but afraid there may be enough "swoop" in the joists & 1"x3" stripping/nailers that it will look like ass if left smooth (without popcorn/texturing << and that ain't happening).

Curious why you'd have torn down the chimneys??

braxton357 said:
I don't know what your future goals with this house are but I would definitely add an extra at least half bath.
That being said be prepared for it to be treated like shit and trashed in no time.
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For now, it will be his house (he bought the property/house) outright, we're bankrolling the renovations (2/3rds owners), with the understanding that if he changes his mind (wants a smaller place, doesn't like the area, etc.) that we'll buy him out and will turn it into a rental/sale. While we'll have to ride his ass to CLEAN (more often than yearly :rolleyes:), he's a good kid and will take care of it... so no worries about it getting destructed.
 
We opted to do a shiplap ceiling in our living room after the smooth one cracked down the middle. It's an older house & I'm not sure the builder owned a level so I didn't want to mess with trying to repair or replace the drywall. We just left the cracked ceiling & added furring strips. It wasn't the cheapest option but it went up really quick & looks great!
20181126_184356.jpg
 
If that house has beeen sitting for 6-10 years, you can bet your ass the cast drain pipe under the basement is rusted through and/or clogged. You’ll need to budget replacing it all the way to the septic tank.

With the bathroom remodel, plan on all new subfloor and floor joists and maybe some wall joists. There hasn’t been a bathroom yet that I’ve done that didn’t have water damage of some sort.


For the kitchen. Might as well figure the plaster walls are going to get damaged. Once the batten strips get popped, the plaster is loose and cracks easily now or in the future. Cabinets that old will take a hell of a lot of work to demo. Walls will get damaged. I’d plan to remove the plaster and put drywall up. It will save time and will give you a chance to put insulation in there. There will likely be water damage that needs fixin anyway.

For the ceiling, throw up some drywall and be done. If you are worried about it looking warped from sagging ceiling joists, fir in some new 1x3 and use that. Like @braxton357 said, blow in some insulation when done and roll on.
 
First, thank you for the input brother... I know you're knee deep in this crap as well.

rockcity said:
If that house has beeen sitting for 6-10 years, you can bet your ass the cast drain pipe under the basement is rusted through and/or clogged.
Click to expand...
The fellow that did some grading for us, gave his septic pumping biz to his SIL 10 years ago. To find the waste main prior to digging, They ran their camera from the clean out about 100' to the tank and said it looked fine... no major blowouts or jams. Hoping it'll be fine for a few?

rockcity said:
With the bathroom remodel, plan on all new subfloor and floor joists and maybe some wall joists. There hasn’t been a bathroom yet that I’ve done that didn’t have water damage of some sort.
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Still haven't taken the tile floor up, but can see from the bottom/basement that damage is VERY localized to the shitter = "what wax ring?"

rockcity said:
For the kitchen. Might as well figure the plaster walls are going to get damaged. Once the batten strips get popped, the plaster is loose and cracks easily now or in the future. Cabinets that old will take a hell of a lot of work to demo. Walls will get damaged. I’d plan to remove the plaster and put drywall up. It will save time and will give you a chance to put insulation in there. There will likely be water damage that needs fixin anyway.
Click to expand...

Did manage to yank the kitchen cabinet out and you were spot on! Build like a fawking tank (7/8" solid pine and 11'ty thousand finish nails), but was NOT attached to the walls... 100% nailed to 1x6 clear pine molding around the double window & door frames at each end. Aside from the area directly behind the counter, the plaster is good... now behind the counter was totally FUBAR, along with the cripples below the window sill. Found the plaster is over rough gypsum board nailed to studs, so will replace with cement board (after replacing the cripples) to negate that from happening again.
Floor/subfloor was totally dust. I've roughly marked what needs to be replaced and found enough good hardwood under the corner cabinet to repair the bits near the new toe kicks...

rockcity said:
For the ceiling, throw up some drywall and be done. If you are worried about it looking warped from sagging ceiling joists, fir in some new 1x3 and use that. Like @braxton357 said, blow in some insulation when done and roll on.
Click to expand...

We're beginning to lean that way... but still exploring other options.
 
Starting to think about water...

Looking for recommendations on submersible pump brands.

Also, any input on Cycle Stop Valves... the premise is logical, less wear on pump due to fewer restarts, but not convinced that there's any power savings (have seen any data about that)
 
re: unlevel ceilings looking like ass - we had this problem in a former house basement. Rolled on the ceiling texture paint that gives it the "popcorn" look, THEN gave my wife a small broom, which she used to make swirls in the texture while it was wet. End effect was that it looked kinda neat AND hid the uneven ceiling very well, you couldn't see it at all. Key was SHE had to do it, so the swirls were really random and uneven, not all same sizes, direction etc. I can't force myself to not try and make it look orderly lol.
 
Agreed on the wavy ceilings...
The old ceiling was fine (a few tiles sagged from damage), but overall the stripping may very well be fine.
If we go with drywall, there will NOT be any popcorn!
 
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