First…A little history.
Back in 1985 my wife and I and our 5 children (at the time) purchased an old farm house out in the country that was built in stages beginning in 1894. We had lived in the city and felt it would be a good idea to move to the country. Anyway, after about a year of looking at “out in the country” properties, we found this one. I liked it at first sight. Being young and strong (but not overly bright), I underestimated what I was getting into in regards to the amount of work and money this place needed. But, like I said, when you are young, there is that feeling of invincibility…that feeling of “Yea, I can do that…piece of cake”. Kinda’ like that saying “ask a teenager, they know everything”.
Anyway, I am not complaining. I have actually enjoyed my life here and the work I have put into the place. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment when you step back and say “wow, was I really able to do that!” I really enjoy the projects (once I start them). One of my biggest struggles is getting started. Often I will come up with reasons why a particular project is too hard (too expensive, beyond my skill level, too busy…whatever). But, after my wife plants the seed in my head, and after all my initial resistance, I begin to mull it over, research it, ask lots of questions…then I get started.
This old house was an obvious, very rundown, handyman special. It had very minimal electricity, no heat, no insulation, sagging floors & ceilings, and many other shortfalls. In order to get the bank to even give us a mortgage on the place we had to first upgrade the electric to a 200A service in order to install necessary heating.
Over the 28 years we have been here, the projects have been many…and ongoing.
I often tell people that I live in the projects.
My latest project has been to finally tackle one last unfinished room in the house. This is an upstairs bedroom with a seriously sagging floor and ceiling along with failing plaster. The floor & ceiling both sagged about 4″ to the center of the room in a saucer like manner. If you placed a marble anywhere along the perimeter it would quickly roll to the center.
Tomorrow, I will explain the reasons behind the bowed floor along with how I dealt with it. Until then…
Pictures of the upstairs bedroom project
