We Bought a House
One room goes up, another comes down
By Christopher Miller
Rehabilitation. That is my chosen word for the work we are putting into the house to bring it back to life and into 2022.
I don’t think we were ready for the scope of the projects we were taking on when we purchased the property. By our own independent choosing, we opted to remove all of the plaster and lath from the home in order to rebuild it into an efficient home for a modern family. This includes the removal, so far, of over 4 tons of materials from a bathroom, two bedrooms, the garage, and garden area.
If you’ve been reading these stories regularly, you will know that I have a strong dislike of plaster and lath. I will say that for the first time in our demolitions, a really good KN95 mask is a worthy investment. I did not find any particles of plaster dust when I cleared my nose later in the evening. You never know what will come down when you remove a ceiling with attic space above it.
As well, the ceilings in a lot of our rooms are starting to form cracks so rather than waiting for another ceiling collapse like June/July 2021, we are controlling the situation early.
Now when the home was built shortly after the beginning of the 20th century, insulation and an abundance of electronic devices were not yet fashionable. I can count on two fingers how many outlets were in the bedroom adjoining the bathroom and how many were in the bedroom we just gutted. And if you are keeping track, there were two outlets (one receptacle) in each of those bedrooms.
So yes, we are adding much more electricity to the bedrooms for the modern American to enjoy, including conveniently placing outlets near windows for window air conditioners or window fans.
We are also adding as much insulation to the walls and ceilings as we can. The room adjoining the bathroom has 9.5” thick R30 insulation in the ceiling. We are serious about making this house energy efficient.
Unlike what is seen on TV, we did not find much of interest that was hidden away in the walls of this newly demolished room. An old coin wrapper for $5 in quarters, part of a box for an old electrical wall outlet, and a penny from 2021.
What we also learned was that even though the temperatures were more mild than most June days, I still managed to sweat through four baseball hats and 5 t-shirts. I am beginning to measure my demolitions and weeks-worth of cardio activity in how many drenched hats and shirts I toss into the laundry.
If you have seen our Instagram account recently (@millersfarmhome) you will also be able to see that this newly-gutted room will be encompassing the closet of the last room we just rebuilt. The closets were back-to-back, so we busted through the wall and will be making a very nice sized 48” x 48” closet space. I joked with my wife that I wanted to install an electrical outlet there, but the joke may become reality.
Why not install an outlet in a closet? The walls are completely opened up and access is readily available right now to do so.
So there we have it – a room on the verge of being closer to “finished” and another room at the precipice to being rebuilt.
Stay tuned for more stories on “how I leveled the sagging floor,” and “why wobbly ceiling joists are not safe.”
