A Work In Progress. This is turning into a long project so the paper on it will be in installments. The house is on a lake in the woods (about 25 miles North of us) but the interior was more in tune with what would be built in “Forrest Park”. The owner wants to make it more like a cabin in the woods. This is the front – the lake is behind the house. It is located at least a half mile from the nearest dirt road.
The original idea was to replace the tile and carpet with #2 pine flooring and then go from there. I realize that in a project of this sort it is best to have a good plan and the flooring be one of the last pieces to go in – but that’s not the way it happened. My initial job was to “take out a couple of walls” to open it up a little before the flooring went down.
This is the door from the Great Room to the Florida Room. This was the first wall to go – to create a bigger space. The Florida room was already heated but had plywood on the walls and a storm door to the outside – it had been a like a porch at one time.
Taking the wall out did really open things up – but of course there were electrical outlets and switches to be dealt with. This is the main floor of the house with a walk in lower floor that has bedrooms, etc.. The floor is on space joists and moving the wires was relatively easy after getting through the sub-floor.
In the old Florida room, the window to the kitchen came out as well as the door and wall (the door was eventually used to replace the old storm door that was not very secure). Removing these two walls has opened up this whole part of the house.
After taking care of the electrical issues the Floor Guys came and put down 1X6 T&G #2 Pine Flooring. In all it took about six days to get the place ready for flooring and the final electrical connections were being made with the floor guys swinging their hammer within inches of my head.
This is the new flooring in the Great Room/Florida Room. The Kitchen and the entry hall had Ceramic tile when we started. That was taken out to make way for the pine flooring – this is how the kitchen turned out.
After the flooring was in (but not sanded or
varnished) we started on the ceiling. The owner
took off the week between Christmas and New
Years to be a carpenter and we got with it. We started with the level ceiling in the entry, hallway
and the stairwell. The material is 1X4 T& G
Board and Bead pine.
Notice that the wall above the stairwell has been removed and there is a temporary railing across it (to keep the kids from falling). There are two closets there and the ceiling goes around them (and it met on the other side – lined up really well).
After we got that done we jumped into the Great Room and started putting up 1X6 T&G Vee groove # 2 pine. In the process we cut out for recessed lights in the ceilings to replace fan/light combinations and some fluorescent fixtures that were really ugly. I stayed out of the attic (well mostly) and let an electrician do the lights. He is still in the process and has some other electrical problems to take care of.
After getting the Great Room ceiling going, Rex, the owner, had to go back to work and I pretty much had it to do on my own. After I ran out of the 1X6, I started on the Kitchen ceiling (it is the 1X4 B&B) and knocked that out. Then went back and finished the Great Room. We then jumped into the Master Bedroom – which has a cathedral ceiling. Rex is able to spend his Fridays up there so he was there to help finish it up. These are pictures of the kitchen and the bedroom.
Before I could do the kitchen ceiling I had to take out a skylight, close the hole, repair the rotted roof and get shingles on it. Then go inside and tear out the skylight tunnel, repair the rotted truss, and close the hole. The skylight was about between the AC duct and the light that is hanging down. There is an island that goes in there and neither the skylight or the flourescent fixture were centered above it. It was really a mess (and besides the skylight leaked).
And that is about where it is – there is still much to do – doors to replace with windows, wainscoting to replace sheet rock, horizontal siding on some walls, etc., etc. But that will be in the next installment.
2 Feb 03
