1st Floor – Page 2

Store Front Repair

Posted on July 7, 2019Leave a comment

Just when we thought we were almost finished. The front window leak is a lot worst. On the West side, all the wood is rotten. On the East side, there is old termite damage. It looks like we have to replace the windows and framing all the way up to the steel beam holding up the bricks in front. We should know the schedule this week once all the quotes come back.

Here is where we removed the outside tin to find out where it was leaking.

Upstairs is still coming along. Newly polished floors:) We finally purchased a new couch.It is scheduled to be delivered this week. We love the open concept!!!!

1st Floor Flooring

Posted on June 23, 2019Leave a comment

The 1st floor is almost complete. The floor joists have been replaced, the original flooring relaid, and everything has been rough sanded. All that is left is to fill some rough areas, final sanding, and then a clear sealant.

We want to keep the original look. The plan is to just apply a clear sealant.

There is one issue we did run into this past week. We had some heavy rains and detected a leak above the front windows. At one time there were windows above the store front. A long time ago they closed them up with wood and mortar. Years of neglect and termite damage is causing water to seep in. We have a contractor starting this week. They are going to remove all the damaged wood, rebuild the facade, and then paint everything making it look new.

1st Floor Brick

Posted on June 9, 2019Leave a comment

We are almost done with the brick work downstairs. All that is left is to brush the brick, vacuum everything, and then seal it.

The floor is still coming along. This week they should finish the subfloor and continue to relay the original flooring back down before sanding and sealing.

Slowly it’s getting cleaned up.

Brick Restoration

Posted on June 3, 2019Leave a comment

The 1st floor retail area restoration continues. Here is the East wall brick repair and repointing.

The bricks are three levels thick. Notice how some of the bricks in the middle level are collapsing.

An overview of the East wall restoration.

The West wall restoration.

And finally the floor restoration.

Here is where our contractor is tying the restored floors into the original flooring.

The brick work should be completed in the next few days. The flooring restoration will be at least another week. Afterwards we will seal the brick, stain/seal the floors, and finishing painting the walls and ceiling.

Floor Joist Replacement

Posted on May 27, 2019Leave a comment

This week they delivered the new floor joists and started the replacement.

Here are the new 2×10’s going in.

Notice how far they are having to jack up the floor to replace them. In the last 100 years the floor settled at least 6-8 inches in some areas.

Here are the replacement footings.

While all of this is going on, we had the windows painted over to add suspense to what is coming:)

Downstairs Flooring – Projects

Posted on May 19, 2019Leave a comment

This weekend we finished cleaning up under the downstairs floorboards. Our contractor is going to start in 2 weeks on replacing the bad floor joists. Afterwards they will install a new sub-floor and re-install the original floor boards. Finally, we will have them sanded and sealed for another 50 years of usage:)

Here are the original floorboards to be re-installed. We still need to remove nails and place them in piles based on size to make it easier for the flooring contractor.

We had to make room in our garage area to place all the extra wood from the retail area. We are storing any extra wood for future projects.

As for the upstairs, we continue to work on numerous projects. Here is the buffet we just finished painting. We still need to mount a painting above it.

An overview picture of the buffet placement between the front door and kitchen area.

In the next couple of weeks we will be finishing the downstairs, having the upstairs front door replaced, and cleaning up the bar stools to be placed along the kitchen island. The front door was not installed correctly and we are having to replace it.

Flooring Cleanup

Posted on April 21, 20191 Comment

The downstairs flooring continues. We finished exposing the broken floor joists and now we are cleaning up all the trash, old wood, and broken bricks left over from the years.

We are having to replace almost all of the floor joists on the east wall.

And here is the final pile of wood we saved. We will need to remove the nails, plane/even them up, and then our contractor will reuse them above the new subfloor/floor joists.

Along with the flooring we continue with our numerous projects. We found some bar stools for upstairs. We removed the seat pads and are having them recovered.

And finally an overview of the upstairs from when you walk up the south-side stairway. Things are coming together.

Downstairs Continues

Posted on April 14, 2019Leave a comment

The downstairs continues. We are having to pull up more of the floor as we find damage.

This photo shows how much the floor joists have failed. Notice against the wall, at one time the floor was level. Also there is a lot of trash that we have to remove and dirt that needs to be leveled out.

We are having to pull up the floor far enough so our contractor can repair the damage. Hopefully this will be enough. We really do not want to have to redo the complete floor.

We are taking our time, pulling up the old floor, so we can reuse the wood and keep the original look.

It’s a slow process but in the end it will turn out incredible with the original look but with the strength to last another 100 years!!!!!!!!

Floor Repair

Posted on March 24, 2019Leave a comment

We are still working on the floor downstairs in the retail space. This weekend we pulled up the boards near the east wall. This week we are going to dig out the dirt under the floor joists. Numerous joists have failed and are in need of repair.

Here are some photos so far of the east wall and where the floor joists have failed.

We are trying to save as much of the wood as possible to keep the original wood floor look.

And finally a view of some of the other areas needing repair.

History Exposed

Posted on February 17, 2019Leave a comment

On the 1st floor in the rental space, there was plywood covering the east side of the floor.. This past weekend we became curious about what was below that plywood and what it’s going to take to restore the floors to their original luster. We know there are numerous footings that have failed along the wall and portions of the floor had been patched.The plywood was glued down and then nailed/stapled all over. We have never seen so many nails/staples in our life:)

We started with a small area and it actually came up pretty easy.