When we first acquired the house we set to making some improvements ourselves, sweat equity being more affordable for the projects we thought were "doable" on our own. Our first project was the back "bonus" room, covered in thick pine panelling from a renovation that we guessed dated to the 1980's. In fact, there were several renovation projects that seem to have the same signature... overbuilding. Well done work, including the built-ins in the back bedroom, but over engineered, like the shelving in the master bedroom which was strong enough to manage several 45 lb. weight plates, if not a really big shoe collection. While we appreciated the labor and quality craftsmanship of the 1980's renovation, we really wanted to update the "bonus" room into something more than a three-season porch and set to work covering the pine panelling with drywall and pulling up the carpeting. It was a project. The sub flooring was covered in thin sheets of plywood and like everything else from this period of renovation, overdone with TONS of nails (someone really enjoyed the nail gun) which made removal slow going. After a few long nights we were able to remove everything, exposing the original back porch floor underneath and revealing a few porch additions - noticeable due to the differing board widths and direction changes. It was a fun find and we decided to try to finish the floor to retain its quirky layered (ha!) history. The video above chronicles our progress and also shows the sticky glue-ish substance we uncovered when we removed the carpet scraps from the stairwell and hallway. Good news... the hardwoods were still in-tact! (maple and white pine).
No comments:
Post a Comment