80 Year Old House Remodel – 8 Trades & Treasures

Getting back to the old house remodel. The only thing worse than working slowly, by oneself, is waiting, especially for someone else. Life lessons, kids. In the last few months a lot has gotten done, but it hasn’t seemed that way while living in it.

In the meantime, there is always something to do and putter around at in the old house remodel. There is part of a wall in the old kitchen, where the old entrance used to be and where the new veranda will attach that now needed to be insulated. That meant ripping out the inside wall (the sheeting was already on the exterior).

Low and behold, more treasure fell from the ceiling! This tiny little vial of thick, turquoise, bubble glass is compared to a teaspoon in the picture. It had no indication of a label. I’m thinking it is a medication vial, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Getting Back to Work on the Old House Remodel

The trades are a busy bunch. There may be some good reasons and not as good reasons why their schedule is unpredictable (at least to me). Of course you should not install my chimney when it is -30°C and the wind blowing hard enough to snap small trees. (our yard was ok, but there were a few trees across the bush trails).

Because we are not regular customers (not big time contractors), there is a theory that we are not at the top of the priority list. Also, some people also like to have several projects on the go at once, which means someone might have to wait for another project to gain momentum somewhere in the middle of  their own project.

In any case, from our narrow perspective, they would usually start a few days late, or a few weeks late, show up for a few hours or a couple of days, disappear for a few days or weeks, and show up again. A mite frustrating as you watch rain pour on the particle board subfloor, or the temperature drop against the newly poured concrete basement floor (which is not supposed to freeze while it cures for a month), or waiting for electrical to be finished before insulating  so it is worth heating a space to work in.

But eventually it all gets done. We have a roof. We have electrical receptacles. We have heat recovery ventilation (HRV) and ducting. We even have a chimney for the wood stove.

Then it’s back to plugging away. Insulating the walls was a one evening job in December. From there on, you could tell the difference in temperature from the inside to the great outdoors and the quickly descending winter.

Applying vapour barrier went more smoothly than Kent expected, I think, apart from what he calls the blood of Satan, also known as Acousti-Seal, for sealing the joints in vapour barrier. Sticky hades. He used tuck tape where possible.

Another friend loaned us his time and mechanical lift to drywall the ceiling. What a back saver. With that, most of the drywall was done in a couple of days and evenings.

After that, we could blow in insulation into the attic. With a rented AttiCat blower, the kids and I split the bags (boys will gladly do work if it involves knives!) and fed the machine while Kent spent the afternoon in the attic, blowing things around. We finished in about four hours, just in time for a January Christmas dinner at the relatives’.

It’s quite something to walk into the addition, with the brilliant winter sun reflecting off the sparkling snow and fair drywall, into all those windows and around the house. It’s so bright! With the addition facing north, and somewhat narrow windows, I didn’t think it would be that wonderful. I’m glad I was mistaken.

That small door in the picture is a wood door – a door for fire wood, so we don’t have to traipse through the house with arm loads of fire wood, dropping snow and wood chips and dirt all over the floor. Kent designed and built it himself. It is a steel door insulated with Styrofoam.

That large covered thing is the wood stove! Looking forward to that cozy dry heat and crackling fire. Some new traditions are going to be created around that wood stove!

The kids are learning about wide open basements. It took a few months, but they have found it a great place to drive their RCs or spread a blanket and play a game. Remember the Game of Life? It is spread out down there right now.

Kaycie has also found numerous “hiding” spots to sit by herself. One day I happened to run into her at least three times in odd places – behind the wood stove in the middle of the addition, the far corners of the old basement…

Kent decided he wanted to know what it is like to mud and tape the drywall. So after watching many YouTube videos, he has been working at that for a few weeks. He is still watching videos. He says he has learned a lot – mostly that he should let someone else do the taping.

But this weekend , after being slowed down by a few days of illness, and getting tired of working every evening, Kent figures he will be done with the taping, and we can move on to painting. That’s my job – after we wipe and vacuum all the dust. And more dust. And more dust. Prepping sucks.

Last week we also put in a light fixture order – very exciting! It sure helps me to visualize the space. We caught a supplier clearance sale through McMunn & Yates. It always feels good to save a few more pennies. It also helps the decision elimination process when you are only looking at one store.

So the last four months this old house remodel has been filled with insulation, mechanical ducting, electrical wires and sockets, drywall and taping, and more mudding and taping. The kitchen and the flooring are in the warehouse, waiting to be delivered. Now, how fast can an experienced amateur paint?

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