1920s Craftsman Home Remodel: A DIY Odyssey
As the new owner of a 1924 “repair upper” craftsman home, I was very excited to begin the remodel. The house had been first remodeled in the 1970’s with the addition of laminate flooring and sola-tubes. Double pane windows were installed in the 1990s. From that moment on, the house was rented out to rotate groups of university students, which resulted in great abandonment. He had grand ambitions to remove the dark paneling in the living room, install better flooring, fix the sagging ceiling, and fix the sloping foundation in the dining room. My college age son volunteered to help me. I was so excited to start making this cute little craftsman house my home.
Having founded Builders Site Protection, a surface protection and dust control company, he was confident he could remodel an older home safely. I realized that lead paint and asbestos would likely be an issue since the house was built well before 1978. I made sure to bring my ZipWall™ studs, plastic sheeting, Lead Ready™ containment kit, carpet pad , safety clothing, tapes and tools. to my new home. We started with the bedrooms since they were the ones that needed the least work. New paint and new carpet did wonders to enhance the home environment. Applying paint colors with contrasting trim emphasized the window and door trim that stand out in Craftsman-style homes. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that in both bedrooms, the ceilings consisted of rectangular panels that surely contained a large amount of asbestos. Rather than put on a respirator and dust collection tools to try and safely remove the panels, I decided to paint the ceilings and leave them alone. This was to be the first in a long line of compromises between what he had envisioned and what happened during the actual remodel.
Next was the kitchen, which was in better condition than the rest of the rooms. After removing a large number of dead bugs from the tube by myself, I was impressed by the amount of light it brought into the windowless kitchen. When I realized that the flooring was glued laminate and would be difficult to remove, I decided to leave it as it was and concentrate on the other parts of the house. The fresh paint and bright white trim did wonders to enhance the look of the kitchen. An appliance repairman and an electrician got the kitchen stove working properly.
The living room had dark paneling installed during the 1970’s in an attempt to “match” the paneling originally installed in the house during the 1920’s. Over the years the paneling had been spray painted a color whitish and was quite obvious. Although the panels would be easy to remove, the original wall panels from the 1920s probably contained asbestos. After I decided to texture paint all over the walls to match and with the addition of bright white paint and trim the walls looked great. New flooring and the addition of Craftsman-style furniture maintained the feel of an old home. The old house was really starting to look good!
A small bonus room off the kitchen would be used as my home office. The office room was a challenge as the floor was sloped from an old foundation. After inspection by a foundation expert as well as a local contractor, we decided we could live with the 1″ slope, as it was fairly common in the area and would cost over $3000 to repair. I was starting to think this old house it wasn’t It’s so nice after all! Using liquid cement to level the floor, we were able to provide a fairly flat floor base for the hardwood flooring installation. Once the walls were painted, the flooring was installed and the tile replaced. trim, room looked great I recently found out that the walls apparently have no insulation as this room is the coldest in the house.
Our biggest challenge was the guest bathroom. The bathroom had the original orange cast iron tub from the 1920’s and was in terrible condition. The cabinet was made of particle board that had deteriorated several decades ago and the toilet ran constantly. The water supply did not come from the back of the cabinets but from the side, so a large pipe and the house’s water supply shutoff were located inside the decaying cabinets. Surrounding the old tub was a cheap plastic frame that had holes, putty, and nails sticking out of its attachment to the wall. There was also an old set of thin particle board cabinets in one corner that we would have to remove as well. The tap was broken and there was no hot water connection from the tap. The closet and bathtub did not have the current code because they were too close to the toilet.
Removing the 5 ½ foot cast iron tub took the better part of a day. Unfortunately, it would need to be laid over the new flooring installed in the dining room, so surface protection was a must. We carefully protected the hardwood floor with a recycled cotton floor protection product and used blankets to help move the heavy old tub. Once removed, it took four men to lift and recycle it. Once removed, it was apparent that the floor would need to be reinforced as the tub had barely any support. After reinforcing the tub, we finished the floor with plywood and left an 18″ plumber’s access panel. The old molded drywall was removed from the walls surrounding the tub. Nearly 90 years old, and at least removed twelve different layers of bathroom wallpaper. walls that were under the sheetrock. We then built a thin 2 x 2 wall to insulate the bathroom from the outside wall of the house that had no insulation. Since the room was so narrow, 2″ wall would provide insulation but keep the tub and toilet in code. We used a “green board” mold resistant board on the outside of the wall and a layer of breathable wrap on the inside of the wall so moisture could escape and no more mold problems in the bathroom. We also used Styrofoam to insulate the thin wall between the house wrap and the green board.
At that time, my son went off to college and now I was completely alone. Time to call the plumber! Once the plumber was contacted to install the tub, I discovered that the bathroom floor had a 1.5-inch slope from the plumb wall, a similar situation to the dining room. At this point I was starting to hate this little old house! Mortar was used to keep the tub level, however, the tub no longer rested on the tile floor, so a disguise was necessary to cover the area visible under the tub. Several weeks later, I was finally done cutting, installing, and caulking the tile and grout surrounding the tub. Although I carefully protected the tub with a temporary surface protection, I did manage to make a small dent in the tub’s surface during cleaning. I was able to see firsthand the importance of protecting not only the tub but also the floor and surrounding cabinets. I also determined that from now on, tiled tub surrounds were best left to the professionals! Now it was time to install the trim pieces and repair the hole in the ceiling that the plumber left when installing the shower head. A minor drywall repair, some decorative molding and a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling all worked out beautifully. Trim was installed for the wood cabinets and baseboards and touch-up paint was applied to finish the room.
Somewhere along the way I managed to clog my kitchen drains as they continued to back up towards both sinks and my efforts to use a snake to unclog the pipes were to no avail. Will the repair work on this small old house never end?