You’d think that as long as we’ve been here, that all of the plumbing and piping would have long since been replaced.  Well, not so much.  As everyone knows by know, we approach things a bit differently, yet there is a method!

When this all began 3 years ago, we first had to understand the house before we begin the “tackling.” 

Our obvious first approach was integrity; get the home structurally sound, then the rest of the steps followed, as you see below:

Step 1.  Keep the house from falling down. Seems like an obvious and good first clear objective. 🙂

This meant cleaning out the cellar so that we could inspect and repair foundation where needed (that was the first summer).  Pulling vines off of the columns, the walls and from INSIDE rooms where vines had grown through through holes in walls.  There, done and house still stands.  Check that box!

Step 2.   Stop the rain from coming in (prior to that, buckets were used in a couple of places).  Yes!  Although you see the previous owner had truly saved the home by having a new roof installed, it seems there was an area where the roofers had trouble and it leaked, every rain, it leaked.    So buckets were out and furniture moved, moist ceiling pulled down and repaired and roofers back out to fix the troubled zone.  Paul then repaired the roofs of the exterior bay windows which were completely open with 6 to 8 inch gaps all the way around.  The amount of residents we had up there, let’s just say was a bit overwhelming but not surprisine.  We learned a lot about West Virginia wildlife that year. 😊

Step 3.  Get the house “connected” again.  In my mind, that meant the spinal cord and central nervous system. Have the electric company inspect the box. Is it safe? Yes? Check that box and so we ran new wiring throughout.  This we did to the first floor only so far though, as it was first on the renovation order. The wiring on the second floor comes from the attic down and to say it’s a rat’s maze, is an understatement. Yeah….let’s circle back to that! ha!

Step 4.  Next was plumbing functional to the kitchen and a bathroom.  When we first turned on water, I was running to every room in the house on my cell talking to Paul as he stood next to the water shutoff, checking for leaks. 

Occasionally they would show themselves long before I got to the room.  One upstairs bathroom, when he turned on the water, it came down straight through the kitchen ceiling, pulling down lathe, plaster, hung ceiling and all.

That day it was beginning to feel like that movie, “The Money Pit.” This is the old kitchen ceiling.  You may recognize that the white area to the left is the now exposed brick wall above the radiator.

Since repairing every pipe in the house meant getting into walls and floors in areas we hadn’t yet even truly explore or understood, our solution was cut off water where it wasn’t needed.  We were still tracing lines and pipes in the house, trying to understand which pipe did what.  You see we have so many, some inside the walls and many pipes exposed outside of the walls that it was monumental, to say the least.

Since then we’ve long since learned by looking at a pipe what it does. Then though, believe it or not, some of the pipes that ran outside of the walls were not only radiator lines, but true water line pipes installed during the home’s rich history (haha) of renters and kitchens in every space.  

You can see here. These pipes on the outside of the wall ran water to a bathroom in the kitchen. :-/

If the home had not been a rental space before, this would have been an easier although still a huge, undertaking. So when trying to reopen water lines, not sure where they lead, running through the cellar trying to follow them until they disappear in a wall, show up outside of another wall, new pipes added, haphazardly sometimes, this was us on many days!

Ultimately we got there. We kept lines open only to two needed areas (the kitchen and one functioning bathroom downstairs).  Both were direct lines and quickly done.  Every other line? 

Disconnect! 🙂 This brings me to our next fortunately quick job.

Although we had run new water lines from some main junctions in the cellar, we had not run it all the way from where the water entered the cellar from underground.  It’s been on the to do list for awhile but we finally put aside the time to do it.

When we looked inside the old galvanized pipe we had removed, it’s amazing any water was getting through.  Our pressure is much better these days and we have a nice clean new water feed under the cellar now.  All the lines are new.  Next job is to have the yard trenched and open up the to replace the line all the way back to the street, but that’s another day! 

In between some of these steps, once an area was secured, then came aesthetics.  Which brings me to my next topic.

The Parlor ceiling

It had quite a bit of damage when we first bought the home.  The ceiling had water stains and the plaster paper was coming down in several spaces.  I looked but couldn’t find any good shots of the ceiling before.  It seems we were trying to avoid capturing the ceiling in our previous shots!  Anyway, trust us, it was rough.  Not as rough as some but it needed work.  Here’s the only partial I was able to find.  You can see some of the cracked lines but believe me, there were sections much worse. 

We had already re-wired the space and were hoping we would not have to pull down the entire ceiling, plaster, lathe and all

During our contemplation on how to handle the ceiling in this room, we stumbled across these for sale locally by a neighbor.  They had been planning on building a new home and through the process, their plans changed.  We didn’t know how or if these could ever be used but the price was right, and like so many other things we’ve done along the way, we picked them up with a spirit of “let’s see if this can work!”

Yes, very ornate, very over the top.  We agreed that “as is” they definitely do not work however, they gave Paul an idea and his creative spirit came out and he had a plan.

First order, grab the paint brushes and see if we could tweek these a bit.   Starting with the round one, we toned down the colors.  This was our first attempt, painting some of it white while leaving gold trim.  Then he put it up on the drywall lift to the ceiling to see what it would look like.   Hmm….

Nope!  Try again….

Attempt #2.   We took it all the way down to monotone and I embellished only a couple of small features.  Ahhh… this is better!  Less forced.  Now that we know this will work, time for step 2 of his plan!

What to do with the rest of the ceiling.  Using drywall supports, he was able to diagram and build a coffered ceiling. Board by board with this stately medallion in the center.

Grand for a parlor, isn’t it?

As for the entry way, we’re still working on it and have some great ideas for the new version.  Fingers crossed we can pull it off, but I have a feeling we can.  More pictures soon on that!

Also, a quick addition to the porch.  Well, not really an addition as this was an old bench I’ve had with me for probably 20 years and I keep redoing it.  With the porch well under way, and gallons and gallons of extra paint lying around, this was an easy fix.

Ahh…an easy job. How nice for a change! But things that that come easily in life aren’t necessarily the ones with the most meaning and value anyway. With that in mind, we continue to the next project.  

A couple of quick before and after shots.  Until next post, enjoy!