Rehab remix: from the '57 ranch to the '64 ranch

poppy · June 30, 2012, 12:44:36 PM

Hi all, Sorry about the inactivity on my part over the last several months.

Some of you will remember my 16x16 Timber Frame build which is on hold.

Some of you will remember my 1957 ranch house rehab project which has now been abandoned.

Here's my current project:

Oh wait, that's my new girlfriend at my 66th birthday lunch. I closed on a "new" 1964 ranch house the same week.

It's a 24x38 2 bedroom one bath house with new vinyl siding and windows, a dry basement, new water heater, newer gas furnace, even newer A/C, and new steel entry door into the basement. You can also catch a glimpse of my "new" '05 F150.

poppy · June 30, 2012, 12:59:33 PM

Installment number 2; some inside shots.

While the living room has a decent red oak floor, the walls are covered with "cedar" paneling and the ceiling with tile. That room will be stripped.

While the kitchen has a new vinyl floor, new fridge, and is functional, it still has the original 1964 "custom" plywood cabinets and they need to go.

The bath is functional with a new toilet, but the sink needs help and the shower doesn't work.

Funny story: my family and friends couldn't understand how I was living in my '57 ranch without running water, so I find a decent house but the shower doesn't work.

This is the master bedroom with red oak floor, a non functional ceiling fan, but level floor and plumb walls. The second bedroom is slightly smaller.

So the plan is to use as much as practical from the abandoned rehab project on this new rehab.

June 30, 2012, 01:09:08 PM

I have been wondering where the heck you went to...... was about to turn the hounds loose and see if I could find you all.........

Ranch house needed to much TLC?

Rick

poppy · June 30, 2012, 01:26:22 PM

The work begins. I had a good house inspector who told me how to fix the shower. The shower diverter valve was broken so he said just to replace the nozzle.

Good flow, no leaks.

The shower is fixed and the pressure is fantastic. Just add a manly shower curtain, and I'm good to go.

There are no professional movers in my area of the country so I moved just enough in my pickup to move in.

The second bedroom with my single bed and the new blanket I picked up in Guatemala last summer.

Was able to get on line right away with an unprotected hot spot in the area.

My temporary "kitchen" in the corner of the soon to be stripped original.

poppy · June 30, 2012, 03:19:26 PM

Thanks Rick, I feel like I've been away for a long time. I check in from time to time but I have missed the community.

Yes, to say the other ranch needed TLC is putting it very mildly. It was becoming a time and money pit and something had to give. It's a long sordid tale.

Here are some more progress pics.

My sister's office is 3 doors away and one of her employees wanted my old kitchen cabinets and would remove them if I gave them away. I took that deal in a heart beat.

I hired a contractor for this rehab and he agreed to move the heavy stuff from the old place. Here they are moving the upper corner cabinet. You can see my baby ('94 Miata M Edition) in the background.

Although the house had a new 200 amp breaker panel and some upgraded wiring, there needed to be several more circuits run for various reasons, not the least of which was all the kitchen equipment I had already purchased for the other rehab.

The Kitchenaid fridge was the hardest thing to move.

I was pretty lucky that most of the kitchen stuff I had on hand fit into the new house very nicely.

I decided early on that the wall between the kitchen and living room had to go. It is a full load bearing wall; not only the ceiling but also the roof is supported through this wall; more on that later.

One of the first projects was to install the "new" vanity (another item in storage for the other rehab).

While the contractor was doing his thing, I ripped out the ceiling tile.

Since the oak inserts in the fridge didn't match the hickory cabinets, I experimented with the cedar paneling.

There was just enough room for the new stove and dishwasher.

I was beginning to see why the previous owner had covered the ceiling.

And a parting shot looking out my bedroom/study window.

July 01, 2012, 01:42:30 PM

Another installment.

The old casement basement windows were in really bad shape so I ordered glass block windows from Lowe's and when picking them up I also bought a new acrylic sink and stainless faucet set. This load also had some IKEA cabinets as well.

I got everything unloaded for the kitchen and staged in the living room including a 1 1/4 hp disposer from Costco.

In between building supplies loads, I worked on moving more furniture over from the old place. My study setup includes an old desk from my late father-in-law and some maple stuff purchased a few years ago.

I decided to rip out the soffits rather than trying to match them up to the new cabinets. I also experimented with painting the cedar paneling black for the fridge.

I also discovered that Lowe's has Formica counter tops already mitered and in lengths that would work for my kitchen layout (who knew?), plus I wasn't liking the black ones I had gotten off craigslist anyway. You can also see the 4 gang outlet I had the contractor install on a new circuit for use with the new IKEA appliance garage.

After deciding on no soffits, I needed to install a junction box for the future light over the sink. You can see here part of the ceiling structure consisting of roof trusses on 2' centers with furring on 16" centers running the length of the house. I had the contractor install a wall switch for this light.

Sassy · July 02, 2012, 12:25:28 AM

Hi Poppy, looks like you've been up to all kinds of things - anxious to see what all you do with this house!

poppy · July 02, 2012, 09:09:25 AM

Thanks Sassy, some would say I'm up to no good, but I'm having the time of my life right now.

More pics:

Time to assemble what I call the garage unit from IKEA. My granddaughter talked me into this cabinet which was on clearance. I was a little skeptical at first, but this IKEA stuff is pretty well designed. $:-\$

The standard IKEA cabinets went together easily.

My contractor was pretty good, but he had never installed IKEA stuff and we had to think a little about how to match up the hickory units with them. Metric dimensions and English dimensions don't always match up.

The IKEA mounting system is pretty slick but I had to stay right with the guys because they just wanted to throw some 3" screws through everything.

It looks like I neglected to get any shots of the mounting system. IKEA uses a steel rail that you mount horizontally near the top of the cabinet run. Then the cabinets bolt to the rail. We had to shim out the hickory units to match the depth and had to play with the height match up also.

The microwave went in easier than I expected since I got it used from a different place than the cabinet it mounts to. You can see one of the mounting brackets for the IKEA unit. You can also see the new GFCI outlet and switch for the new disposer.

The new acrylic sink looks good with the other black appliances, at least in my view. Another funny story on the sink cabinet. When I bought the hickory cabinets off craigslist, the seller assured me that Lowe's still carried the item so getting a matching sink cabinet should be no problem.

Well when I went to Lowe's to order the new cabinet they told me that they had discontinued the series 2 days ago.

They would be happy to special order one for me at double the original cost.

Fortunately one of their other brands appeared to be the same design, and you see the result in the pic. The door that I took to the store to compare with their display matched perfectly, but the new unit turned out to be somewhat lighter in color. I don't know if I can do anything with it or not.

It finally dawned on me to buy hardwood faced plywood for the fridge panels. A 4x8 sheet also gave me enough material to make a panel for the side of the stove. Now to get the right stain. $:-\$ I could have ordered custom inserts from Lowe's for about $300.

poppy · July 02, 2012, 10:51:46 AM

More updates:

It was convenient that the stove hookup was on an outside wall. It made it easier to duct the exhaust for the Jenn-Air; a 5" fan on that puppy.

When I grill, the dogs next door go crazy.

I haven't grilled outside yet, partly because it's been so hot, and partly because I just love the Jenn-Air.

Another project I worked on was installing the new ceiling fan/light with remote control in the master BR; a $100 deal from Costco. It's a little big for the room, but I liked the deal.

I decided to hire a sheetrock guy and it made sense to me just to cover the existing ceiling with 1/2" 4x12 sheets on the slightly less than 12' wide living room. They made quick work of it after running some sinker nails up through the firing strips some of which had pulled down from the roof trusses.

My drywall guy also patched up the walls that were under the paneling and kitchen soffits.

July 02, 2012, 11:53:19 AM

I said I didn't have a pic of the IKEA mounting system, but...

At least you can see the rail sticking out on the right side.

And another view of the sink and faucet set up. I wasn't really planning on having a built-in soap dispenser but the sink came with 4 holes, so...

Recall the previous pic of the hole in the wall for the stove vent? Well when the contractor helper was cutting the hole...

His sawsall blade found the main feedline from the meter box to the electrical panel.

It literally knocked him on his ass.

The helper (on the right) recovered to help install a new feed line.

Another IKEA purchase was a lazy susan for the base corner which the lady at IKEA said wouldn't fit. I did have to add a rail on the inside top of the cabinet, but it fit fine.

Another well designed product.

The upper IKEA unit went in without modification.

About ready for the first visit from the girlfriend.

No, not the girlfriend, but my cleaning lady who does windows.

poppy · July 02, 2012, 01:59:12 PM

A few more pics.

I called the contractor back in to fix a 3-way switch in the basement (that he installed incorrectly) and asked him to install some can lights in the kitchen; a really good decision. He added them to the switch for the sink light which I still need to buy or make.

I'm open for suggestions.

My girlfriend stopped in to see the progress before we headed for Hocking Hills. Even though I grew up in southern Ohio, I had never been to Hocking Hills. The pic is at Cedar Falls.

The next project was to do some more in the bath. The light fixture came from the same craigslist find as the vanity. The antique spice rack doesn't fit in the kitchen so I decided to try it as a bath rack.

The previous owner had added a GFCI but it was wired to the light switch. My contractor corrected that and also added a switch for the vanity light next to the vanity since we were going to install a vent fan/light that would use the switch by the door.

It turned out pretty good by buying a flat mirror to add to what I already had. I just didn't like any of the bath cabinets that are in the stores and they are expensive.

My brother planned to fly in for his 50th HS reunion and I offered a bed, beer, and wifi, so he agreed to come in early and help me with the house.

I put him to work right away helping me install the Pease door that I have had in storage for the last 30 years.

I also picked up a pre-hung door for the kitchen from Lowe's.

The "leaded" and beveled glass oval door was a test door from my work at Pease back in the day. We had to do some tweaking, but we got it hung.

Sorry about the quality of the pic but wanted to show my brother at work installing the lock set for the new kitchen door. Pre-hung is the way to go.

This is some of the action from the Memorial Day party. It was hot so we played corn hole inside. You can see the antique Hoosier cabinet (that needs to be put back together). It belonged to my maternal grandparents and my brother had had it in New York for the last 30 years or so and had it stripped but never refinished. He got it to my sister's in Zanesville a year ago who brought it down for me.

Since my house is right on Main street with a lot of traffic, both car and foot; my granddaughter has agreed to design a stained glass scheme for the oval door; otherwise one can see directly into my living room.

poppy · July 02, 2012, 05:32:46 PM

Another installment.

This is the attic area above the wall I'm taking out. The roof has a 4 in 12 slope and the 2' on center trusses appear to have been built on site. The bottom chord/ceiling joist consists of two 12' 2x4's, so the truss does not clear span the width of the house. This became obvious the more wall studs I took out. The roof is supported by the center wall which is supported by a girder in the basement.

I bought some floor jacks to jack up the ceiling/roof structure in order to pre-stress the truss I'm going to build in the attic. Technically I'm not pre-stressing the future truss, but am allowing for sag to occur after building it in place in the attic.

But I soon discovered a structural issue. If you look closely, you can see the string line showing the sag in the wall plate. The sag was there (near the front of the house) before I started removing the wall.

My house inspector had noted that the girder was not supported correctly in the basement, but until I started removing the wall above it, I didn't know how bad it was. I jacked up the girder and put in a 4x4 post as a temporary support.

Something that both I and the inspector missed was that several of the floor joists had tilted between the front wall and the first support post.

So the combination of the girder sagging plus the joists tilting made for a sagging load bearing wall that I am now trying to remove.

Again, if you look closely you can see the string line showing the upward bow in the ceiling. I ended up putting a stud back in under each roof truss with shims of different thicknesses to support the raised ceiling until the new truss is in.

I'm making one floor jack semi-permanent at one end of the future clear span. This is at the end towards the inside of the house. Note that I added compression plates to chase the roof/ceiling load down to the jack. There will be a direct load path through the end of the new attic truss into the future timber post that rests directly above the jack.

Not a great pic but trying to show the other end of the clear span. (It's a better pic of one of the new glass block windows) I'm attempting to chase the roof/ceiling load directly down to this jack and away from the front wall of the house. The joist tilting issue carries all the way forward into the rim joist, so I'm reconstructing a stub wall on this end which will not only move the load point away from the front wall but also cut down on the clear span of the attic truss (from 16 to 14')

The future 6"x8" redoak timber beam under the existing wall plate with two 4"x6" posts and bracing will be my safety factor for the roof load. If I build it correctly, the resulting clear span will only be about 8' at the ceiling, but about 14' at the floor.

I realize this all may be hard to follow, but so far it makes sense to me, but I'm happy to answer questions. If I do this right, the house will be more solid than it is now. Except for this one area, the house has stayed pretty level and plumb for 48 years.

BTW, the timber beam, posts, and bracing are at the old rehab house where they were scheduled to support the center of that great room. The big difference is that the '57 house has real rafters so the only load for the timber beam was the ceiling. That was about the only thing about that project that was looking easy.

poppy · July 02, 2012, 07:51:05 PM

A little more.

Been playing with stains: the natural is too light; the early American is too dark, but the pine is... OK

A father's day story:

This is my dad's first tractor: a 1930/31 Farmall Regular. For my father's day..

I picked up this 1930 Regular. How does this relate to the rehab?

Moving items out of the barn for the new rehab made room for my third Farmall. The first one is my dad's second tractor: the Farmall Cub; the second one is the H which my neighbor's had and I got to drive.

poppy · July 03, 2012, 02:31:42 PM

I posted on my original 1957 ranch rehab thread in case anyone wanted to check out the source of much of the stuff I'm using on this rehab.

One plan from the old project was to put in a timber frame to support the ceiling in the new great room after removing a load bearing wall. I'm doing a similar thing on the current project and will use the timbers I had milled at the Amish bandsaw mill.

Last summer when I was preparing to move into the old rehab, my son came in to help me prepare for the move. While he was here he helped me move the timbers into the house.

After dragging the 6"x8" timber out of the barn with the pickup we got it loaded onto the loader tractor.

It was just a short drive around to the front of the house.

We debated the easiest way to get the beam through the front door.

We ended up using an old 4 wheeled dolly that I had picked up at an auction. You can also see one of the 4"x6" posts on the floor near one of the temporary support studs. This was as far as I got with the old rehab.

Now to figure out the easiest way to transfer the timbers to the new rehab project.

July 24, 2012, 08:42:52 AM

Just a short update on some minor progress. I thought I could get by with just repainting the paneling in the kitchen, but...

Old paint over wall paper over paneling made for a sloppy appearance, so I decided to strip it all.

The sheetrock under it all is in pretty decent shape, so just a little patching is needed. But then I got to looking at the window...

Somebody shot my house.

I know it wasn't there when the inspector was doing his thing before closing.

rdzone · July 24, 2012, 11:44:22 AM

looks like a BB hole in the window....don't ask how I know

Had to replace several windows for neighbors when I was a kid.

ChuckinVa · July 27, 2012, 06:24:46 AM

Poppy, I am enjoying reading your thread as we are rehabing a house built in the early 1900's. What are your plans fro the 57 ranch?

poppy · July 27, 2012, 08:36:09 AM

So Chuck (rdzone), how do you know it's a BB hole? I thought at first it might be from a rock thrown from the wheel of a truck since I'm so close to the road, but the hole is too perfect. When we were kids the chicken house window seemed to get in the way of the Redrider my brother had.

And thanks to the other Chuck (inVA). Everyone asks me about the plans for the 57 ranch; some even asking if I am going to finish it to rent or sell it. In a word, no, I will never finish it. I walked away for a reason.

Once the real estate market comes back a little, the place would be easier to sell if the house were gone and even better if the abandoned house next door were also gone. A major problem, however is that the septic is outdated and if a new house or even a house trailer were to be placed there, the septic would have to be all new.

So there sits the shell of a 4 bedroom house with a septic designed for a 2 bedroom dwelling.

Ohio law changed in '07 making septic systems very expensive, going from roughly $5K to $12K or more.

I would try to sell the place now, except that I have the 24 X 32 barn (with concrete floor and electric) full with a bunch of toys.

I offered to let my contractor's helper live in the house rent free for 5 years if he would finish the rehab, but he probably wouldn't have taken the deal if I had offered 10 years since he saw the inside.

poppy · August 21, 2012, 11:59:31 AM

A little progress to report. My son came for a visit and to see my "new" house for the first time. I put him to work moving the red oak timbers over from the '57 to the '64 ranch.

We got the timbers transferred onto the car hauler without too much trouble.

The dolly I'd picked up at an auction came in handy once again.

The living room is a little more crowded now that all the timbers are in.

duncanshannon · October 14, 2012, 04:38:01 PM

looking good!

October 16, 2012, 01:05:45 PM

How's the remodel going? Any new pix? You know we like them

poppy · October 16, 2012, 05:38:29 PM

Since you asked, here's a small update. The weather is cool enough now to get back into the attic to construct the truss to support the roof and ceiling so the load bearing wall below can be totally removed.

The timber frame that will go below the truss is mostly for show and safety factor.

The first step in truss construction are the horizontal spacers near the bottom of the roof trusses. The next update will be further progress on the truss construction. Confused yet?