# Pictures of Progress on the Farm.



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Just spent another 4 day weekend on the farm tearing out walls floors and everything else.... I posted a lot of pictures on our Flickr site... Some are from this trip, and some are from the trip we made last month.... 

OH, and I did get some pictures of when it rained, AND when it snowed last night... Man is it beautiful out there... We just wish the house looked as good as the land did 

Had fun on the way out though... Went to get in the truck to leave and had a flat on the rear... UGHhhh. it's always an adventure... Last time it was a dead battery, but I'm kinda of always prepared and brought a battery charger 

Link to all the pictures.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-duo/


----------



## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Land looks nice, House is in rough shape, Where is itand what is the history and your plans for the future?


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

It's in the foothills to the west of the Appalachians, about in the middle of WV.. 

Yeah, the house needs some work... mostly floor work, and wall finishing and trim... The windows and siding are all decent... just needs lots of cleaning... Plumbing and electrical is decent.. 

We're trying to get it livable by July of next year with hopes to move out there then.. 

No idea of the history really.. I did get the name of a family I think the people we bought it from bought it from and there is supposed to be a grandson around some where.. gonna try and look him up eventually.. The people we bought it from had it for 23 years.


----------



## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

What town in WV is it near, like to look for it on the map......


----------



## Sturedman (Nov 18, 2012)

Good luck. I live in Wheeling. You got more guts than I do lol


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I'm out between Weston and Glenville off 33.... 

I don't think it's guts.. I think it's lack of brains


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

looks great,I got through pg 2 before my PC had a conflict with Flikr ,,,,,I will post a pic of the start of my last project that I finished last week(if you don't mind),no pics of the finished yet,,my camera croaked


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Sure.. please share.. I like seeing what others are doing, as I'm sure others are too..


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

ok,I only have one pic,I'll try to take some of the current one when I get a camera :bowtie:


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

LOL. oh wow.. I don't feel so bad now.. I'm not the only crazy person around here... 

So it looks like you were living there while you were working on it too?


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

oh yea,one room at a time while living here,it's ok for now but eventually I'll run out of places to ,move stuff to,lol,,I had to pull the board off to run electrical from the fuse panel above my head,that is where the orignal fusebox was before it was moved to back of the house,then wired back to it,I removed the old crap and used heavy gauge wire and added a breaker box,,modern is better for this,oh,I also labeled and removed the boards to put in the insulation ,that was the time consuming part,took me the better part of a week after work and a weekend,someone told us to tear it down and start over but it was my wifes great grandparents place and it had a good foundation,walls,etc,I couldn't see wasting a good structure but sometimes I wonder


----------



## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

Classic WV, and just beautiful!

Your house is major luxury suite compared to the tent I stay in, when I go to my place in MO!


Tim


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

All my walls are T&G so it all breaks when trying to remove it... I did save what we removed from the dividing walls upstairs, but it wouldn't go back together well... 

I'm thinking I'll just take a hole saw and drill holes at the top of the walls and blow in insulation... I'm just trying to figure out how to figure out how much I'll need... We'll rock over the walls after that....

People from the area ask me why I don't just start over too, but I can't afford to do that, and all the important stuff is good, except the floors mostly... A lot of water sat a long time under the house... I'll be grading the dirt under it and then covering it in plastic to help keep the floors dry, and doing some grading around the house...


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

tarbe said:


> Classic WV, and just beautiful!
> 
> Your house is major luxury suite compared to the tent I stay in, when I go to my place in MO!
> 
> ...



We do a lot of tent camping, and believe me, at times, a tent seems to be better... We've been fighting a big Asian Beatle problem in the house and about got it whipped, but they are no fun to sleep with buzzing all around you. Never had that problem in a tent...


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

if you are going to blow in insulation make sure there aren't any blocks in the way,mine has blocks between the studs to slow down fire?,thats why I had to pull the majority of the boards out,the blocks were staggered at 2 then 4 then 8 ft or so,weird how they did things back then.
have you ever considered putting something on top of the dirt that bugs and critters wouldn't like,lime was something I had considered but I don't know if it would even work


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

So far I haven't found blocks, but I have found on the corners they have studs going at a 45 up to the top of the corners on each wall... 

Nah.. hadn't thought about anything for the bugs.. I'm just worried about water..


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

water damage through walls or the foundation??


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Nope.. the beams and walls are all dry and solid... It's just the floors that rotted out... I was sticking the wrecking bar into the bottom beams and couldn't find a single bad spot... It's a pier and beam construction.


----------



## Taratunafish (Aug 6, 2007)

So simi-steading, I'm envious of your place. Husband would choke if I showed him your pics. I'm used to old homes having lathe and plaster, seeing T&G is new for me. Interesting. How old is the house? If you're intent on moving in this July, please keep taking pics, I'd love to follow your progress.


----------



## Taratunafish (Aug 6, 2007)

Just looked at some of the sets from your photostream. Couldn't get over the various heating systems scattered around the first floor!!! Husband took notice of all the extension cords!! What will you install for heating? Loved the towel bar stair railings!!


----------



## Sturedman (Nov 18, 2012)

I bought the old house next to me and tore it down to make a bigger yard for my dogs. The floors looked like yours, and it was part plaster & lathe, and part t&g boards for walls. I thought it would be easy tearing down a house. Haha on me. One of the hardest things I ever did :hair. You should see the wood I was able to save. Actual 2" x 4" oak studs and giant oak beams. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I have a lot lol. Couldn't see throwing it away or burning it.


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Taratunafish said:


> So simi-steading, I'm envious of your place. Husband would choke if I showed him your pics. I'm used to old homes having lathe and plaster, seeing T&G is new for me. Interesting. How old is the house? If you're intent on moving in this July, please keep taking pics, I'd love to follow your progress.


It's actually July 2014 we are shooting for. We're stuck in lease until then. If we weren't, we'd be moving now.. We're so sick of the DC area...

We'll keep the heat we have... we get free gas from an oil well on the hill behind the house, but the well needs to be pumped once a week to on the keep the gas flowing, so we'll use wood heat as a back-up. We have a wood heater that goes on that big stone on the side of the room we tore out the floor on....

We're told the house was built around 1890 but I think the first floor may be older than that, and then I think the second floor was eventually added... First time I've ever seen T&G all through a house too.. .


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Sturedman said:


> I bought the old house next to me and tore it down to make a bigger yard for my dogs. The floors looked like yours, and it was part plaster & lathe, and part t&g boards for walls. I thought it would be easy tearing down a house. Haha on me. One of the hardest things I ever did :hair. You should see the wood I was able to save. Actual 2" x 4" oak studs and giant oak beams. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I have a lot lol. Couldn't see throwing it away or burning it.


You could use some of it to build a dog house 

Yeah.. it's not easy tearing something down.... It's amazing how well old rusted nails hold stuff together.


----------



## Sturedman (Nov 18, 2012)

Some interesting pictures of the one I tore down. I know people like to look at pics, if you don't mind semi.









Random inside









You can see how bad the floor was









One of four 36' long beams









A bucket load of these lol









Part of it down









Interesting corner


















It creates a heck of a mess lol









You can see how bad the floor was


----------



## Sturedman (Nov 18, 2012)

Ooops....forgot the one of the beams.

I don't even know how they got these in there 120 years ago. 36' long, and there were 4 of them.


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Unreal.. that was a lot of work to do piece by piece for sure... I wasn't picturing the place being in town either... A lot of great salvage wood for sure... I'd like to have a lot of that myself... I could build a few small out building with a lot of that..


----------



## HuskyBoris (Feb 14, 2013)

nice pics Sturedman,I got a coulpe old barns that I tore down for the lumbar but never a house,,,but I'd like to


----------



## Sturedman (Nov 18, 2012)

simi-steading said:


> Unreal.. that was a lot of work to do piece by piece for sure... I wasn't picturing the place being in town either... A lot of great salvage wood for sure... I'd like to have a lot of that myself... I could build a few small out building with a lot of that..


All the houses here were pretty much built on top of each other. It was about a 3 month process while working a full time job and mostly getting just weekends to do it. I only paid 2500 for the house, and got about 1700 of that back in recycling the aluminum siding, copper and such. I also sold the furnace for 200. I just like having the bigger yard, and no neighbor 10 feet from my house lol.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

keep at it...good job both of you


----------

