Days ago I asked about removing a wood floor
the tips helped a lot, got into house last night, pulled about 300 sq feet before we had to leave. Put it all in a corner outside, going back to pull nails in a few minutes
Oak floor is beautiful, The house was built in the 30’s. Long lenths, clear.
However at least half or the boards under the carpet were face nailed right down the center,
however I was sueprised to see “Bruce” stamped all over the back
said Bruce, union made 2
now the waste part.
after last night , no one is allowed into house, and it will get bulldozed down monday.
there is still hardwood floor under it
but under that oak was beautifull 3″ clear vertical grain t&G fir
last night we also pulled down some clear t&G fir inteior siding , clear stained
behind those beautiful old fir “studs”
its a shame to know its all headed to the landfill,
but thts not my choice,ideas or rules
Replies
Arrgh. I feel your pain. Never enough time to beat the backhoes to salvage all the goodies.
Turn of the century old growth redwood or cedar siding, all straight no knots, 16ft lengths.
3 and 4 deep piece interior window/door trim.
Hand hewn beams.
got me cryin' now.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
isamemon
chain yourself to the tracks of the excavator or- the bucket probably be more funny
get a sign and all that crap you see on tv ,maybe some lawyer will step in and stop them long enough for you to recycle stuff-seriously joking it is a shame seen lots of old houses with fireplace mantles and faces ahhh whats the use. friggin people
Seen it before..
there was an abandoned house here in So.Cal. A weird sort of adobe probably made in the 40's or 50's. Top of a hill miles from no where we found it mountain biking.
it was an obvious party spot for young uns. What drove me nuts was the existence of literally 2' x'3' x 20' solid redwood beams that where being dragged into the fire pits and slowly being burned to nothing.
I had no truck at the time and could im press no one the rarity of such timbers much less the waste.
House since destroyed in a fire. All gone.
...sigh..
Notrix
Did I read that right? You said 20foot beams of 24"x36"?
be sighin' and cryin' is right
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
AT LEAST 20'!!!!Memeory gets hazy now and then but these were easily 20'. Spanned entire lengths of the house.Then only people I knew with vehicles big enough and tough enough to 4 wheel it up there considered it stealing when I approached them about it. Yes and no I figured. At least 10 - 20 years abandonded and being destroyed.I hope they got recycled instead of cut up.
N
Makes me feel like gearing up and going treasure hunting. ;o)
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
I'm finishing my house and am finally using up the VG fir (have to bow my head in reverence when I say that) I've been hauling around for the last 5-6 years. Made a couple of bookcases and a desk - and that was mostly framing lumber!
Yeah, ya got to watch the building up of the stash lest it swamp you.
Paid the guy $100 and took a stairway out of a house once. Nothing real special but oak and all there.
Then found a curved one out of an old victorian instead and now I have a staircase in a shed. With the old redwood 1x10 siding, and the interior trim still with the sq cut nails in them.
All waiting for a better day. With the slate faux marble fireplace mantle and trim, and the...
be asking how many years again
Someday.
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
this house was not worth saving, really , I know.
On the other hand
years back we walked into a house, falling down, floors going every direction, foundation made of rock a farm house built in the 1850's
after years and years of rental neglect and a small fire in an illeagle woodstove, the owner decided it was time to do something.
I forget what they said , I was either the 5th or 6th contractor to look at it with them
and the first to say, what a shame, lets not bulldoze it, lets fix it
that is what the owner wanted to hear, and if others had known, and I did not at that second, they would have ended up with the job.
questions from owners were how, but NOT how much, but how can you save it.
we signed that afternoon, I made real good money, and a front page article in the newspaper
Good story.
Carp friend bought an abandoned 900 sq.ft. 2-BR frame house (circa 1915) on a town lot for $25K, 7 years ago.
First thing was to straighten it out as it's wooden post supports were dry rotted. We got her level, reposted, replaced one sill beam, a few joists, then went at it. End result was a house that respected the architectural scale of the neighbourhood, yet was totally up to modern codes, very energy efficient, lots of natural light. He put $50K into it, incl. fencing the lot, landscaping, planters, shed, decks.
Many people said he was crazy...you should cart it to the dump....wasting your time....
Friend just sold it in 4 weeks at $200K. He put $50K into it. In the end, he lived in a sweet home, helped save the town's character, and made a nice $125K profit. I got some valuable experience and $ working on it, plus got to property manage it whenever friend would travel to Asia for the winter.
BTW, I believe most realtors don't understand the value of a house that doesn't feature vinyl siding, a double car garage, brand-new hardwood floors and oak kitchen cabinets from HD. Huge is what they understand and value.
Friend's place cost $50 to heat this January. When the real energy crunch comes, small efficient homes will skyrocket in price. The big trophy homes will be on the market for 30 cents on the dollar. Smart money to be made then by snapping up these repoed McMansions and turning them into tri- or four-plexes.
Old place out in the country on a st. route been empty for years and for sale for a few from a handpainted for sale billboard in front of the place.
2 storey square with a crappy ell addition. Got to thinking one day and stopped to do a walk thru.
Someone had removed the stairway but I climbed up there to find a solid timberframe with no rot.
On about 4 acres of field at 11 grand. No septic.
Out of town working for several months. Got to thinking. Tear off the funky ell, clean it up and add a septic.
Get back into town and discover someone had bought the place, local fireman had had practice on the building and now the land is for sale.
Hate when that happens.
be two speeds, slow and slower
sobriety is the root cause of dementia.
There was a church in my home town that bought up three neighboring houses, needed more parking space.
They offered the houses free to anybody that wanted them, all they had to do was move them! That being the catch. They were trying to make it look like they were being overly generous. All they were trying to do was save the cost of razing the buildings.
I went to look at the houses, one of them an older Victorian, built in the late 1800's. It had walnut trim throughout the downstairs. Walnut spoon carved pocket doors, wide base, nice plinth and rosette blocks.
I went to them and offered to buy the trim, and I offered quite a bit of money. Probably half of what it was going to cost to tear the place down and have it hauled away.
I got an "absolutely no" from them, take the whole house or nothing at all! Couldn't believe it.
The house was in a neighborhood that would not have made it cost effective to move it.
So it all went to the dump!!!
Damn shame. And how many houses like this or yours is out there being torn down every day.
Doug
I was once asked to help remove some pocket doors from an old house. A guy was tearing one down and offered the local historical society anything they wanted out of it.
I spent a whole afternon with another guy tearing out a beautiful set of doors with the original finish still on them - They'd never been painted.
We finally got them out, and the other guy said he'd bring his truckl the next day to get them.
But when he showed up the next day, the excavator was already there. Most of the house had already been knocked down and hauled off. Apparently there was a misunderstanding about the deadline for getting stuff out.
Someday, when the world is running thin on natural resources, people will look back on how wasteful we were, and cry. By then, it will be too late. And it will be all our own fault. It has to be a crime.
Just like oil exploration, as the cost of lumber escalates, the price to recycle becomes more financially viable. Too bad we have to wait until then. Money. Speaks in dialects you never would have guessed.