Fun findings

There have been so many, let's call them interesting, things we've found during this demolition process, I thought they deserved their own post... enjoy!

Linoleum
Apparently back in the day, people liked to install linoleum "area rugs". Some interesting choices to say the least... 

Larger bedroom. At least it matches the paneling?

Plaid linoleum in the second bedroom.

This was all found under the carpets in the bedrooms. My initial reaction was horror, imagining all of the home improvement shows I have watched where people spend hours scraping up linoleum floors, but to my chagrin, they weren't attached at all and peeled right up! The plaid one was too retro/fun to trash, so I relocated it to the garage!

Random holes

I always use masking tape to plug large holes, don't you?

I'm guessing this used to be the exit for the original wood stove

Found this beauty with basement access when we pulled up the masonite in the living room

This one goes from the dining room ceiling to the unfinished space upstairs

 

Dead animals

Two unlucky birds that I found in the wall

Paneling

Two layers of lovely wallpapered paneling

Not one, but two layers of paneling in the laundry room

Wallpaper galore!
As if the wallpapered paneling used in much of the house isn't offensive enough, we discovered a menagerie of different wallpaper patterns as we peeled back the layers...

 

Grafitti
The previous owners must have let the kids draw on the walls before they put up paneling, because we found these gems:

Truck

Warren Area High School fraternity

 There was also "Scott" written backwards in the living room. Kids are so funny!

Newspapers
In an attempt at what I can only assume was some sort of vapor barrier or wind-proofing, there were numerous newspapers plastered to the walls, on top of the interior sheathing.

This wall in the kitchen has papers ranging from 1894 - 1939

Before the Warren Times Observer, there was the Warren Times Mirror. Dated April 8, 1939.

The New York Times Magazine, July 29, 1928.

Copyright, 1902.

New York Weekly Witness, Wednesday March 14, 1894.

A wall in the living room is covered in copies of the Warren Weekly Mirror.

Warren Weekly Mirror, Saturday September 8, 1894. I'm assuming this was the precursor to the Guide?

Weekly railroad schedules.

Poor Celia Smith. Back before "right to privacy".

Other random items
Also found plastered to the walls under the sheathing were various flour bags from Erie and Warren. We plan to put these in poster frames and hang them in the garage.

Little bits of history.

Du-Pont Anti-Freeze can used as a patch

Our kitchen cabinets were born the same month as me!

Need a patch? Use what you've got! Broom stick, carpet scraps, spray foam, it's all fair game!

Demolition, week 4

The only major thing left to do now was finish off the living room. So much lath & plaster to tackle!

Ryan demonstrating the lung-safe way to demo, with a gas mask!

Ceiling half done, 3 more walls to go...

We tried a different approach to the walls, but I prefer taking it all down at once

 I was very glad when we were done with this process, I think it took me 2 days to get the plaster dust out of my hair!

Plaster dust much?

Let me also take this opportunity to let you learn from my mistakes... When you have baseboard heating, and plan to demo anything, make sure to protect your heating elements before getting started, otherwise you'll be learning how to straighten heat fins like I will be...

Cleaning up the mess

Off to the fire pit with you, lath!

I can't believe how wide some of these sheathing boards are, 20"!!!

Ryan standing back and admiring all of our hard work!

Found 3 of these guys when we were moving the wood from the deck to the fire pit, they were less than impressed

We got the kitchen cabinets moved to their temporary home in the garage

Beautiful tongue & groove kitchen ceiling under the drywall, we're going to try to re-purpose this elsewhere

Open concept stairs? These will be gone soon enough!

The end of August was also essentially the end of demolition, save a few small items still to do that aren't really worth mentioning. Demo was a lot of fun, but exhausting, and I'm excited to be able to start putting things back together now! I always have the end result in mind, which hopefully will help me keep plugging along when we start to lose motivation. But for now we can take  moment to rest!