wallyfarmhouse

we're learning how to renovate our 120-year-old farmhouse located in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. here are the before and after photos to document the changes and all of the challenges in between

Posted 2 years ago

Rotting bathroom…

Our Saturday consisted mostly of tackling a 4’x11’ space in which a previous owner had decided to construct a bathroom out of wood. Sure there was cement board and house wrap designed to keep water out, but then instead of tile in the shower/tub enclosure, there was half inch wood siding and at the base of the enclosure around the tub, 1”x10” boards that had been painted and caulked together.

So we tackled the panelling, took off the cement board, and the laminate floor, and then, well, about a 100-300 carpenter ants came pouring out of a rotten section of the floor. We fought back this small army with all powerful citrus, which was amazingly effective, but we’ve still got a good 3’x3’ patch of rotten subfloor and at least one joist that has some damage. Luckily, the beams underneath these narrowly spaced joists are heavy duty metal I beams. Those came in handy, when after propping the bathtub up on one end, Marshall leaned against it and it rolled down (through the door way!) and gave the whole house quite a shake!

Our Saturday evening consisted of the third dump run of the day. What more fun could we ask for to kick off this new year?