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| Before the Storm (that's our new gutter to the left - it hasn't been installed yet) |
When the sill came out, we could see exactly what we were
facing with the living room floor. Cue the
horror music…
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| ... |
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| !!! |
Almost every joist was damaged and/or a total
loss once again due to the incredible plague that is the termite! While we knew that some of the joists were damaged,
little did we know that all but one were no longer structurally sound. Jason had originally planned to sister the
existing joists, which would entail sandwiching new wood around the old timbers
in order to take the support of the floor.
Once we realized that you could actually put your hand around the end of
each massive timber and squeeze it like a sponge, we reconsidered our
options. While you may think our
decision drastic, we believe it is the best thing for the house.
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| Removing the baseboards and lower wainscoting |
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| The floor starting to come up... |
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| Slowly... |
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| The worst of the joists just in front of the hearth |
In order to attack the living room joists, the flooring had
to come out, piece by piece. Before the
flooring could be removed, the baseboards, lower wainscoting and the “most
beautiful mantle in Pitt County” (according to Preservation North Carolina, who
featured our lovely mantle on the cover of their most recent issue) had to be
removed carefully from the walls. All of
that now resides in our dining room.
Jason numbered each floor plank (which are thankfully still in
near-perfect condition!) so that they will go back down in the same manner they
were originally laid. This floor was an
expensive feature at the time of installation – tongue and groove heart pine,
affixed to the joists using a hidden nail pattern. Jason will re-install it in the same way, and
he assures us that it will look as if it had never been removed.
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| I took this picture while standing outside. |
In removing the baseboards near the chimney, we also saw
that one of the studs and cross timbers holding up the window were irreparable. Unfortunately, the pests also began to eat
away part of the window casing, both on the inside and outside, so we will do
what we can to salvage these original hand-carved features. Nothing like a few little surprises to stir
up your home remodel!
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| Jason removing the stud using a chainsaw |
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| All of our living room in our dining room. |
Tune in for what becomes of our living room!
