102yr old house partial remodel

[Vg3200p]

What’s the sizing and base cap of the original?

 

[Vg3200p]

Was able to get a little more done this weekend. We bought our toilet and sink for bathroom. Stack is done from basement ceiling through the roof vent. Got toilet tub and sink drain pipes ran and in position(I hope) this bathroom is only 5 ft wide so its gonna be tight. Last pic is our luxury toilet for now until main lateral gets fixed. Getting an estimate in that tommorow

 

[Ashful]

Looks like I was right on the money with 1x8 base, which will be 7-1/4” before coping, but no cap molding? Can’t see it in that photo.

How you liking working with pex? Haven’t taken the plunge yet, still doing everything in copper, here.

 

[Vg3200p]

Looks like I was right on the money with 1x8 base, which will be 7-1/4” before coping, but no cap molding? Can’t see it in that photo.

How you liking working with pex? Haven’t taken the plunge yet, still doing everything in copper, here.

I think trim is just angle top cut(is that coping?) With a quarter round bottom piece. Tell you what pex had been way way easier than sweating all that pipe. Not to mention the price. Got 100ft of 1/2" for either 23 or 29$ can't remember.

 

[Ashful]

Yeah... I've been stubborn on switching over. I learned to sweat copper from my grandfather and father, my grandfather owned a plumbing business, and I was a sometimes-helper. So, it's just what I always go back to, as I know it well and can plumb it quickly and neatly.

To my credit though, copper has been the only system to last 100+ years with no major issues. Anyone remember butyl? Lots of piping systems have come and gone, while copper has just stayed the test of time. But at this point, it does appear PEX is going to go the distance. Hopefully they don't find the chemicals used in its construction or manufacturing are carcinogenic.

It's very tough to get baseboard fitted to a wall nice and neat without a flexible base cap. That's why you nearly always see ogee, bullnose, or some other smaller trim piece atop a 1x8 baseboard. This is even worse in an old house, whether using drywall or re-plastering, as nothing is straight and flat. The usual procedure is to back-bevel bottom edge of baseboard, set it in place, scribe a line on the face that's tangent to board edge at lowest spot in room, cope to the line with a small block plane, nail the baseboard in, and then fit the base cap on top. Without the base cap, I guess you'll be either plastering or caulking the gaps that will inevitably be there between base board and wall, as the walls are not likely flat.

Hey, do you think that maybe there was a base cap at one time? I've honestly never seen an old house that lacks it, ever. I guess it could be a regional thing, but knowing builders were trying to build houses as fast and profitably as they could even back then, I can't see any reason they'd choose to omit this time-saving option. It takes a minute to nail in a base cap, another minute to cope it's end to the piece on the adjoining wall, but much longer to topcoat plaster a wall to a pre-installed baseboard.

 

[Vg3200p]

Never paid much attention to this before but looking around there are tons of gaps where the trim meets the walls. So I would say its original. No signs of another peice being on top tgat I can see. Wich is fine with me I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to carpentry. Imperfections give things character. Pex does leach chemicals according to the research I've done. There are 3 different classes of pex. A. B. And. C im using b class and i think that is the least leaching. I wanted to do copper because of this. But I've only sweated copper once and did not want to deal with leaks from my poor craftsmanship. We won't be drinking from these taps. And on a side note our town water failed a health insp. Over the summer anyhow. We use a Brita type filter for our drinks

 

[Ashful]

Those gaps aren't bad, I've seen much worse. I'd be using ogee or some period-appropriate base cap to make the job neat and easy, but sometimes you gotta just satisfy the SO. My last house was a victorian (1877), and modern ogee base cap was such a close match to the original that I just went with that on everything. The trim in the current house is about 100 years older than that, and doesn't match anything you can buy today, so I've been making my own moldings to match the original. Prior owners had replaced some original moldings with the closest thing they could find, which means I've been tearing out their work when it's time to repaint a room.

I guess if you wanted to get rid of the gaps, you could rip 1/4" x 1" strips, use that (horizontal orientation) as a base cap, and then plane and sand it flush to the baseboard. You'd never see it, and you'd have a proper base cap to the close any major gaps. The 1" cross section won't be super flexible, but it beats trying to flex a full 1x8. Probably not worth it, unless you run into a real bad spot/room.

 

[stoveliker]

Hoping my sacrilege doesn't upset ashful's historically sensitive ideas (no offense to personality intended; meant to describe the "keeping it historically correct" - approach) , but ... I'd (paintable) caulk gaps as in the pic. Way faster. And silver fish proof etc.

 

[Ashful]

No offense taken! Latex painter's caulk is no sacrilege. We must live in these houses, they aren't just historic artifacts. Make it as perfect as practicable, and then let caulk take care of the rest!

 

[mcdougy]

"Do your best, caulk the rest" is the motto of most trim carpenters these days. Often forced to use some of the "new" printable trims can be a painful experience if your a perfectionist.

 

[Vg3200p]

.

Hoping my sacrilege doesn't upset ashful's historically sensitive ideas (no offense to personality intended; meant to describe the "keeping it historically correct" - approach) , but ... I'd (paintable) caulk gaps as in the pic. Way faster. And silver fish proof etc.

Lol. I won't be doing any of this. The gaps don't bother me at all. Never noticed them till ashfull asked about it

 

[Vg3200p]

Day 6 or 7 without sewer. Had 2 different plumbing company's come out for estimate. 1 took 3 days to get estimate so he got canned. 2nd was gonna just chisel out wall and fernco it. Decided to chisel the wall out and Fernco it myself. Kitchen sink is hooked back up. Need 1 more fitting to get tge downstairs bathroom and the new upstairs stack plumbed in. Will have to be this weekend. Stores closed for thanksgiving

 

[Vg3200p]

We finally have working drains again. Tested all pipes no leaks so far. Next step is to hook up pex in basement. Then test for leaks in that system. Then it's subfloor in bathroom time

 

[Vg3200p]

Pex is hooked up. No leaks. Got about half of the subfloor in. Going with 2 layers of 1/2 osb

 

[Ashful]

Got about half of the subfloor in. Going with 2 layers of 1/2 osb

You'd better watch out! An old house might reject OSB like a bad organ transplant.

j/k... my last Victorian got T&G plywood subfloors after leveling the joists, and before installing 1x6 T&G yellow pine. The original yellow pine floors were very yard and stiff, maybe 15-20 growth rings per inch, but the new stuff is like 5 rings per inch. Not nearly stiff enough to put down without a subfloor.

 

[Vg3200p]

You'd better watch out! An old house might reject OSB like a bad organ transplant.

j/k... my last Victorian got T&G plywood subfloors after leveling the joists, and before installing 1x6 T&G yellow pine. The original yellow pine floors were very yard and stiff, maybe 15-20 growth rings per inch, but the new stuff is like 5 rings per inch. Not nearly stiff enough to put down without a subfloor.

That's how our floors are to. Original t@g pine it's some strong stuff. The cast iron clawfoot tub had bowed the original floor though over time

 

[Vg3200p]

Finished getting sub floor in mocked in toilet and sink. Will have about 3 to 4 inches of clearance between clawfoot tub and toilet

 

[Ashful]

Will have about 3 to 4 inches of clearance between clawfoot tub and toilet

If this were a fraternity house, that could come in handy.

 

[Vg3200p]

Floor in. Back wall in. Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel

 

[Vg3200p]

Got rest of osb wall sheathing in. Got trim around door and trimmed out window. Got the new light fixture installed. Tommorow I'm gonna try to finish walls. Father inlaws coming over tommorow.. He's really really good with wood. He made us some tounge and groove floor planks to fix my screw up in hallway. He's also gonna help me get an angle cut on the floor trim. I don't have the tools for that.

 

[gzecc]

Sorry if already mentioned. Why OSB on walls? Spacing issues?

 

[Vg3200p]

Sorry if already mentioned. Why OSB on walls? Spacing issues?

To help with noise reduction. And to help fight the wind that blows in through the exterior and attic side walls. Also wanted the extra bracing on this 100yr old framing.

 

[Tonty]

I’ve enjoyed reading about the old houses. I’ve worked in quite a few “old” houses through the years, but here “old” wouldn’t be so old to you in the eastern part of the country. Here it would be 1900’s.
We are close to the Flint Hills, and we did add on to a native limestone house once. 2’ thick solid limestone walls. I can’t imagine the work it would have taken to hoist some of those massive stone up on the gable end without hydraulic assistance. We were able to find a quarry that supplied us with a face limestone that looked very similar, so we were able to make the outside look like the old house.
I admire your dedication to staying true to the style, Ashful.

 

[Ashful]

Looks great! Keep up the good work. It's exciting watching someone else work, for a change.

I spent half the day on a ladder, making faux timber from old off-cuts for mounting a torsion type garage door opener... and then installing the opener. Nothing is straightforward in a timber frame building, no regular studs to which to attach anything.

I’ve enjoyed reading about the old houses. I’ve worked in quite a few “old” houses through the years, but here “old” wouldn’t be so old to you in the eastern part of the country. Here it would be 1900’s.

All relative. I have friends in Europe who laugh at what we call old, although they will admit we do a much better job at preservation, whereas their method is usually more modernization through renovation.

 

[begreen]

Yeah... I've been stubborn on switching over. I learned to sweat copper from my grandfather and father, my grandfather owned a plumbing business, and I was a sometimes-helper. So, it's just what I always go back to, as I know it well and can plumb it quickly and neatly.

I was sworn to copper plumbing myself, but this year put in pex to replace a failed section of copper. Had 2 elbows develop pinhole leaks and they were in nasty, built-in locations. With so much plumbing coming from China these days I worry about how our homes will stand up over time.