# The Forgotten Farmhouse



## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

*Entrance*

I've had this partially gutted for a few months and couldn't take not having a front entrance any more. So today decided to gut most of the entrance and see what I can find.

Starting to get curious about what I may find behind the walls.









I *really *hate taking down plaster (this stuff was in bad shape)









Farmhouse insulation = paper and wood




































This entrance is part of a small addition in the front of the house. Seems like I can now get to some of the wiring in the main portion of the house (bonus!) :thumbsup:


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

*Entrance Part 2*

(cont..)

This part worries me a bit. You can barely see the red tin (?) metal roof. When I looked up close, I could see some condensation. There was no insulation. I may need to either replace it or coat it with roof coating. 









Neighbor planed some of the 2x6's that were behind the lathe. Appears to be some type of pine? No idea really. He couldn't tell either.


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## firehawkmph (Dec 12, 2009)

Lu,
Looks like you have yourself a nice project going. That piece of planed wood looks like doug fir to me. 
Mike Hawkins


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

firehawkmph said:


> Lu,
> Looks like you have yourself a nice project going. That piece of planed wood looks like doug fir to me.
> Mike Hawkins


Thanks! A quick Google shows it's probably worth keeping. I have many more pics from the last year, just no energy to post :jester:


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

In your last picture that is old growth heart pine and in todays market it is a very high dollar wood and much sought after. Look how close the growth rings are, if you have a lot of it you are sitting pretty. I have installed a lot of the heart pine flooring and it turns out beautiful. The heart pine is harder than todays pine as todays pine grows too fast as the winters are just not as cold as they use to be way back then.


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## cocobolo (Dec 16, 2008)

Lu, I see you have two suggestions as to what your wood might be. Pretty hard to tell from one pic, but both suggestions are a possibility.

Is there any evidence at all of any pitch in any of that wood at all?

The colour does look a lot like Douglas Fir, but the growth rings are pretty tight for fir. Even the older growth fir usually isn't quite that tight. 

And Jim's suggestion of heart pine could also well be correct. If you can get a copy of Bruce Hoadley's book on the subject (Identifying Wood, Taunton Press) you should be able to get it right.

The lath and plaster walls seem to date the house back several decades...do you know when it was built?


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

*Entrance Part 3*

*jiju1943 *- Interesting. I wasn't expecting to hear that. If I had to guess, I'd bet most of the house is made up of this wood (boards). Heck, my roof sheathing is made of these boards. I think they are actually 2x12's. See the pic below...this is an outside wall where I want to remove these boards so I can insulate it. I'll definitely keep the boards now.

*cocobolo* - I'm not 100% on the date of the house. It was bought in the 1950's by the PO's parents. One contractor thought some of the house dated to the 1890's because of the sand-stone foundation. It was some kind of cattle/sheep farm. In the late 90's, the PO's sold off their several hundred acres for a development.

Outside wall









Door hardware


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## cocobolo (Dec 16, 2008)

Wow! So like Jim says, you have some really nice wood there. Keep it, whatever you do. :thumbsup:

Best of luck with all the work that is ahead of you!


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I would for sure hang on to all you have of it also, it don't matter about the nail holes even where it has turned black around the nails, that just adds character to it. Antique heart pine is selling for $7.00-$10.00 a square foot now days, they most times don't sell by the board foot.

My crew and myself restored an ole Victorian built in 1842 and the entire roof was decked in Walnut, some of the boards were 24-30 inches wide. The part that caught my attention was the decking wasn't ripped into straight boards, they just sliced off a 1X and left it the shape of the tree.


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## firehawkmph (Dec 12, 2009)

cocobolo said:


> Lu, I see you have two suggestions as to what your wood might be. Pretty hard to tell from one pic, but both suggestions are a possibility.


 
The colour does look a lot like Douglas Fir, but the growth rings are pretty tight for fir. Even the older growth fir usually isn't quite that tight. 

The reason I was guessing the doug fir is, I bought some to make up some thresholds in an old victorian farmhouse I have done a lot of work in. The pieces I bought were quartersawn doug fir and looked just like the picture except no knots or flaws. The grain was very tight together and was actually quite nice looking. Whatever it is, it looks nice, don't throw it away or burn it.
Mike Hawkins


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## cocobolo (Dec 16, 2008)

firehawkmph said:


> The colour does look a lot like Douglas Fir, but the growth rings are pretty tight for fir. Even the older growth fir usually isn't quite that tight.
> 
> The reason I was guessing the doug fir is, I bought some to make up some thresholds in an old victorian farmhouse I have done a lot of work in. The pieces I bought were quartersawn doug fir and looked just like the picture except no knots or flaws. The grain was very tight together and was actually quite nice looking. Whatever it is, it looks nice, don't throw it away or burn it.
> Mike Hawkins


Which reminds me of some flooring going in to a house over on Thetis Island a couple of years ago. Douglas fir...very long lengths...and all absolutely clear. Old growth wood for sure, and it has been cut up to order for a European woman who runs a millwork shop somewhere on southern Vancouver Island. It was all T & G, and if my memory serves me correctly, the grain wasn't quite as tight as what is in your photo. 

Definitely the best Douglas fir I have ever seen.

The softwoods which will get tight grain like that are some of the big old pines, hemlock and Sitka spruce. Possibly Engelman spruce as well.

The fact is that we just hardly ever see that sort of wood any more. Nearly all the biggest and best trees are long gone.

The forest companies like to make a big deal about planting three trees for every one that they cut down, but what are three saplings compared to a 150 foot tall Douglas fir?

These days they harvest firs at 70 years, so the days of the old growth forests exist only in history books now.

To be sure, there are a few areas of old growth here in British Columbia, but they are few and far between. Attempts are ongoing to save these areas in perpetuity, and I certainly hope they succeed.


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

Guys, what are your thoughts on this flooring? Any idea what type of wood it is? I need to make a decision on whether to continue trying to sand it and go forward with a Waterlox finish, or just accept that it's not stainable and go with a porch paint black.

Thanks


































Cleaning with mineral spirits


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I could be wrong but it sure looks like pine to me. I personally like the floor and no paint as it is typical of older farm houses.


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

jiju1943 said:


> I could be wrong but it sure looks like pine to me. I personally like the floor and no paint as it is typical of older farm houses.


Here's my issue -- the floor is uneven in places with gaps between some boards. When I went at with it a orbital sander that I rented, it ended up chewing sanding discs like no other. I probably was moving it a bit too fast, but this thing would shake and buckle. Therefore, I was putting a set of $10 discs on it every 30 secs or so.

I guess my options are to rent the orbital sander again, try a drum sander, hire a professional to sand it, or simply paint it.

Any suggestions?

edit: what are my options for pine also? Like I said, it's uneven in places so I figured poly was out.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

You want the floor to look authentic not showroom fresh. The imperfections are actually what many folks want who restore the old homes as that is the way things were back when there were no machines to refinish.

One reason your sander may have been jumping is you are using too fine a sanding disk. The pine has pitch in it and will load a disk which is a fine grit really quickly, you will need to do the cutting with a courser grit disk and do the finish with the fine disk. You will still go through several fine disk on the final sand but no where as many as if you are trying to do all the sanding with just the fine disks.

If the gaps bother you, you can fill them and sand them out on your final sanding. I would stay away from the drum sander as that thing will mess up way more than can be straightened up, especially when the paper loads up.


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## Bootz (Jun 28, 2010)

Keep sanding! It looks beautiful and just stunning! Those floor look really nice. Just stain it with a really good stainer and finish them up :thumbup:


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## Shamus (Apr 27, 2008)

Rent or hire and use a drum sander with 3 different grits of paper. Use the orbital around the edge. You'll get swirl marks from the orbital that will show up in the finish if your not careful.

Best bet is do a search on the proper way and you'll understand the process. Lots of pro's out there that can explain exactly how to make that floor look fantastic.

It's worth the time and effort.


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

*Living Room --- Take 1*

Thanks guys. I have a little bit of time to decide about the floors. I think I may try renting an orbital again but using a coarser grit. To be continued....

Today I decided to start patching the living room --- the same one with the pine flooring. The previous night I removed loose plaster. There were several areas that showed previous water damage. I've been monitoring it and it hasn't gotten worst. The roof appears fine.

It also looks like the PO's used some joint compound in areas before moving out. It didn't bond too well to the plaster. I've also had new windows put in (replacements) and the areas around the windows need patching.

Two interesting notes: 1) I think there is actually insulation in this room (it's an addition) based on what I saw in one of the holes. And 2) I think this room was once painted pink (maybe). I see it in areas where paint has chipped. Not to mention another pink bedroom, the master bath also has pink tile :laughing:

This was my first time plastering and I used Durabond 90 and blue web tape. On the large patches, I dampened the edges with a 50/50 mix of Elmer's glue and water.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

*pink room... pink room....* *shudder*

DM

(beautiful home from the outside!!, and yup, you have some fun projects ahead!)


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

DangerMouse said:


> *pink room... pink room....* *shudder*
> 
> DM
> 
> (beautiful home from the outside!!, and yup, you have some fun projects ahead!)


:laughing:

Pink bedroom, pink'ish wallpaper, pink shower tiles....it's obvious who wore the pants in this house.


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## Bootz (Jun 28, 2010)

Wow... that does look like a lot of work... doing layer by layer of scraping  Hope your Ipod has a ton of hours of music :laughing: But anyway I am almost positive that place is going to look awesome when you are done with it. You know when I look on a lot of these projects of houses being built and remodeled makes me admire that there are still some people out there that are highly skilled at carpentry. I mean anyone can hire a bunch of people to do the work for them but when people on here like you that take the time and do it the way you want to on your own ... you really appreciate the amount of work that goes into these kind of projects...:thumbup:


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## HautingLu (May 24, 2009)

Well it's looking like one of those typical Tuesdays --- with all the plaster and lathe removed, I found out this morning that the metal roof leaks in several spots......no idea where though. At this point, drywall will have to wait until Spring when I can coat or redo the roof. I'm pretty close to calling it quits......selling it right now would be tough, so I'm starting to look at what it would take to finish it up and rent the thing out.

*Side question*: the wiring in the mud room is copper 2-wire (black/red) with no ground in metal flex conduit. It comes off a sub-panel (with breakers) and goes to several rooms and outlets. I don't have access to all of the wiring. I'm wondering whether this a no-no: replace the wiring that I can get to with 14/2 and instead of running the bare ground back to the sub panel, to run it instead to main service panel instead.

Thanks.


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## SeeDBee (Sep 1, 2008)

An idea. That's a beautiful floor. If you have access to a planer tear it apart and run each piece through it, then reconstruct.


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