Grosser and grosser

The early cool feeling has transitioned to the super disgusting, and will likely continue in this mode for a while; but it had to be done! We knew the plumbing to the kitchen and bathrooms were, at 77 years old, failing and had to be replaced. Both the kitchen and the bathrooms had been DIY-renovated more than once, but not according to code, nor particularly well. What we didn’t know was how disgusting the big demo would be. Yes, we should have anticipated it; call us naive. The crew pulled down much–but not all–of the plaster ceiling that had evidence of serious damage. In doing so, they exposed the faulty plumbing in the master bathroom. It is not pretty, so I will spare you. Falling plaster jarred decades of dirt onto the (newly restored) bathroom in the basement and in the dog’s water and food bowls (now cleaned).

The crew worked all day pulling away not just the ceiling–which is still a work in progess–but also the added wall and 2x4s that closed in the kitchen. We expect the demo of the kitchen and powder room to take all week, if not more. We so appreciate how thoughtful and careful the team has been to vent debris and ensure the room is stable although I still had to don a mask during some of it while working in the family room in the basement.

In super cool news: the dreaded (and questionably added by later owners) soffits in the kitchen are gone. I’ve saved photos for the end so that only the dedicated will see how it’s (grossly) going:

Both Dan and I–separately and together–have been active DIY home improvers. Today, however, made me incredibly thankful that we didn’t have to do this work. It might have been fun at the start to bang at old walls, but many are plaster and hiding damage that could jeopardize the stability of the structure. And as owners in our 60s, who are working at home for our professional jobs, it’s so reassuring that professionals are doing the work that would be beyond our ability.

This circles back a bit to history. When the original owners Agda and Glenn Welch built the house in 1936, they were in their mid-50s, about 10+ years younger than us. That was relatively older, at the time, than we are now. We are also reasonably fit. That is part of why we think–although we have no evidence–that Agda and Glenn did no improvements on the house in the 20 years they lived here before Glenn died in 1957. It is possible that they upgraded cabinets and work areas during those 20 years, but we will never know.

What do you expect?