The Historic District

This is our have to do this before we can do that. We started on the bathroom and then realized we had to rip up the kitchen floor first. We are putting in radiant heat in the kitchen, bath and butler's pantry. So....... we have to lay in one continuous line of tubing. Guess how many layers of floor we found in the kitchen!?
At least we are able to salvage some of the 3/4" oak for repairs in other rooms.
Here are other pics of the rooms.http://s328.photobucket.com/user/acdmy3 ... ath%20demo The kitchen proper is about 12 x 14 with 7 doorways, so not very much counter space in there. We are replacing missing cupboards in the butler's pantry and adding a small bar sink in there. And yes, somebody really did paint an exit sign on my transom window.

the tile probably contains Asbestos, try not to breathe it's dust.

Industrial dust masks all the way. We figured that was why it was not taken up before, just covered with plywood.

I thought this was mildly funny. Some yuts (can I say that?) had apparently decided the silver closet was a good place for a toilet! This explains why they moved the door from one wall to the other. It changed which apartment got the closet.

Ya, often small rooms were saraficed for water closets, pantries (both normal and butlers) under stairs and closets. At the time it just the logical spot at the time.

It's fun to figure out how things were originally & amazing what previous owners solutions were!

After a break to work on attic insulation and wiring, my hubby finally back to the kitchen and bath floors. We found a really cool old style toilet in a bath my dad was updating in his farmhouse. Long story there, but update to downstairs walk in shower was unavoidable for them. It is a two piece, with the tank hung low on the wall. When we got the replacement spuds and ell, we discovered that the hole in the tank was not quite round, and the spud does not fit properly. Dad said that it did not have a spud, it had been sealed with wax and linen roping and always leaked. The problem is clearly a manufacturing defect. My hubby suggested that he try to grind out the hole with a diamond bit. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions?

Don M wrote:It's fun to figure out how things were originally & amazing what previous owners solutions were!

I agree! Our house is a someone crazy mish-mash of "solutions" in parts of the house. I'm always scratching my head trying to figure out what the original configuration must have been.

Stacey, not including the original floor I see four. Keep slogging along, it will become something grand in the near future.

So........, finally back to kitchen/bath once again. Hubby has laid all the plywood sub floor and is busily routing in the track for the pex. He had a brain challenge figuring the depth needed as we have an intersection of the different flooring thicknesses. Tile in bath, original wood floor in hall and a commercial tile in kitchen. I have been attacking the walls, trying to remove a ton of paint. I finally figured out that a heat gun set on high will get it all off. I think the bottom three colors are oil based and the top 5 layers are latex. What a mess. Hope to get the pex in by the weekend so he can lay the bathroom tile next week. We sort of really need a working toilet on this floor by Thanksgiving. Anyone have any good do's or don'ts about laying small tile? Posted pics in a gallery. Will find out later how to make them show up here. Right now I have a shop vac calling my name.