Phil's living room

Project updates and progress reports
User avatar
Mick_VT
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2437
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 2:39 am
Location: Central Vermont
Contact:

Re: Phil's living room

Post by Mick_VT »

Here you go Phil! Its a little early but this style persisted. In 1903 it was very modern.

E L Roberts 1903 catalog plate
E L Roberts 1903 catalog plate
IMG_5503 copy.jpg (1.51 MiB) Viewed 1082 times
Mick...

phil
Has many leather bound books
Posts: 4616
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Phil's living room

Post by phil »

well you are right Mick. It's hard to envision exactly what was there but my living room walls must have had some sort of wood , and you are right , it goes up quite high. about 5' 6" or so. this picture is moving further to the left. the top part is plaster. they had removed whatever was there and put 3/8ths drywall over the scratch coat of plaster. I'm removing the drywall first as it needs to be kept separate anyway. I don't see a lot of holes other than the ones from the drywall nails so whatever was there wasn't a bunch of little pieces. there could have been a strip they were all nailed to.

I had expected plaster walls not this. I don't want the reno to drag forever so I am thinking of perhaps drywalling it all but setting the baseboards away from the wall by about 3/4". I could put a quarter round on top of the top edge for now and later, after I research this and source materials maybe I could then just remove the 1/4 round and add the woodwork. If I just install the baseboard in the normal manor then any woodwork would bury it otherwise.

I never thought my house had a lot of ornamentation but It definitely had something more than I had imagined. . At first I thought ok maybe benches below the bay windows, but I think I've seen enough rough plaster to prove it had some fancy trim. It's a shame that whatever was there was taken away but on the other hand I guess I have an excuse to add something nice.

kind of slow going pulling the drywall. it comes off in chunks. lots more to go before I'm done it looks like, this sort of thing must completely surround the room and probably the entrance way too. The brick above the fireplace is covered. I wonder how much of that was exposed originally? I was about to just drywall over the interior walls and call it that, but now I am not sure if maybe I want to take out all the drywall.. as you can see Ive opened a big can of worms and I have to work to get my house back in liveable condition or Ill drive my little woman crazy living in reno land.

I put up a temporary door so at least I have it closed off from the rest of the house for the time being. What a job!

Phil
Attachments
LR walls1.jpg
LR walls1.jpg (196.42 KiB) Viewed 1079 times
Last edited by phil on Wed Jul 06, 2016 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Mick_VT
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2437
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 2:39 am
Location: Central Vermont
Contact:

Re: Phil's living room

Post by Mick_VT »

I'll bet with your shop and woodworking skills you could knock up what was in my picture in hardly any more time than it would take to drywall! I have seen some houses where the panels on the above were plaster - they might even be in that plate.

Do I also see shadow of crown molding, or even coffering of the ceiling there?
Mick...

phil
Has many leather bound books
Posts: 4616
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Phil's living room

Post by phil »

There was a crown molding but I don't' think it was anything original so I took that out. I chipped away the drywall near the ceiling on the exterior walls so the ceiling drywall would go above the wall drywall but on the interior walls I had planned to just add more drywall over what's there since there are no windows, so moving the wall inward by 1/2" is pretty inconsequential. You know how it is though , once you start tearing old junk out it's hard to stop !

If I put up wood panels I don't mind that layer of drywall behind as I get 12000 cars per day past the front bay window. Part of the reason I went to this extent in demo is to get some insulation in there to quieten the room down. One stud bay has a bit of insulation as I opened that during wiring and used that path to get my wiring to the attic and as well had to attach the conduit for the mast to the framing with U bolts.

I have a prized stack of about 20 or 30 2x4 that are all knot free nice grain fir. Maybe I should split them to 3/4 x 4 and cut slots to accept panels. Not sure what kind of panels. It's probably possible to get 1/4" panels with edge grain fir as the face but it's not too common. I do have the skills and tools to do it. I think putting the kind of wainscott that is about 4 inch strips would be expensive so something more like whats in your pictures makes more sense to me. the materials aren't so costly.

I was in lowes last weekend buying drywall and noticed they have 1/4" drywall but also they have sheets of two layers of 1/4" stuck together and that's to use as a sound barrier. I was concerned about bending the drywall to make the curves right near the bay windows and spoke to a carpentry instructor , he suggested using the 1/4" drywall as it bends easier. I have heard you can also get drywall wet and bend it then let it dry in place.

Im thinking maybe I could use three layers of the 1/4" stuff with some sort of soft glue between the sheets. You can see the insulation panels I have. some are 4" thick which is going to stick out of the framing.by 1/2" , its just stuff I got cheap because they were leftovers from someone elses job. i thought I might be able to just trim that flush with the studs with a handsaw... If I strap the studs then I'd have to put spacers in between the window framing and the casings. Im not sure I want that, but I think I could get away with 2 or maybe 3 layers of 1/4 inch drywall which would be that much better for sound.

I did see the original plaster ceiling. I didn't' see any signs that it had anything attached other than the non original crown molding. I used 2 1/4" screws and left the plaster. its good for sound insulation. I was going to leave all the tiles too but the track had to go. I wasn't sure I wanted to attach to that and the ceiling is dead flat so don't need it for strapping. we talked about the screws before and Mick pointed out that the fine screws are recomended for metal and the coarse ones for wood studs. Ours are of course not modern pine but petrified fir. I used some of each type but found I like the fine ones better. i really dont' see them pulling out of that hard old fir. the fine ones are a little easier to start and easier to control before they take the plunge through the face paper. I should have the gizmo to set them but I just use a little hammer drill and slow down and check the hieght of each screw and try to stop at the right spot. its a fine line between having "clickers" and driving them too far.

I'm thinking all this reno work was done about the 50s. maybe if I take a pic of the wallpaper they used that might help. also the 1 foot square ceiling panels and all the metal track that held them might be a clue. Not that it's important. It's just interesting to think when all this took place.. Im sure they could have insulated at that time but what they did probably made economic sense to them in that time period.
Last edited by phil on Wed Jul 06, 2016 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Mick_VT
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2437
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2015 2:39 am
Location: Central Vermont
Contact:

Re: Phil's living room

Post by Mick_VT »

Rather than fir panels you could go the plater infill look but just applying the fir sticks on top of the drywall, even easier :) Then paint the panels in a darker contrasting color to the top
Mick...

phil
Has many leather bound books
Posts: 4616
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Phil's living room

Post by phil »

I like that. Ive seen it done quite well in some restaraunts where they just applied 1/4" thich strips to mimic panels. but the strips aren't slotted like panels should be. It's just a fake application but could look pretty convincing if done nicely.

phil
Has many leather bound books
Posts: 4616
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Phil's living room

Post by phil »

wow that table in the pic is something else.. look at the size of the thing, then it has five giant legs and cross bracing near the floor. the chairs seem to be of a rare legless variety ;-) I bet that table still survives !

I'm not sure what to do about the walls. I guess I have to think it over while I do the rest. I did find what I think is a piece of the original fir wainscot. The edges are all broken off and it was just a scrap used as a shim for the baseboards. Its not painted It has no profile. maybe it was tongue and groove and the edges are broken off. It appears about the right length but even the end is broken off. It's extremely fine grained and vertical grain not flat grain. Id say about 3/16th thick. quite dark as if the sun was on it lots. maybe Ill find more in other walls.

when they did the reno, back in the 50's they took the baseboards off , pulled off the woodwork, flattened out the walls using drywall and did wallpaper and that runs to the floor behind the baseboards so it makes sense that they would have used a scrap of the trim they were pulling out as a shim.. I feel like a detective now ;-)

Im hoping I'll find more that might show the cross section better but from what I am seeing any profile was probably just in the way the tongue and groove part fit, it might have had a notch. It probably isn't even thick enough stuff to be T and G , maybe some sort of lap joint to hide issues from expansion and contraction. Im surprised how thin it is.
having this stuff right around the room would have made it quite dark, so the reno must have brightened things up a lot.

Im afraid replacing this stuff is just too expensive right now so I think Ill just flatten the walls out and I can keep my eyes open for a zillion feet of thin fine grained fir or maybe as you suggest, do some panel strips or something. fun.

Ober51
Forgotten more than most know
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 1:21 pm
Location: Bergen County, NJ
Contact:

Re: Phil's living room

Post by Ober51 »

Mick_VT wrote:Here you go Phil! Its a little early but this style persisted. In 1903 it was very modern.

IMG_5503 copy.jpg


Great picture. Our living room closely resembles this style - especially the plate rail. I'd like to add some grass cloth to a wall as well.

Here is a house we looked at but ultimately passed on (not due to style, this place is amazing): Craftsman Perfection
Attachments
Screen Shot 2016-07-10 at 10.04.16 AM.png
Screen Shot 2016-07-10 at 10.04.16 AM.png (2.47 MiB) Viewed 1048 times

phil
Has many leather bound books
Posts: 4616
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:11 pm
Location: Near Vancouver BC

Re: Phil's living room

Post by phil »

I got through removing the old drywall , at least from the outside walls. Im leaving the interior walls until I get the outer ones further along. but they will be much the same with a mix of lath, plaster and gyproc. Ill see how expensive dealing with the old material is. Part of me wants to keep going and remove all the old drywall and crap but I know it won't look much different if those walls get another layer. If I'm pulling those walls apart then I better do it during this reno. I won't want to make the living room look like this too soon in the future. Ill keep the dirty rugs until I can get over the mudding stages and then I can take the carets out and decide if Im going to sand the floor , or if the floor is ok, or maybe even keep the cork floor that is below the carpet.

I removed the old plaster from the outside walls. wow it comes off easy. Hit it a few times and the whole wall of plaster falls. I did a little video of it being rempoved but not sure if I can post videos or maybe it would just horrify everyone. ;-)

I just have a bit more lath to pull, then I can start insulating.. it's coming..

I took a couple pics of wallpaper samples. Nothing to write home about. can anyone wager a guess on the time of this lovely wallpaper ? that would date the previous reno.

luckily last time they did the reno they just wallpapered the drywall so they didn't use much filler and evedently if there is asbestos it's most likely to be in the filler, not the drywall itself. that might affect how expensive disposing of the drywall is. , Ill see.

the pictures are an inspiration. my plan is to clean it up first, any woodwork can be done as trim overtop of my drywall. I think Ill put about 1/2" spacers between the drywall and baseboard so if I go with some trim later It won't hide the baseboards. I dont' see any signs that the ceiling had anything applied but the walls sure did have something like in the photos. It would really improve the look quite a lot. I love the ceiling light in that last picture.

the dividing line beween the wooodwork and the clear plaster was half way up that window in the picture. this lines up with the meeting rails of the bay windows and even with the division of the panes on the front door, so I can see how that worked as far as the original proportions were meant to be.

sourcing enough wood to make panels will be a future challenge but for now I need to clean things up and try not to open more than I can handle.

Phil
Attachments
IMG_1924.JPG
IMG_1924.JPG (293.64 KiB) Viewed 1032 times
IMG_1921.JPG
IMG_1921.JPG (185.49 KiB) Viewed 1032 times
IMG_1903.JPG
IMG_1903.JPG (160.04 KiB) Viewed 1032 times

User avatar
Gothichome
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 4183
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:34 pm
Location: Chatham Ont

Re: Phil's living room

Post by Gothichome »

Phill, how about 1962. It's my understanding that's when this got on stalled in Gothichome.
Image
Not exactly the same, but pretty dam close.

Post Reply