Remodeling is like a box of chocolates.....

[fishhead]

you never know what you are going to get when you take it apart.

I stripped a the outside walls on my bedroom to insulate and replace the sheetrock. What I found was hard to explain.

One wall had some strange partial studs. The only thing I can think of is that he needed a stud there to nail the siding too but I can't figure out how he was able to nail into them from the outside.



This wall looks like it used to be a wall with a sloping roof. Picture showing strange angle cut on studs with blocking. The short pieces of stud were just kind of balanced on top of the lower part of the stud. They weren't cut square so only touched a tiny bit.



Studs just kind of balancing on top of stud. You can see where the foam is between the 2 parts of the stud. That shows how little they touched.



Here's a finished wall with new insulation and a T-brace in place.



Nothing in the wall was straight in any direction and nothing was 'on-center' so every piece had to be custom cut.

The insulation in the cavities varied from compressed Balsam Wool to wood shavings to vermiculite (and asbestos) to nothing.

[Pelenaka]

So what u are saying is that u didn't find any rare coins, lost land deeds, genealogical paper work proving u are a Rockerfella ?
Me neither - we did find that 3 out of 5 electrical outlets were wired incorrectly in the room we just finished gutting. Thankfully God was looking out for us.

[Trixie]

Having lived in and worked on 4 old houses for about 40 years of our marriage, one thing I have learned - for sure.

"Never tear out something unless you are prepared to deal with the worst possible scenario'.

Even though I do know that, I still got excited and tore out all that old 70's wood paneling (which could have been painted) in an upstairs hall and found each of the 4 walls with different types, size and configuration of wood - and one huge hole that was once a flue for a wood stove, I'm assuming.

The first wall I exposed, had lovely, vintage beaded board and I was just sure the entire hall did -

[||Downhome||]

yup "nailers" as long as he knew the rough measurement he should of been able to locate them they had stud finders for at least the last 20 years and a trained ear will know the thud of a board vs hollow wall.

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by ||Downhome||

yup "nailers" as long as he knew the rough measurement he should of been able to locate them they had stud finders for at least the last 20 years and a trained ear will know the thud of a board vs hollow wall.

Yes but without the short "stud" being fastened to the top plate there wouldn't be anything to hold it while the nail was being driven into it. Those short little stubs sitting on top of the too short studs on the other wall would be the same way.

Either someone was on the inside pushing on them while the other guy nailed the siding on from the outside or they built them face down and then stood them up but that doesn't seem likely either. I guess the guy could have reached through the wall and held it with one hand as he nailed it with the other but that wouldn't work for those little stubs sitting on top of the short studs.

There is a mysterious rectangle on one of the floors..... I'm sure my retirement is buried there.

[||Downhome||]

they could of been for the interior, though usually sheathing or even sheetrock falls in the middle of the last nailer and the next sheet continues from there.

but I suppose a helper could of held it in place or a screw?

[salmonslayer]

I think your builder built my house. I found old exterior window frames with the double hung weighted sash inside one wall of my living room that I figure was the old exterior wall but it doesnt match the original roof line so we are trying to find some old pictures of the homestead. We did though find two pristine glass milk bottles inside one wall from when the place was a dairy back in the 1940s and we cant figure out why they were there or how they got there..I mean they were just sitting on a rim sill inside on an outside wall and it looked like they were walled up because someone was too lazy to remove them.

[Roadking]

Been there, done that, created the t-shirt. First one was an 1817..found 3 recessed safes (all empty-DANG), and a fireplace that was walled up in a closet...all lathe and plaster; got the sheetrock treatment. Real 2x4s and 2x6s...loved it.
This current (and last one) 1860 is a nightmare. Not from the original construct (can't slip a pirce of paper into, let alone thru a joint), but from the ding a lings who had it prior...more expandable foam, particle board patches and carpet literally stapled into the hardwood floors...AAAARRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!Redneck solutions are one thing, but these folks need a beating for what they did (and did to the house they own across the street; 1857, plumbing exposed on the exterior that freezes up constantly, they rent it out...of the 5 bathroom for two units, only one is fully functional, never mow the grass, etc.)
We love a challenge, and this one fits the bill. Already replaced two different sub floors that had rotted out due to no circulation.
Chin up. Each step is a step forward.
Matt
PS, Also have found 3 doorways walled in crudely and then 70s paneling over them...shudder...all exposed, preparing to reinstate them as built in curio cabinets.

[glenn amolenaar]

I wish I had found just some poorly fastened studs, on the last remodel I pulled the paneling off and found old cardboard boxes stuffed in walls not to bad but stunk, as I reached to pull junk out of wall I got a big snake and his mate sure made me move fast.
Glenn

[Horse Fork Farm]

RE: the rectangle on the floor... is it where an old floor furnace used to be?

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by Heartstrings

RE: the rectangle on the floor... is it where an old floor furnace used to be?

I don't think so because of it's location to the chimney.

I found cardboard and newspaper in some of the cavities too.

[fordson major]

just a guess but at some time the room was that short and the roof came into the short studs!! then they went full height with the new stud and left the old ones holding the outside sheathing!

[Macybaby]

I know what you mean!




You find walls behind walls



With even more walls behind that (and every one rotted out at the bottom)



And floors under floors - house is sagging? just build up the floor! This was after we removed carpet, linoleum and a layer of pine flooring.



One of our house's specialties - roofs over roofs



And of course, the layers of roofing over roofing over shakes over who knows what -house came with a brown roof on top (which promptly started blowing off).



Surprises under the flooring



And worse under the subfloor


And don't forget the fun with the electrical

You find hot electrical wires drilled through - the TV antenna fed through this hole. Not that we expected to even find wires like this running on the outside of the house under the siding! Explained why the second 220 heater in the room didn't work.



We also found a screw driven in to the back of the main panel that was mounted on an inside wall. 1/4" more and it would have hit the main buss bar. The main ground wire going through a hole in the wall, but was cut off on the outside at some point and sided over. BTW - the grounding rods with the other end of the wire were still in place. It looked like the house was grounded until you removed the siding and found 6' of wire missing.

There is one thing we kept expecting to find, but in gutting the entire house we never did . . . A correctly installed header! Actually we felt lucky when we found studs that made it all the way to the ceiling. Windows and Doors had been moved around so many times in 100 years -most walls had no solid studs in them, and when they moved something, they didn't want to take enough of the wall down to actually put a header in place.

[texican]

Wall coverings/sheathing are a carpenters best friend, you can cover up all sorts of boo boos with it.

Only thing I've ever found is a bag of childrens marbles a small metal airplane, and some stamps. I've 'donated' a hammer, chisel, and other small tools by accident... coins go into every project, so the work can be dated by future archaeologists.

[fishhead]

macybaby,

Are you near a railroad?

This house like lots of other older homes has boxcar siding for the outside. Mine even had boxcar siding under the sheetrock ceiling. There's a rail yard in the next town and locals scavenged materials from the burn pile. I have the charred siding to prove it.

Another thing that older homes in this area have in common is vermiculite (and asbestos) insulation. My attic has it and there was some in a couple of wall cavities. The only reasonable solution is to seal it off from the living space.

I am so looking forward to building a house from scratch. I'm going to take as much time as I need to get it started square, plumb and level.

[oregon woodsmok]

I try not to open walls. It's better not to know.