Did you notice the cement stairs going down on the left side? Well that house had been built in 1898 and those stairs were to their "storm cellar". The bathroom was an addition over top. Some of the floor joists were laid right in the dirt and propped in place with pieces of broken cement and bits of 2 x 4. Because they layed in dirt, they had gathered moisture for years and some were rotted through about half way. OF COURSE WE DIDN't know that when we started the project. It started that I thought Pete could fix the plumbing to get the water running in the sink and shower and maybe put in a new floor. But everywhere we turned we ran into more work and problems. My original quote to pastor when I asked if the church wanted to get in on it was $600. So don't have me quote for your business. You'll go broke in a hurry. It ended up being around $1500, just for the materials. Luckily, we had some stuff here and of course Pete has all the tools. I worked right along with him, even though I'm not a builder. But somehow, I found stuff to do. I took the 7 year old outside and we walked around the yard picking up stuff. We hauled 4 loads of trash, including the throwaway from the build, to the dump. They are so poor, that when they needed to throw out a broken chair, they'd put it in the basement because in the city here, they have to purchase tags to have the haulers pick up a bag. And if you don't have a hitch or a trailer, you can't haul to the dump even if you could afford it.
Did you see my filthy hands? That wasn't dirt. It was Great Stuff. On one of the pictures you can see light coming through the bottom base plate where it has rotted away. Outside there is a cement slab so when it rains, it slants towards the house and just lays there. SO first I plugged the cement block foundation with mortar, with my hands, and once they were a mess, I figured I might as well get plugging with GS and then followed with insulation.
Oh and the pictures of me in my "work pants"-----Those jeans were left at one of our rentals about 5 years ago. When they wore through and the seat split out, I patched them. Now they are wearing out above the patch and I guess I'll just have to toss them.
It was such a joy to hear 7 year old Keagan say, "Wow, that tub is huge." I said, "You'll be able to lie down in it." He just looked at me with these big eyes. Then 10 year old Maddie said, "Wow, Pete is putting in a door. Will it have a knob?" You see, the old door didn't have a knob. They had put a screen door hook on it mounted way high so the little kids couldn't lock themselves in. The light didn't even have a switch. you had to turn the bulb with your hand. The only thing that worked in there was the toilet and it was not up to code as it was crammed in a space way to small.
Yes, it was a lot of work but I loved doing it.
