Ever get so bored you rip your deck off?

"Tohru" (tohrurokuno) 10/30/2014 at 13:04 • Filed to: None

2

30

I did.

The deck on my house was built terribly and to no building code ever heard of on the planet. So it is to be removed and replaced with a patio.

I had cut off part of it already, and the massive (not to code) wheelchair ramp the previous owner had needed to be removed too.

In trying to find pictures of it, I realized I never took a complete decent picture of the deck. So, I'm doing the best I can.

Best photos I have of it complete:

Partial tear down (the big pile of wood next to the garage is from the deck):

(You can see on the house where it used to mount to. It went around the white triangular basement entrance, making it practically unusable.)

(You can see the chunk missing on lower left corner. That's where the toolbox was sitting in the picture above.)

(The part that was torn off. No, that's not me.)

Today:

I ripped out the old clothesline too. Fuck that thing.

McMike > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:10

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Yes

For Sweden > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:11

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You buy all these abused cars and then have the world's cleanest Dodge Ram 50.

You are an international man of mystery, Tohru

pauljones > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:12

7

I initially read that title very, very differently.

BoulderZ > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:13

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Good on you for making it right! Awfully satisfying fixing former owner "upgrades".

I did that with our bathroom. My wife had to work one Saturday. I said I'd fix the drippy faucet in the tub. She came home, I had the tub, sink, and toilet out. She said, "Um, remodel is kind of aggressive for faucet fixing." Me: "Take a look at the subfloor and other wood." Her (knowledgeable, carefully inspecting some rot/mold spots): "Well, shit. Thanks for catching it and getting it started." Me: "I started to work the faucet and saw the water damage. I decided the best approach was to fix it with the 10 pound sledge." Her: "That sounds about right." She's awesome. Bathroom came out great, still in great shape now 10 years on, and all the plumbing and wiring updated to/beyond code.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:13

1

MERCURY

Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:24

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This is the best method of deck removal.

Tohru > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig 10/30/2014 at 13:30

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I just wanted to take the lower ramp off. I didn't mean to take the landing too. But when it came loose, I went "Fuck it" and took it down too.

Jcarr > pauljones 10/30/2014 at 13:31

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Tohru > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 10/30/2014 at 13:31

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I snagged two of those at the same time I snagged the hubcaps for my Delta.

Tohru > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 13:32

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I've done some wiring work on the house. I'll admit it's probably not up to code but I know that it's not and wouldn't try to pass it off as being to code.

And in my defense all of the wiring in the house is not up to code. Most of it is 2-wire with no ground because it's so old.

Tohru > pauljones 10/30/2014 at 13:33

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"There's blood everywhere!"

Tohru > For Sweden 10/30/2014 at 13:38

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Indeed I am.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:39

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Nice!

Tohru > McMike 10/30/2014 at 13:39

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See, I'm not even replacing it. The patio door is getting removed and replace with a window.

McMike > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:51

1

Oh. Never mind.

In that case, here's something I removed but didnt' replace.

Tohru > McMike 10/30/2014 at 13:55

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Yeah, I'm putting a door in the kitchen with stairs out the back, and that'll be the back entrance to the house instead of the patio door.

It's going to go where the exhaust fan and stove are in this terrible picture:

This was like 8 months after I moved in, lol.

BoulderZ > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 13:58

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Funny, that's the same situation we got when we bought our house! 1950s, copper (yay!), but only two-wire, no ground. Worse, we had a 50-amp Federal Pacific Electric panel (google it for their ignominious history and demise). Replaced the panel and service with 200 amp, to code, and am going through the house slowly (because toddler) rewiring each room and circuit to code. Gives me a chance to add dedicated garage circuits including an 8 gauge 220 V circuit for a TIG rig. You wouldn't believe the crap I found from previous owners. Open air junctions. Grounded outlets installed on 2-conductor-no-ground-cable. GFCI outlets on ungrounded cable. Singed 220V outlet for the range, where they used the wire shielding of the cable as a shared neutral return (in theory would work, except modern ranges split off a 110V circuit for clocks and such, so the neutral return does carry a current). Eh, comes with the territory in old houses, right?

The plumbing was worse, but it was to code, for 1956. inverted drum traps, lead collars, no shut-offs, long wet shared vents, etc.

Pixel > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 14:03

1

I had a bathroom remodel happen much the same way. I was replacing a cracked & leaky pedestal sink, and 3 hours later the bathroom looked like this:

Pulled up five different prior floors(sheet linoleum, painted luan plywood!, peel & stick linoleum, and asbestos flooring tile) fixed a rot hole over by the head of the tub and put down new subfloor & flooring.

Came out pretty decent for a "quick" remodel.

Tohru > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 14:10

1

My house has a 16-breaker 100amp service with 20 breakers jammed in it (those goofy double breakers in a single location). The whole house is wired badly - all the outlets are grounded style but most of the wiring isn't.

One 15amp circuit breaker controls the following:
- Ceiling lights in Dogapult's room, living room, and bathroom
- All outlets in Dogapult's room (3), living room (4) and bathroom (1)
- Main ceiling light in kitchen
- Two outlets in kitchen

I honestly should tear the place down and put a modular home in place of it, but I don't have the cheddar for that.

BoulderZ > Pixel 10/30/2014 at 14:10

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Nice work! Yeah, rooms with plumbing turn in to "peeling back the onion layers", don't they? Just never know what you'll find, but it's never good. 5 layers! Beats my record here, at 3. Ugh, asbestos glue-down tiles. I had to remove them from the add-on room, which was done to code at least (in about 1980, I'd guess). It was slab-on-grade, so I had to use a garden spade to edge them off the concrete. Replaced it with with electric heated flooring and floating laminate. Took a month of regular trash service getting rid of debris a bag or two at a time.

BoulderZ > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 14:16

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Ugh, the slimline double-ups. Legal, but band-aid for sure, like StopLeak for electrical. One good thing now, with the advent of much lower current draw LED bulbs, is the older one-circuit-for-all-the-lights system is okay (if it's grounded, anyway). All those outlets, though. Sheesh. I can see how tear-down starts to look preferable, though quite $$$. I like to think of it as frugality, but cheapness keeps our family of 3 in our pleasant 1200 sq ft place, among other factors (location, etc.).

Pixel > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 14:27

1

Well the house was built prior to 1895, so It has had a few more year to rack up the prior repairs. I'm dreading when I pull up the kitchen flooring as it is about 1.25" higher than the next room. I did recently pull out a built-in bench there and discover the original oak hardwood floor is still there under all the layers, so I'm hoping I can salvage that like I did in the living room.

BoulderZ > Pixel 10/30/2014 at 14:35

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That's gorgeous! It would be a metric crap-ton of work, but well worth the effort if you can do it. We had to do a lot to eliminate some 80s carpet "upgrades", but were able to refinish and restore the 50s narrow-plank oak flooring in our place. Every room except the kitchen and baths had it. Even a few quarter sawn planks.

Pixel > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 14:57

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Yeah, it's going to be a hell of a project, but should be worth it in the end. I'm hoping to gut & redo the whole kitchen next year, but that will depend on how much stuff breaks over the winter and depletes the "house fund". The surprise chimney rebuild this spring did some serious damage to that fund.

We were able to salvage the hardwood in the rest of the first floor, despite it having water damage , pet urine damage , bad prior refinishing, gouging from the prior job using the wrong kind of sander, nail damage, rust damage, etc. thanks to the prior owners. It isn't perfect, but now it looks decent and has some character as opposed to being something you'd be afraid to walk across without a hazmat suit.

The whole house is a major project from one end to the other, but I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Its hard to believe we've had the place for just over two years, as it seems like it's been our home forever.

BoulderZ > Pixel 10/30/2014 at 16:35

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Beautiful work, and a blow struck for the forces of good in getting a great old place up to standards, too! I agree on old vs. new. I'll take an older home and the projects over a new construction McMansion any day of the week. I know those are often exactly what people want, and good for them, but they're really not my thing. Wish I could get something a little more 1900-1930 or so, but the housing stock here doesn't have much of that at all. Will you have to reglaze the windows for efficiency and keeping the original frames, outright replacement with style/period correct, or are they okay?

Pixel > BoulderZ 10/30/2014 at 17:01

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I'm waiting for parts to build myself an infrared paint stripper to arrive,. Then I'll be tackling the worst of the windows. At a minimum the whole house will need the windows to be stripped, cracked panes replaced, reglazed, painted and re-weatherstripped, that with some new storm windows will hopefully take care of it. I have a few I'm not sure I can save, but I will worry about that as it comes up. Anything unsalvagable I will have new parts built for and restore. There is a guy one state over that can re-make any old door/window from scratch if you can bring him enough pieces of the old one to take measurements from. Not cheap, but not terrible if it is only a few sashes.

jkm7680 > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 18:18

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I might have misread that as dick instead of deck.

Tohru > jkm7680 10/30/2014 at 18:22

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jkm7680 > Tohru 10/30/2014 at 18:23

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No, but I've never gotten so bored that I ripped my dick off.

Tohru > jkm7680 10/30/2014 at 18:36

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Great! That's something we both have in common!