Howdy All,
As I mentioned in another thread (the underground oil tank thing), we just
bought a property that needs an obscene amount of work (which explains why
we got it so cheap) and I'll be spending the next year rehabbing it. The
main house is ~2300sq-ft and was built in 1825 (and was the original
schoolhouse for the area). There's also a cottage on the property that's
roughly 800sq-ft that was built in the I
A couple questions:
1. Seeing as I have the main house, the cottage and a couple rooms in our
current house (which we're keeping) to paint, any thoughts on HVLP sprayers?
Do they live up to the hype? I was less than impressed with the Wagner
sprayers I have (no idea how I got two of them...), but only because I could
never get more than 10 minutes of spraying out of it without it jizzing on
the wall. I liked the texture it left (minus the jizz) and how quick it
went (if you discount time fixing the jizz), so am curious if I'll be happy
with the HVLP systems.
2. Long story short, I'm still not sure if the cottage should be renovated
or burned to the ground. The owner's son, his wife and their 20-something
kid (and a 100+ pound rottie) were living in it the past couple years and
good lord, shanties I saw in a South African slum were kept cleaner.
Literally the only clear space to walk in it were the foot wide paths down
the center of the room and judging from the measureably thick layer of mouse
turds on every horizontal surface it's clear that cleanliness was not high
on their priority list. Hell, just today I finally got around to poking at
the kitchen in there and found a pile of mouse turds literally 3" x 5" x 2"
high in the corner. You can seriously _smell_ the house 40 feet away. Ugh.
Anyway, point being the place is a mess and needs to be gutted. I've
already taken down the paneling and ceiling tiles, and will start in on the
wall insulation tomorrow. I'll also be pulling up the floors due to water
damage (and to get a look at the condition of the joists, which are
otherwise inaccessable). Question is, should I pull the ceiling that was
covered by the tiles? Most of it is still the 1920's plaster and lath, but
some is 1960's drywall (judging by the nails). Given the amount of mouse
turds elsewhere I'm afraid if I don't pull it (and the insulation above)
I'll never get rid of the smell. But dear lord, that's going to be an
unpleasant task and cleanup. Thoughts?
3. Last question is regarding pulling the floors... The cottage currently
has a gas fired hot water system that seems to work fine. Problem is the
piping/radiators are going to make pulling the floors problematic,
especially since we'll be moving a wall or two. I'm thinking if I cut them
out to make the rehab easier I may as well ditch the hot water system
altogether and put in a small central air system (we're in souteast PA, so
we do get 'winter', but not unreasonably so). Thoughts on this?
Oh, as for shop content the property has a 30' x 40' garage/workshop that's
in need of a lot of work once I get the other two buildings fixed. Very
much looking forward to moving my shop in there....
-aric.
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