1880s Semi Renovation Progress

[vaughan]

Hello folks

A quick set of before-during-after photos of a current renovation I'm doing on a 1880s semi-detached. This is one of the rooms which we've just finished.

This was the one with the LEAST amount of work to do.

The fireplace and mantle were found on Gumtree. The cast iron has been cleaned and polished, not painted black, and the mantle was stripped and shellacked. While not original, they are reasonably "period appropriate".

Timber floor is probably kauri. Over 130 years old, never been sanded before. Boards are almost an inch thick!

This was an open living room that has been walled-off to make a bedroom and hallway.

Hog Bristle Half Strength FTW!

Hope you enjoy. More will come as they get finished.

 

[TMNT]

looks awesome!
how much did the fireplace bit cost you?

DIY for floorboards>?

 

[Andrew_A]

Wonderful, love the boards! Is the floor level, the skirting board at the back gives the impression of a slope in the picture.

 

[tess85]

The floors look really nice now, compared to the before pictures!

Looks like a lot of work but the effort is really paying off!

 

[depreciator]

Those floors are a great find.
Good idea to start on the room that needs the least done to it.

 

[WattleIdo]

Looks amazing!

 

[vaughan]

Thanks for your comments.

looks awesome!
how much did the fireplace bit cost you?

DIY for floorboards>?

Fireplace and mantle were cheap but required a LOT of driving around Sydney to find. Also a lot of time and effort has gone into getting it looking that good.

Yes, did the floor myself. Hired the machines from Kennards. Done it before, so did a reasonably good job. Boards were cupped so needed a lot of hand sanding in the centres.

Wonderful, love the boards! Is the floor level, the skirting board at the back gives the impression of a slope in the picture.

No the floor sags a bit towards the chimney. The whole house is built with no piers, a fully suspended floor in each room, and each room has a sub-floor wall around it (to support the huge beams) so there is no way to cut a hole in one room and crawl around to another. So we decided to leave the slope as-is because cutting the kauri gets expensive ($28 a linear metre!).

Those floors are a great find.
Good idea to start on the room that needs the least done to it.

Oh, we started on the worst room first. But this room was the first to finish. The worst room is having sub-floor work done to it atm.

 

[WattleIdo]

Hi vaughan,
and others who have done sub-floor work.

Can you let me/us know how that work is going in your old place? Do you have any issues with rising damp etc?

Any more pictures and info to post?

Am interested in a very old building too and a lot of work needs to be done to the floor and under.

Wattle