I had some difficulty getting help to work on the sills in the ell. Originally Gary, a local carpenter, was going to help out part-time along with his partner Mike. After I prepped the site (tore out the kitchen floor and the big 3x8 joists that held it together), Gary had second thoughts about his availability and referred me to another local contractor, "Bucky," who came out, assessed the situation, told me he could probably fit it in the schedule for February and promised to call. A week later "Bucky" called to say he was really too busy and wanted to downsize his operation and referred me to "Bud." Well, I was starting to worry. How many referrals was I going to get before someone would do the work, and with each referral was I dropping in quality? I was also worried that Bud was going to refer me to "Stinky."

My worry was for naught. Bud got busy and within a week's time he and his helper Frank had all the ell sills replaced as planned with two courses of 2x8 pressure treated and then another 2x8 course of spruce to hang the new floor on. They also repaired a large beam along the wall that separates the main house from the ell. This beam was an 8x10 timber that suffered dry rot resulting from what I think was a longstanding plumbing leak.

The photo to the right shows the new beam supported by a column of concrete blocks. Bud created the beam out of a combination of 2x8 pressure treated and 3x8 hemlock timbers recycled from the old kitchen floor joists. The view is from the main house cellar looking into the crawl space under the ell. In the foreground is a half-round timber floor joist and exit plumbing for the downstairs bathroom.

Building a new floor in the ell brought up the question: Make it level? You might think that's a no brainer but with the structure sloping to the west at a rate of about 1" every six feet, there's the question of everything looking a little crooked in comparison to the level floor. (Although we were able to jack the west side up a little closer to level than what it was when replacing the sills, we were afraid to go any further for fear of the separating the ell from where it's tied into the main house.)

I had hoped to build the ell floor up even with the living room floor but considering the slope, this would have meant cutting about 4 inches of ceiling height at the west wall. The options were, (1) build the floor even with the living room and follow the slope to the west. Keep the ceiling height the same all around, then make the correction for level cabinets and counters in the kick board at the base of the cabinets, or (2) build the floor to level with a small step down from the living room, lose a little ceiling height along the west wall and risk the ceiling and windows looking a little crooked from the floor.

I decided to have him build the floor level. The small step down from the living room may end up preserving some of the old house charm and the ceiling height will still be 7'-9" at the lowest point. The windows themselves are pretty level so any crookedness should be imperceptible (let's hope). Most important is that everything placed on that floor such as cabinets and furniture will be on level footing. Because of the change in floor height, we'll also have to replace two doors that enter the ell on the west side. These were going to be upgraded anyway and moving the frame up a few inches is not a problem. Placing door frames on a level floor will also be better than trying to compensate for a slope.

Here again is a picture of the bathroom that was going to remain untouched. I don't intend to demolish it any further, though that Wal-Mart light fixture has got to go.

The design of this room is still on the drawing board with a lot of erasure marks. How can I maximize this little space so that it can serve as a full bath and laundry room? The space is proving to be just too small to include a standard washer and dryer and a shower stall, no matter how many times I've re-drawn it and no matter how many minds have contributed. I'm leaning towards getting a new, smaller, washer/dryer to make it all work.

In the picture you can see the new framing that forms the wall between the ell and the main house. A new wall just behind the toilet and in front of the chimney will separate the bath from the living room.

The next big thing is having Foam-Tech (an outfit located across the river in North Thetford, VT.) spray urethane foam insulation onto the roof lines and around the perimeter foundation. We'll wait before tacking down the new sub floor in the ell so that they have easy access. This kind of foam insulation, though incredibly expensive, should be the perfect answer to a leaky old house.

In the master bedroom upstairs I had Bud install new collar ties/ceiling joists 9' above the floor to give more ceiling height to that room. I'm trying to put off as much upstairs work as possible but some work needed to be done before the foam insulation is installed.

The cellar needed to be cleaned up for the foaming too. The foundation walls are going to be sprayed to help seal out drafts.

This picture shows the old well and pump, long retired. The old well was used up until about 10 years ago when some excavation work in the lot next door broke into the aquifer and caused all the water to run out into a nearby stream. From then on the house has been getting water from a drilled well. The blue PVC pipe running into the wall brings water in to the house now.

Here's another shot of the cellar looking south. The construction paper is covering an opening to the outside. It's not a full door but served as some sort of access. (Coal chute maybe?) This summer I'll try to frame it out so I can maintain the access but close it off good in the winter.

The leaning column in the foreground is just that, a leaning column. Some prior excavation caused a collapse in a wood retaining wall and the dislodging of this structural member. Nevertheless, the house stands. Cleaning up this little problem will be tricky.

© 2006 James Graham

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