HOUSE RENOVATION | Sweeping the attic & Pulling up planking
Several weeks ago, we went into the attic to clear out a bunch of junk (and by "bunch of junk" I mean not that much junk comparatively thanks to my mother-in-law, who legitimately cleaned out heaps of things years ago when she lived here). Still, there was some "stuff" up there that had to be removed so we could begin the task of thoroughly cleaning. The end goal was to clear the space entirely (spoiler alert: DONE) so we could sweep, vacuum, and pull the old tongue-and-groove flooring to perhaps salvage it for use elsewhere in the house. Where might that place be? We have no idea but it's hard to pass up old late 1800s wood planking, am I right? (Yes. The answer is YES).
You can read about our first day working in the attic here.
Fun fact: If you click that link and read about our first attic adventure, you might remember the pesky squirrel I talked about, who ran up and down in our walls. We could hear him day and (mostly) night, which I never understood because squirrels are diurnal (I looked it up), meaning they are most active during daytime hours. Anyhow, Rob went to the attic yesterday to get started while I was finishing up some things downstairs and well, well, well...NOW WHAT, SQUIRREL?!?
So, back in the attic, we had a few items that needed to be tossed. There were several what I'm sure were old, antique, probably-worth-millions twin-sized bed frames but after literally fifty years of being housed in unstable temperatures with who knows how many critters crawling all over them, they were in terrible condition. Not to mention they were covered in chipped, cracked lead paint. Were they interesting? Yes. Should we investigate their potential before scrapping them? Probably. Will we? I DON'T KNOW.
The rest of the items were old window frames from openings that have since been covered over and an old wooden (you guessed it!) bed frame that was also in poor condition. There were some old bricks, a broken mirror, and a second mirror that looked like it was connected to a bureau at one time. We also removed all of that.
The bulk of our work involved sweeping large piles of debris with push brooms, after which we used a shop vac to vacuum years and years of dust. We had to be really careful with the vacuum nozzle not to gouge the wood in some spots. At that point, we started to see the color of the wood underneath the dirt and grime and I started getting really excited.
We wanted to get the floors cleaned as well as we could so Rob could begin pulling them up. Like I mentioned before, they're old tongue-and-groove plank floors. This house was built sometime between 1885-1895, which is right around the time that type of flooring became readily available to home builders since it was able to be machine-produced as opposed to handcrafted. Again, we have no idea what type of wood was used yet. Maybe when Rob planes and sands it, that will become more obvious?
Rob began pulling up planks at the edge of the attic over our bedroom. There was insulation already over the room that he bought and installed as a teenager because his bedroom was so cold. He ended up pulling all that insulation out because it was trashed from a minor roof leak and years of squirrels nesting in it. As a result, there's lots of junk that needs cleaned out between the ceiling joists before he lays down new insulation, and that's where we stand right now.
It feels so good to get started on something we've talked about doing for more than a year and we both agree the attic feels better with all the yuck (for the most part) gone. Next up: pulling more flooring and adding insulation over all three bedrooms and the bathroom.
You can read about our first day working in the attic here.
Fun fact: If you click that link and read about our first attic adventure, you might remember the pesky squirrel I talked about, who ran up and down in our walls. We could hear him day and (mostly) night, which I never understood because squirrels are diurnal (I looked it up), meaning they are most active during daytime hours. Anyhow, Rob went to the attic yesterday to get started while I was finishing up some things downstairs and well, well, well...NOW WHAT, SQUIRREL?!?
 |
| Us: 1 Squirrel: 0 |
So, back in the attic, we had a few items that needed to be tossed. There were several what I'm sure were old, antique, probably-worth-millions twin-sized bed frames but after literally fifty years of being housed in unstable temperatures with who knows how many critters crawling all over them, they were in terrible condition. Not to mention they were covered in chipped, cracked lead paint. Were they interesting? Yes. Should we investigate their potential before scrapping them? Probably. Will we? I DON'T KNOW.
The rest of the items were old window frames from openings that have since been covered over and an old wooden (you guessed it!) bed frame that was also in poor condition. There were some old bricks, a broken mirror, and a second mirror that looked like it was connected to a bureau at one time. We also removed all of that.
The bulk of our work involved sweeping large piles of debris with push brooms, after which we used a shop vac to vacuum years and years of dust. We had to be really careful with the vacuum nozzle not to gouge the wood in some spots. At that point, we started to see the color of the wood underneath the dirt and grime and I started getting really excited.
We wanted to get the floors cleaned as well as we could so Rob could begin pulling them up. Like I mentioned before, they're old tongue-and-groove plank floors. This house was built sometime between 1885-1895, which is right around the time that type of flooring became readily available to home builders since it was able to be machine-produced as opposed to handcrafted. Again, we have no idea what type of wood was used yet. Maybe when Rob planes and sands it, that will become more obvious?
 |
| Starting to see the color under the dirt |
Rob began pulling up planks at the edge of the attic over our bedroom. There was insulation already over the room that he bought and installed as a teenager because his bedroom was so cold. He ended up pulling all that insulation out because it was trashed from a minor roof leak and years of squirrels nesting in it. As a result, there's lots of junk that needs cleaned out between the ceiling joists before he lays down new insulation, and that's where we stand right now.
 |
| See all that junk between the joists? |
It feels so good to get started on something we've talked about doing for more than a year and we both agree the attic feels better with all the yuck (for the most part) gone. Next up: pulling more flooring and adding insulation over all three bedrooms and the bathroom.
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