Sawdust Girl®

Renovation, cabinet building and woodworking plans and tutorials. Build like a Girl®

Attack of the Termites – Demo Days part 3

All Posts, Calderwood Cottage

Continuing our demo at Calderwood Cottage!  After tearing down the ceiling and clearing out all the insulation, we spent hours pulling up tack strips and nails and staples and washer headed tacks that they had used to nail down 5 layers of linoleum.Demo Days at Calderwood Cottage

We pulled up layer after layer after layer of nailed, stapled and tacked down linoleum.Demo Days at Calderwood Cottage

When we first pulled back the carpet, and pulled up a few layers of linoleum, we were excited to find hardwood floors.  However, as we removed more and more linoleum, we just kept finding more and more damage. Plumbing failures, dry rot, termites…this house has seen it’s share of problems.  And it seems like every time there was a problem, it was just covered up with another layer of linoleum.Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

The hardwood floor had previously been removed in the kitchen and replaced with 1/4″ plywood and then 3 layers of linoleum.  The whole kitchen floor was in terrible shape.  It bounced when you walked on it and felt like it would cave in.  Someone had obviously attempted a repair to some kind of problem.  We figured there were some issues to the “structure” below but the crawl space becomes non existent in this area.  We had to remove some of the subfloor to see what we were dealing with.Demo Days at Calderwood Cottage

We discovered floor joists that were almost complete eaten away by termites.  Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

We pulled out more subfloor which revealed more damage…Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

termite damage to floor joists

We pulled out ALL of the kitchen subfloor and determined that we needed to replace the floor joists.  Which meant we’d have to remove all the hardwood and subfloor in the adjoining bedroom and the wall that was sitting on those joists.Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

Literally every time we looked at anything, we found more damage.  We were working to hard to stay down for long but there were a few times that we had moments of feeling defeated.

After taking down that wall and pulling up more hardwood, we discovered some gems of true remodeling craftsmanship.
Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!
Holes in the subfloor had literally been patched covered up with scraps of wall paneling — which is like 1/8″ thick.Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!
There was a patch over in the corner of the bedroom that was more difficult to pull up.  That patch was actually 3/4″ plywood and secured with 500 nails and screws.  The patch covered up a “repair” to some termite eaten framing. Also, the old subfloor was cut off inches away from the joist so it wasn’t actually sitting on anything.  Explaining why it felt like you were going to fall through the floor when you walked in that area.Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!
The termite damage really goes deep!  The girder was a true 6×6 with a true 2×6 sitting on top of it.  We’re not sure if the 2×6 was always there or if it was put in at some point as a “repair”.  We could tell the 6×6 was in bad shape but couldn’t tell the extent of it until we cut and removed the 2×6 that was sitting on top of it.  It was BAD.  Those termites really feasted.
termite damage
Then water leaks caused dry rot in the bathroom and kitchen.  SO, those hardwood floors we were happy to see?  Pointless excitement since we had to tear it all out.  Pointless.Calderwood Cottage Demo Days!

These were a couple very – hard – demo days!  I was so tired after that hard work I could barely drive us home.

Read next post, Part 4 or catch up on Calderwood Cottage Demo Days: part 1, part 2

·

Comments

  3. So a lot of the joists were just resting on soil? Termites love that situation, right? Will you be able to address it? Must have been so awful to realize you had to take out all that original flooring. Our old floor has some termite damage in just a few places on the surface. (Not underneath, thankfully.) We refinished right over it. Adds character. 😉 Also collects dirt, lol. Can’t wait for the next installment!

    • Yea it’s not surprising that the termites ate everything up — after we pulled up the entire floor. Yeah us. LOL

  4. Well look at the bright side. Later on it will be easier to update the plumping. Before you lay down the floor board.

  7. You girls are adorable! I am rounding the corner on a remodel and you are bringing post traumatic thoughts to me… in a good way. I can so relate to the labor intensive, grueling, crazy making, exhausting, aspects of a gut job in an old house. Every time I take on a new labor intensive project, I say, “never again”. But once everything finally comes together, it feels amazing and I forget about all of the hardships I endured along the way.

    • It’s been just long enough that we’re starting to get excited to go in with another month of labor. Have to take it in batches on this house.

Legal Stuff

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Disclosure

Recent Posts

Disclaimer:

Although it is my intention to provide accurate plans and clear instructions, not all plans have been tried and tested. Using plans or information found on SawdustGirl.com indicates that you agree with the Terms of Use policy and will accept full responsibility for the process and outcome of any project you attempt. All plans are for private use only. Plans and information published on SawdustGirl.com may not be reproduced, republished or distributed in any manner without written permission from Sandra Powell, Sawdust Girl. Actual projects built using Sawdust Girl plans may be published on your own site without instructions or "tutorial" as long as you provide a link to my original post with full post title or "SawdustGirl.com" as link title.