olivigus's profile

I bought my house in December 2002. I believe the original structure was built in the 1930s. But it's been added on to through the years and some previous owner decided to "modernize" in the late 60s. My mission: to put back as much vintage charm as I can! Doesn't help that my home's past remodelers often just cobbled things together. I've learned that I have to budget many extra hours for any project to correct the "funkiness" and often slipshod workmanship. This is me standing by the attic stairs we installed in the bedroom. Couldn't figure out why the saw was jumping so much when we cut the hole. Turned out that the ceiling was about 4 inches thick--the original shiplap redwood boards had been covered with a layer of thin drywall, then with thick lathing strips and then with another layer of modern 5/8-inch drywall. But now the stairs are in! My proudest home improvement moment to date: installing all the electrical wiring in the attic. Added outlets, overhead lights and lights in the crawl space on a 3-way switch.

Recent Comments

On: Appreciate the reply
"Thanks. That's good to know. :-) ..."

On: You can do it. Just check out what you've actually got.
"I absolutely agree that you can change the fixture, switches and outlets yourself! But one thing I would suggest is making sure that all the wiring actually HAS been updated. My house dates from the 1..."

On: You go, girls!
"Here's my best (worst) "little lady" story. I needed some copper pipe, which I was told was in the very back corner of the lumber yard. So I drive over there, park, get out of the truck, and immediat..."

Recent Posts

Leveling a floor--any advice?
"Hey Janes-- I want to put a hardwood floor in the bedroom (and recently scored a whole bunch of vintage oak top-nail flooring at a great price!) Thing is that our house, like many older houses, slopes. The outer wall edge of the bedroom is noticably lower than the inner wall. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with/advice on leveling a floor b..."