About a week ago, we started work on salvaging the second house in Jacksonville, once known as the college dormitory, Pecan Cottage.
I wanted to bring you up to date on what we’ve accomplished so far.
Due to the structural problems we found with the first house, we decided to remove several layers of shingles (5 layers, I think) from the roof first, down to the first, original layer of cedar shake shingles.
Why these two old houses had so many layers of roofing is beyond me! It’s definitely not advisable to have that much weight on your roof!
Inside the house, the guys removed all of the dirty carpeting, uncovering old pine floors in excellent condition.
Next, the guys started removing the paneling from the walls and ceilings.
The guys also removed all interior doors, including a pair of pocket doors with their incredible hardware.
What a score!
Underneath the paneling and old cheesecloth wallpaper, we found gorgeous 6″ shiplap boards . . .
. . . and in one room, we discovered beadboard on the walls and ceiling.
Next up we demo’d all of the kitchen finishes, cabinetry and all.
And to our surprise, we discovered more lovely antique beadboard in the kitchen, this time in green. We also discovered that it went above a dropped ceiling. This told us that the original ceiling heights were 14 feet.
At the beginning of this week, we salvaged this old corner cupboard, which I think is just so cute! We were not able to take it out in one piece — because old built-ins were typically built in place — but we did take it apart piece by piece so that it can be easily reassembled one day, maybe in a home we build for resale.
As we’ve de-nailed all the boards, we’ve discovered that the house was built around the turn of the century as we suspected. We know this because most of the old boards have square nails.
So far, that’s what we’ve accomplished.
More later!
Wow wow wow! What great finds! I can’t believe the original shingles were still there! Love the bead board and pocket doors! We uncovered all the ship lap in our dining room and the boys room. Getting ready to do the living room soon.
How cool! Loving seeing the progress on your blog.
Oh the beauty in it all! I’m not sure what made me gasp (happily) the most, the shiplap, beadboard or the pocket door & hardware. Besides this being very hard work, do you find it therapeutic? There’s something (to me) about tearing out before reconstructing.
I think I was most delighted seeing the beadboard. It’s getting harder and harder to find. Concerning the added benefits, the physical work is so demanding, but you can see what you’ve accomplished in a day (all the wood stacked in a trailer, for example), and I’ve always liked going to bed physically tired. Plus, I can visualize how the old materials can be used, and that’s fun.
Wow! This house was sure full of “good” finds. Loving all of it, but that Green breadboard needs to come home with me!
Thanks, Kathy! We have been thinking of building a guest house, and honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to sell the green color. Old beadboard is becoming SO hard to find . . . and green is my favorite color.
Oh wow! I think y’all have such an incredible job! I’m so glad there are people like you to save what you can and reuse it. Those pocket doors are quite the find! And the cupboard! Cool! Can’t wait to see more!
Thank you, Cecilia!!
Wow, this is so fun to see as you’ve peeled back the layers! That’s crazy about the roof! Love the beadboard walls and floors that will be gorgeous when you get them finished. I’ll be following along!
Yeah, it’s always fun to see what lies beneath. 🙂 Thanks, Deb!
I remember hearing some people in the San Juan Islands (up here in Washington) talking about renovating their house and finding five layers of roofing. It’s so expensive to get large amounts of trash like that off the island that people just kept adding more!
Wow, what an interesting perspective. Thanks for dropping by and commenting, Victoria!
Hi Kim! visiting you back from my blog….thank you for visiting me and for your comment! I love this post because I can relate to the vintage hardware and floors and ceilings of an old house. Mine is 1870 and has a lot of really neat features. What a fun business to be in!
You’re so welcome, AnnMarie! Glad you can relate to what we do. We love old houses, and apparently you do as well. 🙂
Hi Kim, Awesome goodys! I Love that corner cabinet!!
Great to follow the progress! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi! Loved this! We’re in the process of remodeling an old home in Joaquin, TX, probably built before 1930-but still researching. We uncovered wood ship lap walls and ceilings that look exactly like y’all’s.