If My House Kills Me…
Board and Batt
The board and batt paneling in the basement had to go. It was made from 60 year old rough-sawn pine planks in various sizes, once faux-painted to resemble worn, gray barnwood, and later spray-painted white in a half-assed attempt to modernize and brighten. While it was nice and bright, the white paint did nothing to cover up the nasty. It was quaint in a bad way, bits of it were split or rotting, and I needed to get to bare walls in order to run the new electrical through to the rest of the house. The plan is to replace it with drywall (or maybe beadboard) for a simple, updated look.
Bad board
I found the note on the backside of one of the planks. I may never know if this was a deal that someone else made (I hope it was for something good), or a simple, if not forgotten, reminder. “Note to self, make a deal with the devil”. Though I’ll have to admit, the inside of a wall seems like an odd place to leave oneself a note. It’s possible, though unlikely, that it is actually a note from the devil, to me. Though for maximum devilish creepy effect, he would probably have put my name on it. Maybe that’s too obvious for the devil, though, Maybe the Devil’s all about subtlety these days.
As I removed the remaining paneling and firring across an entire basement wall, we noticed something else: there’s no insulation. Not a little bit, anywhere in the entire basement. You can see a little daylight in a couple of spots, even. This doesn’t bode particularly well for the rest of the house and it really doesn’t bode well for winter. Something like 300+ sq ft of single-pane windows with only bricks and mortar for insulation? Shit. The plan has always been to replace the windows, and since we’ve gotta re-build the basement anyway, it’s pretty manageable to build the new walls a bit thicker and insulate behind. Upstairs is a bit trickier, though, as I was hoping not to damage most of that drywall. And of course, insulation isn’t free.
This weekend also saw the discovery of some bad water pipes, a leaking spigot, and water shut-off valve that’ll all need to be repaired/replaced ASAP, too. That deal is starting to look pretty good, actually. Do you think he’s still in for souls and firstborn children, or is it more like a loanshark thing? I wonder how bad the points are.
Mid-Century Money Pit 
look at you, mr. handy! i’m afraid of what lurks beneath our walls. we need new windows too (2 for 1?)! sigh. the boring things we have to spend money on w/ no aesthetic improvement/value. poo.