Transformation of a Century Home 2020
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The transformation is complete! Last year when my long-time tenants moved out of my former home, I began the transformation 0f the century. What started out as a simple project ($25,000 to $30,000 and six to eight weeks) grew to be substantially more. I had lived in this house for over twenty years. Over that time, I had fixed, renovated or at least painted every inch of it at least once. Please join me to see the transformation of this century home which was built in 1910.
The big things done this past year were… the basement drainage system, new wiring, framing, drywall, new shingles, a lot of new windows, insulation, insulation and did I say insulation? Both bathrooms were completely re-done and the kitchen had a seventy percent reno. Even the back room – sitting/office/ guest room/ whatever- you-want-it-to-be room had a face-lift, and in-floor heating and tile flooring added. And of course… paint, paint, paint. I tried to keep as much of the original character as I could but added back some “original” solid wood doors that I got from salvage and had a new stair banister, railings and newel post added to mimic the original upstairs’.
Throughout the project I tried to fix problems and find solutions to things that bothered me when I lived there. Even though it isn’t a big house, I tried to maximize the space and incorporate storage solutions.
The Transformation begins...
Exterior transformation...
The yards, flowerbeds and garden were completely overgrown and out of control. It was literally a jungle. In the back yard and shed there were also mattresses and other garbage left behind by the tenant.
New shingles for the roofs and proper vents added for the bathrooms. On the addition, the siding was pressure washed and repaired. Pressure washing also cleaned up the fascia, soffit and eaves troughs. The foundation parging was repaired and painted as well to complete the exterior transformation.
The front porch had some love with new lattice and paint. Even some of the bricks were painted to cover old white paint stains. New screen was put on the screen door and a new porch light and exterior plug were installed.
Entrance transformation...
While thinking out loud one day, I mentioned how the original closet had been made one inch too narrow to hang coats up properly. Be careful what you wish for. ..the next day I came in, I found my contractor had taken it out completely! This ended up being a good thing though, because I was able to redesign it and incorporate new heat ducts to the second floor which previously did not exist.
After a little confusion initially, my vision with the shelves and barn door closet came to life. My contractor had the idea to keep the area above the shelf nook accessible for extra hidden storage by easily removing the shelf and rod. What do you think of the entrance hall transformation?
Original pine tongue and groove wall had to come out for the new insulation to go in. The orange pine on the stairs had to go and a brand new newel post, railings and banister were added to echo the design of the original upstairs.
Upstair's transformation...
Luxury vinyl plank flooring was added throughout the upstairs’ with the exception of the bathroom. The stairway wall upstairs, that had original lath and plaster walls, had insulation blown in before the new drywall was put on. New smoke and carbon dioxide detectors with strobe lights were also wired in upstairs’ hall and bedrooms (and downstairs). There was one small section with 8″ baseboards in the hallway and I was able to match the rest from a salvage yard.
Master Bedroom...
You may have noticed that the master bedroom door was moved to the end of the hallway.The wall was angled where the old chimney used to be to allow extra room to walk around a bed. And of course you can’t miss the new IKEA wardrobes that replaced the walk-in closet.
Before I bought the house, a previous owner had turned two small bedrooms into one large one with a walk-in closet and a small bathroom. When my two oldest boys were sharing a room about twenty-one years ago, I got tired of them fighting all the time. My boyfriend at the time, put a temporary wall up, only three inches in from where one of the original wall was…and voila! They each had their own rooms. The only thing that was not so good was that you had to go in one room to get to the other.
When the previous owner turned the two small bedrooms into one, they had paneling on the walls and a drop ceiling. There was still hardwood in the one end that was intact, but the other one had plywood filler where the original walls were so I had put laminate flooring in there, years ago. As you can see in the “Second” bedroom photo, the tenants had added a dark stain to it.
Second Bedroom...
The biggest transformation here is the insulation in the outer walls that was blown in before the new drywall. It also has the little angled wall where the original chimney had gone through (and a heat duct that was not connected to any heat). Both bedrooms now have a direct heat vent.
Upstairs' Bathroom...
Unfortunately, my tenants had a little accident with the toilet over-flowing and the water seeped behind the pedestal sink and caused excessive damage to the living room ceiling. (This is what started the major renovation because one thing lead to another.) So when I decided to completely re-do the upstairs’ bathroom, I wanted to make it completely waterproof so if a toilet got backed up again the water wouldn’t have anywhere else to go. With the new sink and vanity the pipes came up through the wall so there were no pipe holes going through the floor.
I also wanted to add a tub and make it a little bigger so the walk-in closet had to go too.
Let's Go Downstairs'...
Livingroom Transformation...
The biggest transformation in the living-room also cannot be seen – framing, insulation and wiring! From initially just wanting to fix the water-damaged ceiling, to all new drywall, trim, hardwood flooring, windows and ceiling fan. A previous owner that did the initial reno before I bought it, did not do a good job with it. The drywall seams showed and I spent many years trying to camouflage it with wall paper and paint techniques.
When we opened up the walls we discovered knob and tube wiring connected illegally in the middle of the wall and burn marks on the wall! Hence – all new wiring in the original brick section and some of the addition too. Another scary thing my contractor found was that when the previous reno was done all of the wall boards, except the top one, were removed to put insulation in. Every other floor joist above was only supported by this board! Reinforcing all these and building up the 2 x 4s to 2 x 6s to accommodate the thicker insulation now required for code added a couple of weeks to the project.
On to the Kitchen...
When I originally renovated the kitchen in 2004 I uncovered the original tongue and groove ceiling. I put all new lower cabinets in, rerouting a heat vent to utilize the unused corner, added an upper cabinet and wine cubbies above the stove and customized the doors with trim, paint and new handles and knobs.
A couple of years ago the counter-top was replaced and the cabinets repaired. The old water-damaged laminate flooring was also replaced with luxury vinyl planks. Unfortunately the lower cabinets had to be replaced completely this time and the “new” counter-top was damaged while being removed. Another unpleasant discovery was the mouse hole in the corner.
My one big regret while doing this reno was that I didn’t gut the kitchen completely, because it cost me more money and time to save the originals and blend the new cabinets to match it. Even the “new” vinyl plank flooring had to be replaced and I tried to match it as closely as possible to the hardwood in the living room. The biggest change here was the addition of a dishwasher.
Downstairs' Bathroom and Laundry Room...
Originally I hadn’t planned on gutting this bathroom. It had been renovated in 2005 and the ceramic tile flooring was replaced again in 2010. Obviously, I was going to have to redo the tiles around the tub and put a proper vent in before repainting the ceiling and walls.
I was not so lucky. After a crack was discovered in the floor tile by the toilet, we found that the sub-floor was rotten from a long-time unknown leak. The two layers below that were also rotten, including the 1″ boards. Fortunately I was able to get 1″ boards from a salvage business. I was able to save the pedestal sink, the shelf nook, medicine cabinet nook and mirror doors. Everything else is new. The solid wood five panel door was also a salvage find.
The laundry room probably had the least amount of work done. New tile floor, carried through from the bathroom, new trim, door knobs, light, drywall and paint.
Back Office/Guest/Bonus Room...
When I first bought the house, over thirty years ago, this room wasn’t finished at all. Even though it had lots of insulation in the walls and floor, it was still cold in the winter because it had no basement under it. The carpet had made it a little warmer, but after the tenants, I would have to say it had seen better days. They had started to patch the holes in the walls but obviously missed a few spots. The ceiling had painted over funky stucco and we decided it would be easiest to just drywall over top.
The most important transformation here was the installation of an Schluter in-floor heating system. What a difference! It was nice and cozy in the dead of winter. A ceiling fan helps to keep it cool in summer.
Finally...the Basement Transformation...
From a damp, moldy basement filled with junk to a bright, dry, clean and insulated one. With the low ceiling, it will never be a nice finished basement with extra living space, but it will be good for extra storage space. A completely new drainage system, sump pump and insulating membrane on the walls was installed with a twenty-five year warranty.
I would like to say thank you to all my contractors that made this possible.
Jacob Legault was my main contractor, who stuck by until the end, but I also had help from many others.
- Delmor James from DEL Home Improvements
- Maurice Maheu from MOKAN Construction (tiles and in-floor heating)
- Dominic Lesaux (Painting)
- Ernie Desroches (Yard clean up)
- Triple Tech (duct work)
- MV Plumbing
- Greg Goldsmith (Mundy’s Bay Contracting) – electrician
- Wet Basement Resolutions
- Georgian Bay Windows and Doors
- Bryan Laycock (roofing)
- Space Age Insulation (blown-in walls and attics)
And of course all my family and friends that helped too…from the initial clean-out, finishing details and the final move out.
This house has already been sold and I hope the new owner loves it as much as I did and has many happy times here. I know they will appreciate the much lower heating bills.
You can watch the video/slide show below...
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