We've been in this old Victorian farmhouse for a year now. Yes, we moved across the country from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to settle into a new life and a promotion for Karl. We purchased 5 acres with several barns, a large, rather neglected pasture, a very weed filled garden spot, 3 mature apple trees that are in desperate need of attention, and an old Victorian style farmhouse that needed to be gutted and restored. Why did it need to be gutted you ask? Because cats and dogs had lived freely in the house and had used it as their toilet. It had sat empty for some time before we bought it and cats had been left behind.
The cats being taken away was one of the requirements of the purchase. Then, the hard work started once we took possession. We stayed in the city of Rochester in an Airbnb for a month while we made the daily 1/2 hour drive each evening after Karl got off work, to then work on the house. We started in the room that was the living room and we took up carpets, underlayment, base molding, and dry wall down to the studs in an effort to get rid of the urine stains that were so evident throughout the room. We removed the gas fireplace that no longer worked. It was actually lovely, but we didn't want gas with Karl getting so much hardwood for free all the time. So out it came. We washed down everything with Urine destroyer and then used an odor blocking primer on the doors and remaining trim. We then installed new underlayment and hardwood flooring. We scraped the old textured ceiling (after testing for asbestos and getting the all clear!) and sanded it smooth and painted it. We installed new drywall and pained that, installed new lighting, and a wood stove on a tiled hearth in the corner. We then moved into this one room, hung a tarp across the wide double doorway to the rest of the house and called this one room home.
Along with the asbestos testing, we tested for radon, as we always do when we move to a new home. This time, unlike any previous home we've tested, the levels came back high. 4.0 PCi/L is considered the line where you need to consider remediation as prolonged exposure to radon above that level is linked with the development of various lung cancers. Our level in the room we were sleeping on was 14.7 pCi/L. We contacted a few remediation companies and had them all out to bid our job. We then took the bids into consideration along with the reviews/reputations of each company and finally settled on Athelon out of Rochester MN. They came out and had the job done in 2 days with zero mess left behind. Our levels now average around 1.9 PCi/L . Much better! We did the prep work for them as they are pretty much just installers of the system. Our old home has a small basement/storm cellar and 3 separate crawl spaces. Each crawl space needed to be encapsulated separately and have it's own suction point installed as well as one for the concrete basement room. The problem was that the crawlspaces were not only very shallow, but filled with all manner of debris along with a large quantity of cat feces.
So, we drafted our Son in law, Will, daughter Sara, and our grandson, Logan, to come up from their place in Iowa and help us clean out the crawlspaces one weekend. Bless them! It was nasty and dirty work. Even masks and gloves didn't make it any more pleasant. We took up the floors inside in one room and we lowered the level of each crawlspace by filling 5 gallon buckets of dirt and debris and dumping it into our utility trailer where it was then disposed of. It was dirty, sweaty work, but with their help, we did it! The Athelon crew was able to come out and put in our remediation system so we could breath easier, literally!
Over the past year, we have demoed the tiny old kitchen, the dining room, the downstairs bedroom and the 3/4 bath downstairs. We've put in a new kitchen, remodeled the 3/4 bathroom, installed a laundry room off the kitchen and bath, reclaimed the old walk in pantry, put in a lovely formal dining room, and redid the main bedroom upstairs. We still have the downstairs bedroom/office to go, another bedroom upstairs and the main full bath and hallway upstairs, but we've come so far! The house no longer reeks like cat and dog urine and it is ever so much more functional. We've added things to make it perfect for our homestead use, like a kitchen wood range in the kitchen. None of the rooms are actually finished as they all need some small things still, like some trim work, face plates, paint, etc. But it's feeling good to look at all we've accomplished so far.
This is the dining room after we completely gutted and restored it. The beautiful old mahogany stained fir trim was so urine soaked and scratched and chewed up from the animals, that there was no saving it without lots of wood filler and then using paint. We kept the old trim and cleaned it with Urine Buster, used odor blocking primer on it and then filled the damage and painted it. We did faux paneling and historic color paint to finish. There's hardwood on the floor. We salvaged what plaster we could, patched with drywall and skim coated the entire wall area with a thin plaster coat before doing the faux paneling. The ceiling isn't finished yet as it is going to be coffered.
Then this lower photo is the before picture with the urine soaked carpet, the scratched and chewed doors and trim and the damaged old plaster. Stay tuned for more of our old house restorations!
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