Wiring and Plumbing

This weekend, we have been working on the kitchen's plumbing and wiring.  My father-in-law is starting to build our base cabinets so I needed to get moving on the wiring.  We already had 2 20amp circuits feeding the kitchen outlets so I just made a few tweaks to make sure the under-cabinet lighting and range hood will have power.  We also ran a new 50amp circuit that will serve to power the oven.  The range we chose is dual fuel so I needed a 240v circuit for the ovens and then the cooktop will be gas.
As for plumbing, you might remember that the old drop ceiling in the kitchen hid all of the plumbing from the master bath upstairs.  Now that ceiling is gone, I have to relocate all of the supply and drain lines. I successfully raised the shower drain up into the original ceiling joists.   I took care to maintain the  pitch on the drain line and I am very happy with the results.  Next up is the toilet.  I went to Lowes and bought all the PVC pieces so that I can perform the same procedure.


TODO:
Add gas line to power the dual-fuel range
Add cold-water line for the pot-filler
Relocate tub and sink drain lines
Relocate tub, shower, sink and toilet supply lines.

Old House Photo

Today our house was featured in a community event about historical houses.  It was really neat to learn more about all of the other old houses on our block.  Several really cool things happened:

a. I got to talk to a former house owner named Dee Zaborac.  She owned the house for about three years in 1976.
 
b. I got to talk to a women that used to sing at our house while it was a funeral parlor.  She described to us how the different rooms were setup and how the music would flow through the whole lower level of the house.

c. I got to see an old photo of the front of our house.  Well, just a corner of it.  Finding old photos is like hitting the jackpot for us old house nuts.  I could never have dreamed how this porch would have looked originally. Now I have to add "Rebuild front porch/side porch" to my to-do list.

Pergola and kitchen floor work continues.

We have had a pretty busy summer schedule but are managing to make continual progress in our projects. The kitchen floor is slowly being pulled up. The process is painstaking because we have to be very careful not to split the wood. The pergola is coming along too. That project expanded in scope because we decided to fully strip the deck and also add porch-style spindles. Celia has now painted all of the spindles and I have fabricated the bottom rail. Next is to do some joinery on the handrail sections I purchased.
It's kind of funny that even though I am sooooo overwhelmed with work, I still find myself planning my next projects.  I can't wait to start restoring my new back doors and stained glass window. I have also started to try to convince Celia to let me buy a scaffolding tower :-)

Christmas in May - The new back doors arrived

Well, the freight truck with my doors and window arrived today.  It was a bit of a fiasco to unload the 500lb double-length pallet from the truck.  I am so excited.  I think these 104" doors are going to be a great addition to the house.  As with everything, its going to be another project.  The doors have a few? rough spots...

a. Fill deadbolt hole
b. Fill surface lock hole
c. Fix minor rail/stile separation
d. Fill holes/nicks and prime/paint.
e. Replace 1 pane of glass
f. Repair stile damage around lockset area

Below are the pictures of the uncrating.

EXTRA, EXTRA, Read All About It - 1938 Newspaper Found Under the Floor

Celia and I spent the weekend pulling up floorboards in the kitchen. It seems like every project in the house turns out to be a monumental task, but with each task, we make cool discoveries that make it just so much fun (Celia disagrees with me on this)!
This time, in an area of floor that was obviously cut and patched when some work was done, we found several pages of the Chicago Daily News from Saturday April 30 1938. The newspaper was being used a a shim to level the floor.

Headlines include:

• Roosevelt Hits Holding Firms
• Britain Wont Fight To Save Czechoslovakia
• Federal Agents Hold Two As Counterfeiters
• Swing a Good-Looking Purse if You Would Be Really Well-Dressed

It is so strange to see articles about Nazi's/Hitler, President Roosevelt, etc.

We also found a piece of cardboard (also acting a shim) that had a shipping label the Peoria Casket Co to the Sedgwick Funeral Home.  Really cool stuff!  We have long known that our house operated as a funeral home for about 40 years.  1938 would have been the very early years of the business.

New Old Stuff

I just placed an order for a "new old" set of double entry doors and a stained glass window.  Both will be going in our new kitchen. Celia and I combed the local salvage shops and the Internet and finally found the perfect pieces.  My bank account is a lot lighter, but I think it will be worth it!  They are being shipped from the east coast and should be here sometime next week. Cant wait!
We also just found matching reclaimed oak floor which will allow us to finish our kitchen floor.  I sure hope the work to save the original flooring and combine it with the reclaimed flooring works out like I plan.

More to follow...

Replicating Moldings

My goal is to make this kitchen feel like it flows with the rest of the house.  One of my [b][i]major[/i][/b] projects will be replicating all of this old woodwork.  I am not a master craftsmen by any means, but it gives me an excuse to buy all sorts of new tools  :D
My question is what type of wood stock I should start with?  From what i can tell, most of the trim in the house is 120 year old pine.  Everything is painted right now, but we plan to strip it all eventually (even if it was originally meant to be painted, I think that the pine will look fine stained by today's standards).  The two staircases in the house are walnut...
With all this in mind, should I be trying to find antique reclaimed lumber to mill my trim from or should I just do the kitchen in new white oak, etc?

Picture of the door/window trim: