Fortunate enough to have a nice little piece of family property that has been passed down since the 1920s.
The house was originally built by my great grand father starting in 1926 and finished in 1927. My granny actually found the original receipts and invoice for the Sears and Roebuck kit and the lumber and materials to build the house. Of course a bit of upkeep had been done over the years. In 1968 the bathroom was added along with running water in the kitchen.
My uncle lived in the house until he passed in 2006 and after that the family would go down and stay for a long weekend or a week at a time just depending upon schedule. Unfortunately about 8 years ago my grandfathers health began to fail and he could not keep the property up as well as he had been. And as with life I always seemed to find myself too busy with other things. Well last year the floor in the bathroom finally gave way and I knew my boys would finally be old enough to start enjoying the place and I needed to get on it.
With the help of our good friend MattW here on the forum we went and set off to rip out the bathroom to start a new.

As you can see with the lovely 60s vinyl that the floor clearly needs some love. If that solid sheet of vinyl was not acting like a net one would have gone thru the floor probably awhile before.

Of course winter, life, and a new baby got in the way again and the bathroom got put on hold again.
Then comes spring and summer and gramps starts on about how he wants to be able to stay at his old home place one last time he isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But things have finally settled out and I can get to work down there again. But sadly our good friend MattW up and moved a few states away. So I had to find another crew fortunately I have a few buddies that like to fish in the area so a little trade off for them to have a place to stay on their fishing trips for some manual labor worked out well.
Ended up relocating the washer and dryer so they aren't right in front of the shower that is now a step in pan shower as my grandfather can no longer step into a tub safely.


I never did like the bright colored vinyl so I am trying to take it back to a wood/rustic feel but also using products that will last a very long time with out a lot of upkeep. So I went with a nice water proof interlocking laminate for the floor and tile that looks like wood for the shower.
For ease of install i just slapped up drywall to cover where the yellow and black vinyl was ripped down.



I still have to grout the shower which should be done here shortly. I am going to wait until spring to paint and do all the trim work. I figured I would let it run a couple of freeze thaw cycles then put it up in the spring as we won't use it until then anyway.

Hope to get to the kitchen next as that floor is starting to bow so I figure I won't let it get as bad. I plan on just using the peel and stick vinyl planks in there as they are about 1/3 the cost of the floor in the bathroom and the kitchen does not need to be water proof.

I also wanted to make a nice little entry and gate to the property so I threw something up quickly.



Come spring we'll be all good to go just a few minor things to take care of but all the structural issues will be settled.
I had the bathroom done enough that Grandpa went and stayed the weekend a couple weeks ago. No shower but the sinks and toilet worked just fine so he was very happy.

Looking forward to the spring where it will be all finished and he'll get to stay there with my boys. That will make him very happy.

I need to figure out the floors in the rest of the house. They are solid just have nasty vinyl on them.
I am thinking about just pulling the vinyl giving the wood a light sand, some paint, and slap a rug down.


And of course while I was working the boy caught himself 15 fish.

Very cool!
He land the catfish himself? Almost as big as he is.

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:
Very cool!
He land the catfish himself? Almost as big as he is.

Nope for the cats he manned the net.

"I am thinking about just pulling the vinyl giving the wood a light sand, some paint, and slap a rug down."

Yes sir!

this reminds me of the kitchen in the ol'farm we used to own. The light over the table was burnt out, and when I removed the globe the whole fixture came down, along with some lath and plaster. $30G later we had a new kitchen.

That is awesome!
Your kids already enjoy the place and you will have many years of fun with them!

Nice work. Very nice.
I had to laugh when I saw the original floor.
I'm still working on adding a 'real bathroom' to my cabin and I bought almost exactly the same black diamond linoleum from Home Depot last month. Still haven't put it down yet as my tags haven't been filled. And would much rather hunt than work on the bathroom. Hell I prefer the outhouse anyway!

Moving right along! It's a cool old place waiting for many more memories to be made with your boys.

Black, my hat's off to you for keeping the cabin in your family for future generations to enjoy. Especially the cool factor of it being a Sears Kit Home, those are awesome. You know there is a FB group for those also?

Now that I have the niceties over, the nasty comes. BE CAREFUL when removing that old vinyl flooring. Depending on the age of it there may be an Asbestos content in it. Research before just pulling it up, ok?

One cool about this forum, we can see guys grow up, finish school, get married, get a good job, start a family...

You have accomplished a lot. Good on you! Great pic of your son.

Very nice work.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Black, my hat's off to you for keeping the cabin in your family for future generations to enjoy. Especially the cool factor of it being a Sears Kit Home, those are awesome. You know there is a FB group for those also?

Now that I have the niceties over, the nasty comes. BE CAREFUL when removing that old vinyl flooring. Depending on the age of it there may be an Asbestos content in it. Research before just pulling it up, ok?

Happen to know the name of the FB group??

Now that the bathroom is complete it will be much easier to be down there and get things done.
It is about a 2 hour drive and there is not much around so for the most part I bring all the materials from home. Some stuff I had to source a bit closer like the 16' boards for the floor joists. No way I was driving 2 hours with those things in the back.

So pretty much I would go to the supply house the night before and head down as early as possible and work till I needed to be home.

Now that the bathroom is done I can stay there when I work. Plus my oldest is big enough he can come down with me when I have work to do so it helps mamma from having 3 at home by herself.
But also they can come down now easier as well with the bathroom all done.

Hoping come spring the kitchen will be done and we should be able to be down there once a month when weather is nice.

As for the asbestos. I'll be wearing a mask clearing out each room. But I am pretty sure those will pull up and be in one sheet. Just need to break it a bit to get out the door.

That's quite the improvement, good job.

My parents have a Sears home. There's a registry for them if you're interested.

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/registry.htm

As to the asbestos question I used to do the consulting for asbestos removal. If the flooring has asbestos in it don't worry. It's bound up in the matrix of the material. Don't sand it and you'll be fine. The mastic is another issue. I've never seen honey colored mastic come back as an asbestos material, but anything darker than yellow and you probably have an issue. Just pulling up the flooring isn't an issue, but don't sand anything.

I think I'd sand and refinish those wood floors if they are in decent condition, meaning no rot, if the wood floors are intact even with some scars, they would look good with an area rug. JMO

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Black, my hat's off to you for keeping the cabin in your family for future generations to enjoy. Especially the cool factor of it being a Sears Kit Home, those are awesome. You know there is a FB group for those also?

Now that I have the niceties over, the nasty comes. BE CAREFUL when removing that old vinyl flooring. Depending on the age of it there may be an Asbestos content in it. Research before just pulling it up, ok?

Happen to know the name of the FB group??

Now that the bathroom is complete it will be much easier to be down there and get things done.
It is about a 2 hour drive and there is not much around so for the most part I bring all the materials from home. Some stuff I had to source a bit closer like the 16' boards for the floor joists. No way I was driving 2 hours with those things in the back.

So pretty much I would go to the supply house the night before and head down as early as possible and work till I needed to be home.

Now that the bathroom is done I can stay there when I work. Plus my oldest is big enough he can come down with me when I have work to do so it helps mamma from having 3 at home by herself.
But also they can come down now easier as well with the bathroom all done.

Hoping come spring the kitchen will be done and we should be able to be down there once a month when weather is nice.

As for the asbestos. I'll be wearing a mask clearing out each room. But I am pretty sure those will pull up and be in one sheet. Just need to break it a bit to get out the door.

I added you to the FB Sears Homes, you are pending administrator's okey-dokey. I just saw another one there, Sears Kit Homes, that I just sent in a request to join.

I always wanted an Arts and Crafts Bungalow, problem was that at least around here all of the ones we looked at had the bathroom on the second floor along with all the bedrooms. As the wife and I are in our 60's, mobility is a concern. So at least I can fantasize about owning one.

Oops' just found another one on FB:I own a Sears Catalog Kit House

Never knew they sold kit homes. I have a 1909 Sears Roebuck catalog if you want to order some period correct home items. The prices were awesome for the era. Colts, S&Ws and Iver Johnsons for $3.00...

Thanks for the FB adds.
I'll see if granny knows where she put they paperwork so I can figure out which model it initially was.
She left for Florida yesterday for the winter so if she does not know where it is off hand may be spring before it is located unless they come home for Christmas this year.