Bringing The Carriage House Back To Life. And A Big Surprise.
In 2014, after buying the Cross House, I did a lot of work on the carriage house that year and in 2015.
And then I mothballed the structure.
Why?
Because there were just toooooooo many issues:
FLOOR JOISTS
The living room, at 19-feet x 19-feet, is huge, and surprises everybody when they step into the house. Its flooring is, oddly, just odd bits of OSB board badly nailed down. This had all been covered by wall-to-wall carpeting. I loathe WWC.
In the basement, under the room, is a surreal sight. There are about a dozen columns holding the joists up. Two such columns are salvaged porch columns from some long ago demolished house.
And the joists are a mess. Some are cracked right though. Some have been reduced to structural nothingness by having large holes cut into them. Some just abruptly stop in mid-air.
It is all visually a mess (oh, the horror) and a structural disaster (oh, an even greater horror).
And 2×12 joists should never span 19-feet. No, no, no!
The remedy?
Tear out the flooring and all the joists. Replace the latter with engineered joists, install new sub-flooring, and then a lovely oak floor.
This will be a big job, and an expensive one.
My solution in 2015?
Run. As fast as possible.
THE SINKING BATHROOM
Directly above the living room, in the south/east corner, is a second-floor bathroom. The previous owner gutted the room and rebuilt it. It was 95% done when I purchased the property. The seemingly sensible thing would have been to complete the last 5%. But…no.
For, it became obvious that the room was being held up in place by……good fortune. The same 2×12 joists that span 19-feet under the living room, were matched by 19-foot-long joists over the living room. And these joists under the bathroom? Several had been structurally devastated by cutting huge holes through them to accommodate plumbing lines. And this, this, is why the bathroom had dropped down a staggering and terrifying 5-inches.
The room has an enormously heavy claw-foot tub. When I imagined somebody filling this with water, I could easily imagine, too, the whole crashing down into the living room. Seriously.
Compounding all this was the fact that when the previous owner rebuilt the bathroom, he attached plywood to all the walls, which he then sheetrocked over. I have no idea why the plywood, but this meant that the room had ‘locked’ into place the 5-inch sag. Thus, it was impossible to push the room back to where it should be.
However, nothing was stopping the sag from becoming ever worse.
My solution in 2015?
Run. As fast as possible.
TIME PASSES
And so, the house was abandoned. The poor dear. It is such a wonderful house.
The above issues are the two really scary BIG problems. But the house abounds with bad repairs, sloppy work, stupid decisions, and just so much wrong with it.
And, as y’all know, I have a low tolerance for crappy work. No, I want things done right and take no pleasure from duct-taping things together.
In short, for most of its life, whenever a repair was needed, it was done badly, quickly, and cheaply. Thus, the carriage house felt, to me, like an abused dog: battered and unloved.
It pains me being in such a house. I develop an intense desire to hug the house and make everything right.
However, with the demands of the Cross House so overwhelming, I just did not have the brain space nor money to do right by the carriage house. And the Cross House soaked up all my hugs.
And so the carriage house has sat. And sat. And sat.
BUT THEN
I have been keeping a secret.
Y’all know Cody, right?
We ‘met’ years ago on Old House Dreams. At the time, he was a teenager and I was quite impressed that somebody so young would be so passionate about old houses and, in particular, one amazing house in the city where he lived.
I thought: “Who is this kid?”
I greatly enjoyed the back/forth on OHD and then he vanished for a few years. He reappeared on Restoring Ross and, right away, I asked him: “Is this THE Cody?”
It was. So, our back/forthing resumed and this included long telephone conversations.
Cody is now twenty-five, and will be finished with school next month. He has two passions: old houses and old lighting.
Gee, who does he remind you of?
Somehow, and I do not recall exactly how, sprung the idea of…gasp…his moving to Emporia and working for me. Even though we have never met.
I know, gasp!
But where to put him? Oh…wait…I own an empty house next to the Cross House!
Next month, Cody is planning to visit Emporia for a few days. Maybe we will dislike each other and all this will go nowhere. But maybe not.
With Cody moving into the carriage house, he can lead his own life, which I think is important for a young person.
His job description is simple: Get a light listed for sale every day. I used to do just that before buying the Cross House. Now, I struggle to get perhaps six lights listed every month. This is bad. VERY bad. In 2014, I had 520 lights listed for sale. Today (I am afraid to look) I have about 320. And this number grows ever smaller.
Yep, a VERY bad trend.
It seems a no brainer that the salary I pay Cody will be offset by a significant spike in sales, as the inventory grows ever larger, right?
So, I will pay Cody a salary, and he will live rent-free in the carriage house. He will also, as agreed, help to restore the carriage house and Cross House as his time permits.
THE PLAN
Initially, I was planning to do the minimum to get the carriage house livable for Cody.
Yes, I would bring out the duct tape. Cartons of it.
(Ross shudders.)
But…but…I just cannot. Yea, you predicted that!
THE LIVING ROOM
I will tear out the entire floor, including all the joists. New engineered joists will go in, a new subfloor, and then I will press pause on the finished oak floor. There just will not be the funds. Cody can then paint the subfloor in a color of his choosing, and lay some rugs down.
THE SINKING BATHROOM
This will get gutted to the studs.
The ruined floor joists will get cut through the middle, so that they can be slowly jacked up to level. Then, engineered joists will get sistered to the old joists. Justin and I have no idea if we can get the sagging walls to return to plumb, too. We will see.
The bathroom will then be rebuilt as a walk-in closet.
THE TURRET BATHROOM
This very charming room is now a bedroom. It will become the main bathroom. There will be a modern shower, and the claw-foot tub will nestle in the bay of the turret. There will be a toilet, and roughing for a later bidet. A sink.
The bathroom will be quite fabulous, and en-suite to the master bedroom (as well as the new walk-in closet).
THE BEDROOMS
The remaining three second-floor bedrooms are in good shape. Cody can paint as he wishes. The floors have carpet glue on them and Cody will scrape this off.
THE HALF-BATH
There is a half-bath on the second-floor and adjacent walk-in closet. The bath has no plumbing. Cody will use the space as a closet. Down the road the plan is to transform the space into a full bath, to be used by the two remaining bedrooms.
THE DINING ROOM
The room also has a crappy OSB floor. Cody can paint this. The east wall is partially demolished. This will get finished off.
THE KITCHEN
I gutted the kitchen in 2015. The plan is to keep it As Is but make make it usable. There just is not the money to finish it off. Cody has requested a washer/dryer hook-up. I will do this.
THE OTHER HALF-BATH
I plan to, at some point, install a half-bath off the eventual kitchen pantry.
SUMMATION
If all goes well, Cody will move to Emporia in October. In talking with Justin, we believe that the above plans can be accomplished, AND we can still do the work to get me into the Cross House.
It is all kind of dizzying.
A year from now my life might well be vastly different than it is now.
I will be living in the Cross House! Zounds!
Somebody will be living in the carriage house! Zounds!
Cody and I will watch, gleefully, as the lighting inventory grows ever larger! Zounds!
And, importantly, the carriage house, which has been treated badly for many decades, will finally be lavished with hugs.
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Wow!!!! Never a dull moment with Ross!!!! Hope this plan works because I’m lookinv forward to seeing progress on the Carriage House. The Cross House and the Carriage House FULL tour is still on my bucket list!!! Good luck, Ross and Cody!
How exciting! Ross in the Cross House this fall! Cody in Carriage House! Wonderful news!
What an awesome solution to grow the business and trade some rent for labor on the carriage house! And those are some great layout changes that will make it a very desirable rental someday. What’s it got for heat so the poor boy doesn’t freeze come winter, and is there any evidence of long-gone bearing walls in the basement or main floor breaking up that ridiculous span?
Hi, Jakob!
The carriage house has central heating/cooling.
I am not surprised by this news! I am really excited for it! Cody is exactly what the carriage house needs along with helping Ross. Brilliant, I say!
What exciting news! I look forward to seeing some progress on the carriage house too, butnto have both house lived in by the end of the year is a big deal!!!!
Oh my!!! SO exciting!!! I sure hope all works out well for all!!!
Woot! I’m happy to hear of this plan for you and Cody. It will be fun to watch the progress as the carriage house comes back to life.
I’m going to have as much fun with it as Ross lets me 😉
So excited about this! I’ve wanted someone to be in that house since Ross bought the Cross House. Lucky you to be the first to live there.
Question: I don’t understand this sentence about the kitchen: “The plan is to keep it As Is but make make it unusable.” Do you mean “The plan is to keep it As Is but make it “usable”? Or to leave it unusable? I’m confused. Can you help me figure this out?
Oops! Fixed that! Thanks, Barb!
You’re welcome. And you can delete my comment, if you like.
Wow! What an awesome plan. Cody sounds great. Good luck to you all. 🙂
This all sounds so much better then the glorified camping that you figured I’d have to do for a hot minute upon my arrival. I was NOT looking forward to the prospect of living out of boxes for several months. Big hug to Justin for being able to work all of this work into the 2021 schedule! I think it will be worth it…
Don’t let me forget to measure for curtains when I come next month!
I’ve already started packing up my own stock of lighting. Y’all have no idea how big an undertaking it’s going to be for Ross and I the both of us to move all the lighting (comprising of both resale stock and pieces from personal collections) to the Cross compound. I shudder just thinking about it. At least I’ve got some-odd six months or so to pack it up.
The Cross compound. That turn of phrase made me smile. May I suggest that “The Cross Estate”sounds a little more elegant?
Cody, there was no plan to have you experience glorified camping upon your arrival!
The plan was that you would have a lovely living room, a lovely dining room, five lovely bedrooms, a new bathroom, and a gutted but functional kitchen. Yes, some work would be needed, like painting some floors.
Your 2 x 10 x 19 joists might be able to be supported by a beam in the basement the centered in the middle of and perpendicular to the joists. Using jack posts for columns, you could level the floor. You can either make a beam by glueing and screwing three 2 x 10’s together, or buy a single laminate beam. It can be installed relatively easily if you have a basement or crawl space of any kind. You would support the beam with columns on footings that you could easily pour yourself, or you could hire someone to do it. It sure beats tearing up an existing floor. If there is no existing crawl space a working trench could be dug beneath the center of the building
Ask Justin.
I agree. After jacking and leveling, the compromised joists can be sistered, too, with additional 2X10’s glued and screwed, w/ 1/2 plywood strips ripped to 9 1/4″ in between. (Though Fine Homebuilding pooh-pooh’s plywood). Did it in an 18″ crawl space under my house–I was young(er) then. Better than removing existing joists–splayed walls come to mind, in a structure that was originally dirt-or brick-floored in its first incarnation as a real carriage house/stable.
Hi, Stewart!
My joists are 2x12x19.
I do not want a beam perpendicular to the joists as I will bash my head into it while in the basement. As it is now, the basement JUST has headroom. I want nothing to diminish that.
I respect the fact that a beam would make the ceiling too low. I wasn’t telling you that you should do it, at least I tried to word it to say it was an option that you can consider.
You could also consider looking into the possibility of jacking the whole carriage house higher or digging out the basement, to give you the optimum height with beams supporting the long joists. I once had a house that had ceilings that were five feet to the hot water heating system mains. The cost of excavating and underpinning the foundation was far below that of renting a workable shop space. After it was completed, I had eight feet to the pipes. I ran my business from it for years and later turned it into two bedrooms and a 3/4 bath. If I had known to install a septic pit with an ejector pump it would have saved me a fortune when I put in the bath.
Usable space is the final frontier.
Hi, Stewart!
Justin and I went through a range of options regarding the basement of the carriage house. For, it is a mess.
We did consider a perpendicular beam but rejected this for the reasons stated. Another option was to install a series of lally columns in place of such a beam. But that would negate my desire for a column-free space.
In the end, it just seemed easiest to replace the 2×12 joists with engineered joists.
I would also love to remove the concrete floor which is not level anywhere. Then, I would like to dig down several feet, and pour a new concrete floor. But what I yearn for, and what I can afford, are often at odds.
Listen to Stewart. You seem unwilling to make any compromises. A beam would save work and expense that I’m sure you could use on another project. It’s your house though.
Hi, Travis!
I can only repeat: “I do not want a beam perpendicular to the joists as I will bash my head into it while in the basement.”
Do you not think this important????????????????
Ross,
I see you as an older man that is continually making your restoration more complicated and expensive. I have read this entire blog. I’ve seen many posts about financial concerns. This is one example of a shortcut that could save you both time and money. This is in the basement of the carriage house. How many times do you anticipate being down there and not being able to duck?
Travis, if my goal was to live a simple life, free of financial concerns, I would not have purchased the Cross House.
The fact though that I did should offer stark evidence that going through life the easiest and cheapest way is not a strong motivator. Rather, I love being challenged. And the Cross House is an enormous challenge!
It’s like with you. You love restoring ancient appliances. Why bother? Why not just buy a new fridge from Home Depot?
Also, I do plan to use the basement of the carriage house, and will be installing a new exterior stair to the north. The basement of the Cross House is not large enough to store all my lighting. So, the overflow will go into the basement of the carriage house. And I do NOT want a big beam in my way. THAT would make my life harder.
That’s totally fine, then stop whining about the costs of doing additional work and costs relating to medical care. I totally agree with you otherwise. You’re doing great work, but your posts are often conflicting.
Travis, you seem to expect that I be 100% consistent in everything that I do/say.
I have never met a person who is 100% consistent. Have you?
Also, it is…interesting…that you interpret my voicing alarm at the cost of medicine in America as whining.
It just occurred to me that this business arrangement is nothing more than a modern apprenticeship. A very promising sounding one, at that.
Actually kind of jealous I didn’t have a similar situation back when I was the same age.
Best of luck to you both!
I CANNOT WAIT to see all these restored lights. Oh happy fall is coming! Yeah Cody!
PS Be sure and tell Cody I am especially fond of Gill Glass!
This is very exciting! I do hope that we can get some guest posts from Cody once he is experiencing the carriage house???