So I started my hearth area demo

joeq wrote:

freetown fred wrote:Nice. I wish you'd put turn those pix upright, I'm getting a hell if a crick in my old neck!!

hey Fred, They're displayed correctly when your head is at the 12 o'clock position. Maybe cause it's New Years eve, and if you gave the rum and Cokes a break, you may see them up-right.

A good one for you my friend fred, just stay warm from the stove heat, that make things look all right

I feel like Dying now . That lime mortar on the hearth was some tough stuff. My body is broken...

Keep up the good work, I'm getting tired watching Josh, any chance of blowing in some insulation, or some 2 inch rigid between the joist. Not sure if cement board is structual; will you be laying the new and improved sub-floor under the cement board?

michaelanthony wrote:Keep up the good work, I'm getting tired watching Josh, any chance of blowing in some insulation, or some 2 inch rigid between the joist. Not sure if cement board is structual; will you be laying the new and improved sub-floor under the cement board?

Better, cinder blocks and cement ... I found some issues .. Beams not even connecting and so on. I've got a lot of work ahead of tonight

Whoa I just saw this thread. Every idea I have somebody else suggested I love the Minwax wood preservative, acetone based it really soaks in. I heard a coat of paint will stop powder post beetles, but you have to coat everything. I know a guy that sprayed the entire inside of his old barn white. Black Flag copper napthenate will stop any living thing, but I'd never use it interior even if I was going to cover everything up- it has a strong odor.

I finished this gas fireplace with Home Depot marble tiles; made the mantle and surround as I went along. It was a rough-in to start.

Good luck and happy new year

Let the games begin! I just went to lowes and picked up a few things. I am pulling some cinder blocks out of the woods and I bought 6 more. I have a lot of cement to mix too. I won't sleep tonight for sure . Black rum and coke will do.

Dann757 wrote:Whoa I just saw this thread. Every idea I have somebody else suggested I love the Minwax wood preservative, acetone based it really soaks in. I heard a coat of paint will stop powder post beetles, but you have to coat everything. I know a guy that sprayed the entire inside of his old barn white. Black Flag copper napthenate will stop any living thing, but I'd never use it interior even if I was going to cover everything up- it has a strong odor.

I finished this gas fireplace with Home Depot marble tiles; made the mantle and surround as I went along. It was a rough-in to start.

Good luck and happy new year

Great look hearth & fireplace! Yes this minwax wood hardener is awesome! I just coated a rotten beam. No one sells it local though . I found one place and it was two bottles covered in dust!


I really have bad luck when it comes to my projects. I really didn't expect the hearth to start falling apart, beams to just fall off the flooring, electrical wires running right where I want to put cinder blocks. So I go to move the wires and I trip the breakers... WTF! Next old house I buy I'm gutting it and ripping out the floor and starting over!

I'm just pissed cause I have to do more work and so on!

Smokeyja wrote:I really have bad luck when it comes to my projects.

Nahhhh don't say that! You have ambition! Keep up the good work!

My brother raised 4 kids in an old farmhouse in Chenango Forks, NY. On a hill overlooking a splendid valley view. He is so unbelievably stubborn he would never accept help from anybody, and the place remained in disrepair for many years. I left him a quick sketch on how to fix his rotted bathroom floor when I was up to visit one time many years ago. He went ballistic on me hahahhahahaha. I used to laugh with his kids at his plumbing situation in the old cellar- it looked like a jungle of pvc vines We went up one Christmas and all the pipes were frozen and what a foul mood he was in hahahhaa. I went in the old fieldstone basement and stuffed insulation in all the gaping holes to the outside New York State sub-zero winter air. He took it all out!

Keep on the good work Smokey, not always easy.....that remind me when I cut the hole for the G.Bride chimney's support. Don't know why electric wires are always at the bad place?

Hang in there, just keep plugging away at it and don't forget sometime you have to just walk away for awhile.

Wished I lived closer...I would...I love black rum!..

Thanks guys! I'm still working on it ! I have the edge of the floor shored up and the main beam on cinder blocks and I pour concrete in them. The rough cut oak matches the original beams perfectly !


This is the edge of the floor that needed support. It has cinder block under it too

Cinder blocks under the beam

Rotting beam running through the old hearth . I treated it with minwax wood hardener .

I know I've mentioned ground hogs on here before! Damn critters have a burrow under my house right below the septic line... Whoever ran this PVC line was one small ass dude that's all I have to say ! Theres only 9" of clearance there! Gonna fill it with concrete! Such is life! Everything rots . Nothing last forever ! You just have to be ok with it you know? I need some more lumber in the morning and cinder blocks .

People are shooting guns that means that it's new years! Happy New years. Im standing in a hole under my house

Yeah, lots of shots going off here too..

happy New Years Josh!! ya doin a fine job!!
dont feel bad i did a 8 hour bathroom re-plumbing today whoda thunk it

Josh! you got to be kidding me. I'm just getting in from a New Yrs get together, (3AM), and I see you posting pix on 2013! Are you going for a world record, or applying for "Extreme Home Makeover?" Get some sleep and pick up after.....REST? Wow. Talk about dedicated. You must be a bachelor, cause I couldn't get away with it.

joeq wrote:Josh! you got to be kidding me. I'm just getting in from a New Yrs get together, (3AM), and I see you posting pix on 2013! Are you going for a world record, or applying for "Extreme Home Makeover?" Get some sleep and pick up after.....REST? Wow. Talk about dedicated. You must be a bachelor, cause I couldn't get away with it.

Lol nah I'm married with a son. I can't sit idle for more than a day. My Dad warned me about pulling the floor up because he said I might not like what I find. I have been renovating the house for 2 years now. I've finished 2 rooms upstairs with a few minor things to take care of so the down stairs is in order now . I could have finished the base to the hearth last night if the store was open. No one ever helps me with my projects so I have to work twice as hard and fast to get it done in a reasonable time. My brother helps when he can but he lives a good ways away. Anyways I'm all ready to pour some concrete I just need to get a few more things at the store. And for the record I feel like I've been run over and shot a few times... no not a hang over but body is just destroyed . And that damn ground hog hole took 160lbs of concrete. Oh my wheelbarrel broke too! I was pulling it outside with a load of bricks and the woods holding the axel just snapped