Refinishing Oak Hardwood Floors - This Old Dean House
After wrapping up the original 130-year-old floors, we moved to the next job. The downstairs oak floors were a big job, but much easier. Joseph (the floor refinisher) Emily, and I did a dance of "move every piece of furniture in your house around while I chase you" for about a week. By the end of a two and a half weeks of refinishing the floors in the entire house we were living like savages, barely surviving! Do not recommend! LOL It was worth it, however. Everything turned out great.
Restoring 130 Year Old Hardwood Floors - This Old Dean House
When we ripped up the carpet, it revealed the original 130-year-old wood floors throughout most of the upstairs (and in our bedroom). The floors were in various stages of disrepair. Some were painted, some were kinda painted, some had holes, some were fine. We decided to try to keep them and get them restored. We found a gentleman who wanted to tackle the project. It was a big one! Lots of furniture moving, dust, noise, and smells. But when we finished, we had the original floors restored in our old house.
Cutting Down The Old Dead Tree (DeanoFarms: Week 129)
I called in reinforcements for the big, old, dead tree in our pasture. #deanofarms
It's Raining In Our Bathroom - This Old Dean House
I knew we had a leak when we bought the house. We didn't have a leak. We had a waterfall! One night, when it was raining really hard, I decided to do a little demo to figure out where the leak was. The answer: The entire roof! [much water in my face later] We got it buttoned back up before the next storm rolled in!
Tours, Tours, Tours in Savannah GA
We toured A LOT while in Savannah, GA. Riverwalk tour, ghost tour, historic house tour, historic parks tour, historic street tour, trolley tour, cancelled haunted house tour, walking in the rain tour, famous cemetery tour, and eating tour(s). Eating is not really a tour, but you gotta keep the energy up [lame fat person excuse to eat a ton].
My 130-Year-Old Sill Is Rotten - This Old Dean House
When we moved the electrical panel inside the house (from the exterior wall) we found water damage. Water had been dripping into the corner of the wall ever since they installed the electrical panel 50+ years ago (maybe longer). The corner of the house was rotted down into the 130-year-old sill. To fix it, I joined Gaspar's foundation repair crew for a few days to help him get it repaired. I'm pretty sure he wants to hire me now. Might mess around and join a foundation repair crew. Bye Felicia!
Water In The Basement and Wall Is Caving In - This Old Dean House
Our new old house had some foundation issues. The main house has a crawl space (with no real issues). The den addition was built over a basement. The basement was flooding, and a wall was caving in. To make sure we have the old house on a firm foundation for the next century, we added some structural piers, encapsulated the crawl space, and added a dehumidifier to the crawl space. In the basement, we shored up the collapsing wall with structural beams, jackhammered up the floor to install a drainage system, and installed a sump pump. So now our house 'pees' when it rains a lot! LOL
Getting Organized - DeanFarms (Week 125)
After 50+ years on this earth I finally graduated up to a proper tool box! LOL I'd allowed the barn to get pretty sloppy over the past couple of years. I decided it was time to get organized. My OCD is now calmed down!
Moving Electrical Panel Indoors - This Old Dean House
The house was built 130+ years ago...no electricity. Our bedroom still has the original gas lantern on the ceiling (converted to electricity at some point). Electricity was added to the house over time. Initially knob and tube was installed (I've found remnants). Then, when everything was upgraded (probably 60+ years ago) they slapped the electrical panel on the outside of the house. How the house never burned down through all that is amazing. We're moving it inside and making sure it is ready for another century.
Splitting Firewood (DeanoFarms - Week 124)
Previously, I'd learned how much 'exercise' you get by breaking down large oak rounds by hand. Lesson learned. I went with a new plan. I brought in the heavy equipment to split the large oak rounds. Still hard work but much quicker...and fun with machinery! [manly grunts] #deanofarms
Replumbing Our Entire 130 Year Old House - This Old Dean House
Our first major project at This Old Dean House was to repipe the entire house. No more cast iron sewer lines and no more galvanized water lines from the street all the way to the fixtures inside. The galvanized water lines are a ticking time bomb. So we are opening up a ton of walls (and ceilings) and getting them all...gone! The cast iron vent pipe that would come crashing down on me one day...gone! The old water heater (that lasted 5 whole minutes at shower time) had to go as well...gone! Every water line was replaced with PEX and every sewer line was dug up and replaced with PVC. I did the demo and the plumbers did the skilled stuff. After two weeks, I feel like the plumbers and I have fought some battle together! And Won!
Late Summer Mowing - DeanoFarms Week 122
I let the pasture grow all spring and summer this year and mowed everything down in late summer (mid-September). My plan was to get some seeds (from the plants that had gone to seed) to germinate in the rain that came in right as I finished mowing. I could get used to mowing only twice a year. Letting nature do my work for me this past year. #deanofarms
Replacing 30-Year-Old HVAC In Spooky Attic
The upstairs HVAC seemed to be working but I didn't want to face a dreadful TN summer with a 30+ year old relic that looked like it might go at any moment. So I got proactive and our first capex project was to replace the system. I figured I'd hang out in the attic for a while beforehand. Who knows what is up there after 130+ years!
I'm Gonna Go Under The House (This Old Dean House)
In the spirit of "I'd never ask anyone to do for me what I'm unwilling to do myself" I decided I'm going to go under the house. I got all suited up for entry into the tiny (very tiny) crawl space door and go under our 130 year old house. I'm doing this BEFORE the army of workers go under there and stay for the next several weeks. Did I succeed? Or did I chump out?
Cannon Fire at Fort Pulaski and Fort Jackson (Savannah, GA)
We hit Savannah, GA and our first two stops were forts! Fort Pulaski is a very pretty "moated fort" that got messed up and has the scars to show for it. Then we made it over to Fort Jackson (dodging lightning and mosquitos) to see them fire a cannon. BOOM!
The US government ran a $2 trillion deficit over the past year. This money was printed from thin air. We are up to a monstrous $36 trillion national debt right now. BTW…I promise it is very hard for you to truly understand how much a ‘trillion’ is. We are not wired to think in trillions (or even billions).
Bitcoin recently crossed $100k per coin. It is now worth around $2 trillion dollars. Not huge in the grand scheme of things (but also not tiny).
Regardless of what you think about these facts, I believe they are both important to ponder. I believe they impact your wealth (your stored life force).
I studied finance in college and have studied money, macro, finance, and investing for thousands of hours over the past 30+ years. I’ve studied Bitcoin, specifically, for a couple of thousand hours over the last several years. I feel like I understand it well.
If you want to understand how to be in control of your life force (ie wealth) I’d encourage you to watch this movie, God Bless Bitcoin.
This movie sums up everything I’ve ever learned perfectly. It is VERY well done and factually correct. If you want to learn about Bitcoin (and money in general) spend an hour and a half here.
If you’ve only ever thought about Bitcoin for a few minutes it might sound like ‘magic internet money’ or even a scam. If you’ve studied it further you will probably come to realize it is something more.
Open-source money that is available for everyone and is backed by the cryptographic wall of energy of the world’s largest and strongest computer network. A peer-to-peer monetary network that is getting larger and stronger every day.
Join the peaceful revolution and take your life back from a system that is stacked against you. Store your wealth in a system where every single person lives by the same rules (and no one can print more of what you work to earn).
Bitcoin! WAGMI!
Removing 900 Pounds Of Old Carpet (This Old Dean House)
Our first chore in our old house was to get rid of all the carpet. It wasn't as old as the house but it was definitely old. There was also a lot of it! Max helped me and took over the project (and my YouTube channel) until I got finished with some meetings. Molly and Emily joined us and together we got it all removed before we moved in. That was the goal! When it was all said and done it weighed in at 900 pounds.
This Old Dean House - Indoor Renovation List
Just making the list of everything you want/need to do in the renovation/restoration of a 130+ year old house is a big job. Getting two people to agree on the list (and the order) is another big job. We already agreed on most things. Of course, we have completely different ideas in some places. We go room by room and hash it out. It'll be interesting to look back in a few years to see the progress (against what we thought going in).
This Old Dean House - What Happened To The Barndo?
I don't often let a project defeat me. But...sometimes...I stop being stubborn and let things be. With the Barndo project, there were too many things telling me the direction we were heading was the wrong direction. So, the This Old Dean House project took the slot of the Barndominium project. We are keeping the farm so I might revisit the Barndo project in a year or two with a much scaled-down version, but it has been mothballed for now. Onward with This Old Dean House!
Big ol gap is gonna shake out some new “HODL’ers”
Bet!
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