Rotten wood and water damage.

Two weeks ago my husband had a few days off and we planned to tackle a new remodeling project in our house. Ever since we finished the repairs from the tree damage and then found more damage in this front room from leaking skylight windows, we have been planning a full renovation of our front family room. We have a problem with rotten wood and water damage in this room.

This is a renovation that will take some time because all of our money was allotted to the repairs from the tree damage. So be sure to come back and see how this room evolves over time.

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Our biggest goal for the weekend was to remove the nasty stained carpet from the front room and put down new laminate floors. This is what they will look like when we are done.

Here is a sneak peak at what the new floors will look like – please ignore the black wall! It will not look like this when we are done.

After accomplishing the new floor install, we were going to tackle the project of painting the black dark wood paneling on the walls and ceilings. What can I say, the 70’s were an ugly decade! Paint is a inexpensive way to get a new look.

My husband had some help – and resistance to removing the carpet. Shiloh just didn’t seem to like losing his comfortable carpet.

With Shiloh’s help this may take even longer.

We were thinking this would be a quick, budget friendly upgrade to this room before our son’s wedding in May when out of town family and guests would be here.

Some updates uncover other hidden problems that make a project longer to complete.

Once we started removing the carpet we discovered what we had suspected had been there all along underneath the old carpet – rotten wood floors, rotten floor joists, and rot and water damage to the back wall and window around the fireplace. It took removing to carpet to reveal just how much damage was underneath it all.

We knew before the tree incident that one of the skylights above the fireplace was leaking so that damaged floor section was expected. What we hadn’t fully grasped was that there was leaks around the flashing of the chimney and for some time water had been leaking into the wall and down to the floor joists in the corner. With a black paneled wall the water damage wasn’t visible at all.

My husband had been watching some rot damage develop outside the house on the window trim, which is also happening on the outside trim to our daughter’s bedroom, so he was already expecting to find more extensive damage once we started this project – so much more than I was. Evidently the rot to the floor and inside trim go through to the outside wall and trim, and below into the crawl space.

Which means we now must replace the entire back wall and buy two new windows to do this room correctly!

Some renovations are just going to take longer than you planned.

Not exactly how I wanted to spend some extra money in our budget right now, but this development is not a downer for me. I am actually excited about what we are now going to do in this room.

We are shifting gears and getting more of a remodel that I wanted in the first place. All smiles for me.

I am so looking forward to replacing this dated and dusty old track lighting. Seriously? Who thought it was a good idea to install track lighting at the 16 foot level of this ceiling. I can’t dust that high!

We have some gracious and wonderful friends in our Sunday School class that are adamant that we allow them to help out with this project once we are ready to remove the rotten floors, windows, and rebuild the wall. I know that part will be finished quickly in a day or so once we order the new windows. The next phase will take much longer.

After eight years of avoiding this front room because of the black rough paneling and the spiders who love dark corners hanging out even at the 16 foot ceiling height, I am finally getting what I wanted all along!

Honestly, I told my husband I didn’t care if it takes us until Christmas to finish this room because the new walls and ceilings will be worth the wait!