Small 1930’s Cottage Old Original Wood Siding Surprisingly Discovered
Our small 1930’s cottage old original wood siding was surprisingly discovered while we were renovating this fixer upper.
We did not expect this discovery as we weren’t aware the original siding was still on the house and preserved underneath the current siding. Yay, more old treasures to uncover and salvage!
BATHROOM RENOVATION DESIGN PLANS
I’m still stuck on the design of our bathroom and placement of things. In the last blog, I mentioned how Nate had the toilet plumbed right under the window and that just didn’t sit well with me.
Because when you’re going up to the window, you don’t want a toilet in your way. You want to enjoy the window, don’t you think?
Nate placed one of the new windows that we purchased, the toilet, and the sink in the bathroom area as placeholders to see how we liked them where they were or if we needed to move them around.
FRAMING DESIGN PLANS
Now Nate was working with the framers to determine where to place doors and the water heater. He decided to place the tankless water heater up in the attic to give us more room down below in the living area of the house.
He also worked by himself to remove the old heater system so that we could replace it with a new one that we would purchase. The heater is located up in the ceiling at what looks like almost the peak of the vaulted ceilings.
He took a ladder, climbed up, and started tinkering with it to remove all the parts. Gosh, I’m not sure how he even figured that out on his own. Looks like he just unscrewed it piece by piece to break it all apart and eventually remove the whole big thing.
INSTALLING COLONIAL STYLE WINDOWS
The framing contractors also worked to install the windows in our house for us. They did a lot to help us in a short time frame.
We purchased eleven windows for our small fixer upper all around the house. They were simple temporary ones from Home Depot that were a colonial style. It would be nice to find old wood windows one day to replace these. We’ve seen some come across Facebook Marketplace, but haven’t found the right size yet.
Since we live in a historic district, we have to get approval for any exterior changes that we want to make and that takes time as the heritage commission would need to approve them.
The preservation officer can approve updates and replacements of like kind and quality materials pretty quickly, so we went this route with the temporary windows that were similar to what was already on the house. But, they were definitely not original to the house in 1934.
OLD ORIGINAL SIDING – DUTCH LAP SIDING
Now that we have discovered old original wood siding on our small 1930’s cottage, it was time to begin working on it.
Nate was on the hunt to find old siding that matched our original one to replace some of the really damaged siding with new ones that were the same.
He searched many antique salvage yards and finally found a local lumber store that carried the same style of siding, which was labeled Dutch Lap and was displayed right above the Ship Lap siding.
I think most of us have heard of shiplap siding, which has been popularized in many modern farmhouse renovations. However, we have personally never heard of dutch lap siding before. Again, we are new to not only renovations, but also old historical construction materials and trends. Yet, we are learning so much about this world, which has been really fascinating.
As we have been involved with our heritage commission and preservation consultants for our area, we have come to really enjoy preservation efforts and the idea of finding old historic materials to salvage and restore our home with.
We know the modernization of these historical pieces have also become really popular, but we have been more drawn to the actual time period and making our house look like the era it was built in as much as possible. We still of course, enjoy modern amenities like our AC – especially here in the Texas heat!
DISCOVERING OLD ORIGINAL WOOD SIDING
Since we discovered old original wood siding on our 1930’s cottage, Nate began to work to remove the current siding to expose the original wood siding so that we could begin to repair that as well.
Wow, it was so cool to uncover the old original wood siding that was underneath the siding that was placed over it. Another gem and amazing treasure!
Again, as I mentioned above, we have to get approval from our heritage commission to make any exterior changes to our property. It only makes sense that we were approved to uncover the original siding of the house to continue the preservation efforts on this old gem.
ALL CONTRACTORS ON DECK – FRAMERS, ELECTRICIANS, AND PLUMBER
There was definitely a lot going on at the same time! We had the electricians coming out, the plumber, and framers to finish up installing the windows.
It was crazy to have them all at the house at the same time!
So now we’ve got the framers, electricians, and plumber at the house at the same time!
The plumber helps Nate put the tankless water heater up in the attic. It was a really heavy job they both did together. Thank goodness he had him to help out!
We were in a pinch to get everything at least semi-functional before we had to move in!
WORKING TO UNCOVER OLD ORIGINAL WOOD SIDING
Nate then removed the old siding from the house around the kitchen and laundry room windows.
He continued to uncover more old treasures as he peeled away the current siding from our house. When he was working on the front of the house, he found the original wood that framed the front porch as well! Such amazing gem finds! The ones that we have oh so wonderfully uncovered and are preserving all over the house.
The framers installed the first pieces of new siding that matched the old original siding to repair that area.
Nate was getting ready to call in our first inspection for plumbing, electric, and framing. Then we would work on the insulation and drywall to get ready to move into the house in just a few short days from then!
Psalm 90:17
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic home mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!
You can also watch a video about this here.
To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.
HIGH VAULTED CEILINGS? 🤔 | HUSBAND PLUMBS THE TOILET WHERE?! 😬
Wow! Such a great find!
Thank you! It really is 🥰
Wow! What a neat surprise. I want an older home so badly. Something about all the hard work and love you put into a place to make it a home makes the house so much more charming (and the hard times always make for good stories and lessons learned later!)
You are so right about that! 🥰 We also love all the stories that we hear from our neighbors when it comes to all the work they’ve poured into their even older homes in our neighborhood. Such beauties for sure, these older historic homes! I hope you find your own gem of an older home one day! ☺️
I’m intimidated by your hardwork. We had considered buying a fixer upper when we were first married that would’ve been an amazing opportunity to flip but it would’ve been a nightmare. I admire your work and dedication
Haha.. thanks! ☺️ We never intended to buy a fixer upper, it all just happened so quickly and we had to jump on the opportunity – location, location, location! It has been challenging, but also worth it.