projects on the go
This is a house built in 1906 at 1403 3 Ave. N., Coalbanks (later to become Lethbridge), AB, Canada. It was the same year the Lethbridge Viaduct (commonly called the High Level Bridge) was built. It is one of the only two-storey houses built in the area. It’s been added on to three times but still maintains its original look. I bought the house in Dec. 2021 as a rental property. It has a 3-bedroom suite on the main floor and a one-bedroom on the second. This blog is an account of all that we (FT and I) have done to make it rentable. Read about the main or 2nd floor (“up”) by going to that category. Comments are welcome (but moderated)!
In mixing concrete for the side patio, we hooked the hose up on west the side of the house. It looks like it was put in in the 1950s. The faucet leaks continually when turned on. Since the main floor kitchen sink is now against an exterior wall, I think we should put in a new frost-free hose bib there. It only makes sense to put it there as it would be more central to the rest of the property (grass, shrubs, potential garden).
Cleanup didn’t take long. We piled it all on the trailer, along with refuse from 520, to be hauled to the landfill.
It doesn’t look clean, you say? You should have seen it before.
My left knee is sore. Bounding up and down the dirt ‘steps’ to the basement is a chore. One cannot simply walk upstairs to the main floor with a bucket of dirt as there are no real steps.
So FHT and I build some stringers. The first one has cracks in it but seems to be stable.
With the second one, on the other hand, steps actually broke off in my hand. Splits in the wood made it impossible to keep stable steps in place, let alone have them bear weight. HFT suggested we add supports to the side of the stringer rather than abandoning the stringer altogether. (No pic yet. I’ll post later.)
In the mean time, we unloaded the remaining gravel into the sidewalk hole, wrapped up the cement bags, and worked below on another support beam. (Pics later.)
The support beam was a challenge. It simply refused to go into place. It eventually did. We need that beam there to cut out and replace the rotten one along the edge of the house.
Next: dig more dirt out to fit in the stringers. More knee-breaking work.
Two days ago we rented an electric jack hammer and gasoline-powered auger, so I bored a hole what I thought was 2 feet deep. It turns out to only be about 18″ deep. Good enough for a footing, considering it is now about 30″ long! Trying to keep at a reasonable length using a shovel was a challenge as it was all sand and collapsed in. I augured this. (Get it? Auger, augur? Look it up.)
So now I have a 12″ by 30″ by 20″ deep footing. It is long enough to place two teleposts atop it – one permanent, one temporary while the rest of the corner of the building is exhumed.
It will likely take a month of Sundays to cure. I should put a thermal camera on it to see if any reactions are going on within it. In the mean time, before any other digging and removing of slumped soil happens, we wait, as this is where the next beam will be placed.
I finally got a piece of glass for the front porch of the house. The roofing company accidentally broke the window as they were throwing down refuse from the old roof. The same guy who came to tell me, on a different day, that he put his foot through the ceiling of the porch also told me about the broken glass.
I told them not to worry about it as I had another pane in the basement, but it turns out someone else broke that one. $25 later, it is now replaced. Needs putty though.
My neighbour pointed this out to me. He thought maybe I poked the roof up from down below in the ceiling. Nope, not me. What’s happening here? Why is this poking up from the roof?
Update: It turns out the last guy there told his boss that the roofing project had been finished. It wasn’t. There wasn’t even a cap on the peak!
As the roofers were completing their project – the last roof surface was the front porch – one of them fell partially through the roof and ceiling below due to rotten boards. Three rows of ceiling tongue-and-groove boards were broken or detached from the roof rafters. Along with the boards came chunks of planks that used to be the roof sheathing, 120 years of dust, new roofing material, and plant debris. Yes, plants were growing in their at one point.
I reattached the boards today with wood screws. It ain’t pretty, but it will suffice for now.
Next: the broken window. I’m still waiting to hear back from the window shop.
I’ve planned for a while to have the chimney removed. I’m surprised it took so much money to do it, but these guys did work hard. It will take two days.
The work begins inside and out, including a roof patch.
Have a look at the pictures.
1/20/2025 9:51 AM 3271853 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_095118 chimney removal begins.jpg 1/20/2025 9:52 AM 3799148 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_095246 chimney removal roof patch.jpg 1/20/2025 11:34 AM 3077708 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_113411 chimney removal to ceiling.jpg 1/20/2025 12:36 PM 3057036 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_123650 chimney removal half-way.jpg 1/20/2025 12:46 PM 3605206 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_124654 chimney removal nearly to floor.jpg 1/20/2025 3:44 PM 2389340 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_154427 chimney removal hole in ceiling.jpg 1/20/2025 3:44 PM 3546133 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_154430 chimney removal down to floor.jpg 1/20/2025 4:47 PM 2651504 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164735 chimney removal down to floor, walls.jpg 1/20/2025 4:47 PM 3079132 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164740 chimney removal down to floor.jpg 1/20/2025 4:47 PM 2671003 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164745 chimney removal roof patch.jpg 1/20/2025 4:48 PM 3063430 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164815 chimney removal workers' tools.jpg 1/20/2025 4:48 PM 2492423 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250120_164819 chimney removal coats.jpg
Tomorrow: first floor.
1/20/2025 4:50 PM 2364196 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB main 20250120_165017 panels removed for chimney removal.jpg 1/20/2025 4:50 PM 2912182 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB main 20250120_165026 panels removed for chimney removal.jpg
I met a Structural Engineer today. We had a look at various parts of the house to determine why there is such a slope in the east half of the structure. We have determined:
So, to correct this, most likely:
I will open up the floor in the 2nd storey to expose more of those cut-through timbers and email him pictures.
I did a brief laser level check. (The laser should be 1-5/8″ above the floor, from my measurements. Funny – nothing in the manual stating this.) This shows that, in about 4 feet, the floor dips down about 2-1/16 inches. Wow!
FT & I worked a little on the floor framing on the shed today. I added the top sheathing of the partition wall. Rene saw me holding the sheathing up and looking down at my screws & driver. He helped hold it up whilst I fastened it to the framing. It doesn’t quite meet the top, but it is a shed.
Cripples are hung on blocking where the 1/2″ plywood meet.
Then came landscape fabric and shovelling of the drainage gravel to fill in the gaps.
I was able to fit all of Rene’s stuff (carts & all) into his half of the shed. Finally, no shopping carts in the yard!
Then came the fun part! Power washing!
We began washing the fence, too, in preparation for paint.
5/22/2022 10:38 AM 2763964 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_103839 shed sheathing partition.jpg 5/22/2022 11:00 AM 2176716 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_110040 shed framing partition.jpg 5/22/2022 11:00 AM 2348728 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_110044 shed framing partition.jpg 5/22/2022 11:00 AM 2957841 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_110052 shed framing partition.jpg 5/22/2022 12:22 PM 2649116 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_122242 shed floor framing cripple.jpg 5/22/2022 12:37 PM 3723247 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_123756 shed front drainage gravel.jpg 5/22/2022 12:38 PM 2522210 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_123806 shed front drainage gravel.jpg 5/24/2022 9:19 AM 2582597 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133203 shed storage.jpg 5/22/2022 1:32 PM 2436052 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133218 shed storage.jpg 5/24/2022 9:20 AM 8180540 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133230 shed partition, storage.jpg 5/22/2022 1:32 PM 6877176 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133249 shed storage panorama.jpg 5/22/2022 1:33 PM 2186522 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133323 shed Rene's carts.jpg 5/22/2022 1:33 PM 2550477 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_133328 shed Rene's stuff.jpg 5/22/2022 3:08 PM 3937090 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_150810 shed power wash.jpg 5/24/2022 9:22 AM 4185669 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_150816 shed Floyd power wash.jpg 5/22/2022 3:08 PM 3944408 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_150823 shed Floyd power wash.jpg 5/22/2022 3:09 PM 1713196 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_150948 shed Floyd power wash, Allan.jpg 5/22/2022 3:09 PM 4157299 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_150957 shed power wash.jpg 5/22/2022 4:17 PM 3933268 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_161704 shed Floyd power wash.jpg 5/22/2022 5:13 PM 4247196 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_171356 fence power wash.jpg 5/22/2022 5:14 PM 3214361 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB 20220522_171400 shed power washed.jpg
