The Joys of The Drayer

A house built in 1873 has some amazing qualities. Twelve inch base board. High ceilings.  Original floors and stained glass.  It's striking.  And the history. Oh! The history!!! If these walls could talk.  What did the Drayers do for fun?  And did they eat dinner in the dining room often?  And what about Alice the ghost?.....

It also has its challenges. Repairs and maintenance keep us busy.

Here's the latest.....

Over the last few weeks we noticed a sag in the upstairs hallway. The sag then became what appeared to be a hole, with the only thing keeping an "unsuspecting middle of the night bathroom run ending up in the dining room below" was the glorious 1984 aquamarine carpet.

Today, I could take it no more. I needed to know how bad the damage was beneath the carpet. Moreover I was concerned there were bigger structural issues.

This is what I found. Sigh. Looks like hallway carpeting has moved its way up the priority

The beautious aquamarine carpet is at the bottom of the pic.  The suspecting sag is dead center.

Here's why it's sagging.  A board used to cover what I suspect used to be a ventilation port was toe-nailed in.  TOE NAILED PEOPLE!!!  Really?  Did the seriously think that would hold?  On second thought...I guess it did since 1984.  [rightly humbled]  Also note that beautiful original floor.  A peak a bit further reveals sub-floor butted right up against it to complete the look.  boo!

Here's the hole.  It's about16 inches deep.  WHOA~!~~

Welp, looks like hallway carpeting just moved its way up the priority list.