Family Room wall w/ paneling removed |
100% cotton insulation? |
Bought m first house this past Wednesday. This house was built in 1959, so it has a lot of interesting features like twin-lead outlets connecting to an old antenna in the attic, and 4-prong telephone outlets in every room. Cosmetically this house is still in the 60s, so I have quite a bit I want to do before I move in two weeks from now.
The first thing on my list is to install CAT6 in all the rooms. I decided to start with the family room because:
1. Dark wood paneling on all the walls needs to go.
2. Ceiling is covered in ugly green acoustic tile. Tested it for asbestos and it was clear, so it's coming down.
3. By gaining access to the studs and joists in the family room, I can use this room to direct the CAT6 cables to all other rooms of the house.
So, today my dad and I started by removing some of the green ceiling tile, and pulled all the paneling off a wall. Behind the paneling we found cotton insulation (1 inch thick!). I can't say I've ever heard of this type of insulation before, and neither has my dad. At this point, I plan to pull it all out and replace it with fiberglass batts.
Still to do (in no particular order):
*Finish CAT6 install.
*Patch cracks in drywall caused by the foundation settling.
*Remove/drywall over laundry chute to the garage.
*Paint all rooms.
*Remove the wallpaper in every rooms that has it.
*Replace all 2-prong AC outlets with 3-prong.*
*Replace all 2-prong outlets in bathrooms with 3-prong GFI outlets.
*Decide what to do with the water heater (already have a thread for that here: »
Flush an old hot water heater?)
*Fix the pocket doors. This house has 3, and each one has something wrong with it.
*Install carpet in the family room and replace the carpet in the living room and dining room.
I'll post pics along with a status update as I move forward.
* Before half this forum jumps down my throat: The original wiring does in fact have live ground wires going to every electrical box. I just need to install self grounded outlets and I'm good to go.