In this video update, check out the renovation progress on the ground floor. Plaster came down on the walls and ceilings and the electrician and plumber arrived to start marking the walls for future outlets and pipes.
What You See in the Video
- See how the rooms on the ground transformed as most of the old plaster was removed.
- The new doorway was too low and needed a support beam installed to raise the height.
- The electrician and plumber arrived to mark where things needed to be roughed in.
- I finally got a look inside the outhouse in the courtyard!
The Story Behind-the-Scenes
From the beginning, the plan was to expose as much brick as possible. A lot of the old plaster needed to come down because it was peeling and damaged and we’d gotten used to seeing the walls like this. So with the brick exposed, the rooms looked completely fresh even though there was obvious work to do to repair sections of the brick.
What I was most excited about was finally seeing the bricks in the barrel vaulted ceilings that had been covered in plaster. We had been holding our breaths to see what they looked like because there was no guarantee they’d be in good condition. But as luck would have it, they were even redder and more beautiful than we imagined…and that was before any sandblasting!
The rooms on the left side of the ground floor were trickier. The plaster was moisture damaged and the builder removed as much as possible. What you don’t see in the video is that we knew there was a chance we’d have to rethink exposing the brick on this side.
After years of damage, the bricks weren’t in great shape visually and some of the plaster was going to be too hard to remove without doing more damage to the bricks. But we also knew that putting plaster on these walls could be a risk if we couldn’t find and stop more moisture from coming in.
No decisions needed to be made at that point so we let the work continue to see what might develop.
Where To Next?
See all the renovation updates in order by heading back to this renovation journey page.
Or watch more now using the navigation links below.
Previous update: Renovation Surprise: Balcony Redo
Next update: Renovation Update Part 5: Walls & Brick Restoration
