Ceilings

We removed the ceilings that were dropped sometime in the 60's to around 7' in height.  The ceiling framing you see in the picture below is approximately 10' high, which is what it was originally framed to be.  The gas lines were all still in the ceilings (covered in coal dust).

This is the kitchen, with the walls framed. 

The floor frame for the 2nd floor where was covered with plaster and lath, and they had shimmed the plaster all over the place.  As we took down the walls, many areas of the old plaster just crumbled and fell, so we made the executive decision to just remove it all.  This left us with some wonky, uneven floor joists to drywall, which would have been unsightly and really challenging.

After much debate with all of our contractor friends and going back and forth 100 times, Tim decided to frame a new ceiling, directly below the old ceiling.  We ran metal stud track horizontally around each room and then ran new ceiling joists from track to track.  It was just like framing the walls, only we did it in the horizontal plane instead of the vertical one. 

We are so thankful for everyone who came out to help us with this task, but this day was particularly busy as the electricians and plumbers were also there helping us get last minute stuff in right before the insulation came and covered it all up. 

View from the back staircase. 

This is the ceiling of the back staircase and the ceiling in the kitchen.  See what I mean about the original framing being out of level? 

View from the back of the house in the kitchen looking forward. Plumber on the right, Electrician in the middle wearing black, Sascha the amazing hired hand on the right. 

View from the front right corner looking back.