Karl Grau wrote:I'm digging the 2x4s that are actually 2 inches by 4 inches. Did the house originally have knob and tube electrical?
Actually the lumber is true 2" thick but is 3 1/2" in the other dimension (a pretty fat 3 1/2", but clearly not 4"). The wall between the Laundry and the Closet behind it was framed with 2x3's which are almost square: 2"x2.5". Those studs dense, heavy Douglas Fir which have been baked and dried in the walls over the last 86 years. They are hard as rock.
The wiring is/was all in 1/2" black iron conduit; this house was obviously a higher quality build for the day. There were many things in this house that point to it being slightly more custom and having had a bigger budget behind it:
-Black Iron conduit & boxes (including in the detached Garage)
-Lighting: there were wall sconces everywhere in this house, the Living Room alone had 6 and even had a special project lamp which lit up the wall above the fireplace. When we bought the house and had it re-wired, the electricians found the projector still up there in the housing built into the vaulted ceiling (the house was remodeled in 1942 where a lot of sconces and this projector where covered over; date was confirmed when we pulled the newspaper out of one of the wall sconce boxes)
-High, coved plaster ceilings in all rooms (except the Kitchen)
-High vaulted ceiling in the large Living Room (13.5x22)
-Large Kitchen with attached Breakfast Nook with casement windows all around
-The Kitchen had some interesting features: namely a built-in trash chute with an opening in the tile countertop next to the sink. It emptied into a galvanized box under the counter with an access door to the outside. The hole in the counter had been covered over decades before we got this house, but they left the box there; when we installed a dishwasher, I removed it and the cabinet framing around it. The box still had the original sticker on it (what was left of it at least): it was made by the Acme Sanitary Company (or something like that) here in Los Angeles.
-Size: it's a 1,400 s.f. with only 2 Bedrooms; the Bedrooms are large (11x13 and 11.5x17) both with French Doors and Windows onto the rear yard. It has a large separate Dining Room with 8'-0" of French Doors onto the front porch
-True walk-in Closets for each Bedroom, each with small casement windows
-Hardwood flooring throughout except the Kitchen/Breakfast/Laundry which had Linoleum (always designed and built this way since they changed the sub-floor to 1 3/4" T&G planks). This alone is not uncommon for any house of this era, but is a high quality feature nonetheless (at least compared to track housing today). Some goes for the Bath with the 1" hex tiles on the floor.
-The Garage is an oversized one car (14x28) and had some kind of early version of drywall on the walls. It was thin and very brittle and had some kind of factory finish on it; I'm sure it was loaded with Asbestos and likely shortened my life when I took it down. I think I saw a tag on the back of a panel that marked it as being made here in Los Angeles; this house seems to have been a testbed for a lot of local specialty fittings.
It was built well and has stood the test of time including being moved across town, they even moved the garage with it.
Here is the complete photo folder of both the Living Room and ongoing Kitchen remodels:
http://s499.photobucket.com/user/vinceg ... %20Remodel
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In the process of screwing the edges back down, there was an arc and the floor ignited. After putting the fire out, I found not only the that the subfloor was laid incorrectly… but the romex was run through the gaps in the bottom layer. Ripped up all the subfloor and found more horrors. The PO added another electrical box in the attic for his new AC condenser. He must have run short on the 8 gauge wire so he joined it with some left over 12 gauge romex. Just wire nutted it together and wrapped in a wad of electrical tap as big as softball. 
Why folks do stuff like this and take shortcuts, I'll never know.
Drywall work looks well done. Last home re-no, we used venetian plaster in the rooms. I'm an ok drywaller, but the venetian plaster is more forgiving, though time consuming. 
Stone work is the best. Good, solid manual labor that leaves me feeling exhausted at the end of the day. Great mental exercise too finding the pattern with the stone and putting it together. My chisels and hammers will travel! 
