Old Sink Removal

Today we removed the old 1950s era Sears sink in the original kitchen of the house in preparation to remove layers of flooring including cheap stick-on tiles from the 1990s on top of thin sheets of luan flooring, and what appears to be yet another layer of cheap floor covering to expose the original floor, and also so that the lead paint can be treated on the trim, and the walls repaired.

I knew that there was significant rot beneath the sink but I was surprised to see the extent of the damage, caused by probably decades of neglect which had caused severe rot to a main support beam, baseboard, flooring, wall studs and plaster.  You can easily see straight through to the basement!  Now I know why they had nailed big pieces of metal sheeting to the wall and floor behind the sink fixture.

I also removed a hideous lighting fixture which was wired up with old armored cable (the cable that replaced primitive knob & tube wiring) which contains two conductors (it is hence ungrounded) of copper wire covered with rubber and fabric insulation with a metal outer jacket.  Since I've found no evidence of knob & tube in our house, this is likely the original electrical wiring installed in our house, circa 1930s!

Next plumbing / demo project…  removing the old bathroom toilet, sink and bath tub!