dirt floor

I need some help quick please, my mother passed away and left me her house. The house is very very old and has very uneven cement walls which I plan to wash down and paint. My problem is the floors. There is a larger room with a cement floor and then two smaller rooms with dirt floors. I am down there now cleaning it out and throwing things away but the smell is awful. The house is now rental property but I need to take care of those dirt floors. Is cement my only option and being a woman would i be able to do this job myself and make it at least look half way decent? Also, the ceiling shows all the beams and wires running thru am i better off to just paint it along with the walls? Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks so much for the help.

 

Pam,
It's sounds like you've taken on quite a project!

My grandmother lived in a house that still had dirt floors in several rooms. If memory serves, she sprinkled lime on the dirt to "sweeten" it then swept the lime around with a broom. Don't know if this really helped, but I do know that it made a lot of dust!

I really can't offer any advice on the floor situation or on what to do with the beams but I think that your first consideration when restoring a house this old is whether or not spending lots of time and money on it is going to pay off in the long run. If you spend, say 10,000, on fixing it up will you increase the sale price or the rental value enough to justify the expense? I've been in a similar situation and for me, the numbers just didn't add up. (My old house is living a second life as a hay barn.)Of course, if you're looking to fix the house up and keep it for sentimental reasons all the "economics" can be thrown out the window! : )

Hope it all works out well for you!
Pegdot