Out with the old, and in with the .....

Out with the old, and in with the...

August 16 - 18th -- With the trauma of the refrigerator episode behind me, I'm in a much better place to chronicle the next phases of this renovation.  It is never easy taking photos of interiors, but here is an attempt for what will be future "before" and "after" comparisons.

First up, here is the old refrigerator and microwave in the temporary kitchen in the living room. Notice a few sunflowers in a jar on the table to the right as an attempt to lift my spirits!




Here is the view when I open the door from the front foyer -- originally there was a bedroom, a closet, a bathroom, a pantry and then the back of the house.  Now, with all those rooms demolished what you see is the door to the back of the house where the pantry used to be.

This shot shows the original brick walls of the house where there was a closet adjacent to the downstairs bathroom.

 Here is the famous original claw foot tub from 1903 that will be moved, re-glazed and will be the centerpiece of the downstairs guest bathroom with all sorts of cool new plumbing fixtures.

This is a view of the door that went from the guest bathroom into the kitchen, which always struck me as an odd design feature.  Again, the lath and plaster construction and the original framing can be seen.

 Here is a view of the south wall of the kitchen with everything ripped out.  The window opening will remain and the wall at the right will be opened up as part of the new kitchen design.

 This will be the only remaining part of the original kitchen, which was a fir built-in cabinet, which the architect calls a "Hoosier" cabinet, but I think that term is best reserved for natural wood, more detailed fancy built-in cabinets.  The very simple kitchen cabinet below is typical of the Victorian farmhouse.

Old houses are notorious for revealing unanticipated surprises during demolition, and this one is no different.  When walls were being demolished on the main level, this heat run, which connected the original gravity heater in the basement to a heating vent in the master bedroom on the upper level, reared its ugly head -- ugly only because it might be wrapped in asbestos tape.  Because we are not sure, we have ordered an inspection to determine what material the tape is made of so that we will know how to safely remove the heat run and to determine the best mitigation strategy.  Stay tuned....  

As the framing crew continues to work on the roof line overhangs, you can see in the next series of photos and just how interesting the new roof lines will be.  This shows the original back of the house, the framed stairwell to the basement (which is the appropriate 5-foot setback from the property line to the north, unlike the original house) and then the west facing back wall of the gathering room addition.

 Here is another view of the west-facing back of the house where the framing on the overhangs can be seen.  There is still another window to be cut out on the upper-level master bedroom and the covered deck that the upper-level doorway leads to has yet to be framed in.

 This view shows the interesting room lines from the north side of the house.  Again, there are two more windows to be cut out of the wall for the master bathroom (below the stack that will be removed).

The roof has pretty much been covered with felt.  In the weeks to come the three layers of roof shingles and two layers of cedar shingles that cover the roof on the original part of the house will be removed.  The exposed rafters will be covered with plywood and after the felt is laid down, state of the art "bullet-proof" shingles (as the contractor calls them) will be laid down (bullet-proof as in 'hail-proof' so that I can get a discount on my homeowners insurance).  Once the exterior of the house is "closed up," then the interior framing of the new walls will begin along with plumbing rough-in valves, electrical fixtures and outlet wiring and plumbing fixtures.