Soffits, and why I love my contractor.....

Soffits, and why I love my contractor....

August 21st -- The contractor stopped by early this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work.  He told me that he was getting antsy because he wanted there to be more progress on the house. Wow, I thought to myself, shouldn't I be the one telling that to him?   This is just one of the many reasons why I love my contractor.  He is eager to "close up the house," which means getting the windows into the addition along with installing the roof shingles, the siding, and the soffits.  More on soffits in a minute. 

 Also, he was waiting for the architect to stop by because he was concerned about whether the view from the windows in the gathering room would be obstructed by the overhangs (soffits).  He was concerned about whether the windows should actually be lowered about 2 inches.  Really?  Wow.  It turns out that the two windows in question are on the southwest corner and given the concerns I've had about how the blazing summer sun will overheat the gathering room, the architect designed the window overheads to help keep that room reasonably cool during the summer, but to also have good sun exposure during the winter when the sun is lower in the sky.  Ironically, it is my contractor who is always telling me that the architect is more OCD (than the contractor)!

Here is a photo of one of the two windows in the southwest corner of the gathering room and the overhang (soffit) in question.  This is what I saw when I got home, but I still don't know what they decided to do about the position of the windows.



Here is a view of the other window from outside the house and again the lovely soffit on the southwest corner of the gathering room addition.



         And here is the view of the soffit on the north side of the gathering room and the stairwell to the basement.

And here is a view of the back of the house with the soffits!  You will also notice that the second window in the upper level master bedroom has been cut (and the view from there is really something!).

Speaking of the stairwell, we now have treads!  When I asked my contractor if it was ok for me to go into the basement to do my laundry this weekend, he said yes, but cautioned me several times that these are temporary treads and that they can be very slippery if there is construction dust on them so that I have to be very, very careful.  Yes, another reason why I love my contractor.

 As I was walking out of the house this morning to get to my car, I saw my contractor talking on his cell phone and pulling weeds that had grown in the flowerbeds in the front of my house.  When he got off the phone, I thanked him for pulling these weeds for me, and he looked at me and said that he just can't help himself when he sees weeds growing within flower beds and he has to pull them.  OCD much?   And, that is yet one more out of what may seem like a bazillion reasons for why I love my contractor!

Stairs and windows, Part 1.....

Stairs and windows, Part 1.....

August 19th -- This is no doubt the first of several installments of what will be the story of stairs and windows.

Although the construction of the infamous basement stairwell was a focal point of the excavation and foundation efforts (which now seems like a long time ago), the stairwell has pretty much been neglected...that is, until today!  

The following series of photos show how the framers put in the joists for the landing, hung three stringers that define the rise (the vertical distance between each step) and where the treads will eventually be placed.  It is a bit difficult to see from these photos because there is some framing in the way, but there are three stringers.

 Here is a view, looking straight down into the stairwell that shows the third stringer that is obscured in the above photo.

Architects always think about things differently than the rest of us, and the architect for this project is no different.  Because the stairwell is on the north side of the house, he wanted very much for there to be ample and natural light.  At the top of stairwell landing is a window that faces west (see photo on the left) and along the north wall of the stairwell there will be cut outs for three windows (you can only see two of the cut outs in the photo on the right).  I am thinking that during the winter, I might be curled up in a comfy chair on the stairwell landing with a book, because the natural light will be killer!

Speaking of windows....the first shipment was delivered today!  Here they are stacked in the mudroom awaiting their installation.

 Finally, you might be wondering, like me, when the framing for the covered deck off the upper-level master bedroom would appear.  Well, here is a view of the supports needed for this feature, looking up from the floor of the gathering room addition. 

It turns out that constructing the covered deck off the master bedroom is no small feat as it must be waterproof and waterproofing this type of structure that is over a living space is much more complicated than it might initially seem....sort of like most of the features found in a house that I used to take for granted, but now have learned so much more about!

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.  

It was the best of times, it was the ......

It was the best of times, it was the.....

August 7 - 13 -- thank you to some very wonderful friends, I was able to leave the construction zone for almost a full week where I enjoyed sailing, a mail boat ride, wonderful conversation, great food, a fun walk in the pouring rain, and an escape from the every day challenges of life among the construction ruins. I really did not think about my home renovation once I was on the airplane and headed half-way across the country for a real vacation.

I was prepared that upon my return home, all but two rooms on the main level would be demolished, including the kitchen, pantry, bathroom (except for the claw foot tub), and a closet in the guest room.  This meant that the refrigerator would be moved from the kitchen into the current living room to join my temporary kitchen.  There would be no running water on the main floor, and there would be the most annoying thin, but persistent layer of construction dust (think plaster from the walls) everywhere.

What I was NOTprepared for, after a very long day of travel, was to find that sure enough the refrigerator was in the living room, but there was no power to it, although it was plugged into an outlet.  I was simply stunned.  I won't even attempt to describe the vile odor when I opened the refrigerator door from the obvious spoiled food.  Although there was power to the light fixtures, there was no power to any of the outlets, especially the one that the refrigerator was plugged into.  I was simply in a state of shock and dread.

In the freezer compartment were the meals I had prepared for this adventure, pesto cubes (homemade garden pesto poured into ice cube trays and then individually wrapped to form pesto cubes waiting to land on top of hot pasta), homemade garden tomato paste cubes, salmon caught by a friend in Alaska, ice cream, and I could go on and on.  About the only thing that survived in the rest of the refrigerator was several bottles of beer.  Eggs that broke during the refrigerator move were cracked and now dried on the refrigerator walls, lots of stuff had gone bad, and I was still in shock.  

I ran an extension cord from the upper level to the refrigerator, but it was too late to save the food.  I left a voice mail message for the contractor and sent an e-mail message expressing my disappointment about this turn of events.  I couldn't help but think that if I had not gone away on vacation I would not be freaking out about this mess.  My frustration level was pretty high, but there was nothing left to do but unpack my suitcase, set up my "alternative sleeping arrangement," and try to go to sleep.  

The next morning the contractor came over, and apologized for not checking the refrigerator by opening the door.  When the refrigerator was moved, plugged in and was working, he didn't think that he needed to check it again.  Apparently, in order to remove the appliances from the kitchen (double ovens, microwave, etc.), the circuit to the outlets in the electrical box was turned off and no one bothered to turn the breaker switch back on.  All the outlets, including the one the refrigerator was connected to in the living room, are on the same circuit.

I had found a cooler in the garage that was accessible, bought a 10 lb bag of ice and some milk so I could at least make my morning latte.  Of course, with no running water, it was a challenge to clean up, but another advantage of having a temporary kitchen in the living room is that it is located near the front door where there is a garden hose near the front of the house. 

While drinking my latte I began to plan how I would attack cleaning up the refrigerator. Fortunately, the microwave that was once over the cook top in my kitchen is now sitting on top of the refrigerator.  With the microwave I heated water to scrub down the refrigerator after I threw out just about everything from the freezer and fridge.  On the bright side, it was a short walk from the temporary kitchen in the living room to the construction dumpster in front of the house.  After about four hours of scrubbing, the smell of spoiled food was gone, the spoiled food was tossed out in the dumpster, and I began to face a run to the grocery store.  The shock was wearing off, but I would be lying if I wrote that I was back in my uber-zen mode.  This was a disappointing event that I did not anticipate, not to mention a giant pain in the butt in terms of several hundred dollars worth of food that was lost and my time spent on cleaning, rather than other things.

  

Right before I left for vacation, the rafters for the new master bedroom roof started to go up as shown in these photos, along with the walls of the new master bathroom.

When I returned, almost all of the framing for the upper-level addition was in place, including the roof.  The new north wall roof lines are pretty interesting, especially how the architect mirrored part of the existing roof line.  In this next photo, look below the sunflower to your left to see a shed dormer in the existing master bathroom and its extension (the wall with a small window cutout) that will be the new master bathroom.  There will be three small windows in the new master bathroom with the other two remaining to be cut out.  Below the extended shed dormer you can see the original roof line and how the new master bedroom dormer ties into that.  The master bedroom has a gabled dormer and in that big cutout will be a bank of three smaller windows.  At the right most edge of this photo you can see the door that faces west off the master bedroom that will lead to a small covered deck.  

Here are a few more photos showing the north-facing walls of the upper-level addition and the new interesting roof line.

Take a good look at the metal-capped chimney stack seen in the left-hand part of this photo -- that stack will come down when the load-bearing wall that it is a part of will be moved to enlarge the guest bedroom on the main level. 

Here is a view of the back of the house, as it faces west.

An interesting aspect of this new framing is the view from inside, that will eventually be covered up by wall board to hide the wiring, plumbing, and insulation.  The craftsmanship that goes into the framing is really something as shown by these next photos.  

I am pretty much over the shock of the refrigerator disaster.  In the end, the contractor is giving me a $250 credit to cover the spoiled food.  Technically, he didn't have to do this, but as I've written before, he is a good person who ends up doing the right thing.  By tomorrow, the rest of the roof overhangs and framing should be done.

Walls up and down

Walls Up and Down....

August 5th -- Walls are around us all the time and we really don't notice them until they aren't there anymore or when they suddenly appear, seemingly out of nowhere.  In the next week or so, there will be lots of walls coming down that have stood for 110 years and even more walls that will be brand new.

Here is a new wall that faces north that is part of the new master bedroom -- there will actually be three small windows framed into that big opening.

The studs and rafters that were part of the original master bedroom are no more and instead there are some temporary support beams because the south side of the roof will be integrated into the new addition design, while what was left of the original bedroom walls on the north side and the eaves have disappeared.

Here is the framing for what will be the new north walls for the new master bathroom.

 Two of the three high windows that will bring light into the stairwell into the basement have been cut out.

 This view from the back of the house shows the west and north walls of the upper-level addition and also the sub-floor for the deck that will be off the master bedroom (the door from the bedroom to the deck is behind that long board).

Finally, for those of you who have asked about my "alternative sleeping arrangement," here you go...this is the 4" pad with sheets and my "sleepy time" pillow case.  A comfy little sleeping nest at the end of another day.

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The Weather Channel Lies and More not-so Good Vibrations

The Weather Channel Lies and More not-so Good Vibrations.....

August 4th -- Just when I thought it was safe....the Weather Channel predicted 0% chance of precipitation until it increases to 30% at 10:00pm -- well, they were just flat out WRONG

We just had a torrential downpour, but unlike last night it only lasted for about 20 minutes. Nevertheless, more rain....just when everything had finally dried out from last night, of course!

Here is the view of my street, with the second and third shots showing the rain starting to flood the gutters.

Ugh, more water is pooling on the second-floor sub-flooring.

The bucket is filling up again....

 Actually more buckets are filling up again....

 

 Water is pooling on the first floor addition again...

 And, in the middle of all of this rain, I hear this really weird noise, like water running inside the house.  So, off I go to investigate and I discover that the downstairs toilet tank is cracked, the carpet is soaked, and there is water on the floor. This can only be explained by more vibrations, right?  I mean seriously how does a toiiet tank that has probably been in the house for over 50 years just decides to crack and leak at this particular time?   

I shut off the water supply and laugh, because hey, this toilet will be replaced soon and I'm back in full-out uber-zen mode!  

Oh well, I'm off to sweep the pooling, standing water off the main floor addition -- a little post-dinner exercise never hurt, right?  Right?


The Weather Channel now reports 0% chance of rain for the rest of the evening.  If it rains again tonight, I am so done with you, Weather Channel!