As usual, we had one step backward yesterday, but luckily there were literally 6 different crews working yesterday so we had many other steps forward
My carpenter is starting to frame and set all the windows and doors. There was an existing door in the middle bedroom that goes out to the small stairs into back yard. As he was framing that in for a new door, he tore apart the door jam and found live termites and a lot of rotted wood around the door. This is because the prior owner probably opened up that area and put in a doorway (not original to the house). There was no flashing or sealant around the door and water had been getting into all the wood around the door. Had to tear everything out and he is rebuilding the joists, subfloor and door jam around that doorway. But, for such an old house that is only the 3rd area that we have found wood rot or termites. The posts around the old deck were rotted and had live termites, most of the window sills around the vinyl replacement windows in living room were rotted (no termites) because whoever did the vinyl retrofit windows did an absolutely horrible job… no sealant around windows at all. And this is the third area. Since we have torn everything apart, we are pretty sure there isn’t one bit of wood rot or termites left in the house
Framing crew set all of the thick ply sub floor on the top floor and finished on Friday. This floor goes down first before we start building all the walls upstairs.
Deck crew blocked for the decks above and set the posts and set the sub floor for the new decks
Drywall crew came and finished hanging all the drywall in the old and new garage area downstairs. They were done by 2:30pm. I love it when a professional crew comes in and just gets it done! Next week they will tape, mud and texture everything. We still don’t look beautiful down in the old garage area because the original concrete stem walls are dirty and stained. The drywall comes down the top half of the walls and then we have to tie into the old concrete stem walls
Another guy set up planks and crawled up the dumbwaiter shaft and got the 5/8" fire rated drywall installed inside the dumbwaiter shaft
Electrician has pulled all the wire for outlets, switches and lighting in the main floor addition area. He still has about one more day to set light boxes and do the wiring for the laundry room
And the heating guys were busy trying to cut out areas where large heating ducts are going to run from the main furnace to the new addition. Because of the heating ducts we have to install 2x4 drop ceilings in the pantry area at the top of the stairs, hallway and the three bathroom areas have dropped ceilings. So the pantry and hallway will have ceilings about 8 1/2 ft tall and the bathroom area will have ceilings about 9ft tall. Every other room in the main floor addition will have 10ft tall ceilings including the laundry room, bedrooms and closets. We have to do some kind of dropped ceiling in the staircase up from the garage, but I’m going to figure that out later.
Seeing those views from the second floor make me wish you could have put in that widow’s walk with 360 degree views above the wires! But it will be spectacular enough from the second floor - I can see why the guys go up there for lunch!
Yes, there are 45 cabinet boxes, scribe molding, crown molding and toe kick stacked into the dining room area. I have to get those all installed into the kitchen before the flooring crew can start patching, sanding and refinishing the existing hardwood floors.
The dirty concrete walls are going to get washed with TSP solution, then I’m going to paint the ones that have dirt behind them (eastern side) with Drylok moisture paint and then they are just going to get primed out. There shouldn’t be any more moisture in the future because there is a large french drain system behind those walls. Since we purchased the place there has never been a damp or humid feeling or smell down in the basement or old garage. That could change if there ever was a lot of rain, but hoping the french drain system will take care of everything.
Two more inspections today. Drywall inspection in garage area where he checks that there are enough screws set and insulation inspection in existing house/kitchen area. The insulation inspection will let us finish up the drywall in kitchen and the existing house
The east wall is getting built on top floor.
The prior owner’s brother came by again to take pictures to show his sister. He loves everything we are doing to the house
Just got my first piece of real mail in our makeshift mail box in the alley. One of our CCers sent me a 10% Lowes coupon!! They always come in handy and I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
Thanks to you all for your support, great suggestions and going on this huge journey vicariously.
That’s so nice about the prior owner’s brother. Validation feels good.
I’m impressed with what you and your team accomplish, despite the setbacks. We’ve had a small project under way here since January that was supposed to be done four months ago and there are still corrections needed. Our GC has never demonstrated your attention to details.
Here’s hoping the rest of your project goes smoothly!
Standing in Home Depot and I got a call from the Zoning Department guy in the City Building Dept. I panicked thinking we did something wrong and my permit was going to get cancelled or stopped.
He called to warn me that they have started to get calls from neighbors about the project. The team was joking last week that the neighbors were going to wake up now that we have our posts sticking up on top floor. Another neighbor came over and told my carpenter that someone came down alley in car and was taking pictures in the back.
Anyway, he said that he told the neighbor (didn’t catch if it was plural or just one) that they are welcome to come into the department and review plans. He wanted to just do a courtesy call to warn me to make sure contractor followed the plans
So I rush back to project in a panic and went through measuring every height elevation. Because our garage ceiling ended up much lower than the plans (in order to tie in to existing main floor) we are actually running 10-12 inches lower than the total height on plans. Plenty of fudge room. In fact I’m thinking of raising top floor ceilings from 8ft to maybe 8’6" but it will upset the framers who just set first wall at 8ft
Because the height is such a critical issue in this neighborhood, I need to be careful. I think I can raise maybe 6" higher and still be under the height on my approved plans. I am planning to have vaulted ceilings, so maybe I can just adjust the slope of the roof trusses to be higher with a nice high vault.
Since the neighbors are getting suspicious…I think I would err on the side of conservative. The views from up top are great. I just can’t see what another foot of ceiling height will do.
It’s Not even a foot, just 6or 8". for 6" I wouldn’t change plans now. Wouldn’t it cost too much to get plans re-drawn and re-approved? I would Stick with what the city has signed off on and nobody can come back and sue.
Just so I could get myself really upset, I set a ladder up on the top floor and checked what the view would have been if I had thought to put 2 and 2 together and realized that we had a foot to spare after building out the garage down below. And then built the main floor ceilings even higher. Stepped up one foot and Wow Wow Wow. The house in front disappears out of the picture. Dang it! Oh well, it was analyzed very carefully from the main floor and I cannot do anything about it now.
Going up 8" will make a big difference, in my opinion. Obviously, I have no idea how much it would cost, abd can’t advise you there, but 8’8" ceilings will feel much more luxurious than 8’.