While I Was Away
Posted on April 9, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on While I Was Away
I was in the office in Illinois today, so I wasn’t able to peek out from time to time to watch the construction progress. (We’re living in the flat next door during construction, which is quite convenient.) It was fun to come home this evening and see that all of the first-floor exterior walls are up.
First floor
Evening Things Out
Posted on April 8, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Evening Things Out
In the since-demolished monster house, the floor of the Burger King addition was higher than the floor of the old part of the house, so former owner Gene tried (unsuccessfully) to make everything level using his Portland cement technique. In the new house, the floor over the garage was quite a bit lower than the floor over the basement, so the crew spent most of today evening things out.
This elminates the need for a step down from the foyer to the living room, which would have put a kink in my plans to roller skate in the house. As a bonus, we’ll have a fairly thick layer of insulation between the garage ceiling and the living room floor. Briar will appreciate that.
Engineering magic
Taking Shape
Posted on April 7, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Taking Shape
I’ll see your wall…
Hooray!
And raise you three more. (The fourth is behind the camera.)
That's the kitchen on the left.
Here’s another angle from earlier in the day.
Northeast side
Of course, there was still some demolition left. Paul (the friendly demolition man) was back today to take out the front stoop with his Mini Giant.
Rubble
Electric Bugaboo
Posted on April 7, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Electric Bugaboo
Our assigned city electrical inspector has been…oh, what is the opposite of helpful and communicative? Whatever you come up with, add some bleeps for me. (My mom’s reading this.)
He won’t return our electrician’s calls, doesn’t speak to anyone on the site, and has been nitpicking every little thing. He made our electrician come back today to install a light in the basement because it was “too dark.” The men who were working in the basement thought that was rather funny, considering that there are seven windows around the room and a door-sized opening in the east wall.
Judge for yourself. This is around 6 p.m.
Help! I can't see!
Clean Slate
Posted on April 6, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Clean Slate
I spoke too soon.
Today, demolition continued…
Whatever you do, save the shutters!
To its ultimate end:
Zero-story home with two-car garage
Which makes me:
Happy (and dorky looking)
Love That New-Wood Smell
Posted on April 3, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Love That New-Wood Smell
The first floor deck for the north side of the house was completed today. So, now if it snows again, at least they won’t have to shovel out the basement.
First floor from north
Earlier in the day, Sam the Foreman was moving a large pile of decking material closer to the north side of the house. There was a minor mishap.
If only forklifts had thumbs
No harm done. They piled everything up again and successfully moved it to where it needed to go. A few hours later, the decking was in place.
Now we have a roof over our basement, which feels surprisingly spacious without all of the cobbled-together beams and lally columns.
New floor coming soon
For the sake of comparison, this is what the basement used to look like. It formerly served as lair of the dreadful octopus, the second-creepiest furnace I’ve ever seen. (Creepiest.)
It can't hurt you anymore
A Different Direction
Posted on April 2, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on A Different Direction
Today, we’re seeing construction rather than only destruction, which is really fun to see after days of chain-sawing and jackhammering.
Beams
Gene-gineering
Posted on April 1, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Gene-gineering
Today marked the beginning of the construction phase of the project. There is still some targeted demo to be done, but the fast-and-furious major-demolition crew has left the scene and now Sawfish Bob’s crew is on the ground. One of their first projects was to get rid of the old powder room floor that was on the Burger King–addition side of the house.
Tackling the powder room floor
It took longer than anticipated due to the mind-boggling construction tactics employed by the home’s former owner, Gene. I’m not going to say that he’s crazy, but he tried to level the floor in the old house by pouring over a ton of Portland cement on the floor, then gluing plywood over that. Also, he used duct tape as drawer handles in the kitchen for over 20 years. (Someday, when I have a lot of spare time, I’ll fill you in on all of the various and absurd details.)
Anyway, we now use the term Gene-gineering to refer to any kludge-y form of construction. Here’s an example from the powder room floor:
Frustration parfait
Here you see Gene-ius at work: layers of plywood, terrazzo, cement, epoxy, wire mesh—fastened to the Spancrete with giant bolts. This section weighs about 400 pounds. While the crew was trying to remove a larger piece, the forklift nearly pitched forward.
It was like he was building a bomb shelter. With a window.
House Parts
Posted on March 31, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on House Parts
Delivered today, somehow this—
Lumber
—will become this:
Front elevation
It seems improbable. Perhaps magic is involved.
Why Jim Always Says “No” to that Second Cup of Coffee
Posted on March 30, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Why Jim Always Says “No” to that Second Cup of Coffee
How come no one wants to spot me?
And here’s where we are at the end of day 4. We’re not sure why the beams were not removed, considering the basement is going to be excavated in preparation for a new concrete floor.
View from northwest