Post Christmas catch-up

Hi to all:

We had a lovely break from construction, escaping to Canaan Valley, West Virginia, where the wildlife and fireplace were highlights. We are back now, and posts will be coming just as fast and furious as the work progresses!

Before we left, Todd had most of the cabinets in place along the perimeter wall so granite templating could happen on December 28. When we returned, he had finished that part of it. We promptly put the new fridge in its spot, and then watched with great interest as Nathan (from Cogswell, our granite guys) templated (with skinny wood strips!) for the new countertop. We then drove out to the fabrication spot to view our slab . . . it is going to be great!

Projects for the next couple of weeks are numerous (of course!) Jeremy is working on installing the new wall oven, and then he will tackle the gas line. Plumbing the new space will likely take a lot of his effort, particularly the drain lines.

Decisions still to be made? Finalize the shower for the new bathroom, including fixtures, pulls/knobs for the cabinets, paint color(s), backsplash, and furniture!

temporary counters on the island!

Well well - high excitement on a Tuesday. To back up a bit, flooring looks like this: (Jeremy does great work, doesn't he?)

Todd has finished the drywall replacement on the walls (still the ceiling to go, and the mudding and sanding - but still!) We are coming quickly to the point of needing to make a decision on lighting, as this is holding up the ceiling drywall . . . and to decide on lighting we need to think about the bar area . . .

So we decided to bring in the butcher block pieces that will make up the counter bits of the island, so as to better mock up the bar (and see where the pendant lights will need to be, so we can place the rail for those lights - it all is linked, I promise!) When we placed the first one I couldn't stop smiling. Jeremy was grinning pretty hard too!

Note the box of garbage bags on the counter (topped with a plank) to simulate the bar height; the tool box on top of the barstool is to simulate THAT height. Like our precision?

We'll remove the counters and the cabinets tonight, so Todd can access the ceiling. Who knows what will happen tomorrow!

We have flooring!

It's Sunday morning, Jeremy is hard at work in the other room, and I am taking a minute to update everyone on our progress.

Last week the big news was the subfloor. Todd finished up with the new stuff (here is a picture of Jeremy and Todd conferring about bamboo on the new subfloor- it is solid and definitely the right decision) on Friday, and the race to do bamboo was on. The race became a bit more frantic when we heard the price for a floor nailer rental - $50 a day! Yipes! Todd got a deal on a weekend rate, so Jeremy's top priority suddenly became the floors.

Jeremy and I both took the day on Friday for house stuff. We met with Todd to talk about how to start the bamboo, then we headed off to make a decision on counters. (yes, we did. Mahogany granite, anyone?) We returned home for bamboo laying, a dump run, and more bamboo laying. Here is a picture of the new floor (already with dog paw prints on it) - and, no, the fridge isn't staying there.

The other floor project is the old oak. Where the bathroom and hall closet were, there is no oak. The flooring expert we asked said that it wasn't worth the labor to tooth in to the remaining stuff - we disagreed. So Jeremy spent Saturday morning patiently removing old oak planks in order to work the new stuff in carefully, and as of Saturday night he was halfway through doing the new oak. We should be able to return the rental nailer tomorrow with no problems!

So many decisions made this week . . . we ordered a sink and faucet, picked up the soap dispenser, ordered the instahot faucet, picked a counter, are closer to a decision on lighting, and are looking forward to having some cabinets installed in the next 2 weeks. Timeline looks pretty good, too. Gas tank is being dropped Thursday, granite templating on Dec 28, granite install on January 11.

This week should see drywall and cabinets, and maybe even framing for the new mudroom and bathroom. Jeremy will work on gas line running, and maybe switch to water plumbing (or more lighting in the kitchen). Then we get a week off to West Virginia - ask for snow!

There's a hole in the kitchen!

Midweek update . . .

Tuesday was a banner day. Jeremy worked from home so as to be able to answer any questions thrown at him by the inspector . . . his electrical work passed rough-in inspection! Yippee!

Before Tuesday, the kitchen looked like this:

After Todd worked all day, the kitchen now looks like this:

The cat fell through the insulation that was under the plywood into the crawl space. She had a fine time chasing the mouse smells.

Belle hates the gangplank that is her only route to the outside. She point blank refuses to walk on it and has to be carried. When she wants to come in, she scratches at the door and when someone opens it and tries to pick her up to carry her in, she runs away. Daft dog.

No kids have fallen in. No grownups that I know of have either.

More substandard construction will be fixed here as Todd adds diagonal steel things (like my technical term?) to stabilize the joists in relation to each other. He is planning to be done with the replacement of the subfloor today (Wednesday). Tomorrow will be bamboo flooring time for Todd and Jeremy working together, then it's time for drywall and then cabinets. I guess at some point we need to make a decision on counters.

Other work being done/scheduled . . . septic tank has been pumped out (first time since we bought the house), gutters are going to be replaced on the front of the house, and I don't know what else. I am sure there is something. Cheers to all!

Monday's update, week 3

Week 3 of Todd on the job . . . Jeremy is primed for electrical rough-in inspection.

"Kitchen" now looks like this - view from the front door (yes, the exact same angle as the one with the clock!)

Actual kitchen:

So the big decision today is that the floor will indeed be ripped up. Todd came down to talk to me after researching various options for floor leveler. It had been unclear to both me and Jeremy that standard, accepted subfloor is 3/4 inch plywood (yep, that tongue and groove stuff). Using lesser subfloor might even void the warranty we have for the new floor . . . So what did our incredibly reputable builders put down? 1/2 inch. Yippee. Not a whole lot of choice left in the matter. Tomorrow's post will likely be of a gaping hole in the kitchen floor! Todd does think the work will go fast (he has all the materials patiently awaiting use tomorrow), but he will spend some time leveling the joists under the floor. I am sure the kids will have some memorable quotes when they see the crawlspace through what used to be kitchen floor . . .

The cooktop arrived today! It is gorgeous and I can't wait to use it. As I speak, Jeremy is beginning to work on plumbing the new gas line.

Cheers to all, US!

another week, more pics!

This week was pretty much all about electrical, but in there we managed a few dump runs, finished up removing all the old flooring, totally cleaned out the rest of the old cabinets, and made some decisions (don't laugh - that's a big deal!)

From the end of last weekend to now: Kids helped us with ripping up flooring. They love to help wherever possible, and it is good to be able to say, "yes, you can!" once in a while. Todd is incredibly patient with Julian!

We also welcomed the new cabinets into our lives, although they are not yet permanent members of the family. They have been roving, acting variously as life-size templates and catchalls for tools. We are looking forward to affixing them once and for all (they are a bit awkward to move around!)

The electrical work is hard to appreciate by pictures. Jeremy has been drilling, cutting, fishing, and puzzling the whole layout. The kitchen rough-in impacts the rest of the first floor, and once he is done with this portion he has most of the work behind him. We still have to buy the lights but that will be after the rough-in inspection has been passed. I have a few pendants that I am lusting after!

The image poster on Blogger is frozen right now, so I'll post more pics later. I have a couple of the view from the front door, one of the new door from the garage into the house, and a close-up of the lonely sink and dishwasher.

As far as kitchen renovations go, we seem to have it pretty easy. We still have full use of all kitchen appliances, and the bulk of the demolition (and resultant mess) seems to be done. The hardest thing is loading and unloading the dishwasher (having a second person there to make sure it doesn't dump is relatively important!) and schlepping back and forth with dishes. Still, we have a sink and dishwasher, and last night ate grilled pork loin with rice and salad. We haven't had to resort to eating take-out except for one night when we didn't have water or a hooked-up stove. And the thought of what will be is spurring us on!

All appliances are ordered (cooktop saga is a story all on its own!), gas is scheduled, and the big decisions in front of us (after deciding what to do about the subfloor in the kitchen) are countertops, sink, and faucet. Then we think about paint, backsplash, and lights for the island. At some point we get to relax and throw a big party, but we have a bit of work to do first.

mid-week update

Sorry, no pics this time. I hope to get some soon. Meanwhile . . .
Jeremy has been hard at work on the electrical, hoping to schedule an inspector to come for the rough electrical on Friday or Monday. His evenings are spent rerouting wire, looking at the puzzle that comes when you are removing soffits (in terms of wire runs), and drilling holes through ceiling joists. It is turning into a house-wide project as he discovers where wires connect together.

Todd meanwhile has been busy under the house, shoring up posts that support the beam we now have in place of a load-bearing wall. His back will be extremely thankful when that work is over. His back suffered a bit of a relapse when he hefted more than his share of the cabinets when they arrived on Tuesday, but today he removed the old door from the garage into the kitchen and cut the hole that will house the new door from the garage into the mudroom.

We keep running into problems caused by substandard construction. The latest is the subfloor in the kitchen. We ripped up one layer of plywood last wekeend, intending to be able to lay bamboo floor this weekend, taking care of the squeaks by screwing down the remaining layer of ply. Well, the ply that is there, the original subfloor, is supposed to be tongue and groove plywood so as to reduce any movement. Fat chance. It is regular ply, butted together. No wonder we have serious squeaking. This, combined with a seriously unlevel floor, has us deciding between gallons of floor leveler (will do nothing for squeaks) or taking out the other layer of ply and replacing it with the real tongue and groove stuff AFTER spending time in the crawl space leveling the joists. In one other shake-your-head twist, the old entry door was put on backwards, leaving the outside open to easy credit-card style surreptitious lock picking. We will replace that for a model that opens the correct way!

But progress is being made! 1) The rats nest of wires is slowly disappearing from the old soffit area. 2) The old garage door is sheetrocked in, so we can begin to imagine life coming in another way. 3) Appliances are mostly ordered, with only the range hood to go on that front. 4) The cabinets are HERE!!! and they look wonderful. 5) We have an appointment to look at countertops tomorrow.

Hope to post pics of all that is getting accomplished over the weekend. For now, send good thoughts about wire and junction boxes to Jeremy, and send healing thoughts to Todd's back. Me, I just try to feed everyone and make sure there is enough coffee.

All the best to all,

Nica (for the crew)

We have an open space!

Jeremy helped Todd lift the beams into place on Friday morning, and when we came home at around 6 pm, the temporary walls were down. The vertical beam you see in the picture is only there until Monday, when Todd is going to finish attaching that part of the beam to the rest of the joists. WOW!!!

This weekend's projects include making many decisions on stuff, including flooring, a refrigerator (and maybe other appliances). Besides that mental work, we will finish taking the old kitchen down, clean out the train room completely, and begin the work on removing the old floor in the kitchen. (sorry to offend anyone who loves blue and white cracking vinyl). Somewhere in there comes soffit demolition, a trip to the dump, plumbing and electrical work.

This week, Todd will move the door from the garage that currently leads into the kitchen, work on patching the drywall in the kitchen, and maybe even begin framing the new space that will house the mudroom and the bathroom. Cabinets are supposed to arrive on Monday (yes, December 3!)

More demolition - making progress!

Temporary walls are up after Todd's second day on the job. We walk through the garage and into a maze of plastic and stud walls.


Jeremy can't stay away from that sledgehammer!

And we now have a temporary kitchen, fully set up in the family room. Looks like boat living, with all stuff in one space!

DEMOLITION!

Removal of wall cabinets and soffits . . .












Drywall gone on part of the wall . . . Like our helpers?



Should we stop at our initial idea of not moving the bathroom? This would be the opening to the train room . . .

Initial pictures

The initial pictures of what we were dealing with:



The original view from the front door The original kitchen

The starting point . . .

After months of talking about it on and off, we finally decided to go ahead and remodel the house. We started with this:

Picture 1: (the original layout of the house) - note, if you can, the view upon immediately entering the house - it was of the hall closet and bathroom.

And went through many iterations, beginning with the idea of just removing the wall that separated the kitchen and the “train room” (formal living room) . . . (this isn't exactly right - no hallway shown to the left of the front door. Sorry.)

To the “AHA!” moment of “what if we moved the bathroom and hall closet . . .

So the plan is all set . . .