Happy mid-summer to all of you out there; I hope you’re surviving & thriving in spite of the heat wave we all seem to be experiencing this season! I know our construction workers on this project have persisted through days and days of 102-109 heat – mostly on the roof! When we had a “cold front”, with temps only 97-99, we all felt great relief! Fortunately, this lovely 50’s house is surrounded by huge oak trees, so there is always shade…somewhere!
Today I’m going to show you pictures of the progression over the last 2 weeks; we are just about finished with construction on this project, so I’ll try to show how it all went back together, though I’ll show you more of the interior framing/finishing next time. What I’ve shown up to now has been mostly the DE-construction of the existing structure; once the decision was made to remove and reframe the roof of this house, the project changed from ‘remodeling’ to ‘new construction’…though we of course kept the original foundation and exterior brick walls (mostly). In the next few weeks, the house will be treated to all new plumbing, wiring and HVAC. Then new sheetrock, trim, cabinets, appliances etc: today is about the groundwork for the finish-out which begins soon!
First, here’s a look at the house as the roof was removed (a long, hot, difficult process to put it mildly). It took a long week with a large crew to remove first the shingles, then the tar paper, then all the decking and joists, then finally all of the old insulation. The old insulation was not doing much good, judging by the look of it, but it was VERY difficult and messy to be rid of; we are very grateful to the crew that took on that task, without complaint.
After the roof was completely off, along with ALL old insulation (and a whole construction dumpster had been filled) the framing crews arrived, ready to put in floor joists and plywood to begin framing the new addition. However, we realized we had not left under-the-house access to the new addition! There was an access between old and new sufficient to put plumbing pipes through, but not enough for a future plumber to crawl through for repairs. So….the foundation guys came back and not only enlarged the existing access between the new and old, but cut a new access into the brand new foundation to the addition. We have a nice new access vent/door to install when the time is right.
Next the framers showed up to begin framing the addition; this was exciting to watch! For walls and floors to take shape after living “in my head” for months was just too satisfying – here are a few pictures for you:
Watching the new roof emerge was GREAT! After such a ridiculously low pitch, this 50’s house now has a higher pitch, great angles and transitions, and will eventually wear beautiful bronze metal for the cost-effective, energy-efficient and beautiful finish!
Once the structure was framed, they quickly added house wrap, the Tyvek seen in the photo above. Then a crew came in to add the cornice all around the perimeter at the top of the walls. The cornice gives a place to stop the roof decking and eventually forms the soffits. It has been interesting to watch various crews come in and out, as they are all specialized now. One does framing, another does cornices, another decks the roof, yet another attaches siding, and the last crew this past week put roof felt on to finally get it “in the dry”….and guess what? It rained that evening! 24 hours earlier and all the new framing wood and floors would have been drenched.
The framing crew moved inside to begin redoing the walls I wanted moved; as you’ll later see, I wanted many areas “lined up” that had not been before. The finish-out of this process will not only be a major design element in the home, but will be one of those intangible (to most) features that create comfort and harmony for those living in or visiting there.
The first and most major move required bracing the existing kitchen and living areas so that the supporting wall could be removed. This is no task for amateurs, as the entire house structure is at risk when you remove a supporting wall! With proper bracing in place, they removed the wall; then it was time to replace that support to give the open concept we’ve all come to expect. I don’t always believe “open” is best, but in this case it definitely is. For one of the many reasons, now a person puttering in the kitchen will be able to look out the large picture window to the street as well as the new sunroom windows to the back, and interact with anyone wining/dining/or playing games in the surrounding rooms. Take a look at the new beam (we used an LVL, a laminated beam, but a steel beam may be used as well)
Those of you looking closely may have noticed that many of these photos include new windows! First of all, our windows came in weeks ahead of schedule, which was a nice touch of serendipity! We were prepared to keep the wrap on the window cutouts for at least a month, but instead we have most of them installed already! The windows were handled and installed by the wonderful people at Pane Window & Doors, a local family-owned company. We are using the prairie design of muntins/mullions in a soft beige shade; they will look wonderful with the gray-green shade of exterior paint, cedar accents and bronze metal roof!
Now you can see we’ve been busy at the 50’s House in the Woods, right?! It has been an exciting time; this week they’ll finish up the interior framing and begin adding new subflooring and plywood where needed. We will take a pause to get Keith with Keith Farr Limited in to measure for all cabinetry, now that the rooms are defined. We will also have the flooring guys in to measure for finished flooring, though we won’t need it for a bit. These days you order things as early as possible, as we are not quite past the supply chain issues that have plagued construction since Covid first hit.
Speaking of ordering, we will begin putting together orders for tile in the bathrooms and kitchen backsplash, lighting fixtures and other finish materials; plumbing supplies were ordered long ago at Apex Supply, so they are ready to be delivered whenever we’re ready (not yet!)
In the next couple of weeks plumbers will be in to re-pipe the entire house, including the sewer line. Because this house is pier and beam construction, we are free to move plumbing at will (and they’ll be glad for the extra-large access areas we created!) The electricians will also be in to rewire everything, as the 50’s wiring was badly out of date, and not grounded. HVAC guys will start new ductwork and add vents for the new high-efficiency unit; we have requested return air vents in every room, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Please feel free to add comments or ask any questions about this project or products used; I will be naming many of the finishing products as we go, but I am always open to comments from my readers! Stay cool, enjoy the rest of your summer, and please check back often for updates! Thanks for spending a few minutes catching up on our project!
Blue Sky Interiors 