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Other News 2012

Home Addition and Remodeling

Over Memorial Day, we came out to look at our house, go look at other houses with a realtor and for Andy to play soccer.  We left our house nine years ago, when the kids were pretty tiny (two and three-years old).  We were surprised at how worn it looked and how small, and the lack of storage.  There really was no damage from the nine years of renting, but we had really only done the minimum maintenance.  We had always had an idea for an addition to the house that would improve the upstairs, especially the bathrooms and provide storage (and a workshop for Steve).  We were thinking of doing this by coming out over the garage a couple feet.  During our house hunting, we discovered a house with our same model nearby (through Sue) that had completed a remodel similar to what we were considering.  They added a new master suite over the garage.

We are putting on new siding and will be putting stone in the front porch.

The difference between coming out over the garage a couple feet and going all the way was drammatic.  Additionally, seeing it done instead of just trying to imagine it, made it much more real and we soon found ourselves making plans for an addition, especially after realizing we needed new siding and a roof after the big storm this summer.  Here are some before pictures (well some after trees were cut down).

Demolition began on 18 Oct, when they took the screened-in porch down.  On Fri, they took out the ceilings in the family room and garage; with the roof and rafters coming off on Mon.  On Mon, they also began construction by putting in the new support beams to support the new addition.

Here is the deck coming down and gone.  Interestingly, the guys informed Nancy that it was good it had come down, as the upper part was only held on with two nails and the stairs had a lot of dry-rot.

Nancy and Andy had fun embellishing the door.

Here is the look in the family room and garage with the ceilings gone.

Nancy has also been busy with the flower beds, creating a new one in the back corner and cleaning out the bed on the north side.

Next step was to take off the roof

They then put the supports in for the extra weight the ceiling will need to hold.  In doing so, they managed to put a coupld holes through the wall into the front bathroom.

They then had a lot of fun getting the floor level as the front of the house, wall between the garage and family room, and the back of the room were all different heights.  Naturally, without a roof there was a hurricane on the way.  With Hurricane Sandy coming, they decided to tarp everything up.  They took advantage of the need to replace the siding to nail the tarp on.  Let's hope it stays in place through the storm.

We thought they were done before the storm, but a crowd showed up on Saturday morning.  They changed their plans and decided to pour to concrete for the foundation in back.  They realized that the trench was already dug and the forms in place, if they didn't get it poured before the storm, the trench would be swamped and it would be weeks before they could pour again.  The challenge was that no concrete pump truck was available on the short notice, so they wound up hauling the concrete around to the back in an endless relay with wheel-barrows.  A week or so later, it was time to pour the next layer.  Fortunately, a concrete pump was available this time.

While waiting for the foundation to dry, they completed some framing in the front, including adding this peak to the porch.

With the foundation in, they could begin framing of the back in earnest.

Andy decided some supervision was required once the plywood floring was in place.

With both the back and side framed-out, they remeasured and ordered the roof joists.  These had to be installed with a crane.

When the workers were ready to demolish the wall in the kids' bathroom, Andy got to help.  Lee lamented the lack of a hardhat and shoes.

With the addition framed in, it was soon time to put a new roof on.  They also had to extend the chimney on the north side to the height of the new roof.

To provide access to the addition in the back, they needed to cut through the foundation to put a door where there is currently a window.  They also were cutting a new window in the exterior wall to provide a new emergency exit window for the bedroom.  Next is a picture from a couple days later with the new window and door.

It was also time to break through the existing bathroom, linen closet, and Andy's bathroom to create the new hallway into the upstairs addition area.

With that space open and all of the walls down, they set about framing new walls.  Here is the new view from the top of the stairs.

Progress, new lights in our living room.

Figured we'd better take pictures of the upstairs walls to see where the pipes and other items were.

We finally were ready and passed our initial electrical and plumbing inspections, allowing insulation to go in and siding to go up.

The drywall showed up a couple days later and was lifted in through a removed window.

Here is the drywall going in, first to the master bedroom and hallway, then the new study and old family room.

Plus, we now have lights in our living room.

Spring finally started to arrive (followed by a snowstorm that brought our first school snow day).  It also brought some final work on the front porch and a new front door which is white now but that will be painted dark red later.

They also installed the built-in cabinets next to the fireplace in preparation for the stone work.  One annoying event was an inspector coming by and demanding a debris fence be put in immediately to stop the run off from mud into the creek.  What he didn't realize is the the water normally runs the other way when the creek overflows.

Here is xx, the mason, working on the fireplace.

Here he is working on the patio.

The tile went into the kids bathroom in late March, while the furniture was set up in the study.

With the kids rooms getting ready for carpeting, we had to move all of their furniture, except their beds, into our room.  Here is Lexi's resulting empty room.

Here is Alehandro and his team pouring the new concrete patio in the back, and stamping a pattern into it.

Ron the plumber had fun capping our old water main (that was moved when it broke in the front yard) and installing a drain for the new bar.  WE also cut out an area under the stairs to hold the stereo components.

Here is the cubbies Steve built for the mudroom.  One of the challenges with the project was Andy's sincere request to help.  He was great until Steve turned his back.  He had asked Andy to use the circular saw to help cut some of the pieces, clamping them to the top of the table saw.  Well, Steve knew they would need to be moved for some of the cuts, but Andy didn't and went right through the iron extension arm on the saw ... twice.  Andy looked like a little boy, trying to take his queue on how to react from Steve, who had to turn around and not get too mad as it was an honest mistake and a lesson learned.  All is well, oh well.  Andy felt bad enough that mom helped him bake an apple pie for dad with "I'm sorry" on top.

This really turned into the project from heck for Steve.  While installing one of the backboard he managed to drill right through a water pipe to the bathroom sink (dead center in a thin pipe).  He knew it right away, but by the time he got the water main turned off, it had still made quite a mess.  Fortunately, Lee was able to get the plumber here the next afternoon.

Speaking of plumbing, we also had an issue in the basement.  While fixing the drain from the kitchen sink that runs along the ceiling, Lee lifted another pipe and was surprised at the amount of movement in the pipe.  It turned out that it was the sump pump drain and the concrete or deck guys had hit it just enough the break it inside the wall.  Lees efforts had opened the break as we discovered when we found a lot of water the next day (although it was clear there had been a slow leak for a while).

Looks like the leak soaked the bottom of a blanket chest.

We had the new walkway put in the front, which raised it up to the level of the driveway and made it about 18 inches higher near the house.  We found an unintended consequence a little later when a new puddle appeared in a new low spot on the driveway.  Glad we saw it, as Rick was able to put a drain there and run it to the side hill.

Imagine our dismay when we looked up and realized a piece of siding had come loose and was hanging down.  It was quickly fixed the next day.

We have finally reached the end in several areas.  Here are the kids' rooms, now painted.

The front is getting close too, although there is still some stone work to do and we need to install a railing and paint the door.

Here is the planter on the north side after we finally cleaned it out.

Here they are putting in the hardwood floor in the rest of the house.  Fortunately, they still make the stuff we had on the rest of the first floor, so they could just join them.  We went with a darker color upstairs and a two-tone staircase.

The concrete gang also arrived that day to take out the walkway and pour a new one that was raised to the correct height, as the old one had sunk considerably and we couldn't put fill dirt in without fixing it.

Here is the completed walkway (after stamping and sealing)

Here is the front with the new walkway, door, and railing.

The concrete guys came back later to pour the patio in the back.

Steve and Lexi made a frame for a mirror in her room.  She did all of the work except carving her name in the top (and she left town before painting it, and re-doing two joints when Steve discovered it was too big and had to cut it apart)

Some other decorating to do.  We got Andy's curtain rod up and put all of his snakes up.  The kids also got dad this vintage ski poster for Fathers Day, complete with Lexi's words that included "family fun."

We've sure had a lot of rain lately as we near the end of this project.  It will be nice to get grass back in the yard as Tank is refusing to go off the patio in into the mud; can't say that we blame him.

Well it's now July, and I think we can finally declare this to be done, almost.  We have a couple cabinet doors still on back order, a screen door to put on and a couple clean-up actions, but heh, it feels like it's done.  Here are some after pictures of the outside.

The spotlight for the flag came out great.

Naturally, Nancy's mixer died with all the cookies and baked goods she'd made for the workers, so we had to get another one.  There was a lot of fun debate by the kids about what to make first.

The stone work was one of the last things to get finalized, as the stonemason's wife was very ill.