Goodbye 2012

Time to start working inside!

Around the House

North side—

East side—

South side—

West side—

The Last Wall

We attacked the north side of the house today—the only side that hasn't yet been insulated and re-sided with cement board panels. This was originally a family room with a full bathroom. We gutted the bathroom and put a new entry door in its place. A new bathroom will be built in one corner, and there will also be a mudroom with a large cedar closet. The main space will be used as a office/work space, studio, and guest room.

Ladder Man

Ladder Man strikes again!

In October we finished siding the south and east sides for the house, did some more interior demolition work, and  added spray foam insulation under the eaves. We tried out a DIY spray foam that we bought online, but ran out and had a local company come in to finish the work. Tomorrow, our third and final (I hope) dumpster arrives and we're looking forward to clearing out the accumulated piles of drywall, chip board, and moldy insulation.

Foam insulation looks like mint meringue.

... and is really messy stuff!

 

Picture Windows Pictures

The living room has become a bright, light-filled space. Windows in waiting. The curved one
was under consideration for the space at the peak, but it lost out to the long rectangular one leaning
against the wall, both for looks and because it's Energy Star rated and has a screen. Both are
from the Habitat ReStore.

Outside, looking in.

Inside, looking out.

Cathedral

One nice thing about a DIY reno is that you can figure out what you want as you go. After the front wall of the living room was finished, Tom decided that he wanted to have a cathedral ceiling. So the drywall and the insulation came down...

We bagged up the cellulose hoping to reuse it in another part of the attic.

We took out some of the beams after the ones that were to remain were repositioned and reinforced. You can see the straps that we added at the roof peak and the vent that we cut out up there. We also added hurricane straps where the rafters meet the walls. (And by "we" I mean Tom, of course.)

Up on the roof, building the framework for the vent cap. There are two
layers of screen to keep the bugs etc. out

Getting the flashing in place, about to be fastened down into a vent cap. So far, it hasn't leaked.

Tom painstakingly custom cut styrofoam insulation to fill each void in the ceiling and caulked everything to within an inch of its life. He'll eventually add another layer of styrofoam and drywall.

The windows are now installed in the end wall. In the foreground you can see the window frames that Tom built for the two large panes of glass you can see in the next picture.

We bought these used, but the frames were rotted.

This is one of the outer frames that will go in the back wall to hold the big picture windows.

Tom contemplating the back wall of the living room

The front is looking a little better. You can kind of see the ridge vent cap on the roof.

Look! No tarp!

The Window Wall

We've been referring to the front wall of the living room as "the window wall," well, because it's mostly windows. Today we put the windows in the wall. I guess these are called "hopper" windows, but I can't find an explanation for why. We got them at a sale/fundraiser for a local nonprofit that builds affordable housing...so hooray for recycling! Anyway, they look great and we can't wait to take down the tarp and see the view.

These fellas were having a meeting on the garage door today.

Under Wraps

Work continues under the blue tarps.

Tom ("brains") has been busy working under the tarps, building the frame for the living room front wall.

Laura ("brawn") has been busy ripping pieces off the house and stacking them up.

Looking from the "dining room" into the "living room." No windows! No walls!

Living room front wall. Windows and door to come.

Living room back wall, where the fireplace once was. The skylight is the chimney hole.

It's like a tree house!

This is the other "front" wall--Insulation in place and cement board soon to be installed.

Same wall from the other direction, cement board up, looking toward future front door.

Another Wall Goes Up!

The weather has been great lately, and we've gotten a lot done. Work has focused on the front exterior wall. The wall has been covered by blue tarps for months and it's been fun to see the neighbors drive by and watch our progress. It took a few weeks, but this little movie speeds up the process!

Lettuce growing in the new retaining wall.

Dismantling/Dis-manteling

We continue to strip off the exterior covering of the house: vinyl siding and the musty brown fiberboard. Still pulling lots of nails! Tom built home-made scaffolding around the end of the house over the lower garage so that we can work on the taking-apart and eventually the putting-back-together.

(The blue X's are to prevent birds from crashing into the windows)

We also took apart the fireplace. We had thought of trying to use it, but it was suspect in terms of safety. After taking it apart, we knew we had made the right choice. It clearly had been leaking at the back, a hazard for the carbon monoxide and the accidental fire potential. The insulation and the area around the fan were also full of mouse poo--ick! We'll scrap what we can of the metal, then start shopping for an efficient wood stove.


Let's take a few moments to appreciated the demise of the fireplace:

The original version: fake brick

Evidence of the leak behind the fireplace

Once upon a time there were windows in that wall. Soon there will be again!