my groundhog day prediction...6 more weeks of this sh*t!

forgive me, but we are really tired of the snow!

punxsutawnEy phil is gonna take one look at this and run - that is, if he can even get out of his den! 

maybe phil has a plow-guy...or at least a snow blower.

where's scott...can you see him?:

how about now, can you find him?:

bags of mulch under the snow...waiting for spring:

c'mon sun...melt it...MELT IT!

the basement never looked better!

all the basement walls have been removed!

the debris pile needs to stay put for now because there is a mountain of snow between the basement and the dumpster...and i just heard that we will be getting a "significant amount of snow" in two days! snow is evil.

the little bit of reframing that needed to be done at the second floor bathroom is now complete

and we installed the tile backerboard on the floor so the plumber can do his thang.

we have been using hardiboard instead of durock tile backerboard because it is SO much easier to work with.

and last but not least, the first floor bathroom got a tub!

this is very exciting...it marks the first 'finish' item to be installed and it just means that the end is in sight!

movin' on up

to the second floor

remember this?  this is what the floor framing (below the second floor bath) looked like

there were so many cuts out of the framing that we had to "sister" new joists onto the old ones.

there were also alot of rotten floor boards...so they needed to be ripped out and replaced with new subfloor before we move forward.

once the plywood patches go in, we can install a layer of tile backer board.

the plumber is coming next week to rough plumb the kitchen and baths.  

entre views!

first floor framing is pretty much complete-aside from change order no. 001 (see following post), and the dining room ceiling.

view towards new kitchen...low wall is where island will be

view from kitchen to living room

view back towards entrance foyer...new bathroom door to the right

we have salvaged the existing duct risers that supply the second floor- the hvac contractor suggested reusing them to save money and materials!  nice.

oops! forgot to mention.  the plumber started work yesterday and ripped out all of the existing plumbing...all of it, toilets too!  :|
he will be back next week to install the new rough plumbing (and hopefully a toilet!)

the basement is so scary...

...that our neighbor said that she was interested in buying the house (and flipping it) until she saw the basement...

and that is saying something, cause the rest of the house was pretty nasty!

so we have to do something about it.

we already solved the water issue, by extending the downspouts (the basement has been dry ever since).
so the next problem to tackle is the stair.

this is the rickety stair to the dungeon. what you can't see in the photo is the entire stair pitches drastically to the left.

there is a landing at the top of the stair (about 36" x 36") and there is a landing at the bottom of the stair...kind of

if we frame out the concrete foundation wall to install the drywall (losing about 4" from the "landing), then the stair will basically slam right into the wall.  we looked at raising the level of the landing to the next step up, but we just dont have the headroom.

so that leads us to CHANGE ORDER NO. 001 (who said there were no change orders on this job?)

we are going to relocate the first floor door that leads to the basement stair so that we can remove the top stair landing and push the entire stair closer toward the center of the house-- in order to gain space at the bottom of the stair. 

here is the old basement plan:

we have to remove the existing paneling and partitions- there was such a history of water in this basement, that the bottom 4"-6" of wood and framing is rotten...and there is mold on the drywall.

so here is the new plan:

the plan is to use pressure treated lumber and mold resistant drywall- just in case.

transformations!

first floor plans- before + after:

removed walls are in yellow in top plan/ new walls are in grey in bottom plan.

view from entry- before:

view from entry- now:

view towards old dining room-before:

view towards new kitchen- now:

view toward entry and 1/2 bath- before:

view toward entry foyer and full bath- now:

view towards back wall of living room/dining room- before:

view towards back wall of living room/new kitchen- now:

view towards doorway to old kitchen and door to entrance- before:

 view towards doorway to entrance- now:

gettin jiggy wid it

i thought this was pretty cool. 

in order to make for an easy (and accurate) installation of the deck joist hangers, scott fashioned a jig. 

he fastened a piece of deckboard to the top of a piece of 2x8 framing. (this pic shows how it all fits together, but was taken after he already installed the joist hanger)

he placed the jig so that the deckboard sits on top of the beam, and the 2x8 sits against the side of the beam.

then, he fastened the bottom couple of nails thru the hanger into the beam...

and removed the jig to finish nailing in the hanger.

of course, he used a great tool- the pneumatic palm nailer. 

this simple jig made the installation move along quickly. 

he finished the framing (unfortunately, i didnt take a pic of the finished product- now i will have to wait until the snow melts!)

oh, i almost forgot- we passed the deck framing and footing hole inspection! 

also very cool, we received the LVL beam and framing delivery 2 days early.

took some time to relocate the pile to the inside of the house (we are expecting a blizzard!)

the LVL beams will replace the bearing walls that we are removing to open up the space... 

here is a 3-d diagram

and last but not least, i ripped out the electrical wiring and old devices that are no longer needed

the electrician will be by soon to upgrade the service from 100Amp to 200Amp

here comes the exciting part....electrical wiring!!!!

Last week i traced all of the existing electrical circuits in the house...labeled plans with their locations...identified the circuits to be removed...planned out all of the new circuits...

i was excited to find tiny labels that are used on wiring and electrical devices to identify their circuit/breaker numbers (yes, i was excited). the labels adhere to the wires-and are pre-printed with numbers so when i start demolishing and tearing out receptacles, etc...i can keep track of what wires are on which circuits!

for areas not yet demolished, there are little stickers...also very helpful

can't wait to get started!  next step: pull out all of the existing circuits that are no longer needed.

meanwhile, scott is framing out the deck:

the inspector comes tomorrow to inspect the holes for the footings, and check out the framing.
the holes are all covered by boards and old doors---we dont want anyone falling in! 

we are expecting a big snow storm on wednesday (reportedly 12"), so who knows how far we will get with this.


meanwhile, my mother is tearing out the finishes in the basement...

yikes!

this is what it used to look like.

its looking pretty bad right now, but i have hope that it will get better!