sheetrock and the downhill

with sheetrock up, i guess you wouldn't quite say it's all downhill, but it's getting there. next step is painting, and we convinced family to come up for a weekend and paint their hearts out. thanks everyone!!
evan in the dining room:

lisa painting the guest bath:

mom painting the master bedroom (see color to left hand side):

kitchen gets a coat of benjamin moore's schooner:

trim

working on window trim to match existing, just a glimpse of evan's handiwork:

New roof and insulation

In addition to doors and windows, we also put on a new roof, pictured here. The 2nd pic is part of the back of the house with the new space. We have been praising the roof so many times as we've gotten a lot of rain this summer! The roof is weathered grey from HD and the roofers put a whole new one on (existing house+addition) in 1.5 days. Amazing!

Also, I don't have any pics, but after the framing, doors+windows, came a round of inspections including rough-ins for the plumber, electrician and HVAC. The plumber passed with flying colors, and the HVAC and electrician only needed minor "revisions" to their work to pass... then it was on to the framing inspection, which we passed on the first day (unheard of!). Then we were allowed to insulate. One LOOOONG night was spent insulating with Larry, Bev, Demas and Ev, who sweated and worked until midnight. The next morning came early at 6am, giving a little time to finish up the task before the inspection that day. The hard work paid off though, because that passed as well and we were able to call in the sheetrockers for work while we took a little vacation to the beach.

Doors and Windows

With walls framed in, we were ready for doors and windows.

Walls, what a wonderful thing.

After almost two months of slim activity, this week has been in fast forward. From looking at the slab prep on Tuesday, to the view below (walls!) on Friday, it's really been an encouraging week. On Tuesday, the slab was prepped for inspection (see slab prep post), but failed! The inspector had some specific concerns but also mentioned, "I've never seen anything like this before! How do you know the slab won't knock over the existing house when you pour it?" Oh no... drama we hadn't even thought of! Anyways, Tuesday night was a blur as we spent time (which the help of Evan's parents!) fixing his specific concerns regarding adding some flashing and insulation. On Wednesday, we passed in spection and on Thursday concrete was poured. Unfortunately I don't have any shots of this, it was also much drama involving ordering only half the concrete we actually needed (major underestimation... oops!) and torential downpour in mid-slab pour. Regardless, the guys worked hard and finished up so that the framing could start Friday. The framing of the walls has been a breeze compared to everyhing else and I am so thankful!

Here's walking into the first part of the new hallway and looking to the right. You're looking into the laundry, then beyond that is the master closet. (Brick column to remain in master closet). Off to the left of the picture is the back of the guest bath in the foreground, bumping up to the master bath farther away.
Here is looking through the front foyer of the original house, into the new hallway. The laundry room again is just to the right, the original living room (to remain) just to the left, and the hall ends in the future dining room. The middle wall at an angle will house the half bath.

Slab Prep and Painting the Foyer

As mentioned we are starting to move along with both the addition and the existing house. Pictured below is the foyer, mid way through a new paint job. The light fixture front and center in the picture is also on its way out.

Another picture of the slab prep. Putting down the vapor barrier, in preparation for the slab inspection. If you look closely you can also seee the lattice and the plaster on the exposed wall (kinda interesting).

Oh the difference a day makes...

We had a good day today on the house project. Things have been moving slow, as you can probably tell by the lack of blog posts. But today was encouraging, I dare say uplifting. Several things have happened in the past couple of days, plumbing, slab and now framing. Kelly and I walked through the half framed shell of our future home and it was fun. Inspiring to have a backdrop for you imagination. Walls just add so much that you just can't get from a drawing on a piece of paper. Two dimensions become three. And here are the pictures.


Back of the house torn off, and some in slab plumbing in place.




Next picture you can see the perimeter of the slab laid out with the wood forms.


More pictures to come.

Demo video

Compliments of Marc, we have video of the demo. We are starting to move forward, so we are going to try to catch up a little on the blog and keep current as we continue to work.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKDYiqgluAI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jpb9Pt3_AM

And it all falls down

Smile, its demo time. Some more pics from Demo day.

So it begins. The house gets much worse before it gets much better. But demo was pretty fun with the help of mini ex.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

demo begins.

It's official demo weekend, as we were officially approved for our permit this week and are ready to get going on the house renovation/addition. We did some "fine" demo on Friday night, unhooking electrical and taking down some molding that we are saving. Then things begin in earnest on Saturday with the help of an excavator and some ABSOLUTELY wonderful extra handy men... we can't thank you enough! Let's just say that when we started we had a pretty crappy bathroom, hallway and kitchen, and now we have none of those any more at all... all we have to show for that space is a HUGE pile of debris. More pictures to come, but just a little tiny taste here... original shot of the hallway (after Friday night):

The hallway after a little knocking on the exterior back wall with the excavator:

The first room, after.

Here is the tan room, updated. Basically a little cleaning goes a long way. We painted but did not change the color very much, and added a fresh coat of white to the ceiling and trim.

New faux wood blinds in each window.

APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!

after a Looooong board of adjustments meeting this morning, our request for a minor special use permit was approved! (the hour+ long haggling that proceeded our case, also known as case number one, was not approved... ouch!)

the work begins in earnest this weekend and i'm so relieved! the approval means that we can build the house we want (featured in the plans from the earlier post), adding an extra bedroom, bathroom and dining room.

Here We Go.

Without our special permit in hand, we've still been hard at work over the last month and a half fixing up room 1 that we're keeping in the existing house. This is the first room to the left as you head into the house. It is the room that needs the least amount of work, and it's taken us about a month and half to paint. whoops! below are some before pictures.

Light tan needs a new paint job, door is missing to hallway, but otherwise in decent shape from this angle.

Awesome original fireplace to be kept intact, horribly weird closet to be corrected.

THE ISSUE

As mentioned the house is too close to the property line. I have attached the survey below so you can check it out. Technically the house is supposed to be at least 6 feet from the property line but in the 1920s Americans still had freedom and the Man was not holding them down so they built the house whereever they felt like it.

Things we Love

NUMBER 1

The Home Depot

Some people like Lowes, some people can't tell the difference, but I like Home Depot. Just seems like a better overall experience. I can find the things I need and they have the things I need. While the Durham Home Depot pales in comparison to the Knoxville Home Depot, whose employees actually knew about home repair and were excited to help you, it is still the best place for my money.

The First of Many Delays

Yes, it is true, we do not even own the house yet and we have already incountered delays.

Delay 1: The existing home owner can't move into his new house yet so he will renting the back from us for two weeks. TWO WEEK DELAY.

Delay 2: The building permits have been DISAPPROVED. Dramitic Pause ... causing indefinte delay to the building process.

The silver lining: Since we are delayed two weeks anyway, we have two weeks to work through the permitting issues. Hopefully it will work out so keep your fingers crossed.

The issue with the permit seems fairly minor to me but we will keep you posted on the progress. When your house is currently too close to the property line (which ours is) Durham will only let you add 15% additional sqare footage (we are trying to add about 30%). So we will have to apply to get a variance. It seems that this should be fairly straightforward but you never know when you are dealing if city ordinances.

So we will have to wait to use our new demo items, which we purchased at The Home Depot.

Day -8: Dreaming of ...

We are thinking of renting this to help with the demo. Boyhood dreams becoming man sized realties. If there are any guys in town, or guys that want to come in town, that want come over and swing a sledge hammer and take a turn on a piece of power equipment, demo starts on 3/30/2010 and the mini ex is hopefully going to be ready for action saturday April 3rd.

Starting on Day -9: Intro

In only 9 days, we will close on our 3rd home (in 4 years... where is the tax credit for that!), and our 2nd renovation project, this one quite a bigger project than the first. So big it needs its own blog, of course. We're buying a 1200 sq. ft. 1920's bungalow with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom about a mile from downtown Durham, NC. The foundation and structure need work, painting is necessary, a new roof is essential, and an addition is planned. We will bargain with subcontractors, vie for historic tax credits, and shed blood, sweat and tears (me) along the way. We will attempt to keep our story current here, with plenty of DIY tips. Join us in the adventure. Seriously though, if you're in town, or even driving distance (hint, mom and dad), JOIN US. On location. And bring a hammer.

Enough intro, here are some pictures to tantalize your imagination...

The House:

(and no, we're not in Florida)

The Plans: