I Like Big Backsides to My House

The rest of the kitchen was demolished yesterday (Friday) and we can now really see into the bones of the wall to see where things might have to be re-routed and to really understand the pipe and duct paths. What I thought was a brick bump out next to the door was just a plaster one to conceal the waste pipe for the sink and what I think is the plumbing vent to the roof. I'm hoping we can find a way to re-route these so that we don't have that weird bump-out and maybe we can gain that 4 inches in the kitchen. The plaster is also all gone and will be replaced with a drywall furring wall. The pipe on the left connected to the kitchen drain. From what I can tell in the basement, this pipe is the main sewer vent up to the roof. There's some "interesting" pipe routing in the basement. This is the main HVAC return duct from upstairs to the basement. We will have to figure out how to re-route it. I'm thinking that it can probably go into...

Stopped by the house today to see what was happening and I discovered lots of great things! The staircase is GONE! Protection of the upstairs New basement bathroom and closet framing! Framing for Mech room and storage closet The stair is gone! Looking toward the back of the house.  The stair is gone, looking to the closet and mech room framing. Excavation is still delayed due to the rain last week and this. Hopefully it can start soon and I'll have some big hole pictures to share.

The end of last week saw the removal of most of the wood paneling in the basement and the abatement of the asbestos floor tiles, also in the basement. I was told by the contractor to stay away, but I did sneak a couple of pictures without actually going in the basement. Looking down from the stairs in the kitchen From the back door into the basement. The surveyor also came out to mark the property lines for the addition. Hopefully the rain this week won't hold up the next step, which is to excavate for the addition! Stay tuned for more this week.

Went over this evening and even more was gone! Tile demo in the kitchen The basement walls are almost gone! No more bathroom I can see all the way across the basement! No more deck

After the first day, I couldn't wait to go over and see what had already been done. The kitchen is GONE! Temporary protection down and appliances stored.

It took us ALL weekend, but we finally cleared out the basement and first floor completely.  The "before" shots Laundry/mech room Basement playroom/guest room Basement playroom/guest room First Floor Living Room Dining Room Kitchen Backyard. The addition will be where the deck is

I decided to switch from doing FB posts to a blog, so that those who can't access it can see the progress of our house renovations. This first post will be the backstory and then I'll start with where we are. Most people know that we have been trying to do this project for years. I tried to do the drawings myself but finally realized earlier this year that I don't have time to do two jobs, I'm not a residential architect and really (if I'm being completely honest) I don't have the desire to detail out the project (I never liked drawing wall sections). I hired the wonderful Karen Conkey to take my design, provide feedback on the design and tweak it as required to meet code/zoning/FAR requirements. The drawings were finished and submitted for permit around the 4th of July. We slowly started purging the house earlier in the summer. After the drawings when to permit, Karen picked 3 contractors to bid on the project. I had a walk-through with them and they were gi...