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H is for House Part II
Sep. 11th, 2008 11:59 pmIn another week we get the last of the support beams installed - this one on the top floor. That represents the end of Phase 1 of the renos, and Phase 2 can commence - putting in insulation, wiring, plumbing, drywall and otherwise turning the top floor into it's final permanent configuration.
We've lived here for five years, waiting until we had enough money or equity to get into the serious construction. For that entire time we've been treating the second floor as a big attic and it seems more than a little unreal that we finally have to start figuring out what we want it to look like when it's finished. There will have to be a lot of research and planning first. I really want to install solar panels and I don't want to end up spending hours dry-walling and then have to rip holes in it to install pipes.
One of the first things to go in will be a new bathroom. Once the second floor is done we'll move upstairs permanently and start on Phase 3: re-wiring and insulating the ground floor. When that's done Phase 4 is to get the basement fixed up - rip out the moldy sodden bathroom, pull up the wooden floor in the bedroom, possibly sink the floor to give us a little more clearance. And hunt down any existing mold with extreme prejudice.
Speaking of mold, our neighbours may have sourced out at least one of our problems. They have a kitchen in their basement at the back of the house. They are ripping it out to put in a studio. When they lifted out the kitchen sink, they discovered that it drains directly into the ground below the floor - and under our wall. Getting rid of that should go a long way towards making our basement dryer.
Phase 5 involves ripping out the kitchen - currently an uninsulated wooden structure with no electricity and an active hornet's nest in the walls that was built on the outside of the brick house - and building a new one.
And of course Phase 6 will be for the finishing touches - the paintjob. The rooftop patio. The fireman's pole. And the turret.
I can't wait.
We've lived here for five years, waiting until we had enough money or equity to get into the serious construction. For that entire time we've been treating the second floor as a big attic and it seems more than a little unreal that we finally have to start figuring out what we want it to look like when it's finished. There will have to be a lot of research and planning first. I really want to install solar panels and I don't want to end up spending hours dry-walling and then have to rip holes in it to install pipes.
One of the first things to go in will be a new bathroom. Once the second floor is done we'll move upstairs permanently and start on Phase 3: re-wiring and insulating the ground floor. When that's done Phase 4 is to get the basement fixed up - rip out the moldy sodden bathroom, pull up the wooden floor in the bedroom, possibly sink the floor to give us a little more clearance. And hunt down any existing mold with extreme prejudice.
Speaking of mold, our neighbours may have sourced out at least one of our problems. They have a kitchen in their basement at the back of the house. They are ripping it out to put in a studio. When they lifted out the kitchen sink, they discovered that it drains directly into the ground below the floor - and under our wall. Getting rid of that should go a long way towards making our basement dryer.
Phase 5 involves ripping out the kitchen - currently an uninsulated wooden structure with no electricity and an active hornet's nest in the walls that was built on the outside of the brick house - and building a new one.
And of course Phase 6 will be for the finishing touches - the paintjob. The rooftop patio. The fireman's pole. And the turret.
I can't wait.