H is for House Part II

[the_siobhan]

In 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.

Comments

[mscissorhands.livejournal.com]

don't forget the indoor swimming pool, the champagne room stripper grotto and of course the huge pit of fire in the centre of it all!

[divine.livejournal.com]

STRIPPERS?!

You guys are implementing this feature soon, right? And when you do, don't forget the young pool boys.

[kits-the-dm.livejournal.com]

I'm telling you, spiral staircase that converts to a fireman's pole, then you get both utility and fun.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out the engineering aspects of it, so the steps can retract without leaving nasty places where one would get ripped to shreds whilst sliding down the pole.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I can't be the only one who thought this?


Solar panels would be awesome. Technology has come a long way in five years, and costs are coming down. The longer you leave that aspect the longer you put of the risk of being lumbered with the Betamax of solar cells. :)

OTOH, with an election in the wind there you might get a subsidy.

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

You're putting in a fireman's pole? \m/

[metalana.livejournal.com]

Inquiring minds want to know: if your kitchen doesn't have electricity, are you using a propane fridge? ice in sawdust? a fire in an oil-barrel?

Or perhaps you get the hornets to fly around in circles, spinning a little wheel that powers the whole enterprise...

[the_axel]

Actually it does have one outlet buried under the counter with an extension cord sticking out and we've run another extension cord from the main body of the house.

And a gas stove, naturally.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Extension cords.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Yikes - your neighbor's kitchen sounds like my unpleasant tub drain discovery.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

We had a very similar discovery with the drain from our kitchen sink. We warned them to be on the lookout.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

While you've got the walls open, don't forget to run cat6 cable (two runs) and coax into every room. This place has coax and 8-pair cat3 and it's nowhere NEAR enough wires.

[the_axel]

Why coax?

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

RF stuff. You may not know what you need it for now, but it might come in handy someday. Maybe in ten years you'll see someone offering narrow-band microwave IP connectivity and you'll need to get the signal to a card

[xthlcm.livejournal.com]

And the turret.

Anti-aircraft or rapid-fire grenade launcher?

[the_axel]

Tank.

H is for House

[betonica.livejournal.com]

Fireman's pole. You really need one. I haven't got one. Even my firehouse hasn't got one. I haven't got a turret, either, although there's one vaguely planned for the NW corner of the house, when I get rich (doubles as a weather lookout).