Ready, Steady...

The nearly ubiquitous construction storage container arrived today, just as we were holding our weekly progress meeting with our builder, John Hammerschmidt. The (chain link!) protective fencing around the trees was up. After a couple of snapshots of that fencing, John was off to the building department to pull our permits.

Today was the last of relative calm before the storm. After the initial interior 'pre-demo' work, the past two weeks we've been holding for the permits. The palm tree in the back yard was removed, as was the aging camphor on the west side. Even more visible demolition will begin next week (eeek!) as now the exterior stucco will come down.

Laura and I are both pleasantly surprised that we're still calm and steady ourselves while our home's been getting ripped open.

Undiscovered Layers

As scheduled, the power company cut the gas line at the curb yesterday. That clears one hurdle to demolition. And just as soon as that was addressed, the city raised one final concern: the protective fencing around the trees needs to be chain link, rather than the orange plastic. Sigh. That will come later this week.

While we're waiting, it's an opportunity to share a discovery from the 'pre-demo' work. When we bought the house, several rooms had, well, very dated wallpaper. Some of our early redecorating was spent removing that wallpaper in the dining room, kitchen, and master bath.

As cabinetry got removed, we discovered two even earlier wallpaper layers. One with a white, floral-y/snowflake-y pattern in the hall bath. The other was in the kitchen, with a Pennsylvania Dutch pattern.



Ummm. We won't be repeating either of these in the rebuild.

Great Bones

No, no, no; not the dogs this time. The house, the house has "great bones."

While Bernie was out of town, Laura had our weekly meeting with our builder, John Hammerschmidt. With the walls (and some ceilings!) open we got substantiation for something we'd long believed. The house is very structurally sound. In real estate vernacular, it has "great bones."

We confirmed that we have all copper pipe (yay!) for our plumbing. And John pointed out to Laura that the beams in the living room were 2x10. Some builders of the same vintage used 2x4 for ceiling beams. There's no evidence of dry rot or termite damage in what's open. All these are great early signs that our project scope is accurate.

All that's needed for the demo permit is for the power company to "abandon" the gas line at the curb. That's scheduled for the day after Memorial Day.

Cough, Cough.

Don't let dust and debris distract you. This is not demolition. Really. Especially since our demolition permit is waiting for the power company to "abandon" the gas line at the curb. Technically, this is Asbestos Abatement, and Landscaping.

Because our remodel requires some demolition, we were required to test for asbestos. Yup. Had some. It was in the mud used in the treatment of the wallboard in our house. Before demolition can start, that has to be contained.

Our hats are off to the crew for the Asbestos. They were working inside, in protective gear, with the windows and doors sealed by plastic sheeting, in near 100 F heat. In the same heat, but outside, the Landscaping crew was at work. All the overgrowth has been stripped out of the back yard, and the bushes cleared from the front.

Seems ours isn't the only (toxic) cleanup plan in the neighborhood. When we stopped by to check progress over the weekend, we found a tag hanging on the construction fencing. It was a flyer warning that many household cleaners are, gasp!, toxic! and proposing we use their "green clean" service. Think biodegradable products would help with the asbestos?

When Will It END?!

Some folks experience remodeling as torture. Not us. As we prepared for our pre-demolition party, Laura & I decided to turn waiting into a game.

The day before the party, we started things off with some wall art of our own. We outlined our dogs. We wrote out a few pithy quotes. Then inspiration hit.

Practically everyone asks how long the project will take. Our builder has consistently estimated six to eight months. When we share this, most everyone looks skeptical, and shares their opinion that remodeling always takes longer than planned. Laura & I realized the party made a great platform for letting folks go on record, and even better, to raise money for a worthy charity.

To make it a game, we drew a calendar on a wall. We invited guests to guess the completion date, putting their prediction right there for all to see! To make it even better, we suggested they donate $1 per guess, with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity. Through the generosity of our guests, we raised $42. Laura & I only wish that we'd included the idea in the party invitation so folks came excited about the game and the opportunity to contribute to others.

So, what did Laura & I guess? We turned keys over to our builder as of May 5, 2008. So, by our builder's consistent estimate, that would put completion (we define that as receipt of Certificate of Occupancy from the city) between November and February. Laura's estimates: Wednesday January 7, Tuesday January 27, and wishfully, Friday November 7. Bernie's estimates: Saturday December 6 and Wednesday February 18.

Which one matters? Good question. We think our builder's estimate is the most credible, a certain Thursday in December:

Won't it be fun to learn which prediction was closest?

Party Time!

Ever have a party guest leave you an indelible "gift?" Something like that stain in the carpet? How about that mark on the wall?

Ever think of inviting and showcasing that behavior? Neither did we before this project.

Our builder, John Hammerschmidt, has helped with a lot of ideas for our project. This one came up really early in the design process. As we shared ideas about a bigger than usual laundry room (it will wind up to be about 9 x 15 feet!), John started telling us stories about some of his other clients. Dogs were a big factor in their plans, too. As we were joking about throwing a completion party for the crew, with the budget shrinking if the project ran long, John told us about the pre-demolition party these other clients threw.

John's other clients saw demolition (a nominally destructive event) as an opportunity for creation instead. They invited their kids playmates to draw on the walls before demo began. And really, why not? They'd be moving out, and the walls would either be getting ripped out or painted over before they returned.

Laura & I took to the idea immediately. How many times do you get to shatter a limiting belief, like the one we all hold that it's not appropriate to draw on walls?

So, earlier this month, after we moved out to our rental place and before we handed the house over to John, we threw a party. We invited family, friends and neighbors in to add their own style to our project. And add they did! The kids had a great time. The adults were at first stuck in disbelief at the freedom. And, there were great surprises for us in some of the talented sketches like the one left by one guest outside the hall bathroom shown at the top of this entry.

See the entire gallery of wall art here

Honey? Where'd we put the kitchen?

Oh my!

Today, we took our first steps inside the house since we turned it over to our builder.

Oh my, oh my! More than the first sight of the construction fence, this was a humbling experience. We're definitely committed. Most all of the fixtures (cabinets, tubs, heaters, sinks, toilets, doors) are now, gulp, scraped out and in the garage or patio. It's a bit shocking that what was a fully functional house only a few days ago, is now pretty much a shell.

Strike that. It's now pretty much a blank canvas. And together with our builder, now we're set to bring our long held visions and dreams for our home into reality.

Sprouting Signs

There's no longer any doubt we're remodelling. The construction fence, temporary power pole, and porta potty have appeared on site.

Observing my reaction was interesting. I rounded the corner onto the street and, whammo. The visual of the fence hit me. It felt like arriving to see my home bounded by "crime scene" tape.

Asbestos abatement is underway, and demo begins right afterwards.

Next stop: We're donating appliances to Charities. Those trucks arrive Friday and Saturday.

Then and Now

Our remodeling story begins a while back. We bought our then 40+ year old house in a great location. We held off changing things like the single pane metal casement windows intending "we'll remodel in two years!".

There were a few things we couldn't hold off on. The green shag carpet in the dining room left after a couple of years, getting replaced with beautiful vinyl (really!) that people thought was tile until they took their shoes off. We redecorated with paint and curtains. And, we renovated the master bath (twice!). Our here and there efforts made the house "ours", and had it looking very much like it did when I took a picture this morning:


As we approached the 10 year mark, we decided to get serious. We'd spent enough time in the space to recognize what we loved (like the sunlight on the east side) and what we'd change (like getting the washer and dryer out of the dark garage and into their own space). We called up the builder who'd renovated the master bath and got to planning.

We started out with a simple scope of work: bump out the master bedroom for a little space, and bring the laundry out of the garage. Pretty quickly, that evolved. A "simple" remodel was more expensive than we'd guessed, and would still be a compromise. We'd already spent 10 years living with some compromises. We decided instead to dream big.

We played with a turret at the entry. We evolved the master bump out to get a walk-in closet and a much bigger bath (reclaiming the current master bath for the floorspace). We dreamed of opening up the kitchen to have more interaction with guests when entertaining. We toyed with a family room. Oooh, and the laundry room. Where it all started. That got bigger too.

Our laundry room is not just a space for the washer, dryer and cleaning stuff. Really, it's not just a laundry room. We recognized that, as a multi-dog household, the laundry room would be a great space for our dogs. It could be a mud-room. Oh, and instead of a laundry sink, we could get a booster bath in there! Less bending when washing them!

That did it! A dog tack room now became the heart of our design scope. That, combined with the attraction of a great room (combining family, dining and kitchen) took off. And, together, they took over the garage!

To get all this, all we'd have to do is move the garage to the other side of the lot. But, wait! That left room for another bedroom and bathroom! And with our lot layout, and re-landscaping, we'd actually wind up with more usable yard space. Done and Done!


And now, after much anticipation and almost two years of planning (another post!), we're starting to get a house like this!

Welcome

We're remodeling our house. A lot. (But more on that in subsequent posts.)

We figured our family, friends and neighbors might like some of the stories we collect along the way. Enjoy!