What we started with (D)

I am amazed at the ability of the human mind to surpress memories of pain. Will and I remodeled extensively in South Pasadena. I'm sure it was stressful, trying to cook meals and maintain routines for the kids in the midst of the dust and upheaval that accompanies remodeling. But I have no memory of that... I only remember the fun stuff: Ian (8) sitting on the roof, singing along with the carpenter. Katy (10) donning Will's tool belt, and trying to brandish a cordless drill - but she was so small she required two hands just to pick it up. And Ian happily scrabbling through the crawlspace, helping Will and the electrician to run wires - and he was genuinely useful. It was summer, and the kids begged to stay home everytime Will was there, because to them it was a wonderful adventure! My children have taught me many things, and I'm going to try to learn from them once again: I will try to approach this as an adventure!

Here's the problem:

In the family room, this weird "atrium" (rocks on left) opens up through the master bedroom. This is the space we're adding to the kitchen. The family room also has another odd feature - carpet inserted in the tile, like a rug.

And there's a bathroom that no one uses, mostly because it opens onto the dining room. So we'll make that part of the kitchen too.

Week 1: July 16-22 (D)

Our goal this week was to get plumbing run to the garage for a utility sink, and demo the odd bathroom that opened on to the dining room. This weekend, we vacated the construction zone, moving our furniture into the garage, and setting up makeshift cooking facilities.

Well, the bathroom is demolished, and we found buried junction boxes, which Will wanted to share. (substandard engineering/construction really gets him!) And got water to the garage.

Yard's a mess, but we'll fix that in phase two of the yard project. (I'm just hoping we don't break a leg, navigating the dirt piles to get to the "kitchen" at night! - but they're supposed to get filled in next week)

Welcome to Maison Garage! Also known as "Hell's Kitchen" on hot days - the garage gets quite warm. But certainly better than the cooking facilities that many of our ancestors had.

Refrigeration is a major plus - and I've been prepping for this for 3 months! We have about 50 meals worth of prepped and partially prepped food in the freezer. (I could easily become a hoarder.) Not enough to eat entirely from the freezer, but who would want to? But with barbeque, microwave, and toaster oven, this will make it easier to get dinner on the table.

Note the sink, at left, purchased from a used restaurant supply house. If you're thinking that Will is over-engineering again, you're right. But the used sink wasn't much more than a new plastic sink from Home Depot, and will be much more durable and cleanable, so I'm grateful for it.

And behind the fridge, you can see the piled, blanketted, and tarped furniture.

Week 2 (D)

7/25-29: Lots of demolition. Not much to see. Will drilled his finger this weekend (ouch!) and I came home with groceries to find a trail of blood drips through the house. Since he hollered "hello" and I could hear him moving, I wasn't worried - but it is a little weird.

Cooking in "Maison Garage" is a challenge - we can only use one appliance at a time, since they're all sharing the same extension cord. (Will points out that we could use 2, but only by unplugging the frig!) Still, we're eating really well - tonight's dinner was Chicken Satay, Garlicky Green Beans, and Thai Cabbage Slaw (color's a bit off due to flash):

Meanwhile the work to pour the new footings that will allow us to remove the load-bearing wall has been proceeding, click here for more details.

8/04/12 - Mayhem at 6 Silver Spring! (D)

OK - Got your attention, right? Well, it was crazy here yesterday. The contractor, with his plumber and demolition guys were working. And the landscaper came to remove the terraces the city deems offending, regrade, and replant (see Will's sidebar to the yard remodel project: The City Steps In). And the floor guy brought samples for final approval, and to check measurements. Will was in his element - I've never seen him in this situation, and he's REALLY good. Cheerful, positive, directing activity, cycling between one contractor and the next.

I was trying to stay clear, working in my sewing room, when I hear running water... a LOT of it. I go to investigate, but can't get to the source because to the plastic separating the construction zone for the living quarters. But I see Will racing to the water shutoff in front. Yup, they cut through a water pipe. There's a gusher in the kitchen! So now, in addition to a lot of dirt in the construction zone, we have water and mud. It's hard to tell, but the beams under the worklight are all wet. It's an adventure!

8/6 - 8/11 Progress! (W)

Monday the lumber arrives:

Then Tuesday the framer arrives for work. The mission:

1. Build temporary shoring (basically a wall in the middle of the old kitchen)
2. Remove the old exterior load-bearing wall.
3. Cut all of the upstairs floor joists so that the beam can slip between their ends
4. Raise the beam into place
5. Install the 4x4s that support it
6. Install Joist hangers to hand the upstairs floor joists on the new beam.
7. Remove the temporary wall

Amazingly, this was accomplisted in a single day. Plus framing out the new bit of wall that separates the kitchen from the entry hall and dining room.

Tuesday 8/14: The electricians arrive for the first time. (W)

And they take on the task of replacing the main electrical panel. Interestingly they do this job "hot" that is never asking Edison to shut off the power.

As a result the power outages were minimal. Two roughly 30-minute power outages for the critical bits the circuits feeding the refrigerator and the freezer. The reasons for replacing the panel were two: it was about 25 years old and in only fair physical condition and it really didn't have enough breaker space for our plans.

Notice on the before picture, the use of flexible metal conduit (red arrow). Flex is not water tight and is not allowed to be use in a wet location such as on the outside of a house, and yet someone did! The new installation is far from finished, inside the crawl space on the other side of the neat row of LB Fittings is still a mess that will have to be sorted out. Also the ground connection is connected but not yet properly fastened down (that's the small cable you see hanging loosely).

8/14-19: More progress! (D)

I like framing better than demolition and plumbing- it seems like there's more going on.

On Tuesday, as described by Will above, they added new electrical service. Will stayed home to see that everything was done to his satisfaction - and thought he'd get a few repairs done. Unfortunately, the repair he chose to do was to rewire a ceiling fan... by himself... on top of a ladder. What was he thinking? Strained his back, and spent the next couple days lying down, grumbling and grousing. And I had a rotten cold, which he caught, making him (and me) even more miserable. And it's hot, and with the house sealed off for construction, there's not much cross-ventilation. So we're a grouchy, miserable pair. But despite that, much was accomplished - though not by us!

New ceiling beams and headers let the framers open the kitchen to the family room. We'll open a bit more to the living room, too.

8/20-26: (w)

Not nearly so much visible progress this week. Little details being worked out. Started closing a few things like the the upstairs bathroom wall is now sheet-rocked (with opening for a large medicine cabinet).

No plumbers this Saturday. Instead we get the HVAC guys. We're moving the furnace from the front hall (where is sounds like a small jet engine when running) to the attic which will hopefully significantly reduce it's noise. The work to move the unit and re-run all of the ductwork was accomplished except for two vents in the family room and a new vent being added to the master bedroom.

Attic now looks a bit like something out of a science fiction movie:

Then there was an "oops" this weekend as well... this time one of the workers manages to put his foot through the hall ceiling.

Continue with Part 2