Back to the house ... after a few years of working around the house, mostly tearing things out and down, last year we started the long road to a new addition.
There was plan A, B, C, and D-L ...
First there was the new wall/foundation ...
Our house was originally a barn, so the main part of the house is one large living space with stairs and two bedrooms upstairs. Then there are (this is the really charming part!) 3 one story additions on three sides of the house, all with different roof heights and pitches ... yup :) The back addition is the kitchen, the side addition is the master bathroom and bath as well as the children's bath, and the front addition was probably a porch at one time that was closed in. It was a lovely room, with a very low slanted ceiling. We never really finished it during the first redo and it was used as a storage room/office.
That was last year, remember?
In January, on the coldest day of the winter (in the single digits), Travis returned to tear down the front room.
(Don't forget, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Some are still uploading smaller than usual.)
This picture was taken from the upstairs, in Kate's room, just above the front room while it was being torn down. You can see the remnant of the wall and windows Travis knocked out in the video. Through the window frame you can see a row of block that was laid last summer. That's the foundation for the new addition.That left us with our living room wall and a door between us and the bitter cold. After the Tyvek covering blew into the neighbors yard one day, Bard spent most of an afternoon with some plywood, insulation and more Tyvek, trying to keep the cold out. From the inside we stuffed all the cracks with receiving blankets. So passed the late winter and spring. You can imagine how happy we were to start phase ... what phase are we on now?
Phase 29?
July 2009 ... turn existing house into something resembling this sketch my dad drew based on an idea he and Bard came up with.
Doing so requires adding on an addition to replace the front room that was torn off. Next, add trusses to create a second story on the front room. Then (most likely in the spring) tear down the existing second story and continue the trusses over the main part of the house (and side addition) and over the kitchen (rear addition). Confused yet? If so, just sit back and enjoy the pictures :)
Step 1: pour slab to extend front room and then frame it in. (you can see the original rear addition in the second picture)
Step 2: tear off alumium siding (and additional layers :) and repair outside of side and back walls. This is both to prepare for the second story addition and to make the house more winter ready :) This picture shows the various layers we found under the white siding. There's the fake brick, then the green Aztec layer, and underneath that, the original wood. Mathis was such a trooper, helping Bard. It was HOT this day! That's the kitchen window just above him. The fence behind him goes around the basement stairwell, you can see it the picture above, just to help you get your bearings.
As part of the outside wall repairs, at the last minute we decided to get rid of this window in the kitchen. There were two huge windows in the kitchen, but they were part of a less than desirable layout. They were very tall windows, as you can see, which accounts for the lovely low countertops. Those countertops were quite useless. This window is being boarded up, which called for some extreme cutting with the Sawzall. An invaluable tool when destructing, as its name implies. I was in the other room when the cutting began, and all my glass jars starting falling off these shelves from the vibrations of cutting through the wall :) I only lost one Pampered Chef pan ... not too bad!
Up next ... as the outside wall repair extended around to the back of the house, the decision was made to go ahead and redo the Master bath. Oh, the Master bath .... sigh. Where to begin with that lovely room. Until next time ...
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