Tearing Out Walls – Driven Outside

Making lemonade out of lemons… I have mentioned an issue we found with our house and how we had to tear out walls to fix things. Well, we took the opportunity to do some long wanted remodeling since the place was already torn apart. We are insulating the exterior walls, re-plumbing the whole house, re-wiring to remove the old knob&tube still left in the attic, remaking the Stairs of Doom into something that people won’t fall down, tearing out the 30% efficient oil heater and adding a heat-pump, adding attic access, making a dining room, putting in arched doorways, bringing in more light, and adding lots of period-appropriate detail. Below are some of our in-progress updates after three weeks of demo, with the “WAS” pictures first.

The stairwell and chimney tear out – before and during:

The 1942 oil heater removal – before and during:

The back-bedroom transformation into the dining room – before and during:

The Attic – Before and during:

As mentioned a few weeks ago, we hit a snag on the garage build. Super frustrating. There is some stuff in the house that takes precident – they just have to happen and happen right now. Thankfully, we are in a place to take care of it, but my dream shop has been pushed a couple of months. That hasn’t stopped me from getting everything prepped though. I have completely cleared out my current GROP and moved all the innards into storage for the duration of our build/re-build. A few things like ladders and yard tools are left, but after giving away an entire trailer load of scrap lumber and plywood it is all open space. It hurts a little that the cleanest my garage shop has ever been is right before I tear it down to built a new one…

The other day, I had to do a little fiberglass repair on the Jeep top and swap out my floor-mounted headlight dimmer switch. Not super a fun/sexy mod, but taking the door off made it easy – ish. I will not be bright-lighting folks for my entire commute anymore. It was nice to have a dry spot to work during a Seattle winter. Also, this was the only time in 6+ years that a vehicle had been in it.

We had to start the house remodel before the garage and start in the rear bedroom (NW corner of the house). The interior walls had to come out to repair an issue(s). After we take care of the repairs, a new arch will lead into the kitchen, there will be a 4′ French door with a 12″ balcony looking out into the back yard, and we will have wainscoting up to 68″ and a coffered ceiling in what was the back bedroom and what will be the new dining room. Here are some shots before the full wall removal, some replacement studs and new headers.

The basement stairs are also in need of replacement and will be taken out and rebuilt next week. The new HVAC will go in the week after. It has been and will continue to be a test of our resolve and patience.

Driven Outside

Tag: Tearing Out Walls

House Remodel Update – February 2016

If you want to hear God laugh, tell him what your plans are…