August 17 - Kitchen Demolition Begins

It's been a few weeks since the last update. We had a short hiatus during the summer to let some of the sub-trades come in and do their work - tilers created the dog shower and tiled the former carriage house (now a laundry/utility area), painters painted the walls and trim, carpenters created some shelves in the pantry and the electricians put in some fixtures for us. Today is the first day of the demolition of the old kitchen. I'll try to recap the past few weeks with some photos below:

Although not part of the actual renovation, we did do a bit of work in the back yard. This area used to have some really old Holly bushes in it. We hired a recent graduate from the NSCC Horticulture program, Aaron Ashcroft-Staples, to come in and help with creating a nice back yard. This is one of his creations - a conifer bed with a touch of Zen. Our Buddha statue found a new home here and has been getting rave reviews.

This new tile floor in the laundry/utility area (formerly the carriage house) is just waiting for the grout to be applied. In the background you can see the myriad heating and domestic hot water hoses that feed through the poured concrete floor and go into the barn.

Here the tilers are creating the dog shower.

Mike is inspecting the new shelving that was being built into the pantry.

We recently went to Calgary and visited the French Barn. This is the store we imported our Lacanche range from. Here, store owners Patrick and Florian, pose with Mike in front of a range similar to the one we bought. He also had a quick lesson on how to operate the new range when it's in the new kitchen.

The Lacanche range arrives.

Even on wheels, the 800 lbs range needed some combined manpower to wheel it up the ramp and into the garage.

This is home until we're ready to move the range into its forever home in our new kitchen. In the interests of protecting it while in the garage we decided not to uncrate it. It'll be like Christmas morning when we finally get to peel away the crate and see the stove inside.

And so it begins. Here is a shot of the kitchen as the guys begin the demolition.

After removing this counter we discovered this underneath. Matt said, "Shhhhh...Mousie is sleeping." This would explain why the cats were often fascinated with this section of the kitchen.

It would be awesome if we'd been able to salvage this old original floor but, unfortunately, it was just too damaged to restore. It was interesting to note that there was no mesh behind any of these tiny round tiles. Each on was placed individually by hand. I may try to preserve a portion of it for posterity.

We suspected that there was concrete under the kitchen floor but we didn't know how much. Once we moved the dishwasher we were able to see exactly how much concrete there was. It looks like about 2 inches above the floor joists with another 3 inches between each joist. Our 800 lb range will be supported no problem.

The cupboards and cabinets are out. Some of these are going to be sent away and repainted and then re-purposed in our laundry/utility area. The other ones will be installed in the garage and used there for storage and in my studio.

We weren't sure which of the beams in the ceiling were actual beams and which were simply decorative. Now we know. When the guys removed the oak exterior we found a steel beam underneath it. To make things even more interesting, the beam is resting on part of the brick structure that we are going to remove. So, we'll need to come up with a plan of how we're going to work with this new wrinkle.

Here is some old knob and tube electrical wiring that we found in one of the 2x4s that used to be part of a bedroom wall. The wiring probably went to light fixtures in the bedroom..

This was a bit of a surprise. The guys removed part of a wall and we discovered these heating pipes inside. They go through the wall and up to a radiator on the second floor. Unfortunately this wall is slated for removal so we'll have to re-route the heating pipes through another wall.

So, at the end of Day One of the demolition most of the cabinets have been removed and relocated to the garage. Some will be re-purposed out there and some will be sent away to be painted and then they'll be used in the laundry/utility room. 

Another view of the kitchen minus it's cupboards. Soon they will seal off all the doors and the dirty work of plaster and drywall removal will begin. Once all that is down we'll bring in an engineer to let us know what we're going to need for structural support.

July 5, 2015. Dog Days of Summer - Things are slowing down a bit.

For the past couple of weeks and for the next few weeks the changes won't be quite so dramatic. The sub-trades have been in completing the crack filling, painting, plumbing, electrical and tiling. This is, however, the first time that the formerly barn and carriage house (now garage and...part of the house) have become accessible from the main house. We've been walking outside to get in until a couple days ago.  Again, I'll let the pictures explain what I mean.

This isn't officially part of this year's renovation project but I did just paint the pillars of the gazebo over the hot tub so I thought it deserved to be included.

You can see the piece of plywood (leaning against the wall in the hallway) that was the temporary barrier between us and the renovations. All the crack filling is complete and a coat of primer has been put on the walls. When you look down this hall you're actually looking into the barn at the end of it. From the opening of that hallway to the far wall is about 40 ft.

This was taken after I walked down the hallway and into the area that opens up into the laundry/utility area. There will be a counter under the window and an island in the center of the room. The dog shower is in the corner (done with ocean stone tile on the floor and it will have white subway tiles up the wall). A set of stairs will be installed in front of the door leading into the barn. The barn itself is actually two feet higher than the carriage house. Once through that doorway you're in our Costco room (where we'll store bulk items - like the kind you get at Costco).

I'm standing in the Costco room as I take this picture into the laundry room and down the hall into the main house. That doorway will be opened up a bit more and the plan right now is to make it an arch. We qualify all plans for the house given that we don't know what we're going to find structurally once we start tearing down walls.

You've probably seen this before but I just love our new barn and like showing new pictures of it.

This is in the barn too. This is my newly created studio. The sink was hooked up a couple weeks ago and my dear friend, Andrew, gave me a pottery wheel that I refurbished and set up. My shelving units hold my tools and pots that are drying and also create the wall that separates my studio from the rest of the garage.

Here's my new pottery wheel all set up. I covered our newly painted walls to try to protect them from any mud that may get splashed around.

Shameless self promotion. So far I've been involved in one sale. I branded myself and set up my little booth. The sale was just my pottery classmates and I but it was fun. I sold $62.37 worth of pottery. Unfortunately I bought $62.00 worth of pottery from my classmates. My business model needs some work.

Here's the completed carriage house. The cedar shingles are all up and the windows and doors are all installed. The light golden brown of the shingles will take on the same grey hue as the other ones on the barn over the next couple of years. The ones we put on the cabana during the deck project two years ago are almost completely grey already. That palette in front of my car (and a smaller one in front of it - you can just see the corner of it) is what 3000 lbs of porcelain floor tiles look like. We calculated that the kitchen and laundry area will need about 1100 square feet of tiles. Our designer found ones that she (and we) liked but they were in Dartmouth. We asked them if we'd be able to go get them instead of having them shipped down. They laughed and told us that many tiles would weigh 3000 lbs. To put that in perspective - our truck only weighs 5000 lbs.

Here is our new kitchen entrance with a new garden door. The kitchen windows are all being replaced and where you see shutters right now will also be a new window. There will be extension posts attached to the tops of the stone pillars and a pergola will be built there. I plan to cut a hole in the concrete below each pillar and plant some Wisteria that will crawl up the pillars and wrap around the pergola. That will take a couple years but should be spectacular once it's established.

June 17, 2015 - A beacon to help guide us home (from the pub) was installed today.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 near completion. We've decided to take a few weeks off between Phase 2 and Phase 3. Okay - the building inspector said he wanted the first two phases complete prior to starting Phase 3. At first we were dismayed at having a break in the pace we'd set but once we thought about it, the idea of having a few weeks without the hustle and bustle of work happening and a bit of extra time to get the kitchen contents moved before the demolition started...suddenly seemed like a good idea. Below are some recent shots along with a video of our new crown jewel - The Cedar Crest Beacon.

I'm glad we have some good people working on this project. This is the junction of all the domestic water and heating water pipes that joins the barn to the rest of the house. And the ones that aren't connected to the junction....go somewhere else.

Our new back door and door step leading from the laundry room to the back yard. Audrei wants a clothesline. We'll see.

This is one of my favourite new spots. Where you now see the picture window is where the doors to the carriage house used to be. The lattice make the base for the cedar shingles. In a few days this is going to look very different. We're also getting in a timber frame company to do the pergola that will extend up from the stone pillars. Notice one of our new outside lights beside the barn door.

First test a success. We wanted to make sure that the floor would hold the weight of the Range Rover. The test was successful. Of course, the real test will be if it's still there in the morning (and not in the basement) however our contractor and an engineer assure us that the floor will hold the Ranger Rover and three of four more cars as well - no problem.

The barn looks awesome especially with the new outside lights and the illuminated cupola.

Our beacon to guide us home from the pub. The video isn't great here but if you check Mike's Facebook page he has a better one.

June 12 - What a difference 5 days make.

Again, I'll let the pictures do the talking but, as June progresses, we're starting to see the end of phase II. We'll still be a couple more weeks getting it done. The drywall is all up and and will be finished next week. We jumped back into some of Phase I as the electricians came in and put up the outdoor lights and the concrete guys came back and completed the ramp. We could park in the garage now...if we had a driveway. All in good time. Here are some shots taken over the past week or so:

Here's the new garden door leading from the carriage house to the back yard.

Here is the ramp filled with gravel and dirt that is being compacted.

A layer of rebar is placed over the dirt. This will reinforce the concrete after it's poured.

The truck arrives to pour the concrete. That's Jason - our concrete guy - waving. We've spent a lot of time with him over the past few months.

Jason leveling out the concrete. Once it was all in he created a textured design on the surface.

The finished ramp looks great.

This is the carriage house/laundry room with most of the drywall up. It seems dark at the end of the hall but there is a piece of plywood covering the entrance to the rest of the house so that will open up a lot as soon as that is gone. The other side of that plywood is phase III. It sounds ominous.

The inside of our new garden door is on the left. The long, expanse of wall going along the hallway will give us much needed wall space to hang some of our art.

Okay, admittedly, draped in Typar is not a good look for any structure but try to focus on the new concrete at the bottom of the wall. We mimicked the slope of the existing concrete pad to both conceal the seam and to facilitate water run off from the roof.

This is another view of the concrete slab. The opening on the right is the outside entrance to the basement. We had to order a custom door since the opening is a little wider and a little shorter than a typical door. This will actually help us get larger things in the basement if we need to.

June 7, 2015

This is the corner where the dog shower will be. The pipes you see on the right are the heating pipes coming from the concrete floor of the barn. They will tie into the ones you see coming up out of the concrete floor here in the carriage house. There are also domestic hot water lines in there too (going to the dog shower and out to my studio in the barn). That squared-in area of framing will be an access panel to get to the section where they all connect.

Mike having breakfast in the pantry.

I'm standing on the other side of the closet taking a picture of Mike standing in the pantry. The walls of the pantry and closet are 8 feet high so don't go all the way to the cathedral ceiling. This openness will help with heating and air circulation.

In this picture you can see the doors to the left and you can see how the walls don't reach all the way to the ceiling. The pantry door is going to be across the hall from the TV room door. Both doors are going to be the old style sliding barn-doors using the original, 100 year old,  door roller systems that we salvaged from the carriage house.

Our late-blooming Azalea smells great.

It's been a couple weeks since my last update. Still lots going on - a yard full of vehicles belonging to various tradespeople every day - but, day to day, a lot of the work hasn't been visible. But, over the past couple weeks all together, there's been a pretty significant change. Still lots to come but here are a few pictures to keep you up to date:

This is looking from the house toward the barn. The entire carriage house was gutted and a cathedral ceiling put in. On the left you can see the picture window that will look out over the car park. The vertical boards on the left are the beginnings of the framing for the pantry and closet.

Three days of rain and a yard that doesn't drain well or fast left us with a flood behind the barn where the ramp is being built. Matt pumped it out and everything was fine. Part of the construction of this part of the project includes a drainage system which just hasn't been put in yet.

This is a typical sight in our back yard on any weekday. We think we may have, single handedly, solved the unemployment problem in Nova Scotia.

This is the outside of the carriage house now. It doesn't look like much at this stage but that big hole in the wall will be a picture window. The doorway to the right will lead to the basement.

Through it all my Muscat grapes are doing really well. Patrick and Sol and I pruned them and tied them up a week or so ago.

This is a little bit clearer view of the laundry/utility area leading to the barn. This is almost a foot of insulation in the ceiling and almost as much in the walls. Heating and cooling this space is going to be much easier than the older parts of the house.

We had to re-shingle the TV room during the renovation and since the skylights were really old and only contributed to letting too much light into the room - we decided to get rid of them. This is Jonathan getting ready to board over the hole in the ceiling.