November 7 post

We're a week away from our projected completion date. I don't think we're going to make it. |A more realistic "move in" date might be December 15. There has been huge progress made but, again, we're reminded daily of the scope of what we've undertaken. Even when we don't see things happening at the house, we know that we have a crew of people in a workshop working on cupboards and an island for the new kitchen. The heavy equipment arrived yesterday and started carving out a new driveway for us. Again, I'll let the pictures tell the story of what's been happening around here lately:

Bentley supervising the construction of the new pergola. He approves.

We finally have drywall. It's actually starting to look like a room again. You can see the recessed part of the ceiling. That will have tin tiles in it and the kitchen island is positioned directly underneath.

Behind all that cardboard is a fireplace. We're waiting for the stone facade to arrive. The patio doors like nice but they're the wrong ones. They only open on one side and we ordered ones that open on both sides. Unfortunately we never noticed this shortcoming until they were in. So, they have to stay there until the correct door arrives.

This sisters are installed and working away. They look very different than the giant boiler that was their predecessor.

Before the renovation we had two heating zones in the house - the kitchen area and everything else. Now, you can see from the zone valves on the wall, we have ten zones (there's one more to the right that you can't see in this picture).

The tile arrived for the bathroom vanity wall and top. We can't wait to see what that's going to look like when it's in place.

The new driveway is taking shape. You can see the laser leveler to the right of the photo. We didn't realize how much slope there was on the land until they had to level it for the driveway. Aaron (our landscaper) and I are getting all kinds of great ideas with this new perspective.

Oct 18 Post

It's been nearly a month since my last blog post. Things have been moving along but it's beginning to become evident just how extensive this project is. There are days when you can barely get into the driveway because of the cars and trucks that belong to the people who are working here. Since the last update we've done a lot of work to the heating system (new furnace(s), new hot water pipes, and new in-floor heat). There is a heating system industry magazine that has asked to feature our system in their trade magazine. It's not Home and Garden but it's pretty exciting that they want to feature us. Apparently our 2-furnace system is pretty innovative and since it's part of a re-fit I guess we're pretty interesting to anyone who might subscribe to something like that. We're still waiting to have the pipes laid in part of the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. We're currently heating the house with one propane fireplace, one wood fireplace and some space heaters. We're waiting for one part that has been back  ordered. Once that part arrives we'll be able to get heat into the old parts of the house (anywhere with the old cast iron rads). The newer parts (with in-floor heat) will be a while longer.

We've also finished the pergola and the roofing. There will be some lights to go in the pergola but right now we've got to focus on getting the kitchen finished and tight before really cold weather sets in. We have new kitchen windows which look awesome and are larger than the old ones. Between those and the pergola (instead of the roof that was there before), the kitchen will be much brighter. The bathroom is also coming together slowly. It really just looks like a studded in room with no walls and an old shower in the middle of it but a lot has been done with plumbing and electrical that doesn't really look like much yet. We have a heated towel rack to heat the bathroom and the pipes had to be run for that. When the wall go in it will start to take shape quickly. Light fixtures can go in then the in-floor heating elements. Then we're ready for the floor tiles. Unfortunately the floors were in such bad shape, there's going to be quite a bit of work to do to prepare the floors for the tiles.

We installed the propane fireplace in the kitchen area but we neglected to get a vent kit when we got the fireplace. So, even though Matt and his crew have built the chimney outcropping on the deck and the pipes and electrical have been run, we're held up until we get the vent kit.

Here are some more pics of what's been going on around here lately:

The new kitchen window are much larger than the old ones and let a lot more light into the kitchen. The new sink will be under the set on the left.

Here are our good news/bad news new patio doors. Good news because they're finally installed and we really like them. Bad news because they're the wrong doors. We ordered the type of patio doors where both doors open but, just after they were installed Matt went to open the second door and realized that only one door opened. The one you see on the left is stationary. So, it had to stay where it was - otherwise we'd have a huge hole in the wall - until the new one arrives. It will hopefully be here in a week or two.

To give us an idea of what the kitchen would begin to look like (no, that's not where the toilet goes) he used some wood to draw out the outline of the kitchen island. Even though the room looks pretty cavernous right now it's easy to see how it will start to fill up quickly once cabinets and counters and islands all go in.

The chandelier for the laundry room arrived. Mike was very excited to get it installed. The installation was supposed to just take couple hours. Then I started getting phone calls at work from electricians. Apparently laundry rooms are not usually the home of chandeliers so when the wiring was done (months ago) no one anticipated that it would need to carry the amount of electrical load that we were going to ask of it. Our chandelier has 42, 25 watt bulbs in it. That's over 1,000 watts for those of you that are counting. There was no way, with the wiring that was in place, that we'd be able to run anything else in that section of the house if we had that chandelier on too. So, the wiring had to be redone in that section of the house to accommodate our Johnathan Adler Chandelier. The silver lining is that we can turn it on and heat that section of the house pretty efficiently with just the the heat it gives off.

Mike and Bentley in our "kitchen". We're getting frost some nights now so we had to bring the plants inside. The garage has in floor heat that isn't hooked up yet so the plants are now living with us in the kitchen. The pantry door is lying up against the wall in the hallway. It was scheduled to go in a week or so ago but when they tried to install it they discovered that it needed an extra hinge. Not a big deal but time is so metered out around here these days that there simply hasn't been a chance for anyone to get the extra hinge and come and install the door. So, there is rests until there's a bit of a break in some of the mayhem.

This is the outside view of the new fireplace in the kitchen. Actually, this picture was taken a couple weeks ago. Right now all the trim is done and the little roof is shingled. When it's completely done there will be a propane vent coming out through it. This is actually the second time it was built. They built it too short (according to the propane technicians) so they had to remove the roof and raise it up a few feet and then rebuild the roof. I think I like it better at this height anyway.

This view of the new kitchen windows really shows off the increased size and how much light they'll let in.

This is another example of a lot of work that had to happen that you really can't see. Because our new stove has ten burners and two ovens it can potentially generate a lot of heat (108,000 BTUs to be exact). So to be up to code, we were required to install a ventilation system that could move enough air. However, if it were running at full blast in the winter, it would pump every bit of warm air out of the house in minutes. So, we had to install a heater in the intake vent for the system to heat the air that is being circulated back into the house. We were fortunate that the original chimney in the house has 3 flues and we were only using 2 of them. So, now the ventilation system uses the 3rd flue. The top of our chimney now looks very industrial with the wood fireplace top, the oil furnace top and now a large commercial ventilation system all sticking up out of it.

Here is one of the vent for the central vac system. Since we have no walls yet, it was a great time to get these guys in to install all the central vac piping. We also had the alarm guys come in to install all their equipment before the drywall goes up - which is supposed to happen next week.

The new propane fireplace sits patiently as we wait for the vent kit to arrive so they can finish the installation.

Here you can see the electrical box for one of the pot lights in the kitchen. There are several of these around the perimeter of the kitchen.

Here is another picture of "the sisters" in the basement. Our double furnace structure is pretty innovative - especially for a renovation. Matt's people built the wall next to the chimney to accommodate some of the equipment that will allow the furnaces to share the heating job. Although the house certainly has some chilly parts these days we're also noticing how easily the newly renovated parts are to heat and hold their heat. The TV room and laundry area stay very comfortable just with out little propane stove running. We're hopeful that the rest of the renovated areas will be just as efficient once everything is done.

Here's the finished pergola. The plan is to cut some holes in the concrete parking pad and plant some Wisteria that will climb up and over the pergola. We stained it grey (instead of painting it white) so it will never need to be repainted and once the Wisteria has grown over it we'll never need to tear it down to repaint.

Here's the opening for fireplace. You can see the insulation that's been installed and then sealed under plastic. It will make a huge difference in the way this part of the house will retain heat in the winter and stay cool in the summer.

More insulation on this wall surrounding the stained glass windows. This little section will have a desk in it and a book shelf and be a small office space.

This recessed part of the ceiling will be directly above the island. You can see the electrical boxes where the pendant lights that will hang over the island will be installed eventually.

This is an updated picture of the fireplace "chimney" with all the finish and the shingling done. Eventually an exhaust vent will come out through the front of this - about a foot or two from the top.

September 20 update.

More pics:

I suppose it was unrealistic to think we could move ceilings and walls around downstairs as much as we did and not expect that we'd be moving things around upstairs too. Here we see some of the results.

No cracks here but this is the door to our baggage room which is absolutely jammed shut. We can't get it open.

This appeared in the master bedroom. There were also so cracks in the hallway outside the bedroom door. The first day we started jacking things up downstairs out bedroom door would shut all the way any more. A couple days later they jacked up another section downstairs and suddenly the door would open again.

Here is where we straightened out a wall. If you look at the old tiles on the floor you can see the angle of the old wall. We had to straighten the wall to create room for the range (6 ft wide). We also just found out that the ventilation system for the new range is pretty substantial. It moves so much air that we would actually cool off the house in the winter so we have to heat the air that comes into the ventilation system. More on that later.

Here is the new doorway going into the new bathroom.

This is the new vanity and bronze sink that will eventually go into the new bathroom. For now it's still sitting in the garage.

With all the changes upstairs we sometimes neglect to report what's going on in the basement. Here is some of the old heating pipes that have been stripped out to allow for the new water lines that will be installed in the next few weeks.

Here are "the sisters". They're the two new furnaces that will heat the house. Most of the time one furnace or the other will be running (one week on, one week off). But in the coldest months both furnaces will run together to heat the over 6000 square feet of heated space (counting the heated barn) that we now have. We'll have more pics as the furnaces get made more at home.

September 15 - Another update

More photos that I'll let explain our progress so far:

At the top of the picture you can see the i-beam. It has wooden planks fitted and bolted into the sides so that the roof rafters can be attached. The beam weighs over 800 lbs and had to slowly be jacked into place using the "cribs" you see supporting each end of the beam. They would jack the beam up about 8 inches, insert another layer of the crib and then repeat until the beam was in place.

Another angle of the crib under the beam.

Here's a look at the opening for the fireplace.

The wall studs in place for the new bathroom wall and the opening for the French doors leading to the deck.

The i-beam all in place and the cribs removed.

September 10, 2015

We've gotten to the point that long explanations of what's happened during the one or two preceding weeks are all starting to sound the same. Suffice it to say that we've rounded the corner and are no longer tearing down parts of the house but are, indeed, rebuilding. I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

Meegan standing where our French doors will be installed.

Meegan and Dan constructing the frame of the structure that will hold the fireplace.

Another view of the fireplace structure.

The large i-beam that has to be installed in the kitchen needed support that went straight through to the basement. Even though basement floor was already about 4 inches thick, it wasn't going to be enough for the load that is on that beam. Here Matt cut a piece out of the floor and then dug down further and then refilled that with more concrete.

The saw used to cut through the cement was gas powered and left a nasty haze of smog in the basement. We had to leave the door open all day to air it out.

Another week behind us and the demolition continues (with at least a little bit of rebuilding this week)

So even though there was more demolition this week there was also some progress made in the other direction. Windows were ripped out but door frames were put in. The giant steel beam was prepped to be installed next week. We had a little hiccup with the fireplace - mostly due to us not being sure of the dimensions when we did the design for the renovations - but we rejigged a couple things and everything now will fit perfectly. Take a look at some of pictures taken this week:

With almost all the studs taken down you can start to get a sense of the dimensions of the new bathroom and how the room will look with a hall going toward that spare bedroom door. That door will be at the end of the hallway and will be where we put the "secret" doorway leading to the spare room. The door will actually look like a bookshelf (don't tell anyone).

It's been a long time since this window was open. Harry opened it so he could paint the trim outside and Meegan fixed up some of the wooden trim that was bad.

Matt removes the window where the fireplace is going to go. We had to do a little redesigning around this. The fireplace we ordered stands out away from the wall further than we allowed for in the design. This made it jut out into the entrance to the room too far. So, we're going to let it jut out onto the deck  instead and surround it with a nice casement that will match the rest of the house. This will give us lots of room inside and will still work well with everything outside.

The new door frame for the French door is in.

From the inside it doesn't look like there's much wall left. But it will look a lot different once the fireplace and mantel are in place.

The beam getting prepped for placement next week.

Dan spent a lot of time this afternoon drilling holes through  the steel beam. He assures me that was not an easy task.

September 2, 2015 - Summer is slipping away...and so is our old kitchen.

So now we're into September and the race is on between chilly fall weather...and a weather-tight house. Part of the renovation is a whole new heating system. We're actually installing two new furnaces that will work in tandem - one runs for a week and then the other. During the coldest days of the winter they will both run together. A computer dictates which one runs when and when the temperature is cold enough to require both to be running. This is a more economical way to heat the house since two small boilers use less energy (running alternately) than one large one running all the time. We also discovered that the wall next to the deck was basically being supported by two 2x4s - and nothing else (due to a lot of rot on that wall). That's not a lot of support for a whole wall that's also supporting the room above it. We supported the ceiling with jack posts and cut the two 2x4s. I have a video showing how flimsy the wall was. A very large steel beam arrived today that will create all the support we'll ever need for the upstairs and the roof. Check out some of the most recent photos below:

Although not actually part of the renovation, the front of the house got a face lift as well. All the white trim was painted, we decided to ditch the shutters and go for a more traditional New England look and I finally talked Mike into letting me cut down the two giant Cedars that used to flank the front stoop. I think John Dickie - from The Briar Patch Nursery - summed it up best when he said that those trees had simply outgrown their location. The Cedar shingles that were under the shutters are a different colour than their more weathered counterparts but that will quickly change. In a year or so they will be a perfect match.

The demolition of the old bathroom started with the removal of the - never used except to wash the dogs - bath tub. Besides finding the remnants of a mouse habitat (along with the remnants of one mouse) we also uncovered the old base of the original tub that predated the one we removed. We know that the old original tub was poured porcelain (like the base of the shower) but was destroyed when it was removed decades ago. We had also been told that there had been a foot bath near the shower but we couldn't find any trace of that.

The wall's coming down. Only the mortar backing for the old tiles and the original medicine cabinet remain. It took days to chip away all the old tiles (two layers) and then the mortar and wire mesh that they were cemented onto.

This is the first load of old heating pipes and insulation that was removed from the basement. We're running all new heating lines with more efficient materials.

The vanity is gone and we've exposed the old white tiles that were in the original bathroom. On the right you can see the mortar and mesh that held them in place for almost a century. If you look closely you can also see that the tiles on the floor are identical to the tiles that were in the kitchen. Both rooms - this bathroom and the old original kitchen - had about 5 inches of cement under the tile floors.

Here you can see where the sill (which had rotted out) was replaced with these timbers and insulation strapped together. The floor joists of the deck will eventually be bolted directly to this beam. This is also where the new French door will be installed that will lead out to the deck.

This is the beam that was delivered today. It will go across the ceiling and create the basis of the support system for the other half of the kitchen, the upstairs and the roof. Given the size of the house, a beam of this size was required. Installing this may also help to level out some of the floors upstairs. They will never be perfectly level again but we knew we would never have straight floors in a 100-year-old house and were fine with that. It adds to the character of the house.