Gallery
- The old exterior wall was knocked out in the new mudroom which gave us the first sense for what that intersection will be like. We think it will be great.
- The egress windows are framed in and the windows will be installed this week! We will be able to see what the light will be like in the family room.
- Holes have been knocked in the cinder block on the basement wall and rebar put in that goes down the entire length. This week they will pour cement in those channels for additional wall strength.
- We got our air conditioning working again with the new furnace and condenser on Friday! Just in time for a miserably hot spell!
Remodel Update Week 14
This week was all about finish carpentry. Happily the tile floor in the mudroom got installed and it does look really nice. The finish carpenters showed up and put the doors in, got trim up, installed the pocket doors and generally “finished” things. They are doing an excellent job and have one more day of work next week.
Next week the outdoor railing on top of the mudroom and the front entrance gets put on, and the painters arrive on Wednesday to do the final painting. It’s pretty straight forward stuff now through the finish of the project and only a few more decisions to make. Having the two built-in cabinets delivered and installed will probably be the biggest remaining changes to the space itself.
Remodel Update Week 13
I think week 13 of the project will go down as the least exciting week for me. The only thing to get worked on was the mudroom tile floor. That was out of necessity, the mudroom is the access point to the basement and in the laborious process of putting in the tile floor access to the basement was cut off. The process takes days so it felt like a really slow week.
On the positive side, this marks the start of “finish work” to the project. The floor is really nice and on Friday the doors for the basement and all the finish materials were delivered. We’ve also received the exterior lights and on Tuesday (after Labor Day) the finish carpenters show up to start that work. The tile will also be finished this week. 😀
I was curious about the yellow box on the wall that said Loud Mouth on it. The electrician hooked that up to the in floor heat before the tile guy did his work. It monitors the integrity of the circuit, and if anything goes wrong during tiling it starts making noise immediately. Pretty smart to have.
Remodel Update Week 12
We are entering the home stretch on the remodeling project. The work now is no longer about structure and wire. We are dealing with drywall mud, paint and finish work. This week all of the drywall got primer and the ceilings were all painted. The siding on the exterior of the house is being put back together, which is more complicated than it appears. The front of our house is pretty as we are replacing the trim. The trim was pine and was rotting out. Also the railing is being replaced to match the railing on the back. Lastly the temporary wall in our kitchen was removed. It was a bit shocking how large the kitchen felt now that we don’t have that plastic wall up anymore.
This week the tile is going to be installed in the mudroom and more finish work. We are still really excited about the project and can’t wait to start living in the new spaces!
Remodel Update Week 11
This week the remodeling was all about drywall mudding and taping. Tape, mud, repeat. Repeat. Repeat some more. We were out of town which was a nice thing. It was fun to see the walls looking so nice and smooth when we got back. It feels like we are entering the home stretch now.
Remodel Update Week 10
I’m posting this weeks update a little early, the progress is so fun to see. The theme for this week is drywall! The framing is gone, and in it’s place is grey drywall everywhere you look. I was amazed that one guy did it all. The result of these huge 54" by 12 foot sheets of drywall and one guy over two days was impressive. The new space feels like it will when it’s done now. We continue to be really excited for the project!
Next there is buckets and buckets of joint compound.
Remodel Update Week 9
The remodel continues to go well. This week carpentry was mostly outside. The new mudroom got the exterior finished. The roof needs to be finished and then they will put the railing on top. Not much more before the outside will look done, minus some paint and the real door.
The inside work was wires and pipes. The electrician finished nearly everything with just a couple small things left, including my precious doorbell. The electrical inspection is done. The low voltage guys drug a bunch of Category 5E cable for me and almost as much speaker cable. The radon system got installed as well. We tested our basement and the radon levels weren’t bad, but we went ahead with it to make the radon even less of an issue and to make the air in the basement feel fresher.
Insulation gets put in this week and the sheet rock starts going up as well!
Remodel Update Week 8
The remodel is continuing along really well. This week all the framing was completed. There were some ceiling parts left from last week. We did the electrical walk through on Monday of this week and the electrician got right to it. The pre-wiring for more security system stuff was done. The ducts for the furnace also got put in. Another temporary wall was put up in the kitchen so that the door could be taken out and the wall cut out above the espresso bar. The window in the upstairs bathroom was removed. The deck was also put back together which helps the yard feel more normal.
The week ahead is mostly about wires and pipes. Electrical inspection will happen this week and hopefully the low voltage work will get completed as well. I’m dragging new Ethernet and coax to a bunch of spots. The outside will also be restored further with our fencing put back in place and possibly the beginning of the siding work.
Remodel Update Week 7
The update last week felt really significant with the new floors in and all. This week felt like an even bigger advance! All of the walls in the basement are now framed in and the windows are in the mudroom and the family room. We can now see just how the light will be in the family room and get a sense for how the flow will be in the main level with the mudroom there. We also got most of our side lawn back this week. Tammy and I are both feeling really good about the layout.
The week the project also broke into the rest of the house. A temporary barrier is in place in the office to keep dust out and the exterior wall has already been taken out to make room for the new pocket doors.
This week we do the electrical walk-through as well as mapping out all the low voltage work. We are right around the half-way point now.
The pictures of all the framing are probably hard to make out without an idea of what direction things are.
Remodel Update Week 6
Week six was a big one! The difference between last week and now is really fun. Last week we had a dirt floor in the basement, now there is cement. Last week you had to take a ladder down the last half of the steps, now there are now steps. Last week they framed the mudroom, now it is enclosed (sort of).
I’ve been amazed at all the structural engineering that has gone into lowering the floor. The extra 7" will be worth it though. This week windows get put in and most of the framing happens.
Remodel Update Week 5
This last week was short with the 4th of July holiday, but there was still some nice progress. The mudroom is now framed in and you can really see what will be. The basement got the steel reinforcement plates put in and the dirt leveled and prepared for pouring the new concrete. The original plan had the concrete getting poured this week but they got backed up on another job so that will happen at the beginning of this week.
Looking ahead we should have a floor and most likely windows in place in the basement by the end of next week. We are also hoping that we can get the air conditioning hooked up again for the main floor. We’ve been without it since the digging started and since that is done the new condenser should be able to get back in. We have our fingers crossed. It has been pretty hot lately. Luckily we still have air conditioning upstairs in the bedrooms.
We are also preparing for the project to start invading the rest of the house more. Walls will soon be getting knocked down and we’ll have to accommodate some additional disruption on the main floor.
