It's raining again

The good news: our roof trusses have arrived! The bad news: after several days of good weather, the rain has returned. Work on the house progresses slowly pending better weather. We are hoping for a dry spell so that they can lay the new gas line, pour a new slab and start framing our mudroom, breakfast nook and second floor.

Double Wide

Our house now looks like a double wide trailer (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with a double wide). Yesterday, they removed our dining room bumpout. Today, they eliminated our second floor. We have a feeling it will take them longer to put it back together than taking it apart.

The one remaining room

As of Friday, the house had been pretty much gutted. Plywood had been removed from the roof, the windows had been put into storage and the everyone was just awaiting a dry spell (this week!) to deconstruct the second floor. Amid all the destruction, there is one room that remains largely untouched (see photos).

The biggest tarp in the world

Our entire house is covered by one very large, continuous blue tarp. Yes, that's what's left of our chimney in the first photo. It's a bit disturbing as an owner to see one's home without siding -- luckily, we're in for a few relatively dry days (by Portland standards). I managed to sneak inside the house today -- it was a bit eerie with no walls, dangling wires and everything bathed in a dull blue glow.

Well, that's one less maintenance item each year.

See that chimney in the "before" photos? It's now gone. Well, at least half of it is gone. We are switching to a direct vent gas fireplace insert. Much more energy efficient, and it will supplement the new 90+ gas furnace we plan to install.

Demo Week 2

By the end of the second week of demo, the drywall and plaster had been stripped, as had the flooring. To help you envision the scale of the project, we are removing the second floor of the house, then rebuilding it in order to gain more bedrooms and an extra bathroom. After the project is completed, we will have a total of four bedrooms and 3 baths, all above grade. Frankly, this all started because we wanted a bigger, functional kitchen. In order to achieve that goal, we had to turn the stairs 90 degrees. Turning the stairs 90 degrees necessitated altering the second floor floorplan, and altering the second floor floorplan necessitated altering the roofline. Hence ripping off the second floor and starting from scratch. Long story short -- only one room in the house (the guest bedroom on the first floor) will remain unaffected by the project. These are some photos from week 2.

Remodel Day 1

The first day of demo arrived. Peter, our contractor, had Tom and Gabe start removing fixtures, flooring and trimwork.