WEEK 2

MONDAY, 11/15/10 – We start the week by emptying the closet once again.  Isaak is by himself, no helper today.  The helper has not returned from his road trip.  Mmm?  Isaak spends the day working on the living room ceiling.

When we get home the all the plaster is completely gone.  The bays of the walls have all been vacuumed clean of insulation.

Always clean when we get home!

The A/C guys have started on the ductwork. 



These two vents are coming through Wayne's closet.
One for the living room and the other will go into the kitchen.



Of course we have to clear the bed and put everything back in the closet.

TUESDAY, 11/16/10 – The GC’s helper has returned.  Hooray!  Today they start to rip up the old layers of linoleum.  The 3” wide strips of subfloor have to come up too.  It appears the floor joists were built up 3/4” in order to raise the subfloor even with the wood floors in the living room and dining room.

Hooray the old yellow floor is gone!!!

A few old beer bottles were found in the floor joists, but no other surprises.

The ducting has been completed throughout the house. The attic is looking like a space-aged silver octopus has moved in, and the air handler has increased another 6 feet in length.  Wow it’s looking bigger than I expected.  But the A/C guys did a great job leaving us room in the attic for storage.

WEDNESDAY, 11/17/10 – We do not have to empty the closet this morning!  Not much happening today. GC is running errands and picking up materials for the week.  A/C crew is here.  All the registers are installed throughout the house. 

It was a cool floor!

THURSDAY, 11/18/10 - Helper left alone to demo bathroom floor, while Isaak is taking the second trailer of debris to the dump, only 6200 lbs!  Our vintage tiled bathroom floor is gone.  Wish we could have saved it!

When Isaak returns he finds his helper on the floor of the living room saying he has hurt his back.  Ouch, we know what that is like.  However, the powder room floor has been removed completely and the debris stacked neatly waiting for the return of the trailer.  The helper goes to the hospital and the doctor tells him to take Friday off.  Mmm, another long weekend; I think I see a pattern developing.

Now you can see into the crawl space below, and where the walls are rotting.

Top right hand corner is where the sill plate is crumbling.

FRIDAY, 11/19/10 – The remainder of subfloor is completed, the radiators removed, and all the old powder room piping gone.  I get a phone call after 3pm from a/c guy saying that he cannot get into house since the contractor has gone for the day.  So I close down the office, put the dogs in the car and head home.  Yes, I forgot to mention that Fred & Roxie get to go to the office everyday since we are in the demolition phase.  They are loving the daily car ride and very happy to be away from the noise.

5:51pm Friday November 19^th…the A/C is blowing!  Big time!  Whoo hoo!!

Power feed and plumbing to the air handler

It works!!!

SATURDAY, 11/20/10 - Wayne and I spend our day shopping for tile.  At Virtue Tile in Summit (http://www.virtuetile.com/) we find the perfect backsplash for the kitchen.  A small brick tile with a fantastic molding. 

We still need an accent tile for the powder room shower so off we go to another great tile source Apex Tile Gallery in Parsippany. (http://www.apextilegallery.com/) We spend a good part of our afternoon there,  and Wayne finds an accent tile that we are truly excited about!  Hooray...We can check off tile from our “to do list.” The only things left are lighting and plumbing fixtures!



Week 1 - DEMOLITION!!!

Whoo hoo!  The day has arrived!  November 9^th.  The kitchen will be gone today and we will be another day closer to our new kitchen!

TUESDAY 11/09/10 – The first thing Isaak has to complete is widening the basement doorway because the old refrigerator will not fit downstairs.

Now comes the fun part of transferring all the food from the new refrigerator to the old refrigerator now relocated into the basement.  The old refrigerator is a little smaller and it took some strategic packing in order to fit everything in the freezer.  While I am doing the food transfer, the new refrigerator, dishwasher and range get moved into the garage.

Before I head off to the office, the A/C guys  from All City Heating & Cooling (http://allcityheatcool.com/) show up and we review the locations of the registers and ductwork.  We decide to run 2 ducts through Wayne’s closet.  I ask them to tell me when we have to clear it out and I get a resounding “WHEN!”  So now I clear out the closet and lay all the clothes on the bed and cover them with sheets of plastic.



When we get home we find the cabinets, countertops, kitchen ceiling and dining room wall are gone.  Wow!  This space is going to be great and the dogs are going nuts running circles through the living room and dining room/kitchen.  Back upstairs we have to put the closet back together to clear the bed for the night.



Wow!  This is great Fred look what they have done for us!



A view from the dining room.  Powder room still intact.

Fred is exhausted after all the excitement!

WEDNESDAY, 11/10/10 – 6:30AM Isaak is parked out front waiting to come in at 7:00AM.  We empty the closet again and cover the bed, and off to work.  When I get home more of the dining room ceiling and walls have been removed; the air handler and compressor for the a/c have arrive and the closet has been cut open.  A small run of molding in our guest room has been removed which will aid in running a/c ducting from the attic to the living room and dining room.



Powder room still intact, but more plaster gone!




Holes appearinging ing the ceiling for A/C!




More plaster removed from Sink Wall.



Open space for ducting in closet.





THURSDAY, 11/11/10 - Not much happening today.  GC has errands to run and will be here later this afternoon.  We do not have to empty the closet today.  More plaster is removed from dining room walls.  The walls of the powder room are now gone too! 



More plaster removed from Dining Room.  This door will be replaced with a French Door.



Wow!  The attic looks so empty!

The air handler is huge and right over the Master Bedroom.



Ceiling is completely gone.

A new view to the Powder Room.  The box is a steam radiator which will be relocated.

FRIDAY, 11/12/10 -  Start off the day by emptying Wayne's closet once again!  The trailer is filled to the brim!  Isaak hauls it off to the dump.  His helper stays behind and continues to remove plaster from the powder room.  When Isaak returns, his helper wants to leave early.  Something about a road trip to the Carolinas to pick up a relative. mmm? 

Almost all the plaster has been removed from the kitchen/dining and powder room areas.  Now Isaak moves into the living room to start working on that ceiling.

Meanwhile, major holes are being cut into the ceilings for a/c return and registers.

Not much left in the Powder Room.

Our first unforeseen occurrence.  Once the plaster has been removed from the exterior powder room walls it is brought to my attention that the lower 18"of the house's exterior sheathing has rotted away and needs to be replaced.  Upon closer inspection it is determined that the sill plate is rotten and crumbles to the touch.  I knew the house was sinking in that corner.



Insulation has been removed from the walls.

A/C return in the hallway.

Working on the registers in the Master Bedroom.



A view from above!



Living Room

The week ends with the arrival of many boxes of ducting.   One week down and a huge smile as I go to sleep looking at a/c registers in our ceiling! 

Already looking forward to the summer!

Progress!

The BEFORE Pictures 2010

Now 7 years later the design has changed multiple times. 

Wayne was ok with the previous designs, but truly wanted to remove the dining room/kitchen wall, and open the kitchen to the dining room.  He also wanted to remove the living room wall and have a completely open concept for the first floor.  I was hestitant because I like the concept of a formal dining room and an eat in kitchen.  But on the other hand...each time we entertain for family and friends whoever is in the kitchen is a left out from the visit.  So it made more sense to open up the rooms, and we compromised once again.  The final design now has the wall removed from the kitchen and dining room, but the living room wall will remain. 

Along with opening the dining room and kitchen, the new design eliminates the eat-in kitchen concept.  Now the kitchen will be larger, more counter space, and a larger island.

The following pictures are the most current "before" pictures from November 8, 2010.



Existing Powder Room



What a great tile!  I will miss this floor!

A view of the old nook & powder room wall.  This floor I will not miss!

The door to the basement!  See our new refrigerator!

A view from the dining room.

The kitchen is once again packed up!  See new dishwasher.  Roxie is very concerned!

A view towards the dining room.  Fairly new range.  And Roxie not letting me out of her site.

"What are you guys doing to my room?"

The 3-D Design Concept #22

Here are a few fun pictures showing Wayne what our kitchen could look like!

Small island with seating for 2, and glass cabinets above the sink to show off our Fiestaware collection.

The future range wall.

The glass hutch wall and dining area.  Love the glass doors!

Of course he thought I was nuts creating the cardboard kitchen, but it definitely helped him visualize what the kitchen could look like...only better than cardboard!