Day Eighteen: Decisions and Doors
After spending part of last night figuring out the cost of the project (an amazing $unmentionable) and deciding how to keep the project under control, I was surprised this morning by a call from George about the layout of the bathroom. Apparently, he's been worried about the layout of the bathroom and spent the weekend talking to Tom the plumber about it. He devised two new layouts. Both included a wall, with a pocket door, that separated the laundry room from the bathroom area of the room. One included the vanity where it was in our last diagram (right by the door, so that whoever was standing at the near sink would have to move if anyone tried to enter the room). The second moved the vanity out of the way but left the large side window blocked.
Bathroom Diagram 1
The layout of the second choice is much better, but I didn't want to block the window. I thought Nancy would be in favor of such a move, though, so I said I'd call Nancy and get back to him. But Nancy doesn't want to block the large window either. We talked about what to do tonight, but we came to no decision. And when I went up to make a final decision, I found Nancy was asleep.
Bathroom Diagram 2
Here are the possibilities:
Unfortunately, we'll have to make this decision tomorrow, and there's no really good answer. If we go with the blocked window, we'll have to figure out how to dress up the blocked window from the outside. We might just leave up the louvered shutters or try raised-panel shutters.
During the rest of my conversation with George, I took a number of items out of consideration: siding, the sliding door, new windows (except for those in the kitchen and the bathroom), the fireplace, and extra electrical work. I tried to cancel the opening between the hallway to the new door and the family room, but George said it was already in progress, and once I made it home I saw that that was true. I decided not to take out the hardwood floors in the kitchen and the tile flooring in the bathroom, since the savings seemed negligible. I asked Goerge to baffle the loud noise fromt eh new drain pipe, and he said he had planned to. I did ask him, however, to look at the cost of making the drain in the third floor unlevel, since we have good access to that now. And I asked him to see what wiring upgrades they could do easily and cheaply, because they are already exposed. So I'm still looking at a couple hopefully modest additions.
An Incursion into the TV Room
After I made it home, I discovered two good pieces of news: the back door is in and looking good (except for a few scratches that have removed little swaths of paint) and the flush beam is in place but not quite completed. The bad news is that we now don't have electricity on the third floor--except in the bathroom. However, when added to where we don't have light already (the stairwell between the first and second floor and the large section of the basement), it's starting to become a large percentage of the house.
The Hallway to Our New Back Door
So here's the hallway taking us to the new back door. Note that the entire back wall to the old staircase is now gone.
The United Colors of Rockwool
Behind the stud at the end of the old wall at the top of the old staircase was this little collection of rockwool. It comes in three colors white, black, and speckled.
Our New Back Door, Just Before the Doozy
The new door is quite attractive (if scratched), but there's no new set of stairs out the back of it yet, so there's just one big step to the outside.
The New Door from the Outside
From outdoors, the door does improve the look of the house. Not so much, though, to keep us from noticing the tears and gaps in the back of the house. Looking at this picture, I'm now realizing that there's probably no way to cover up the huge hole from the old door without re-siding the house. Oy.
A New Hole into the House
The insertion of the new door into our house also had the advantage of exposing another hole into our home. I stuff a bit of insulation into that today.
The Debris whose Disappearance Allowed Our New Doorway
Here's the junk pulled out of our house to make a space big enough for the new door.
A Sample of the Old Siding
Maybe we should have tried to save this old beaten-up aluminum siding to patch the holes in the back of the house.
The Threshold, with Repairs to the Face of it All
The repair under the threshold is just one of the many places where today the workmen (two guys I don't know--not Dave and John) had to replace rotten wood with new wood, including plenty of pressure-treated wood.
Shrouded Washing Machine with Boards
For some reason, the guys left these two boards on the washing machine today.
The Flush Beam from Below
The other big project for the day was the flush beam that will carry the weight of this part of the house. The flush beam was necessitated by the design of the kitchen, which didn't leave enough space for a beam under the rafters. I guess this cost us $2,000, which I find pretty remarkable. Note that this flush beam is constructed from three microlams, side by side.
The Length of the Flush Beam
Here's an almost full view of the flush beam.
The Widened Hole in the Kitchen Floor
For some reason, they widened this hole in the kitchen floor today. I've no idea what this might be for.
The Way to the Kitchen through the Bathroom
Up in the bathroom, I noticed no changes, except for one: The hole in the floor that was covered over the weekend was uncovered, allowing and unfettered view of the kitchen below.
The Denuded Side Door
Here's something else I don't understand. All the wallboard from around the side door has been removed. Maybe I'll figure out why in a day or so.
One last thing: George has been misspelling my name this whole time. He always wrote it "Jeff." But he's figured out there's something weird about my first name, and the fax he sent me today gave my name as "Geff." Strange that he doesn't notice that our names begin with the same three letters.
honi soit qui mal y pense
Bathroom Diagram 1
The layout of the second choice is much better, but I didn't want to block the window. I thought Nancy would be in favor of such a move, though, so I said I'd call Nancy and get back to him. But Nancy doesn't want to block the large window either. We talked about what to do tonight, but we came to no decision. And when I went up to make a final decision, I found Nancy was asleep.
Bathroom Diagram 2
Here are the possibilities:
1. Go with Diagram 1, since it leaves the window open (a window George thinks is too large for a bathroom)
2. Go with Diagram 2, since the traffic flow and organization are much better
3. Try to trade the double vanity for two single vanities and put them in separate areas of the bathroom (an idea Nancy hates)
4. Move the washer and dryer downstairs and rethink the design
Unfortunately, we'll have to make this decision tomorrow, and there's no really good answer. If we go with the blocked window, we'll have to figure out how to dress up the blocked window from the outside. We might just leave up the louvered shutters or try raised-panel shutters.
During the rest of my conversation with George, I took a number of items out of consideration: siding, the sliding door, new windows (except for those in the kitchen and the bathroom), the fireplace, and extra electrical work. I tried to cancel the opening between the hallway to the new door and the family room, but George said it was already in progress, and once I made it home I saw that that was true. I decided not to take out the hardwood floors in the kitchen and the tile flooring in the bathroom, since the savings seemed negligible. I asked Goerge to baffle the loud noise fromt eh new drain pipe, and he said he had planned to. I did ask him, however, to look at the cost of making the drain in the third floor unlevel, since we have good access to that now. And I asked him to see what wiring upgrades they could do easily and cheaply, because they are already exposed. So I'm still looking at a couple hopefully modest additions.
An Incursion into the TV Room
After I made it home, I discovered two good pieces of news: the back door is in and looking good (except for a few scratches that have removed little swaths of paint) and the flush beam is in place but not quite completed. The bad news is that we now don't have electricity on the third floor--except in the bathroom. However, when added to where we don't have light already (the stairwell between the first and second floor and the large section of the basement), it's starting to become a large percentage of the house.
The Hallway to Our New Back Door
So here's the hallway taking us to the new back door. Note that the entire back wall to the old staircase is now gone.
The United Colors of Rockwool
Behind the stud at the end of the old wall at the top of the old staircase was this little collection of rockwool. It comes in three colors white, black, and speckled.
Our New Back Door, Just Before the Doozy
The new door is quite attractive (if scratched), but there's no new set of stairs out the back of it yet, so there's just one big step to the outside.
The New Door from the Outside
From outdoors, the door does improve the look of the house. Not so much, though, to keep us from noticing the tears and gaps in the back of the house. Looking at this picture, I'm now realizing that there's probably no way to cover up the huge hole from the old door without re-siding the house. Oy.
A New Hole into the House
The insertion of the new door into our house also had the advantage of exposing another hole into our home. I stuff a bit of insulation into that today.
The Debris whose Disappearance Allowed Our New Doorway
Here's the junk pulled out of our house to make a space big enough for the new door.
A Sample of the Old Siding
Maybe we should have tried to save this old beaten-up aluminum siding to patch the holes in the back of the house.
The Threshold, with Repairs to the Face of it All
The repair under the threshold is just one of the many places where today the workmen (two guys I don't know--not Dave and John) had to replace rotten wood with new wood, including plenty of pressure-treated wood.
Shrouded Washing Machine with Boards
For some reason, the guys left these two boards on the washing machine today.
The Flush Beam from Below
The other big project for the day was the flush beam that will carry the weight of this part of the house. The flush beam was necessitated by the design of the kitchen, which didn't leave enough space for a beam under the rafters. I guess this cost us $2,000, which I find pretty remarkable. Note that this flush beam is constructed from three microlams, side by side.
The Length of the Flush Beam
Here's an almost full view of the flush beam.
The Widened Hole in the Kitchen Floor
For some reason, they widened this hole in the kitchen floor today. I've no idea what this might be for.
The Way to the Kitchen through the Bathroom
Up in the bathroom, I noticed no changes, except for one: The hole in the floor that was covered over the weekend was uncovered, allowing and unfettered view of the kitchen below.
The Denuded Side Door
Here's something else I don't understand. All the wallboard from around the side door has been removed. Maybe I'll figure out why in a day or so.
One last thing: George has been misspelling my name this whole time. He always wrote it "Jeff." But he's figured out there's something weird about my first name, and the fax he sent me today gave my name as "Geff." Strange that he doesn't notice that our names begin with the same three letters.
honi soit qui mal y pense
posted by Geofhuth at 11:00 PM
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