Changing the front door was a priority for the Cuthberts.  Beyond the aesthetic appeal of the door, there was an issue of functionality.  The previous door (above left) was a bit narrow and likely would have caused problems for moving furniture.  The new door(above right), which the Clients picked themselves, is wider and contributes well to the curb appeal of the home.  This improvement, combined with changes made to the interior stairwell, will be much appreciated come move in day!

After opening the front wall to remove the existing entrance door, Gary uncovered some interesting framing.  The “jack stud” in Gary’s hand is actually a composite of original 2×4 pieces, foam, and wood furring strips.  Not exactly standard issue for a structural member of the door frame.  Amusing though.  Blocking at the door’s threshold was also found to be deficient, so replacing the front door turned out to be a really good idea. 

From the interior, we can appreciate the improvements made to the structure.  The door opening was widened for the new door, and properly framed with an adequately sized header above the door to distribute the load of the exterior wall above. 

In the past few days, most of the house was primed and painted.  And with that, floor installation got underway yesterday.  In the newly expanded master bedroom, the brazilian cherry floor is nearly complete.  There’s a lot more flooring to go, but we can already begin to appreciate the dramatic new look the floors will bring to this home. 

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Over the weekend, color selections were finalized.  Judging by the visual evidence, careful consideration was given to shading in each room.  Now that the painter has his palette, he can get started as early as tomorrow. 

In the upstairs hallway, new pull-down stairs were installed.  The old stairs were eliminated due to changes in the configuration of the hall. 

Sample flooring and a stair tread are moved out of the way for now.  The Cuthberts chose a Brazilian Cherry finish that should look beautiful throughout the house.  The existing wood floor is the home’s original sub-floor.  Upstairs, the well worn wood had been obscured by wall-to-wall carpeting.  The new floor can be installed as soon as the painter is finished, likely by the end of the week.

Checking in on Friday morning, we can see that the siding installer has come and gone.  He did a really nice job wrapping the windows to match the existing building.  Apart from the stickers in the windows, you can’t detect any disturbance.

Window casings, sills and baseboard are in place in the new dining room.

Upstairs in the new master bedroom, closet doors are installed.  Installed true to the level, the gap at the bottom reveals a bit of slope in the exising subfloor.  Gary will have to make some careful modifications to the door to ensure it will open properly when the new floor is installed. 

Elsewhere in the house, new pull down steps for the attic are ready to be installed.  The Cuthberts are busy making final color selections for each room, and the painter should be ready to start early next week.  �

Thanks to the miracle of his iphone, Gary is able to supply us with a progress shot as he works;

Vinyl siding has been removed to allow for installation of the new windows.  Building paper is applied to the exterior sheathing to act as a vapor barrier behind the siding.  Additional flashing is applied around the window opening to prevent leakage.  Later the same day, I checked in to see the progress for myself.

By the end of the day, all new windows are installed.  The original siding was preserved towards the peak of the roof.  Upon closer inspection, we can see that building paper was not installed under the siding.  As a result, it will be removed, papered, and reinstalled from the bottom up.  The siding contractor is scheduled for the beginning of next week, so the remaining siding will stay in place for now to protect the wood sheathing below. 

Inside, we can see that the drywall subcontractor has been busy taping and spackling.  The new windows offer a nice view of the street and really open up what once felt like a small room.    

Elsewhere in the house, sheetrocking continues.  Trim is scheduled to arrive on Monday, so Gary will have another busy week installing trim in anticipation of the painting to follow.

The Cuthberts join Craig and Gary to discuss the job’s progress and go over the schedule for the upcoming week or two.  Floor selections have been made, and a sample layout will arrive next week for final approval.  The insulator is setting up for installation as they speak, with drywall to follow immediately.  Window delivery is expected early next week, so everything is pretty much in order.

Gary looks on as the group compliments his work on the wall pictured above.  Skilled saw work and attention to detail was required to taper the studs used to make the wall plumb (vertical).  Although the work will soon be covered, the extra effort will insure a uniform finish when drywall is installed.  

As the meeting concludes, the insulator is off and running (as well as one can run on stilts i guess).  Decking will be installed in this area for attic storage. �

Previously, I detailed how the ceiling joists were replaced over the master bedroom and closet, thus allowing for proper insulation.  Well, this is the other half of the story.  The photos above show the ceiling above the Bathroom and Guest Bedroom.  The ceiling in these rooms are not in our scope of work, nor was the attic, but the insulation situation was cause for concern. 

Concern #1:  The insulation is a rock wool bat installed between 2×4 joists.  This type of insulation has an R-value of 3.5 (basically, R-value is a measure of resistance to heat transfer, or how well it holds heat in; the higher the number the better).  At a thickness of say, 4 inches, the R-value is 3.5×4=14.  This value assumes that the insulation is not compromised by gapping or product deterioration.  In this case, I’d be willing to take the under.  Modern building standards for attic insulation is R-30, so this is clearly below par.  This whole area represents a weakness in the thermal boundary between the conditioned space below and the unconditioned space in the attic.  As you can imagine, this thermal bypass causes heat loss in the heating season, and heat gain in the cooling season.  Long story short, it’s a waste of energy and a waste of money accordingly.       

Concern #2:  Look closely at the picture above.  See the pink insulation in the center of the triangle.  It’s different than the rest of the insulation up here, so it must be pretty important, right.  Or maybe it’s just hiding something.  Keep that in mind, and we’ll come back to it shortly.

Proposed Solution:  Several insulation options were explored for properly insulating the attic.  Ultimately, it was agreed upon to remove the remaining insulation and replace with new fiberglass bats that will match the R-value of the new work over the master bedroom. 

Follow Through:  Decking was pulled up, old insulation removed, and the bays were vacuumed to remove any remaining dust and debris.  Now, remember the pink insulation in question earlier?  Under it we found a bath fan!  Bath fans are important because they remove moist air out of your house…except when it’s not vented.  In this case, no ducts were installed to the outside, so the moist air simply blew into the attic.  Less than ideal.  Easy fix though; we’ll just add a duct and vent it through a side dormer without disturbing the roof.   �

It’s Friday morning, and the electrician is finishing the “rough” installation.  In the guest room, opposite the master bedroom, we’ve created a separate bathroom entrance.  Opening the wall required moving some existing outlets, but will not affect the functionality of the room otherwise.   

During the electrical walkthrough, the Cuthberts chose to err on the side of caution and install a second cable jack in both the master bedroom and the living room.  Doing so will allow them more flexibility with furniture placement in the future.  

Understandably, additions to the electrical plan are one of the primary generators of change orders on our jobs.  When the walls are opened up, it makes the electricians job much easier.  As a result, the cost to the Client is much less than modifying finished work.  Anticipating for future use makes good financial sense, and avoids disruptions down the road. 

Well, the electrician should be wrapped up shortly, so inspection will be planned for Monday, with insulation soon to follow.�

Checking in Monday morning, I can see Gary is all framed up for his new dining room windows.  A sizable parallam beam is utilized as a header to carry the load over the four new windows that will be installed in this wall.  Window delivery is not expected for a couple weeks still,  so the exterior wall remains intact to keep the house dry and secure.

Upstairs, the master bedroom is taking shape with new ceiling joists in place (upper left) and framing for the expanded master closet (upper right).  By widening the closet, Gary has allowed for more flexibility in the closet outfitting.  The closet will also feature a door to the bathroom.  The existing wiring (switches, outlets, and light boxes) from the bedrooms is neatly bundled (bottom) and awaits the electrician who will get to work later this week.  A walk through has been scheduled with the Clients to confirm placement of all electrical items in the new floorplan.    

Modifications to the existing wall studs (upper left) and floor joists (upper right) will ensure that new finishes are plumb (vertical) and level (flat).  Changes to the hallway walls required a relocation of the pull down attic stairs, so a new framed opening has been created (bottom). 

If all goes well, we should be wired by the end of the week, so we’ll check back then!

As we enter week two of the renovations, framing is well underway.  Interior demo was completed right on schedule.  The new dining room windows have been ordered, but not received, so Gary and Dave are focusing their efforts on the new master bedroom upstairs.  

In the stairwell, headroom was added by modifying the floor joists in the bedroom closet (above right).  At the top of the stairs, wall and floor framing have been cut back to allow widening of the treads.  The new treads will span the width of the landing, thus eliminating a bottleneck and adding turning radius.  In the end, the new stairs will be safer and more functional with minimal disruption to the floorplan. 

In the new master bedroom, the dividing wall has been removed and replaced with a parallam beam.  As you can see in the picture above, the ceiling joists have been completely removed as well.  The initial plan was to strip the sheetrock from the ceiling and level the existing joists.  Removing the sheetrock (and another layer of lath and plaster) revealed 2×4 ceiling joists that were significantly bowed.  In addition to being undersized relative to modern building standards, the ceiling joists created two problems; First, leveling the ceiling would require us to sister new ceiling joists below the existing, slightly reducing the overall headroom, and Second, properly insulating the ceiling would require blanketing insulation higher than the ceiling joists which would mean no attic storage.  By installing new, properly sized ceiling joists we will get a flat ceiling with load capacity for attic storage and effective insulation. 

This area will be the redesigned master bedroom closet.  The closet area has been enlarged by eliminating part of the hallway which acted as the only access to the upstairs bathroom.  In the new layout, the bathroom will have seperate entrances from both the master bedroom and the guest bedroom.

The space should have a lot more definition in the coming days as framing continues, so we’ll check back later this week.    

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On day two, demolition is in full swing.  The new dining room is gutted and carpet removed.  In the Living Room area, the knee wall and decorative columns have been removed revealing a structural beam.  The visible framing members examined initially led us to believe that this was a partition wall, but we planned for both possibilities, so this discovery does not pose any problems. 

Upstairs, sheetrock and another layer of lath and plaster are removed in the new master bedroom.  The wall framing reveals evidence of a doorway between the two bedrooms.  Part of the ceiling will be removed to allow for beam installation to replace this bearing wall.  The rest of the ceiling has a bit of wave in it, so the decision is made to remove the ceiling, level the ceiling joists, and install new sheetrock continuously.  It’s a little bit of extra work that will go a long way to improve the finished room.�