What we saw when delivering the goods

The crew was still at the house this evening when we arrived to drop off our acquired treasures from Jim. Larry announced that they'd finally "cathedralled" the ceiling in the living room (meaning that they cut out all of the joists from former second story floor). We went in to marvel at the space. It was pretty cool when they'd first removed the plywood flooring to be able to peer up to the ceiling from the first floor through the remaining joists. It is mega-cool to stand with an uninterrupted view on the first floor and see the eyebrow window in the peak of the front eaves (yes, we owe you pictures, but didn't have the camera).

If you look back at yesterday's pics from where they removed the siding, Eric mentioned that the old framing was pretty chewed. In retrospect we believe that the likely culprits were termites, but it is impossible to gauge how long ago they may have done that damage or whether they are still lurking about and we are in further danger from those wood carnivores (does that automatically make them herbivores?) Tomorrow's tasks will include consulting an expert on such things. Although we may have complicated the investigation as Larry and the crew already have the whole side shored up and ready for siding!

Why we love that Jim guy....

Mid-afternoon yesterday I got a call from Jim on my cell. "It's Christmastime!" he chimed. When Jim calls that means he's got extra building materials that he wants to go away. In that he's renovating a gorgeous (and huge) house in German Village on Schiller Park, we generally rush over to claim whatever he is discarding, haul it back to our house and marvel over our good fortune that he's working on his similar-era house at the same time as we are attempting to reclaim our "bungalow". Tonight's bounty included about a dozen 16' long polonia (sp?) planks that were used for exterior trim and fascia boards on his manse. And several dozen tongue-and-groove double-sided fence planks, a few fence posts and an old fence gate. We have a brand new fence on the side of the yard we share with the condos (completely finished with decorative caps as of last night). We removed the lower fence at the back of the yard to make way for our succession of dumpsters (it made its way into one of them). The fence with the other neighbor in the duplex is a stockade fence that is inexplicably over 8' tall (we call it the king kong fence) and will one day be replaced, but is sufficient for now. We estimate that Jim's donation should get us our rear fence back when we're done with the rest of the house. And we will have the most interesting amalgamation of fencing on the block.

The Secret Door

The Phillips Renovation crew has nearly completed the interior wall framing and so has begun preparation for the siding and trim installation. They are installing new siding (hardi-plank) and cedar trim on the new portions of the house and also repairing the old trim where necessary. To start they tore off all of the aluminum soffits and the small section of vinyl siding which was on the side of the house. Once the vinyl siding was removed, we found an old doorway to the basement stairs which had been sealed in.

After pulling off the insulation, we found the original door was still in place!

Now that the aluminum soffits have been removed, we have a good idea how the house became a haven for wildlife. I found a half-dozen spots in the trim where it appears a hole had been chewed by a furry invader. This house had lots of nooks where a squirrel or raccoon could make a home.

We also discovered a section of the dental molding used on the original porch. We hope to talk to our crew about replicating that in the new porch section.

On a different note, I have to rant against Chase bank and banks in general. Our construction loan draw was deposited by me into our Chase account last Friday, July 19. Yesterday I received a letter stating that the bank is holding the majority of the deposit until July 31. It appears that a 1987 federal banking law permits a bank to hold funds for large deposits somewhere between 7 and 11 business days, but what is permitted and what is reasonable are often different. The check was drawn on a local bank, and in fact the Payor bank is directly next-door to the Chase branch we use. Given the technology used by banks, it is certain that the bank could verify the funds much quicker than the maximum hold period permitted by law. Banks process checks drawn on your account much quicker than in the past. Technology has sped up the process. But while the bank will debit your account right-quick for checks you write, it won't credit your account for deposits until it is required to do so by law.

Taking Shape

The "dry-in" portion of the project is almost complete. The structural changes have been made and the roof is almost done. The interior walls have been framed, giving us a feel for how our design will work in the real world. It is very exciting to see it take shape, even if that shape does not yet include electrical, plumbing, drywall, etc.

Regarding the design, we opted for a small change to the first-floor bathroom. It had been designed as a 5' x 7.5' full bath. Which is very, very small for a full bath. Think "European Hotel bathroom". Now, it worked fine on paper, but when we walked through with a plumber and we considered the very tight space, we realized that even one small obstacle, like needing to put a vent stack somewhere, could put us in a jam. So we made it 5' x 8.5. That 5 extra square feet should make it easier to fit and give a bit more space to the room as well. Below is a photo of the 1' jog in the wall, making the bathroom a bit more spacious.

In other news, we travelled to a store called Menard's to look for tile. Menard's is an Illinois based store (I think) but has a few stores in smaller towns in NW Ohio. We had stopped at one while we were in Illinois at the recommendation of Mary's Uncle and we were impressed with the selection and prices on tile. So, we found there is a store in Marion, Ohio, which is about 1 hour north of Columbus. We drove up early Sunday morning and struck gold. We found a very nice porcelain ceramic tile for the first-floor bath. This was after researching the difference between ceramic tile, porcelain tile, PEI ratings, etc. So we purchased the tile and then moved on to look at some other items we needed... like 2 toilettes. A bathtub. Bathroom fixtures. We ended up picking up all of them. I should also mention that the employees at Menard's were extremely helpful. As we analyzed the many choices of an item (and they had 30+ toilette choices, many more than Lowe's), their staff helped us measure, check boxes, check if in stock, etc. It was this way in every department. I was very impressed.

Newest News

Back and front porch roofs have been framed and the roof is almost all shingled-over. The interior walls for the master bath and master bedroom are now almost done. As the crew will begin "firring" (sp?) out the interior walls, they have removed all the carpet, exposing the hardwood floors that we hope to have refinished in the next couple of months.

Permission or Forgiveness?

So the Phillips Crew framed our new front porch and it looks great. It really balances the bay window on the east side and it reinforces the character of the house. A small issue arose when we realized it might be built 10 inches too close to the western property line. The plans originally called for building the porch eaves to be flush with the existing roof eaves. Some faithful readers may recall that the plans were initially rejected as the porch eaves would be about 10'' into the 3' building code setback. Regardless of the fact that the rest of the house is less than 3' from the property line, the building dept. wanted the porch eaves 3' back. So the plans were changed and the plans were then approved. Well, the porch roof is built, and the eaves aren't 10'' back. It was built flush with the old porch eaves and about 8'' to the east of the other roof eaves. The dark wood area with the gutter mounted to it is the old eave.


I talked to our architects and I talked to our contractors. As we are only talking about between 2'' to 10'', and the construction of the porch obviously follows the original porch line, we decided not to change it. (We joked that we would claim we were just replacing an existing porch... which was torn down probably 50 years ago). Which leaves us with the question, do we ask for a variance now (i.e., permission) or do we ask for a variance if the inspector notices the issue (i.e., forgiveness). And the answer is: Forgiveness. It is a small portion of a large project and it is in line with the rest of the house, making it possible if not likely that it won't even be an issue. And for the safety-minded out there, the eaves are all fire-rated so the concern about fire jumping from building to building is minimized.


But what else? The skylights are in, the roof is being shingled and the balcony and rear porch roof has been framed. I'll let the photos show the progress from the last few days.

Above: a skylight surrounded by Estate Gray shingle.


Above: Larry working on the balcony decking and Felix cutting wood in the yard.

Oh, final story. Felix told me the house had a visitor yesterday. Some guy just walked in the front door, picked up the workers' water jug, and started to chug. Felix, thinking the guy might be a subcontractor of ours, yells for the guy to stop and tells him to use a cup if he wants a drink. The guy takes the water, goes outside down to the street and starts shouting to the sky. He then pours it over his head drip by drip. Then he walks down the street. Now, the guy had to have trespassed somewhere else or done something, because the police pulled up at just that time. So Mr. Oddball b-lines back into the house. At this point Felix tells him to get out or he'll brain him with a hammer. They guy is not keen on getting brained but he's not keen on going out to meet the police, either. So Felix invites the police in, telling them if they don't get this guy outta there, Felix will crack him in the head with a hammer. So in come the police to drag this fellow out and give him a ride downtown. And so ended the visit. I bought Felix a 12pack as payment for his security duties.

Thanks, Mother Nature

Tuesday's afternoon rain and yesterday morning's slight drizzle gave way to a clear and comparatively cool day, allowing our crew to continue to work on the roof. The most dramatic accomplishments were the build-out of the front porch roof frame and the cut-in of the skylights. If mother nature continues to cooperate, we may be under roof by the end of today.

Below is a shot from the front porch showing the roof over the basement stairs/front closet addition built 80 or so years ago. Yet another example of a new roof framed over an old roof.

On a personal note, my grandmother has become very ill and is not likely to be with us much longer. She is very much on my mind, along with my mother, father, aunts & uncles.

3 week update

As of yesterday the house is close to being roofed. Over the past few days the Phillips crew finished framing the roof and installed the roof decking. Today they should build the porch roofs, and after that they will cut in the skylights and shingle the roof.

Here is a photo from the new flat portion of our roof. While it is a nice view of the park across the street, we won't have a rooftop deck or anything here, so we will have to content ourselves with seeing this view from our living room on the first floor. Soon this roof should be "Estate Gray" instead of the melody of brown tones it is now.

Yesterday kept us busy working out issues with the skylights and the master bedroom roof. While we received a quote for skylights from Pella, they do not install them, a roofer should install them so they are properly flashed and sealed. As we have our roofers on site, they can install them no problem. So they want them ASAP. It's at that point that Pella tells us it will be about 3 weeks before we can get them. Not an option, as I'm not going to tell my roofers to hold off 3 weeks, and I don't want to have to call them back to cut into a roof they just layed 3 weeks ago. So I let my fingers do the walking and found some in-stock Velux skylights at Home Depot. As the dimensions were different than those specified by our architects, we talked about the size options and chose a set that would work best for the space and the roof profile. And Viola! Skylights are on site.

As for the master bedroom, we noticed that the wall under the eyebrow windows was being framed differently than we thought it was designed. After talking to Ray of Phillips Renovation and Steve of Urban Order, it turns out we were the ones who were mistaken. So after talking about our options we are waiting to receive a quote from Ray to open up the ceiling a bit more. Could this be our first costly change order? Stay tuned.

July 6 Update

The storms of July 4th roared in and despite the tarps the house got pretty wet. We were mighty impressed to see the Phillips Renovation crew working the morning of the 4th of July. But in the afternoon heavy storms were forecast and the crew tarped the roof and understandably took off.

When the storms arrived rain poured in through the future balcony area. Even where the tarps did work the water simply ran down the side of our house since we have no gutters on the new portions of the roof. So despite the drain system I installed a couple of months ago, water was once again a problem in the basement. This is a photo showing us at the house during the storm. To the left of our friend Brian you can see outside how dark the sky is. This is at 3:30 in the afternoon!

In a way it was worse in that we were actually at the house during the storm as we watched the sheets of rain pour down, soaking parts of the interior. The good news was that since we were at the house, we could position a few buckets to catch water where it penetrating the tarps. In all, we probably kept about 80 gallons of water from soaking into the house.

Yesterday saw just a small drizzling rain with didn't cause any water headaches. The crew started to install the wood decking on the framing, making the house walls take shape. I spoke with Caroline and Ray about some framing details and I am impressed with their eye for detail and creativity in solving small problems.

The roof shingles are also on site so it is my hope the house will be under roof before the next storm hits. The roof shingle selection process was typical - obsessive over-anaylisis. We reviewed a number of options for shingles via the internet and decided on one color, Onyx Black. Despite its extremely dark sounding name, it actually appeared to be a dark charcoal to mid gray shingle. It appeared a deeper, more complex color than the Estate Gray shingle. We thought that would look good. But I kept worrying about the name... onyx black... onyx black. Why would they name a gray-tone shingle onyx black? So I checked some local building supply stores and went to see the shingles in person rather than on my monitor. And after that, I now understand when websites say the color may be different than that shown on your monitor. While onyx black is still not a true black shingle, it was very, very dark and the estate gray option appeared closer to our desired color. So I called our contractor, telling him we had changed our mind. Thankfully he had not ordered the shingles yet, so estate gray it is (or will be).

2 weeks of work

Yesterday was the end of the second week with Phillips Renovation's crew on site. While not as dramatic as a new roof line, the crew installed the new ridge beams above the living room and in the closet/den area. The brick mason was called in and bricked in the beams, making it look like they had been there for years.



In other news, the fence between our house and the condos to the East has been installed. Just a few final segments and it will be done. So far, very happy with it.

Yesterday we received 2 estimates for windows, both the new windows for the addition and replacement windows for the old portion. The estimates also included new entrance doors. While the quality looks fantastic, it will take me a while to process how much they cost and how we can fit that into the budget!

Finally, funny story: I went to buy gift cards from the Subway around the corner for the crew. When there I had the distinct impression the clerk didn't know what she was doing. So when I gave the cards to the crew, I told them that and to call me if there was any problem (didn't want the crew mad at me, that's for sure!) And sure enough, the cards didn't have any money on them. But Subway supposedly worked it out. I'll find out more today.

Full Speed Ahead

Can't express how happy I have been with the progress of the Phillips Renovation crew, and I'm not just saying that because we gave Ray & Carolyn the URL for this blog. Every day there have been workers on site and substantial progress is made. With that in mind, we have hired them to also handle the re-roofing of the whole house. Be nice to keep the momentum going.

As a picture says 1000 words, listen to these:

Get higher, baby.

The framing crew put up the first new rafters for the peaked roof and also framed out the dormer wall for the master bedroom. Quite a sight seeing how much higher it makes the second story appear.

Below you can see how the new peaked-roof is visible from the front of the house.

Yesterday also saw the fence company tear out the fence separating our yard from the condos next-door. The condo owners assoc. had approached us about their desire to replace the old chain-link and rotting stockade fence. We agreed to share the cost for the portion running between our properties. Dave from the condos did all the leg work getting the bids and talking with the company. But when I arrived to check in with our framing contractors, I noticed that the fencing crew had sunk a fence post in our front yard when the plans called for the fence to end at the back-corner of our house! A quick call to Dave and it was all worked out (they mis-read the drawings), and the fence installers were actually very cool about it. They were VERY grateful that I caught the problem before the concrete had set. So they pulled the post and set a new one in the correct spot. Here's a photo showing how far they were extending the fence. The guy is actually removing the post.

Razin' the Roof!

Uh, wow. I mean, WOW. Yesterday the crew demo'd the roof. While the plans called for a new roof line for the back 1/2 of the house, seeing the old roof and beams gone is a weird sight. Take a look... Here is the "before" picture from back in January.

And here is yesterday's work:

Day 5 with Contractors

Yesterday the crew installed blocking between the new joists in the kitchen and dining rooms and then began the assault on the roof. Before they started on the roof Ray and Caroline asked if the new bedroom floor height resulted in any change to the dormer or window locations. I spoke with our Architect, Steve Hurtt, and the consensus was no, there was still plenty of room in there.

Here is a photo of the new hole in our roof. I was a bit concerned that it was not tarped over last night, but I was assured there was no rain in the forecast for last night. Now today, that's another story. We will see.

$67.00 Cheaper

Saturday I loaded the van with the 70+ lbs of electrical wire we pulled from the house as well as a couple of iron pipes and a section of aluminum gutter and soffit pieces. I took the whole pile to the local metal recycler and netted $67.00 for the effort. Now, it was satisfying enough to know that this stuff wouldn't end up in a landfill, but I'm not above smiling at a small financial bonus. Heck, it'll buy a light fixture for the new place.





Otherwise I spent time inventorying our old door stock. We have some really nice options, but then my mind starts to dwell on door-opening direction. Do you know which way most doors open? Is the knob on the right and you push or on the left and you pull (which is left/pull or right pull the other direction)? Does it matter? Do they open into rooms or out? And is there a different rule for different rooms? You down with OCD? Yeah, you know me (yes, I know, the joke dates me).

Day 4 with Contractors

Yesterday saw the crew tear out the kitchen ceiling/master bedroom floor and set the new joists at the new ceiling height. They also brought in a brick-mason to brick-in the new joists where they were cut into the existing brick wall. The mason was a really nice guy named Paul. As I waited to meet a window contractor, he came down off of his ladder and gave me a photo album of his work. Guy does really nice brick and stone work, and he is rightfully proud of it. Finally, they framed part of the wall that goes from the kitchen to the stairway. Two of the guys I spoke with said they would be working over the weekend, so we might have more to report tomorrow.

Above photo shows the new joists in the kitchen.

This photo shows the new brick work anchoring in the beefed-up dining room joists.

This shot gives an idea of the step-up to the master bedroom.

Today I will try to sort through our vintage door collection and choose which doors we want to use and where. That way we can give the rough dimensions to our contractors and they can frame the doors to the approximate size. We are lucky to have so many door options given that the house did not come with a single original door. In fact, the only 3 interior door in the whole house consisted of 2 super-cheap hollow core doors and 1 piece of plywood acting as a door!

Day 3 with Framing Contractors

While the first 2 days saw the removal of a brick wall and the reinforcement of joists and existing walls, yesterday the crew framed the new wall separating the guest room from the bath area/dining room. They also framed in the opening between the kitchen and dining room. With these in place, they were able to remove the temporary wall and we had the first real sense of how the spaces look and flow. And they look great!

Yesterday we also talked to the contractor and architect about the master bedroom floor/kitchen ceiling interplay. While the original plan was to have the kitchen ceiling at 8', matching master bedroom floor level to the master bath area, this would have caused the ceiling joists to cut accross the transom of the back door. So we decided to go a little higher, creating 1 step up into the master bedroom. But that didn't work either, as the distance needed to clear the lentil would create a 10'' step... pretty steep and not to code, either. So up we go! Looks like we will have 9' ceilings and 2 steps up into the master bedroom. Which I'm sure will result in a few days of stubbing our toes until we get used to that. But it will look fantastic.

Day 2 for Contractors

The Phillips Renovation crew was at it again yesterday. I'll let the photos show the progress:

Back porch roof? Gone.

This is where the brick wall used to separate the dining room area from the kitchen. Gone.

Here we have the reinforced ceiling joists and the big central beam to support the new roof configuration. It also shows the reinforced header on the pocket doors, which will enable it to bear some of the load caused by vaulting the ceiling in the front room.

Can't say how exciting it is to have substantial progress. More to follow...

And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

No need to worry, the walls are coming down under the supervision of our contractor. Today a crew started from the top and tore down the back chimney. Don't worry, we have 2 other chimneys so Santa can still visit us. In addition to the the chimney, this crew is tearing out the brick wall separating the kithchen and dining room, as well as framing the interior space to its new layout and dimensions. This includes the new roof line and dormers. HOW EXCITING IS THIS! Here is the interior brick wall with the chimney having been removed down to the first floor:
And here is that same wall 6 hours later! No brick wall at all!



In addition to the contractors being on-site, the crew also brought Dottie, their "work dog". Dottie has been patrolling the back yard, keeping the squirrels at bay. Hopefully this will prevent any creatures from trying to move in during the framing portion of the job!

We are saving the chimney brick as it is exterior brick that matches the rest of the house exterior. Hopefully we will be able to re-use it for the brick facing on the future porch column bases.

The 411 as of 6/13

We have the permit. We picked it up a couple of weeks ago. It was approved after a slight modification to the porch and dormer design so as to create a 3' setback from our property line. Now, almost all of our house is 2'4'' from the property line on one side, and that will not have to change ("yes, please move your 100+ year old house 8 inches to the east!). But the new components have to be 3' from the line. So our Architects made the changes and Viola! Permit.

What else is new? Raccoon-o-rama. We caught our 2nd and 3rd raccoons last week. That makes the total to date 3 raccoons and 1 squirrel caught inside the house. And when I mentioned catching 2 raccoons in 2 days to our neighbor, he laughed a bit and said he watched 3 baby raccoons walk across our roof the other night. So we expect to catch another any day.

I have also spent some time in the basement cleaning and painting one of the rooms. I'm not doing finish painting, just priming the joists which had been painted once before, probably during the FDR administration. As part of that project I've removed 100+ years of random nails, staples and screws set in the joists, and since we are having the house re-plumbed, I tore out the old water pipes as well. While taking out the water pipes, I realized pvc plumbing has one major advantage over metal pipe: you can take it out with a tree-lopper. Without any wires or pipes other than gas pipes (I don't touch gas pipes... a bit of a phobia), the room looks mighty spacious.