Renovations - Week One

First, we demolish everything that doesn't belong in the final version...

That includes all the siding (see previous post regarding bee- and woodpecker-infested siding) and in this picture, the free-standing wall by the side door and the low-slung porch over the front door. They're gone in this picture. You can also see the beginning of the framing for the raising of the roof in the master bedroom.



The next picture shows what has happend towards the end of the first week; there are a few old holes plugged such as the side door - now a window, and the front garage window. One of the new bedroom windows is being finalized here (above the new window in the old side door) and the big hole to the right of that will be a set of foor floor-ceiling windows. Notice also the slope of the roof; it now pitches to the rear rather than the front to facilitate draining without any kind of scupper or rain gutter on this new face. In so doing the house gained about two feet of elevation.

The green wrap is a substitute for the Tyvek stuff commonly used on houses. This product is supposed to be more compatible with the Hardiplank siding that will go over top.



Here's more of the house wrap in place. This side of the house had so many woodpecker holes that I got tired of patching them and had just started nailing boards over them. It was starting to look like a homemade treehouse! The window at lower left will be large, similar to the one at lower right. Both of these windows have a lot of rot in the sills and they, like all the windows in the house, will soon be Anderson aluminum-clad gliding windows.



Here is more of the house wrap going onto the back. The chimney is masonry clad by the same cedar siding as the rest of the house. It too is a woodpecker's dream home. It will be covered in a veneer stone that matches the wall in the front of the house.



Finally, the small shed has been removed from the garage end. See the big concrete pad? We still haven't decided what will happen there. Next we will install a man-door here with a little roof overhang. This replaces a garage man-door that we're taking out of the back wall to make room for the new laundry room.