Home improvement nightmare
Pandora's box
The story of our guest bed & bath rooms remodel
February 10, 2016
Here is a look back to were we started. In the photo on the left are the large storage closets along the hallway at the start of demolition. The photo right is after the drywall has been removed between the storage closets and the guest bathroom. All existing framing was removed.
The photo left, was the kitchen & guest bedroom wall before demolition.
The photo right, is the start of the kitchen wall demolition. This was NOT part of the original plan, but since we are at it, we might as well fix this odd wall too.
February 15,
All of the old interior walls have been removed.
February 26
The header for the closet is in. This is more support for the second floor. All the temporary supports are down and wires are every where.
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February 29,
Neal is trying to figure out how to support the roof while removing the outer wall. I had thought, in the beginning, that we would start the demo by removing the outside wall, but I was wrong. How ever we get there, we WILL get there eventually. That is my mantra.
March 5,
We removed the siding from the bedroom part of the outside wall and then temporarily put it back up because we are expecting rain tonight and tomorrow.
March 7,
So, how does one go about removing an exterior, load bearing wall? Slowly and with great care. The roof rafters must be lifted slightly in order to take the weight off the wall. Temporary post do this well.
The photo at right shows the temporary post as one long board (point A) from the floor to the roof rafter placed at an angle allowing the bottom to be moved toward the outside wall, thereby raising the roof slightly and taking the weight off the wall. At point B blocking was nailed to the rafter to keep the top from popping out as the bottom at point C was pushed to the outside wall. The blocks at the bottom allow the post to slide. The 2 rails at the bottom distribute the load evenly across the floor. So to raise the ceiling, hammer on the bottom of the post so it raises the roof. Then screw in the block to the post to hold in place. Easy, right? I did mention the advantages of being married to an engineer right?
I'll let you know how it works out.
March 11
Big change today!! The exterior guest bedroom wall framing has been completed and the new window installed. Yipee. Previous remodeling on the house had put the plywood siding on top of the boards of the board and batten siding. At least the battens were taken off. We put in all new framing, used construction craft paper as a water barrier, cut out a big X for the window opening, applied flashing around the opening with extra flashing in the corners, installed the new vinyl window with short roofing nails and finished with more flashing. This all took about 2 days. The exterior wall of the new guest bathroom still has to be removed and framed, but for now it is our path directly outside.
And by the way, it did work very well!
Before
After
March 22
The original sub-floor was tongue and groove which someone had severely damaged. To repair, we cut out the damage and squared up the holes. Then strips of plywood were attached around the edges where ever possible so that a ledge was left to add new plywood the same size as the hole. Without the ledge strips below the plywood on top would not have anything to support it. This did not make a level surface however, so we added pieces of Formica under the patch to raise everything nice and level. Then on top of this another layer of plywood is added to cover the entire room. The finished flooring will go on top of this. (Assuming we last that long).
March 24
Replaced exterior siding and trim
April 6
The kitchen/guest bedroom wall is in. This moves the kitchen wall almost 2 feet from where it was. This will allow much better use of a poorly designed space. Future plans include a new wall oven to replace this piece of junk that came with the house, a new pantry with swing out shelves and counter space in between the pantry and oven. There is always another project on the drawing board.
April 15
It is beginning to look like a real room! The guest bedroom/hallway wall is framed. There is a recessed area that will have a built in hutch to store all the stuff that was in the big hallway closets.
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April 19
The ceiling in the hallway sloped originally. The previous remodelers had no concept of level and square. Since we had to take the ceiling down in order to remove the return air vent, we might as well rebuild the ceiling so it is level. Moving the metal return air vent was much more difficult than expected. It is big. It is heavy. The edges are VERY sharp. The clearance was less than 1/2 inch. Not fun. See photo right.
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Added framing to support the beam that spans the mid point of the room because the ceiling joist would not have enough support if the went the full 20 feet of the room. There is only attic space above most of this room. We will be putting in an access panel so I can store lots of stuff up there and have no fear the ceiling will cave in.
If ever the "Big One" comes, I am running to this room!
