Chimney: Before

We were initially very excited about exposing the chimney. Brick can add lots of character to an interior, and represents some of the house's history. Unfortunately, the chimney turned out to be most unstable (it shook when leaned on!) and would have cost too much to stabilize. So what does one do with an old chimney? Make a (backyard) pizza oven, of course! Peter and Alicia, our lovely former neighbors from Liebe Street, are in the process of collecting bricks for just this reason. Peter's joining Justin for the deconstruction extravaganza later this week. Keep an eye out for forthcoming photos of the oven!

A Gable is Born

The tarp blob is growing. Now it covers half of the old second floor roof, which has been partially stripped of its shingle and tar paper. The stair tower ridge board (the main board that runs along the peak of the roof) is in and is supported by the first few rafters. We'll try to get another shot of this without the tarp if we can.

Subfloor (Reverse Angle)

Here's the almost-reverse angle of the last post. This is looking N (the toilet and tub are on the other side of that piece of sheetrock). These two vertical beams are helping keep the second floor on the second floor. You can't see the detail here, but this is well-fastened plywood. There must be a fastener (nail? screw? we forget) every two inches.

Subfloor

Another shot from the NE corner of the house (our once and future kitchen), looking SW. This is a daytime photo, so you can see a lot more in the far corners of the house. One big change this last week is that the sub flooring and internal stair well framing has seen considerable progress. The studs at the center of the photo are temporary; they're helping hold up the second floor until the real wall is built, which will several feet to the right.

We studied some of the new construction over the weekend and we're happy to say we noticed that our builder is using a lot of lumber they salvaged from the initial deconstruction.

Stitch: From the SW Corner of the Downstairs

Stitch: From the NE Corner of the Downstairs

Built to Last

This is the base of a vertical structural timber at the NW corner of the stair tower. The bolts go through the lumber and tie into a right-angle brace which is anchored to the concrete. In the event of an earthquake, the walls will hopefully not walk off the foundation. On the other hand, bolting the walls to the earth like this... logic tells us that an earthquake would just shake the whole thing apart anyway.

Taking Shape

The wall framing for the stair tower nearly completed. The window rough openings are now clearly defined.

Fusion

A section of the old foundation has been cut out to open the wall into the new stair well. This view is from the existing basement looking west through the area where the spiral staircase once stood.

Cubist Masterpiece

Framing begins for the stair tower. The scaffolding is inside the structure. Notice the rectangular opening at the top of the South (right) side. Windows will go there. There's also a sidelight set of windows going into the West side (the side closest) along the right edge. They'll be very tall and narrow--11' tall by 14" wide.

• 2/23 :: Daniel adds : It's always fun comparing these things to NYC construction. For instance, you can't use wood studs for any construction here, only steel.

Room With a View

This is looking from the front entry way out through that giant hole in the last photo. Taken just minutes before the green staircase leaves this home forever.

The Void

The crew covers this exposed portion of the house with their giant blue tarp when they're not working, and we were lucky to get a shot of the gaping hole before the scaffolding went up. That lathe and plaster wall is 100 years old, but will be coming out over the next few weeks and will be replaced by a set of french doors. The corner window will also be pulled out and will become a shear (support) wall.

Loading the Flatbed

The longer section is loaded onto the flatbed. This section and its sister will each end up in different homes as independent staircases. We sold the stairs through Craigslist the week before they were pulled out of the house.

Crane Stitch

Jules, one of the Green Hammer guys, actually owns this crane/flatbed truck combo. I'm not sure if he was joking when he told me that his insurance policy specifically forbids bungee jumping from the crane.

Stair Extraction: Motion Picture

Here's a short video of the crew pulling out the 14' top section of the stairs. The total stair height as assembled was just over 21'. Oh, since our camera doesn't record audio, we added a ridiculously unnecessary overdub of heavy machinery.