Goodbye, Walls and Ceiling

Most of the the old first floor stud walls and nasty green ceiling are gone. We're elated to be rid of the original ceiling because it gives us another 4" of head height on the first floor, plus bringing it down brought with it all the dead mice, rodent feces, squirrel nests, old shingle and other construction materials camping out up there. The construction materials and most of the dirt we found up there were from the second floor addition, completed circa 1992.

The wood from this phase of demolition will go to two places: The painted wood will likely be reused as part of a paper manufacturing process here in Portland, OR. Our understanding is that the paint (lead-based or no) will not end up as part of the paper product itself. The unpainted wood will be ground up and sold as garden mulch.

The temporary structural timber at the center of the room is keeping the second floor from sagging. On the left the new outside wall is framed and sheathed, and the opening where the french doors will go is partially cut open (the actual width of the door is the width of the header, visible at the top of the wall). The piles of debris on the right are chunks of plaster that covered the east inside wall.

• 3/27 :: Michael adds : Couldn't agree more about the green ceiling. Very nasty was it. Sorry mice! And 4" of head space is a lot, even with already tall ceilings.

• 3/27 :: We add : Michael is the lead framer on the project.
  

Stair Tower North Wall

Taken just before the sheathing goes on. The wide window at the top means that the structural support has to be diverted. Notice how there are several 2x6's sistered together on each side of the window rough opening.

Stair Tower Panoramic

Here's a shot taken while standing inside the stair tower on the basement floor. Starting at the top, you can see the ceiling joists for the stair tower. Sheating is installed on the right side, but not the left. You can just barely see the second floor, and in the middle of the photo is the first floor. On the right side, a small corner of the old green ceiling is visible. At the bottom of the photo, notice the basement stud walls that surround the furnace and hot water heater (which are not visible here). The washer and dryer are at the back on the left.

Inside Outside Upside Green: Slide Show

Fun, fun, and we didn't have to do any extra work! Google did a little bit of their own stitching and tied Blogger into Picasa Web Albums, so now you can view all the photos in this series as a slide show. Click this link to go to the first photo in the set:

Inside Outside Upside Green Slide Show

The slide show automatically updates as we add photos to the blog. If you want to browse the slide show in the future, just click on "Photo Slide Show" under Links to the right in the navigation bar.

If you're visiting this site for the first time and want to read from the beginning, you can view the first post here. To move forward, click the Newer Post link at the bottom of each post.

Stair Tower Update

The same shot from a few days ago, this time with a tarpless reveal.

Peter the Wolf...

...blowing the chimney down.

Chimney: After

Peter and Justin met at the Ugly Mug this morning for some coffee and then tore into the now ex-chimney with a hand sledge and pry bar. It came apart pretty easily, although the lower mortar was a little tougher than the stuff closer to the top. Dust and debris was everywhere and we were both blowing soot out our noses all afternoon.

Bathroom Wall Exposed

Here's the same wall from an earlier post. We'll use that plumbing on the right for the clawfoot tub. When we moved in, those lines were capped and unused, although we think they may have fed a laundry center at one time.

2nd Floor Subfloor Completed

This photo is taken from the first floor, looking west into the new stair tower. On the right, note the back door entry way has been reframed. Above, the subflooring and joists for the second floor landing / study area have been installed.

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