Week 3: Second floor emerges

 
 

I was in New York City most of the week for a business trip so was happy to come home to find the second floor framing starting to take place. The guys did a lot of framing inside the house as well to hold the house together as the second floor is constructed. When the roof trusses arrive in another week or so, the new roof will be put on and the old roof will be removed.

Unfortunately we had a lot of rain this week. Even with the old roof still on, there is a lot of water in the house...all the way down to the basement apartment. So I'll have to rip out the floors and perhaps even the walls down there as well. It's not a big deal because the floors downstairs would have been damaged anyway when the new structural support columns are installed.

This week the plan is to finalize the window schedule. There are two or three windows in the in-law apartment that I'm thinking of removing from the plan all together. I don't think they add that much to lighting or ventilation. It will also save a few bucks! I also need to try to find some time to remove more shingles. It will be much easier since the remaining shingles on the house are all at a level that won't require me to be up on scaffolding!

Week 2: Small house; many shingles

 

A lot of the week was devoted to demolition, including stripping 50 years of various roofing projects from the back of the house. And, of course, shingle removal! Some bracing walls are in place now to support the roof while the structural integrity of the back roof is improved. A new support beam for the new roof will be brought in next week.

 
 

It is satisfying to step back and look at the single removal progress. There is still a lot more to do, but it feels great to watch the fading away of the "green monster."

Week 1: Turns out there is a lot of deconstruction to do

 
 

The first week of the Little Tree Tops renovation project has come to an end. The walls, cabinets, and plumbing fixtures are all out of the main living area. We filled two big dumpsters with debris and will likely fill a few more before construction begins. Overall, the bones of the house look good. I did find a colony of carpenter ants on the front wall but that wall has to be taken out for the new front entrance anyway. The structural engineer was not satisfied with the current framing of the existing roof on the back addition so that will need to be reinforced before we put on the second floor. The worry is mostly about snow loading in the winter.

 
 

My big task at the moment is to continue to remove the cement shingle siding off the house. The siding is 50 years old and it has held up incredibly well. Because of the dust from the shingles I am wearing a respirator and googles and a full Tyvek suit. I feel like an alien. I'm definitely amusing the neighbors! It will take me a couple of weeks to get it all off but I have time because it will take a few weeks before the roof trusses show up.

Deconstruction

 

Deconstruction at Little Tree Tops is underway. We are filling up trash bins faster than they can be delivered! The inside walls have been stripped down to the studs. Some of the walls have been taken down completely and it is becoming clearer what the space will be like when the construction is complete. Yesterday the "dog house" on the front was removed. The electrician (Paul) was at the house last night setting up the temporary electrical service. I've been busy removing the exterior shingles and will likely spend most of Saturday on this project. It isn't that difficult to do but the shingles are made of a cement and so are very heavy.

Project Money Pit!

I finally have my building permit in hand and we are gearing up to start the renovations on Little Tree Tops.

The first review of the plans by the code enforcement officer revealed that I didn't have windows on the second floor that met the building code for fire emergencies. So back to the drawing board we went and the architect came up with a new window design.

The second review brought up a new issue that I couldn't do the renovation project if I was within 75 feet of a stream. Fortunately I'm more than 150 feet from the nearest stream.

Just when I thought I had cleared all of the hurdles and had the remodeling contractor all lined up and ready to go I got an email from the code enforcement officer that it looked like the house didn't have the right set back distances from the property lines! Fortunately it looks like that was just a problem with the scale of the drawing she was using to estimate the distances. The next morning I went out and measured everything...twice!

So now we are official and ready to go. All of the staging materials and the dumpster will be on site tomorrow. The next adventure will be to find out what is actually behind the walls...the house hasn't been updated since 1959 so I'm sure we'll find some interesting things as we go along.

Little Tree Tops Gets a Haircut

 
 

I'm calling my new house "Little Tree Tops" because what struck me when I first walked into the place was that it felt like a tree house. There is still much to do before renovations are started on the house. In the meantime I've had the furnace serviced and cleaned and also hired KM Harper and Son to do some much needed thinning of trees around the house. The tree guys did a wonderful job. They will come back in the fall to do some selective pruning on old apple tree that is in the front yard to see if we can bring it back as a nice fruit tree.

The House Project

This month I'll start a new adventure of house renovation. I'm buying a small house that borders Acadia National Park on two sides and is less than a mile from the ocean. The house is in pretty good shape but it needs a face lift so I'm going to work with my friend Matt on updating the exterior and interior.

Matt suggested working with a local architect, Quentin Armstrong. We met with Quentin and I really liked his approach. Quentin is a low key fellow with a keen sense of good design. He really listened to what I was looking for in a house and his initial sketches are just wonderful.

Want to see where we are starting from? Photos of the house as it is now are here!

Stay tuned!