BedStuy Reno
« Lower Level: The New Openness Looking Ahead: Bathroom Dept. »
July 10, 2006
Lower Level Hallway: Gets the Treatment
Last demo touches on the lower level: the crumbling hallway plaster gets the treatment. It was interesting to find two methods were used in different parts of the hallway to put up the plaster. One was the more standard (for this house) plaster on wood lathe, old school technique. Further down the hall however, we found the infamous metal mesh being used as the framework for the plaster. We thought we had seen the last of this stuff with the eradiction of the 1950's bathroom walls. No such luck.
Comments
Two questions:
(a) what are you guys doing with the debris -- every time I have one of these projects, it seems like the container rental is for a relatively short period of time; and
(b) I always thought you couldn't remove that middle wall from these brownstones, because they are load bearing if the width is 17 feet or greater (which yours seems to be). How did you handle that?
Good job guys! Looking forward to seeing what you will do with it.
Posted by: Anon at July 10, 2006 11:47 AM
The debris we are bagging and stacking in a corner of each level. The corner is becoming the better part of the room however. The amount of material that comes out of the demo is staggering.
We haven't touched the middle wall - we took down the plaster on one side, but we have left the framing and sturctural integrity there!
Posted by: Peter at July 10, 2006 12:08 PM
I thought you took out the middle wall because of the picture in "Lower Level: The New Openness", but I guess I am just seeing a very small section of what's there.
Posted by: Anon at July 10, 2006 2:56 PM
It's true that we're open in the back of the house. There we looked at the framing of the old bathroom wall and with a consult from our friend T, decided the wall was not bearing. However, the hallway wall which leads to the back 1/3 of the lower level is still intact.
When I post some plans (which I hope to do this week) I think it will be clear what bones we are left with, and what we plan to do.
Oh yeah, and all the debris that we are piling is awaiting a dumpster. In the interest of economy, we are trying to get through the demo work, have it all neatly packaged and stacked, and then get the dumpster for a solid weekend of fun/hell.
Posted by: Peter at July 10, 2006 11:21 PM
Ah Peter I just finished a gut reno of my own in PH and I can tell you I dont miss it. I still have scars all over my arms where I cut myself with that wire mesh under the plaster (1 1/2 years later). We used 2 30 sq yd dumpsters and we hired a guy with a truck to take the rest after that. We did all the work ourselves but we did have friends come over on the weekend to help and we hired some day laborers from Ft. Hamilton and 39th Street. It is definately worth it. I always tell people it was a house before we did the reno now its our home. Im looking forward to seeing your progress.
Anon 11:47 - my house is 22 feet wide and we took out the middle wall - the load bearing walls (usually) run from front to back of a home.
Posted by: Stacey at July 11, 2006 4:26 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.