Crown Heights Reno: house

building the extension: views from the inside

since the ground floor only has 8′ ceilings,
one of the issues in building the studio was how to acheive the ceiling height i need (about 9′ which turns quickly into 10′ once you add a roof, insulation & a deck)
without creating a deck that would end up being way above the level of the parlor floor.
basically we split the difference by digging down a foot for the studio and coming up a foot for the deck.
of course, doing this opened up all sorts of concerns about building below grade and keeping the water out of the studio,
it’s the reason why we added an extra row of cinderblock to the foundation.

treasures found while digging out the back

and a newspaper, used for insulation in the walls of the shed: 1897!!!
the property shark date on the house was 1901, but i had always thought it was older

all the dirt from the back had to be removed through the house,
so we took out the front window & bars and set up a ramp

i found the form that was built to hold the cement pour fascinating
it had a sculptural quality and a certain elegance

before we could open up the back,
a supporting steel beam had to be put in place to hold up the rear of the building, even though the opening is not that much bigger than the windows that were there before

cutting the studs

building the structure

clearly, i am not going to be the first person to draw in the studio

this felt-like material with a plastic webbing is designed to help water flow away from the building,
it encircles the foundation

torching the roof

i don’t have a good shot of it right now,
but the back wall is primarily glass: a large sliding door and a fixed window that is creating the reflection here.
you can tell how much the work has slowed by the fact that vines have had time to start invading through the open skylight holes

the good: part one
building the studio: a flip book view

in one of my first posts (mary, mary, quite contrary) i talked about where the studio was going and why. the pictures in that post will give you a sense of what the back of the house was like when we bought it.

the back of the house 2 months ago, just before we started building:

the grape arbor and the shack are gone.

while “garden” is extremely important to me,
so is my work
thankfully our house is on a 131′ lot which allowed for the option of housing the studio in an extension and still have substantial space left over for planting
(and i will garden as well on the deck that will go on top of the studio)

the view from above, 14 months ago:

the digging has started and so has the rain:

the foundation is dug:

guide lines are put in place, marking the actual boundaries of the building

the form is built to hold the cement

a layer of gravel is put down and the cement is poured:

cinder blocks are laid:

and are filled with rocks and cement for better insulation and to create more of a water barrier

in the end we add another row to what was originally called for

the inside of the wall is painted with a waterproofing material

the structure starts to take shape

and continues to grow:

and grow

the beginnings of a roof:

it’s covered with tar paper, those holes will be skylights

and the tapered, rigid insulation is laid:

and then
even though the roof was left exposed to a deluge of 3″ of rain
the roof is tarped in case it rains again
because it needs to be dry to put down the rubber
honestly, at this point, i would untarp it…

the rubber gets laid:

now,
it was my intention to continue this series until the skylights were in
(and maybe even the deck was on, )
but things don’t always work out as planned,
stay tuned…

can’t think of a better way to spend a heat wave than up on a roof melting rubber
but the contractor saw a window between waves of thunderstorms and went for it

or

how could i forget rule #5
and yes
it was an extreme shock to see all the old roofing material in the house
demolition is bad
roof demolition is worse
it’s dark and angry and sticky and dirty
and tar is very unforgiving

warning sign:
arriving the first night after they had started
it was clear that this was not going to be pretty

but things were still relatively under control

then all hell broke loose
the master bedroom & closet

truth be told, i did not venture up to the roof during this time period
the stairs to the hatch were covered with tar
and i just couldn’t face it
when i finally did go up and looked back
this was what it lay below

the 4th day of roofing
the thunderstorms forecast for every day this week have held off
it’s 7:30 at night and we know we can’t count on this good luck for much longer

the heat, even at this hour was stifling
these guys did an amazing job

and the next morning it poured

and the roof is perfect

and we are very relieved
the roof wasn’t in the original bid; we only had some leaky skylights which we were planning on replacing
but the contractor insisted and in hindsight it is so obvious that it was the right thing to do

it’s a rubber roof btw

ok, that’s a bit of a stretch but they are basically level

we decided to straighten the stairs from the parlor to the 3rd floor
and right up front, i must apologize for not having taken a “before” picture
(to say nothing of not documenting the entire process)

2 excuses
first i never thought they were so bad,
i might have even found them “charming”
but they bothered g/ immensely and i’m sure he’s right;
once the house is done, they would have appeared totally askew.
second, it was one of those things that happened without too much warning
all of a sudden there was a day when the regular crew wasn’t going to be on the 3rd floor so it was possible for the stair guys to come in and do their thing
and that happened to be a day when i couldn’t be around…

so all i have to offer are the “after” pix

the top of the stairs,
that gap gives you a good idea of how much they had to be shifted

basically the process is:

• first the panel covering the underside of the steps was removed exposing the the steps from underneath
• next the connection between the top and bottom posts was cut
• and then the connection between the top and bottom of the stairs to the floor was cut
• this left the whole stair virtually hanging off the wall
• two jacks were used, one at the top and one at the bottom, to maneuver the stairs until they were level
• The steps were reattached to the posts and floor
• and shimmed where they had pulled away from the support underneath

another image showing how big an adjustment was made
once the steps were straightened, the banister was bowing
so they had to cut it and reattach it at a higher point

the finished product in a very unfinished state

the rough plumbing is in

A
the old sewer line was in bad repair; sagging and quite decrepit. originally the contractor was going to use pvc for running the drain lines but (thankfully) we ended up with cast iron. there is a line running out the back, under the extension, to a drain there as well

B
the front plumbing stack originating in the basement

C
and continuing up through the first floor, this will be concealed in a coat closet

D
running through the parlor floor, they will end up almost completely hidden in the entry way wall

E & F
detail of the pipes going through to the third floor, this is where we had to head off and sister to avoid having to build a soffit in the front hallway

G
terminating in the third floor guest bathroom

H
the back plumbing stack on the ground floor: this connects to the studio bathroom and the little kitchen

I
the lines for the kitchen on the parlor floor

J
detail between the parlor and third floors

K
terminating in the third floor master bath

we actually don’t have too much new framing that has to be done to the original house,
except for the top floor
while we are keeping the same basic configuration of rooms
walls needed to come down to proportion them better.

framing out the ceiling for the master bath

framing the master bath

framing the master bedroom & dressing room

we did end up taking out {gasp} the fireplace in the master bedroom
it was the only way to have enough room to orient the bed to face the garden
and have end tables

OK
I am severely behind with blogging
but june was devoted to planning a couple of community events
and i stopped drinking coffee
(read: i need more sleep)
so i got a bit bogged down
thankfully, renovation is going full steam ahead
(well sometimes not exactly full steam, but that’s another story)
so i have a bit of catch up to do

since we did remove walls
and since we wanted to stick as much new plumbing into existing ceilings
we needed some structural reinforcement
that’s where these guys came in handy:
LVL for supporting beams & heavy duty hangers to support the new joists

below are two views of the ceiling for what will be the kitchen/dining area.
the LVL was used to create support where a wall was taken out

the ceiling to the left (over the kitchen area) will be dropped to conceal the beam, accommodate venting, a/c etc.
the ceiling in the dining area will be go back up to original height
(that plaster work was too far gone to repair)

exploratory work was done in the ceiling of the parlor floor to see if we could run the plumbing lines from the top floor without creating a soffit in the front hall

we can:
views of the sistering and pocketing of the joists from the top and the bottom

next up: framing

the silver lining to all the anguish of the demolition phase was being able to see all the places in the house that had been destroyed by water and shoddy workmanship and watch them being fixed and secured

structural work started in the basement where we shored up the columns of the house by building cement piers at their base after the digout.
this was done first, to ensure that the pounding of the demolition wouldn’t cause any damage.

the majority of work to be done was on the 2nd & 3rd floors.
the damage to be repaired was due to 3 things:

this required augmenting and/or replacing the existing support structure
which is where these guys came in handy:

the left wall in the back: details of the construction

the problem/the solution
the headers above the top floor windows and the joists on the edges of one of the skylights were completed rotted from leaks

an iron bar replaced the window header and the area was rebricked

the joists on either side of the skylight were completely reinforced from end to end: the new beams were pocketed and sistered to the existing ones that were crumbling, this helped with the sag of the roof as well

demo hell

a dozen things i’ve learned about demolition

#1
be very clear and consistent when marking what is to stay and what is to be removed
confusion resulted when the following 3 designations were used:
save
do not touch
remove and save
do
save & do not touch
mean the same thing?
or does
save & remove and save
mean the same?

so in addition to restoring missing molding, some molding will need to be reinstalled

which brings us to #1a:
label the pieces carefully so that they can be put back

#2
if you intend to keep it, protect it

#3
destruction

destruction

destruction

in a word it’s awful,
and while some might relish the fact that progress is being made,
i found it terribly disturbing.
even though i love the plans we have for the house,
i hated watching parts of it be destroyed

#4
dirt, dirt, dirt

and more dirt

don’t fool yourself,
no amount of tape
and no numbers of layers of plastic sheeting
is going to keep any part of a house under demolition even a tiny bit dust free.
the stuff is incredibly fine and i don’t believe it ever stops settling

#5
don’t let moments of relative calm fool you

the mess will be back

#6
pipes will get hit

#7
your garbage cans are no longer yours
they are theirs

your house is no longer yours
it is theirs

#8
some things,
no matter how many times you move them to the top of the heap
so that they will end up in the dumpster,
get rescued and carefully set aside

other things,
that have been deliberately set aside,
keep making a beeline for the trash

#9
it’s true
there are plumbers who think nothing of removing a huge section of a supporting beam or joist

#10
water rots wood

#11
some things keep getting moved from place to place
as if they have deep personal significance

#12
and there will be endless questions;
like,
what part of the house did this come from?