Crown Heights Reno
« pause... the good: part two »
September 14, 2007
the good, the bad and the ugly
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...
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Comments
Wow, now that is some progress! That studio will be spacious and lightfilled...what a dream.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at September 14, 2007 11:12 AM
Well, as nice as I am sure this will be, it is kind of a f&*( you to the neighbors. I can only hope that something like this goes in next door to Brownstoner, so he can feel firsthand the pain of maximizing your FAR.
Posted by: guest at September 14, 2007 11:37 AM
OP, I would love to know a a realistic budget is for this project. I have an existing 1 story extension which does not extend across the full width of the house. i.e. the house is 17 feet wide but the extension is only 8 feet. I'd like to take the existing extension down and build a new one that is wider but the same length. I wouldn't have to to the excavation work that you did. Would appreciate having the benefit of your experience.
Posted by: guest at September 14, 2007 4:54 PM
I wouldn't mind trying something like this myself so am interested in how this relates to the original footprint of your house and the backyard. Could you let us know the depth of the house previously, the depth of the extension, and the depth of your yard. Btw, will you be putting a deck atop the flat roof (bearing in mind the skylights, not the full width of course)?
Posted by: guest at September 14, 2007 6:10 PM
131' lot? So that's where the rest of my 80' lot went!
:-)
Amy
Posted by: Anonymous at September 14, 2007 10:55 PM
This looks great. I'm sure the neighbors probably feel a little whiny, but ya know, this addition is legal and it's on private property-- neighbors should have known that coming in. Personally, there's a building next door to mine with a 20-foot or so deep addition bordering my back yard, and it's one of my favorite things *about* the yard. Of course, that's also because it does not have any windows overlooking my yard, which would suck badly, and also because it's covered in ivy. So it creates fantastic privacy and a great backdrop for pant. Did you guys put windows overlooking the neighbors?
I love love love your perimeter skylights--that's going to be stunning.
Posted by: Rehab at September 14, 2007 11:00 PM
just for the record,
we are no where close to maximizing our FAR
and yes, i appreciate as well the privacy that come from an extensionl, there is already a 3 story extension two houses down which affords us some privacy, though it does block some of the light from the east, which actually makes our 1 story extension hardly a f***u at all (there are no side windows)
the original house is about 40', the extension is about 30' (replacing a small 10' build out) and the lot is 131', there will be a deck inside the skylights and a circular stair going down to the garden.
as far as price, it's a little hard to tell you as we had to do the excavation by hand and ours is considerably larger than what you are proposing...
Posted by: neene at September 15, 2007 2:00 PM
Great stuff....so, about how long did it take to go from the digging stage to the rubber roof stage? Thanks for the information?
Posted by: guest at September 21, 2007 11:11 AM
about a month
Posted by: neene at September 24, 2007 5:45 PM
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