Down to the bones....

Another day and a bit more of our house is gone. On the positive side, there is an excellent visual connection between the front yard and the backyard!

The front from the southwest

The front from the northwest




With all of the siding removed, it is interesting to really look at the framing underneath. Here, you can see the framing where two old windows used to be underneath where the current one is.

This shot shows that there used to be a window on the left side, and when the current window was installed, they cut right through the diagonal wall bracing.

The back of the house from the east

Here's the framing of the kitchen window and wall

This is the living room wall next to the fireplace where there used to be a window a long time ago.

The front stoop is a mess!

This is looking from the living room into the kitchen. The ceiling wasn't supposed to be taken down, but it fell out of the whole living room. Oops!

Leif in the living room



The front door still locks so at least we know that the house is secure!

This is the view into the kitchen

With all of the siding off, we can also really see the status of the framing. We found some termite damage in the back at one of the window frames in the smaller bedroom.

This view makes us wish we could have had cathedral ceilings....

A Nekkid House

Demolition has begun on the house. The construction crew has taken off most of the stucco and it's like somebody stripped the skin off of it to disclose the guts underneath. If you thought it was ugly before, wait until you see the it now!

The front from the northeast

The front door

The front from the southwest

The gray stuff left in the walls is insulation

The rear of the house from the east

This is a close up of the back. Some of the old tar paper is still on and a lot of the insulation has come out of the wall.

There's all our stucco and faux stone in the dumpster.

Here's a view from the inside. It's easy to see all the cracks in the walls now. All of this plaster will be replaced by new drywall soon.

Here the plaster is bulging out from the wall and falling off just by the impact of what the construction crew has been doing to the outside. No interior demolition has happened yet.

Demolition Begins?

If you look through the window in this photo, you'll notice that there is a big orange thing parked out on the street in front of our house. That is our proof that something has started at our house. The dumpster has arrived.

So, because nothing has really happened yet at the house during this first week, we decided to post some 'before' pictures. Here is the current state of the house:

The front from the northwest.


The front from the southwest


The back from the east (ouch!)


The living room
(click on the pictures to read the little red text)

The entryway/library and the entrance to the bedrooms. The double doors lead to the laundry.

From the living room looking into the kitchen (and a bit through the bathroom door)

The kitchen looking into the living room

The south wall of the kitchen - imagine tall cabinets here!

and the kitchen looking out to the backyard.

Next time.....real demolition?

Big News

The big news is Construction!!! I know, I know - right now you're thinking, "Haven't they been under construction for a long time?" and the answer to that question is "Yes, we have". The difference now is that we have hired an actual contractor to kick things into overdrive and really get a lot of work done in a short amount of time. The contractors will be coming in to demo the whole exterior of the house, install new windows and doors, structurally brace it, and add new stucco and paint-ready drywall. We will then finish up ourselves with the painting, kitchen, decks and flooring. It is going to be a very exciting couple of weeks!

Here are some some plans:

This is the existing plan with the areas of demolition marked in blue. All of the exterior walls will be stripped of their stucco, doors and windows removed and the rear deck will be torn off too. The old floor heater and the wall between the kitchen and living rooms will also be removed.

This is the new plan with the contractor's work high lighted in green. It doesn't look like much on the plan, but the whole exterior (except for the roof and the decks) will be new when they get done.

Below are some photos of what we have been doing to get the house ready for the construction crew:

Here's Jason starting his vegetable patch.

Leif and Oda tackle the front yard plants.

This is the lavender that was next to the front door. It was massive, so we split some of it into smaller plants too. Most of these transplants are doing well in the backyard.

Leif fought this Juniper with the pick....

....and the Juniper won.

Jason and Oda happily tending the side yard vines.

We did a little interior cleaning up too. We had to move everything out of the house and into the garage.

Here Leif is leveling the new laundry room doors.

Now the real fun starts. Stayed tuned as the pictures (and posts) should be fast and furious over the coming weeks!