mechanical

so this is pretty much what makes the house live-able.  above you can see the domestic hot and cold water manifold on the left. (it's officially called a 'manibloc', i think that's a name brand and it's the black vertical thing with all the ports on both sides) it has an individual port for each fixture in the house instead of having a long run with legs coming off it.  this makes it easy to shut of the hot or cold water for a specific outlet and also reduces hot water usage as there is less water in the pipes to be purged when you turn it on.  as you can see, some of the hot water tubes have been hooked up, the others (which have not been hooked up) you can see to the right of the manibloc.
this is the heat system.  and it seems to be working quite well as of right now.  its an in-floor radiant heat system, meaning that there is a ton (maybe 3000 ft.) of the PEX plastic tubing running underneath the floor which you run hot water through to heat the floor.  the floor then heats up and is essentially the radiator for the entire house....it feels good on your feet.   i suppose another interesting point is that the water heater you see on the left is efficient enough to heat my house and provide my domestic hot water.  its called a Bradford White combi-core and is supposed to be something like 92% efficient.  not too bad.  now i just need to get a heat exchanger.... at least when i have an extra grand or so laying around, so not too soon.

range hood blower install. not fun for one.

once all the framing was complete it was (finally) time to start installing some of the more exciting mechanical aspects of the house. its pretty much impossible for me to say that i didn't got a bit, perhaps a lot, overboard on the kitchen, but... i do like to cook and it's one aspect of the house that i just couldn't cut any corners on.  so, i got a 42" stainless steel hood that needed some specific blocking in order to be hung properly and an 1100 CFM in-line blower that needed to be mounted in the attic before the drywall and insulation were started.  you can see it pictured above hanging from the roof rafters.  its hanging so that it won't vibrate the ceiling and cause unnecessary noise in the kitchen/great room.

here you can see it looking up from the soon to be kitchen area.  like i said, it was not fun for me to hang this thing....but it will be worth it someday.

no more scary stairs

just as a reminder, this is what the stairs used to look like... at least once i did a bit of tear out. 

the stairs were pretty much the last bit of tough framing that needed to be done before i could have the rough inspection done.  i, with my very limited knowledge about stair building (or construction in general), called in Blain (whose real good at this stuff) to do the work.  i must admit that i didn't really do much but cut the temporary treads, clean up, and hold stuff.  now the stairs are pretty sweet and look a whole lot better. (as you call can certainly see)

now my house looks like this.

needless to say, this is pretty much how my house is going to look from the exterior.  the siding is called harbor grey and is 4" wide.  the siding actually went on pretty fast since all the house was all tyveked and ready to go.  i have to admit i didn't do the work due to this thing called a broken ankle but the guys from Buchanan did a pretty sweet job i must say.  be sure to notice the new landscaping underneath the two horizontal windows on the left.  thanks to my father for those.   

unwrap/rewrap + window installation

once all the windows and interior walls were framed, it was time to deal with the exterior.  at first i wasn't planning on replacing the siding as it was in pretty decent condition, however it became clear that in order for the house to be properly water/wind proofed it was necessary to tear it off and wrap the house in tyvek and 'protecto' wrap all the windows. 

here you can pretty clearly see all the new rough openings for the new windows.  the place looked pretty trashy for a couple of days, even more so than normal, but as soon as the tyvek went on, it looked pretty sweet.  also in this pic you can see the new front porch roof, which made the place look nice and crisp.

ah, thats better....  windows are in, house is wrapped, water no longer is my enemy.  notice the first floor window on the left, we had to move in about a foot so the water from the roof didn't dump right down on it.  it think it was a pretty good choice.  oh, and thats the back window for one of the two guest bedrooms.
now the front.  all the windows are in and i must admit, it looks pretty good.  be sure to notice the post for the porch roof.  there's only one visible (on the right corner) as the other one is hid inside the wall on the left.  pretty cool idea, which i can't take credit for.  todd, the builder, thought that one up.  as for where all the windows go.  the two high horizontal ones on the first floor go the bedroom and bathroom.  the one of the left is bedroom and the one on the right is bathroom.  its right about the shower, which you'll get to see later.  above the porch roof, the two square ones on the right go into the master bathroom and the small horizontal on goes to the master closet.  the large one on the second floor goes into the master bedroom.  (its 4x6 so its pretty good size)  and as you can see, i am a supporter of mission lumber, the best lumber yard in central michigan as far as i'm concerned.  charlie and dave at the contractors desk have been a huge help all along the way.  (i don't know how many times i've walked in there with basically no idea what i'm doing and i've left with exactly what i need.)

wall & window framing: 2

so here it is.  round II of the reframing of the window rough openings and the walls for the downstairs bedroom(s) and bathroom.  the bedrooms and bathrooms are in the area below the upper level on the left of the house.  this area used to be some sort of family room and a bedroom off the back of that.  didn't really make a lot of sense to me in terms of floor layout (but that shouldn't really be surprising as most of this place really didn't make sense), so it needed to be changed...

here's the ultimate construction worker dealing with the new rough opening in the front of the house.  it really wasn't as bad as i thought it might be.  we pretty much just cut a hole in the side of the house with the sawzall and pushed the piece out.  its was the reframing that was more of a chore since each piece had to be cut specifically to match the existing studs and what not.  

here's the downstairs bedrooms and bathroom framed in.  the bathroom door is on the left of the picture and the bedrooms are on the front left corner and the back right corner.  neither bedroom is all that large, but they're plenty big for a office or guest room, each one is about 150 square feet.  the really nice thing is that they have 9 ft. ceilings and huge windows for bedrooms of that size.  

wall & window framing: 1

once all the tubing was run under the first floor, it became obvious that the most pressing issue was window and interior framing.  the entire floor plan is being changed and most of the widows are also changing in both size and location, hence, lots of framing needed to be done before the trades (electrical and plumbing) could go in.  

here's tom taking out the old row of windows in the kitchen to make space for the pantry as well as the new widow opening.  i'm actually making the window quite a bit smaller to accommodate the walk in pantry. (which will be on the right side of that gaping hole)

here goes nothing.  now i have never framed a window or a wall, but i did read a book about it...it's actually not all that hard as long as you can read a tape measure and cut wood to a desired length, a job which tom proved quite adept at.

here's the pantry framed it.  its about 6' deep by 4' wide, not huge, but plenty big for what i need.  the door for the pantry is going to be a sliding door which will hang from some sort of industrial metal track, at least that's the current plan...

PEX wrestling: round 1

by this time all the new subfloors have been put in and so it was on to the heating system...i am going to be putting in a in-floor radiant heat systems as opposed to the more traditional forced air system.  a lot of the time these type of heating systems are cast into a concrete floor, but it's also possible to tack the PEX tubing the the underside of the subfloor with aluminum 'fins' (which transfer the heat).  i got the system from a company called Radiantec, which does the design as well as the fabrication of all the complex manifold components.  It states that it can be installed by a 'reasonably competent handyman', which i assume myself to be, but this, as with everything has been more difficult than expected....big surprise.

don't we look excited to get this underway.

here's tom pulling some of the PEX tubing in the basement.  i suppose the most difficult thing about this process is working with such long lengths of tubes.  it came from Radiantec in 250' sections, so that's what we generally started with.  the other factor is the rigidity of this stuff... it was described by tom as a 'tornado', which really is pretty accurate. 

not all the house has a walkable basement, this part was the least fun...

true construction hero: tom.

now this guy knows how to get things done... this is my brother, normally all the work his tender little hands get is some keyboard pounding so this really put him to the test.  it took him some time to learn to read a tape measure in less that 2 min, but he picked it up pretty quick and i certainly wouldn't be as far along as i am right now if he hadn't been here working with me for a month.  thank tom.

may this be my last time ...

once the addition and roof were complete and there was no longer and flooding happening in the house it was time for the final floor tearout/rebuild.  removing the original planks from the floor was a quite a bit of work as they pretty much splintered when pried upon, but the joists cut out pretty easy with the sawzall.  please notice the sweet blue paint on the basement walls, again confirming the fact that bad taste truly did live here...

installing the joists went pretty well, but they did need to be notched in a couple of places so they would match up with the other new joists as well as produce a level floor.  since the span is pretty much the same as the great room, 2x10's were used and were set on the sill plate and tacked to the side of the previously installed joists.

i hate blocking.

there is truly nothing better than a nail gun for installing subfloor.  however, hitting the joists is more difficult than it may seem, at least for a novice like myself.    

overall, the subfloor in the entire house turned out pretty well.  they certainly improved as i went along and this one was probably the best. 

bring in the pros:

since i'm certainly no builder by trade, and have more or less been feeling my way through this day by day, it was necessary to hire out the upstairs addition as well as the shingling.  i think i may have been able to figure out the shingles, but thought it better left to the pros, especially since half of the roof is a 12/12 pitch and the area over the addition needed a EDPM rubber roof due to the low slope (1/12).

here you can see the old front roof being cut off in sections to prep for the new master closet and bathroom.  since the original attic roof peak wasn't all that high, the decision (on suggestion from the builder) was made to move the peak forward a foot, which also moved the peak up a foot since the roof was a 12/12 pitch.  now the roof has an 8' ceiling and no longer feels like an attic...also, the sky trak was pretty sweet to watch in action but it made my yard look like i hosted a monster truck rally...not that i really care. (oh, and i got to drive it, which was really cool)

here the wall and roof framing are pretty much complete.  you can make out the two 24 x 24 windows in the bathroom (which will be awning style) and the 36 x 12 window for the closet. in terms of access, you'll walk through the closet to get to the bathroom.  all said, it adds about 200 square feet to the house, a 9'x10' closet and a 10'x11' bathroom.  if all works as planned, it should be pretty nice. (as always, hopefully..)

  

new roof sheeting: at first i didn't plan on having the entire roof re-sheeted, but as is turned out, it made the new shingle application much easier and hopefully will make them last longer.  originally it was 3/4" planks, now it's 1/2" OSB over the wood planks.  basically its a brand new roof.  and my house no longer leaks, which is the real benefit.

here the exterior sheeting is complete on the addition and the roof is done.  now, i realize the front of the house doesn't look all that great, but envision is with a porch with roof between the addition and the first story.  hopefully it all works out..  and if you need a builder in central michigan, i would highly recommend Buchanan Builders, i think they did a great job.

the joys of diy shingle removal

this is what i had to deal with...... needless to say i would like to have some angry words with whomever decided it would be a good idea to put this many shingles on a roof.  i think my house actually got larger once i got these off there...oh, and they took up about 20 cubic yards of dumpster space.  and if you have ever removed shingles... i have nothing more to say.

master bedroom floor/ceiling rehab & alteration

here's a view of the master bedroom floor joists.  they were in pretty bad shape as there was a chimney sitting right in the middle of the floor.  it dipped about 2.5 inches in the middle and as far as i'm concerned, this was not acceptable...  instead of taking out all the old joists, i decided to simply nail the new ones to them.  this decision was made based on the fact that, since the house is ballooned framed, these were not only acting as the floor joists, they are also acting as collar ties for the second story roof.  hence, removing them is basically not a good idea, at least if you don't want your roof to fold....    

these two are of the newly finished subfloor as well as the newly added 2x8's.  (the 2x8's were added to provide more room for insulation in the master bedroom ceiling)  in addition i raised the collar ties up about 1.5' to make the room feel larger. (overall the room is about 16'x24', minus the stairwell- which you can see the railing for in both the photos of the finished floor/ceiling)

no more hole/ new floor joists

once all the joists were cut out, the new joists arrived.  these are 14 ft. 2x10's which sit on the foundation on both sides.  while this was a pretty sturdy way to put the floor together, it was anything but easy.  to level it with the previously finished floor (which you can see just past the stairwell) i got out the invaluable laser level, set it at the far end of the room and measured down the the sill plate at each new joist location.  since the floor was pretty out of whack each of the joists had to be notched three times, two on the exterior wall end (as it had to fit between the sill and toe plate) and once on the interior side as it just sat directly on the sill plate.  that was not easy.  you can also see the solid blocking that was put in- which is something that i truly dislike...

don't walk in the front door

due to the poor state of the living room floor,(basically it was really really really really warped and what not) i felt it easiest to just take the whole thing out and start from scratch.  now, this is easier said than done as each new floor joist had to be notched in three places, specific to its location on the floor.  thankfully i had a laser level, which made the job easier, but not easy...  and it is a plenty far drop from the door to the basement floor - the ultimate thief deterrent.  oh, and that little 'room' in the corner of the basement used to be a shower. not pretty. 

floor joists for an upstairs bathroom (and closet)-

when i got the place it had one bathroom, on the main floor off the kitchen.  this was not good.  since the master bedroom (which is going to be my bedroom) is upstairs i figured it would be good idea, not only for ease of night time bathroom use, but also for resale value, i figured i should add a bathroom and closet upstairs.  i was able to mount a ledger strip along the front exterior wall and nail joist hangers evenly spaced (at 16" o.c.) along the ledger strip as well as the LVL to hold the 2x10's.  truly this made the job much easier as the current wall studs are anything but even... i suppose that's what you pay for with a balloon framed, 100+ year old house built by drunk people...

beam up

this was a pretty darn big change in the house:  since the place is/was over 100 years old, the floor plan was pretty lame to say the least.  the bathroom was right off the kitchen and there was a really strange little bedroom off the previous dining room.  so,  i took out one of the main load bearing walls and put up this giant  3-ply LVL.  its about 20 feet across by 18 inches tall.  it sitting right down on the sill plate on some crazy posts called parallam's, its some sort of compress lumber thats apparently extra strong. (like i really know, the truss company did all the calculations after i sent them the specs. for the place). overall, its pretty much a beast as is supports about half my house.  thankfully its still standing. 

oh, and there's three of them glued and screwed together up there...

floor out/floor in (number one)

out comes the floor.  not only did i find some less than adequate posts holding up this floor, i also got to find a complete mouse skeleton, some nasty insulation, and some old whisky bottles (which confirms my previous assumption about the mason, and perhaps all those involved in the building of this place).

apparently they ran out of lumber...

for the rehab i braced all the joists and cut a channel down the center to drop in a new three ply 2x8.  i also poured some new concrete footers for the posts (8ft on center).  and just a quick note: buy more concrete than you think you need, i ran out twice.

here it is with the new beam and joists.  the area under the stairs isn't done in this image as i had to rent a hydraulic jack to lift them into the proper location.  now its flat. (and level)

my parents are construction workers

this is my father, he is a great nail puller.

this is my mother, she is cold.  also, please take note of the old exterior door.  i am doing my best to find one to match it.

bad taste lived here at some time

obviously this floor did not go without a fight.

i was really excited with i found this sweet floor under the first several layers of tile. i did everything i could to save it but due to age and lack of proper care, it just didn't make it.  i am sad.

absolutely wonderful.

more demolition

i think the mason was drunk.  at one time this place had 3 chimneys, but no longer.  now it has zero.

i hate lathe.  and to make matters even more unpleasant someone had the bright idea to blow insulation into the wall cavity. 

at one time this was a kitchen.  now it is not.