Week 2

This week, a very nice man with good taste in books named Jonathan spent many hours removing pieces of walls & floors in the rooms that will be renovated, so that Mr. Bunkport can get accurate bids from the excavators and framers he's talking to.

Here's the progress, day by day.

Monday

View from the garage door, into the first of the two rooms that will be renovated & made into one big room:

No wall!

This is the same wall as in the last post, at the back of the garage:

Carcass Count ^TM: One rat skeleton was found in this wall, bringing our dead critter total so far to two. (Previous one was found during this glorious day.)

I'm sad about all that beautiful lath being gone, but this is what has to be done both to expedite the digging, & also bring that wall up to the fire code (a wall between a garage & a living space needs to be a firewall). The lath all over the garage is basically decorative -- these aren't plastered walls -- but interestingly, Mr. Bunkport commented that it lends some structural stability to the house. Thank you Mr. John Davila, who is the previous resident who I am guessing put it up.

View from inside the room, back into the garage:

The red post is a support that Jonathan put up. The more material he removes, the worse the structural situation is turning out to be down there.

The debris pile we started in February grew a bit:

Meanwhile, in the back yard, this bush is blooming for the first time since we moved in:

The ghost of the previous owner must approve of what we're doing.

Tuesday

Not much noticible happened downstairs, but Pickles let us know she approves of where we moved the Big Blue Chair from the porch:

Wednesday

The floor started coming up on Wednesday:

Carcass Count ^TM:  Two possum skeletons. They were found originally when we made some repairs to Adrienne's office, but were just buried over again. Since they have now been removed, I'm going to say that they count for this project. That brings us up to a total of four.

Meanwhile, the debris pile grew significantly:

And Pickles let us know that she fully approves of the empty porch:

No more annoying furniture to get in the way of her sunning herself.

Thursday

More floor & debris removal from the middle room:

Meanwhile, the jasmine I have been growing from cuttings I took from the plant that was taking over the inside of the back room that is going to be renovated (started in 2012 -- see post here) is blooming:

Such a wonderful scent! Spring has officially arrived.


Friday

The wall between the middle room & the back room is now gone, as is most of the floor in both rooms:

As with most 100+ year old houses, things are worse than expected down there.  Although the other side of the coin is that the excavation piece is likely to be easier than expected. Jonathan added some more ad hoc supports to add some stability, & Mr. Bunkport is working to get someone in to shore up the house this week.

Meanwhile, the debris pile has reached the ceiling:

With the middle wall & the floor being gone, we can finally get a sense of what this room will feel like, & really start to imagine what it will be like to sit in there, with the accordion doors open, & the breeze coming in. It's going to be a very nice space.

Next week, we expect excavation to begin. There could be a hold up with the permit related to neighbor notification and review, but given the structural problems that have been uncovered, Mr. Bunkport thinks we might be able to get some sort of emergency waiver to at least stabilize the house. A little scary & a lot stressful, but Mr. Bunkport has proven himself to be an excellent builder & a fiery advocate for us, so we feel good placing our faith in him to take good care of Mars.