August and September Updates

So, the big update is that we own the house.

After months of wrangling with our lender, loan broker, appraisers, and insurance company, and after nearly dumping all of them and starting over with a different financing model, we got it.

We closed in late August, and work started the first week in September. We've spent the last few weeks rushing to finalize plans, make last minute changes, and make sure everything fits with LEED. Here's what happened so far:

New Roof - Unthrilling asphalt shingle. The foot or so of insulation beneath is the real action.

Demolition - The most dramatic changes are the complete removal of the attic and bathroom. down to the studs. No big $urpri$e$, thankfully. (A co-worker redoing his bathroom found studs that still had bark on them. They had to re-frame the whole room to be able to put up drywall.)

Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing - The boiler works, which is great. We're going to powervent it, per LEED, which voids the warranty, which is long expired anyway. Otherwsie, bits of demo and ongoing rough ins. We're terrifically excited about all of this, but its probably a bit dull if its not your house, and not much of it has to do with LEED. So, Photos:

New Roof...

Dining Room Ceiling Demo...

Bathroom Demo. Notice the joist that was cut nearly through and apparently set on fire to accommodate the toilet. Our toilet will sit a few extra inches out from the wall.

The attic with all the masonite down. We're finishing it so we can put our television, exercise stuff, the Wiii, whatever, politely out of sight. The joists are being extended down to make room for insulation - all the way to the rim joist, rather than insulating the knee walls. That gives us conditioned space to run ERV ductwork across and down to the second floor, a LEED (and common sense) requirement.

In the next few weeks, we should see:
MEP rough-ins done, which lets the drywall/plaster folks come fix our walls and ceilings.
Insulation removal and installation once the interior walls are closed.
Exterior Painting after that.
We are ordering (!) kitchen cabinets tomorrow, for delivery and installation in November-ish. I'll do a big kitchen post this weekend, now that I can stop redesigning.

On our end, we're shopping for small things we said we'd supply to keep the loan amount down, and removing wallpaper as fast as we can. I highly recommend (insist) borrowing or buying (only 60.00) a steamer. No chemicals, no waiting (once it's heated, at least) and the stuff nearly falls off the wall. I'm also struggling to develop a coherent color story that brings our Victorian home and Mid- to Late-Century furniture and art into harmony.

Wish us luck!

-DM