Progress! ...and a fireplace update

It's all happening, the buzz of saws and the slams of a hammer, music to my ears. This is a big week. We finally settled on a contractor for the dry rot. At this very moment, my new best friend Bob is down in the basement toiling away. Some things you just can't do yourself and anything structural qualifies. Bob's list of to dos:

1. replace dry rot in new laundry room, under old laundry room, above the fireplace and under the porch
2. repair main beam under old laundry room and replace single support post and wall with two new supports so room can remain open
3. repair subfloor in kitchen (he actually has a stockpile of the same wood planks so we don't have to use plywood)
4. remove all unused water and gas lines in old laundry room and cap off
5. remove old furnace under entry/dining room

All of this will take two weeks and immediately following, the plumber will install our tankless water heater, my refurbished vintage sink and, drumroll please, the washer and dryer.

What's this? Is the sun shining? Are birds singing?

Not only that but last week we met some great roofers who fixed our leaking chimney. Can you believe the flashing was NEVER done properly, not ever? It was a slow trickle over many, many years that caused that damage. If you can stomach the horror and are in need of a recap, go here.

Speaking of, I did a little more demo on the wall because I was noticing as contractors came through for bids, they were assuming the worst. As such, they're bids were high and the proposed work seriously invasive. I figured it best to remove all the wall and the bookcases down to the studs so we can really see what's going on. It was messy but totally worth it.

It was exciting to remove that 70s paneling and unearth the original beadboard. At first glance, I thought it was intact. Alas, that wasn't so. It was pretty crumbly and even cut up on the right side. I still plan to salvage these boards and try to make something small, a curio maybe, but their life surrounding a mantel is over.

Never in my life have I seen the guts of a fireplace and I had no idea how they are put together. Tomorrow a chimney expert is coming over to give it a once-over and educate us on the possibilities, if there are any. Right now we are thinking this burned coal, that it is heavily damaged and unless we spend thousands, it will never be more than decorative. But we'll see what the experts say.

Voila! See that angled 2x4 and how it's completely missing at the chimney? It directed water to flow to the left, leaving the entire right side intact. Really, not so bad!

Once we got this far, the windows literally begged to be stripped. I still can't fathom the intention here. Anyway, it was Valentine's Day and the sun was out so we went for it.

Two coats of Citristrip and some good scraping and it's a whole new world. Isn't that right, Orange?

One Step Forward...

Last week was supposed to be momentous, and it was all about laundry.

The washer and dryer were upstairs in the kitchen. As such, this pair of appliances took up valuable space, not to mention, destroyed the floor below with water damage. Silly really because the house has a full basement just begging to be put to work. So we hatched a plan to move it all downstairs. There's already a dedicated space next to the water heater (an outdated behemoth we've also decided to upgrade) with plumbing and a drain. Genius!

We lined up a plumber to install our new hookups and replace the tank with a tankless. Before he can work, our responsibility was to get some electrical in the space. The tankless needs it's own breaker and the washer/dryer do to. We found a great electrician on Angie's List, an adorable husband and wife power duo. They came, they installed, we're so close!

Next I wanted to paint Drylock on the foundation wall behind where the washer/dryer and newly refinished sink (it's all done and being ever so patient) will be positioned then seal the concrete floor with a high gloss that we ultimately plan to put everywhere. Once this was done and the plumber was done, we'd be up and running. One section of our house would be COMPLETE and I would never set foot in a nasty Berkeley laundromat again.

Sigh...

After the electric super hero team left, Mike and I were doing our usual stand-around-the-basement-think-out-loud contemplating our big plans for the space. And my eyes started focusing on the framing atop the foundation. There was an awful lot of plaster built up where once upon a time, some patching had certainly occurred. You see, this space is directly below the main bathroom (I have BIG plans for a laundry chute!) which means water water everywhere. We already knew that bathroom floor needed repair but had never considered there might be damage along the exterior wall behind the stucco. I took a step toward that plaster and with my bare hand gave it a little tug.

And there you have it, a huge piece came off and what's back there? Oh you know, my best friend, Dry Rot. The next day we headed to the Oakland Tool Library (best invention ever) got ourselves a crow bar and other goodies and made our way down for more demo. It didn't take 15 minutes to remove all that rotten plaster and unearth the rotten 2x4s and the rotten wood board behind that. It looks like this:

Bummer! The plumbing is on hold until we can repair this. At this moment, I could get on a soap box about inspectors but I won't. The house is old, was neglected, and we knew that. But no more surprises okay? Shake on it.

PS - I thought I'd leave you with a shot of said water heater. Sexy right? Nice "earthquake bracing." Is that a flexible gas line I see? Is that up to code? That's right, it's not!

I made a mess

It was the weekend after Thanksgiving. My husband was in the back working and I was sitting on the couch watching tv. In the corner of my eye was the wood paneling. That wood paneling, behind the bookcases, surrounding the fireplace and most certainly covering two windows. And it was eating me alive. I could think of nothing else. What do the windows look like? Are they broken? Is there glass there? From outside you can see them, painted over. These windows are a classic feature, traditional and must be restored.

So I started picking at it. Innocently I grabbed a blade and thought, I'll just cut out a peep hole, look inside with a flashlight, just to see. It was a small peep hole, about 4x6 and when I looked inside, motherload! Glass! unbroken! I figured, this isn't so bad. Surely, they must have put the paneling up because they were insane and didn't like natural light. I will remove this and surprise my husband with my do-it-yourself enthusiasm.

 So I took my blade and made a neat incision along the length of the bookcases and across the mantel. Hmm, what's this? The wood on the mantel is soft and kind of popping up. Scrape. Scrape. Oh god, termite tunnels.

Need I say more?

I popped off all the upper paneling and discovered the windows were the least of my problems. Yes all molding had been removed to accommodate the paneling, but our molding isn't fancy and can be replicated easily (I'm pretty sure). And I can get paint off of glass, once it warms up outside. But above the mantel, sigh, it all came crumbling down. Dry rot. A lot of it. And some ants. And a breeze. And evidence that termites have come and gone. (And I mean gone because we have termite blasted this house).

This is about when my husband walks in and says, oh jeez, what have you done?

In the end, all dry rot seems to be located above the fireplace. One of our guys (he's actually my dad's guy and childhood friend who promises never to steer us wrong) says it's not so bad. We should remove all dry rot and probably the plaster all along that wall and then reframe, drywall etc. I'll take this opportunity to add some sconces and maybe redesign the mantel and bookshelves. The damage was probably caused by a leak in the roof some time ago that has since been repaired.

In the meantime, I thought it best to winterize the area, then walk away, slowly.