It was Christmas on site this week- we removed the original exterior wall that was dividing the existing house from the addition. I can’t remember the last time I felt this level of anticipation.
Because the original exterior walls were structural, we had to leave them intact until all of the loads from the second floor had been accounted for with new beams and posts transferring the second floor load to the foundation. Once the new structural members were in place, the unveiling (or rather the sledge hammer demolition session) began. I was working on furring out walls towards the back of the house, so I waited in anticipation as my colleague Mike tore down the original facade. He called me over half way through the process, yelling, ‘Molly, there’s a photo op over here.’ I almost hesitated, I wanted to see the addition and wedge transformation of the space complete, a dramatic presentation, before and after. Alas, I could not resist.
Unfortunately in these photos it presents unremarkable, but believe me, this living space is lucky to have us intervene.
Highlights from this week:
- The HVAC subcontractors are well underway snaking their ducts through our framing. I’ve had a number of conversations with them about alternative routes and needing to incorporate soffits in order to accomodate their system. It’s a tricky project for HVAC; because we’ve demolished all of the interior walls on the first floor and the exterior walls are brick, it doesn’t leave much room for duct work. Additionally, I learned a great new phrase for what it is they do, “running tin.” As in, “We’ve got some guys up here running tin, I think we can start electrical next week.”
- The addition is sheathed. The new cut volume introduces itself to the neighbors.
- I spent a fair amount of time furring out interior walls in the master bedroom and closet. In this case to ‘fur out’ is to nail strips of wood to framed walls in order to make the wall cavity bigger to accommodate different components. You can imagine my surprise when I was asked to rip a 2×4 into 5 and spend a couple of hours nailing the strips to a framed 2×6 wall in order to accommodate an ironing board. This is why it’s important that architects build.