week 8: december 26, 2011 - january 1, 2012

we returned from our christmas travels to significant progress on each floor and it continued throughout the rest of the week! in the rear parlor, new drywall had been added to the south wall and the crew had begun to repair the cove ceiling in the southwest corner of the room.  the rough plumbing for the sink and the wall hung toilet in the powder room was also beginning to take shape.

on the garden level, the crew didn't waste any time with the bathroom relocation.  the pantry contents (food, groceries, cleaning supplies and the shelving!) had all been removed and placed in the dining room while we were away (cue another home workout to temporarily move the contents upstairs to the fourth floor kitchen).  the control freak in me had to laugh at the speed with which the crew was moving -- they emptied the pantry before i could do it myself.....and i survived!  the dry wall and the ceiling inside the pantry came down and the beginnings of the new plumbing for the bathroom sink and toilet were evident.

in the kitchen, the first pipes for the sink that would be located underneath the interior window were put in place.  in the family room, the framing for the bathroom came back down (again!) and the remainder of the framing along the south wall was completed.  the crew demo'd the rest of the ceiling and the drywall on the north wall.  in the southwest corner, the waste pipe and some of the plumbing related to the powder room above were also installed.

downstairs in the cellar, a closer examination of the waste and other pipes had revealed rust, cracks and other decay earlier in the month.  the old ones were replaced and some of the new plumbing connections required for the garden level bathroom were put up.  in the southeast corner, the plumber got to work on one of the major issues we hadn't been able to resolve to date.  from time to time, we had slight to significant flooding, usually in the southeast corner of the cellar.  replacing the cracked pipes seemed to alleviate part of the problem.....but also revealed that there might be something else going awry in our neighbor's adjacent property or perhaps underneath our foundation.  the plumber dug up some of the concrete and excavated part of the buried waste pipe to start to attack the problem.  but it was becoming clear that more significant measures would likely have to be taken to ensure that we wouldn't have a flooding problem in the future.

we had an all hands on deck meeting with mike and anastasia on thursday morning, primarily to discuss some design challenges related to the powder room plumbing.  because the vertical drain stack from the toilet extends into the southeast corner of the family room below, we thought there would have to be a 6x6 bump out in the area where we wanted to put our breakfast table to conceal the pipes.  after reviewing the options, mike told us that it could be buried in the wall if we framed the room a little bit differently -- problem solved!

i attempted to submit the order for the first floor bathroom and powder room fixtures but the contact in the showroom was out for the holiday break, so it would have to wait until the following week.

week 7: december 19-25, 2011

one thing is for sure --  mike's crew always moves quickly.  when we came home monday after work, they had already put the framing up in the extension for the garden level bathroom!  having the room chopped up again further strengthened our resolve to look into moving the bathroom into the existing pantry space.  we measured the dimensions of the bathroom in the extension and checked to see what they were in the pantry.  the two areas had the same width (which meant the bathtub would fit), but the depth of the pantry was about 15 inches less than that in the extension.  to our untrained eyes, it still felt like it was large enough.

we took some more rough measurements and sent an email to anastasia monday night letting her know that we were reconsidering the bathroom placement and that we wanted to know how quickly she could assess whether it was actually feasible or not given that the crew would probably be doing additional work in that area during the week.  the next morning she sent us a revised floor plan and compiled a list of questions for mike regarding the impact this would have on the required plumbing, connections to the cellar, etc.  the crew removed a small section of the drywall to see what existing plumbing work was already there.  a flurry of messages went back and forth among the four of us throughout the day.

with some creativity, anastasia and mike found a way around a potential issue related to the location of the new ducts in the cellar and the required waste pipe from the bathroom.  they also confirmed that none of the existing cabinetry on the kitchen's south wall or in the butler's pantry (which was on the other side of the north wall of the pantry and important to us to retain) would be compromised.  in the family room, anastasia suggested that we could keep the double window as proposed but that it should now be centered on the west wall.  she was also looking into the best way to re-route the ducts that were necessary to supply the rear parlor as they were originally going to fit through the bathroom walls when it was located in the extension.

when we got home tuesday evening, we went back to the extension to look at the bathroom framing.  the more we thought about it, the more we realized that we really preferred the larger room and agreed that it would make for a better family room if we moved the bathroom to the pantry.  it was a big leap of faith as we had to pull the trigger one way or the other without having a complete assessment of the impact on our budget....but we knew in the long run, we would be much happier if we did so.  we let mike and anastasia know that we had decided to change course mid-project and that they could proceed from here with the new design plan.

click here to see the revised garden level floor plan.

examining the existing
pantry plumbing

old bathroom window
is boarded up

framing the bathroom
in the extension

in terms of the rest of the house, the sub floor was placed in the parlor floor powder room and the old drywall was removed in preparation for the new walls.

in the cellar, more HVAC progress continued and additional ducts were installed in the northwest corner.  the space between the beams on this side is more narrow than in other places, so the ducts didn't fit neatly between them and hung lower than hubby desired.  this was one of his sticking points and he was convinced that they could find an alternative route to make it work, so we added that to our list of things to discuss further with mike and anastasia and reassess.  she confirmed that the shop drawings did not depict that the duct placement would be below the beams and that she would work with mike and the HVAC engineer to locate between the beams where possible.

looks like smaller ducts could be moved
over to the left to fit between the beams

w
we made all of the final decisions on the plumbing fixtures for both bathrooms and got a quote from the supplier for the toilets, sinks, faucets, bathtub, and shower elements.

anastasia and mike were also coordinating all of the changes that needed to be incorporated into our amendment to be filed with the landmarks commission and DOB, including the relocation of the bathroom on the first floor, the changes we'd made previously to the fixtures in the master bath by adding the separate shower/wet zone and removing the second sink, putting in an exterior gas connection for a grill, and the location of the existing fireplaces.  mike confirmed that gas would be easier to rebuild than wood-burning, so now we needed to decide which ones to reactivate.

we left thursday morning to spend the christmas holidays with hubby's family.  we hoped that we hadn't derailed too much of the immediate work plans for mike's crew in the coming days given our bathroom relocation decision, but we were excited to see what else would have been started (or completed!) by the time we returned early the following week.

week 6: december 12-18, 2011

the HVAC equipment started to arrive this week -- two fan coil units and lots and lots of ducts and connectors.  the first ducts were placed along the south wall between the meters and the furnace, and then across the ceiling from east to west to the north wall to the right of the staircase.  it fit perfectly between the ceiling beams and hubby was thrilled.  another section of ducts was also installed in the ceiling in the northeast corner.

anastasia tweaked her preliminary basement layout to show more storage space and new mechanical, electrical and water heater closets.  they would be located in the east end of the cellar which would also allow mike to conceal the new steel columns that would be necessary to support the charred beams in that area that were damaged by the earlier fire.  she and mike were also looking into stacking some of the ducts along the south wall (instead of dropped soffits parallel to the ceiling) in order to maximize the ceiling height in that section of the basement.  we would need to give additional thought about how to best utilize the entertainment areas of the cellar, and anastasia suggested flipping the gym to the east side and the screening room to the west side.  that decision was less time sensitive though since that work wouldn't begin until all of the other renovation was completed.

on the garden level, the last little bit of drywall and plumbing were removed from the northwest corner of the kitchen. attention then turned to the extension and preparing for a new floor.  the original floor boards had been covered by tile and carpet in the past and weren't in good enough condition to salvage.  the sub floor was next and was installed everywhere except in the area where the hot water heater sits and where the new bathtub would be located.  a portion of the ceiling in the southeast corner was also removed.

by the end of the week though, the room had been transformed and hubby and i found ourselves standing in the space that sunday night.  with the old bathroom walls down, the openness of one continuous space was starting to look more appealing than we had anticipated.  when we first thought about renovations, we considered moving the bathroom into the pantry but initially decided against it because we thought the extra effort and expense weren't worth it.  we were planning to put a breakfast table in the corner opposite the bathroom door, and use the remaining space in front of the window for seating and tv watching.  but a new configuration was looking more and more interesting the longer we stood in the family room, and we decided to investigate the idea of relocating the bathroom with anastasia and mike over the next week before going away for christmas.

earlier in the week, anastasia took me to a manhattan showroom where i was quickly overwhelmed by the multitude of faucets, shower heads, and finishes from which to choose for the bathrooms!  it was fun to see the different options in person, and eventually i was able to give her a better idea of what we would like to incorporate.  for the powder room, i was leaning towards oil rubbed bronze levers for the faucet.  in the garden bathroom, we wanted polished chrome, wall mounted, cross handle fixtures to go with a single basin washstand anastasia had identified earlier.  the tub was proving to be a bit of a challenge as we needed to find one that was 54 inches long, which is 6 inches smaller than standard.  i pulled the trigger and ordered the washstand, with the intention of finalizing the remaining fixtures decisions (and the actual bathroom location!) with hubby early the following week.

week 5: december 5-11, 2011

dust, dust and more DUST as major demolition took place!

after getting our approval on the parlor floor powder room footprint the week before, the crew got right to work.  this week they put up wall studs, added the bathroom ceiling and drywall on its east and south walls, and removed all of the floor inside the bathroom area.

on the garden level, the crew worked quickly in the extension.  first, they removed what was left of the bathroom walls and then pulled down all of the pipes.  upon closer inspection, they discovered two rotten floor beams in the area where the new tub would be located that would have to be repaired by sistering new beams to them.  demo on the wood floor began in the southeast corner of the extension and......(sigh)......the washer and dryer were totally disconnected.

the kitchen was next and we caught a couple glimpses of history as demolition began on the north wall.  as the drywall, tiles and plumbing were removed, we discovered old wallpaper layered on top of white subway tiles.  it was kind of interesting to see the very different styles that used to inhabit the space and imagine what those people and their lives were like.  after they finished with the north wall, the kitchen ceiling came out next -- we want more lighting and plan to incorporate hanging pendant lights from the wood beams that we'll leave partially exposed over the island.  it was an amazing display of debris temporarily -- and the crew made it all disappear the following day.

in the cellar, the walls surrounding the furnace and the last remaining door and walls were removed from the center arch near the staircase.  with all of the non-structural walls knocked out, it was hard to remember what it looked like when we first moved in.  the ceiling demolition also revealed an area between the furnace and the meters where some of the beams had been previously damaged by a fire that must have spread from the dining room fireplace, located directly above.  mike thought it could be repaired by installing 2 steel columns to take the load off of the burned beams, but he would take a closer look to confirm the best approach.

anastasia sent us the first version of her interior studies for the powder room.  after meeting with the plumber, they realized that the plumbing for the wall hung toilet would not be able to be recessed into the brick wall as originally contemplated, so it will be enclosed in the wall with a recess of a shelf and mirror above it instead.  since the vent pipe has to extend beyond the powder room ceiling, she suggested it could be placed in the southeast corner to minimize its visibility in the rear parlor itself.  also, in order to make sure the powder room feels integrated in the overall space, we agreed with anastasia's recommendation to replicate the room's wainscoting on the exterior bathroom walls too.  inside the powder room, we would probably also mirror that design by using a dark tile or wallpaper on the lower half of the walls.  finally, we would either go with a new custom bathroom door built to match the existing double pocket doors or reuse one that had been removed during the garden level demolition.

mike told us that we needed to make a decision on the in-wall bathroom fixtures and the bathtub quickly so that progress could continue on the rough plumbing.  anastasia made some preliminary recommendations based on brands she had used previously and the style she liked for each bathroom.  i reviewed them and provided quick feedback to her over the weekend.  i made plans to go window shopping with her at a showroom early the following week so i could see different styles and examine the various shower control options in person.