week 10: january 9-15, 2012

this week, the work on the parlor floor was limited to repairing the cove ceiling.  the crew sanded and patched the ceiling in the southwest corner of the room.

on the garden level, more HVAC work continued in the family room.  vertical ducts were put into place on the north and the south walls and overhead between the beams in the ceiling.  the crew also began to work on the bathroom's ceiling exhaust fan which had to be vented outside by snaking its way behind the two closets and existing cabinetry on the kitchen's south wall and then out thorough the family room ceiling.

the HVAC overhaul continued in the cellar too.  the ducts that had concerned hubby in late december because they were hanging lower than expected were relocated just slightly and now fit between the ceiling beams.  more ducts were placed in the ceiling and along the south wall in both the rear room and the southwest corner of the cellar.

during the week, we coordinated with anastasia to decide upon the location of the electrical panel (southeast corner of the family room opposite the exterior door) and flat screen tv (centered on the family room's north wall).  mike and anastasia also recommended adding 4 new floor outlets in the rear room of the parlor floor so that we could eliminate the existing, illegal baseboard outlets already in place.  since the family room ceiling below is open, it should be relatively easy to do.  we also decided to replace the existing exterior kitchen window.

lastly, after consulting with the plumber, mike recommended that installing a sump pump in the cellar should alleviate the flooding issue as it is designed to turn on when water collects in the pump pit, so we agreed to move in that direction.

week 9: january 2-8, 2012

during the first week of the new year, work on the plumbing in the new powder room continued.  the waste pipe was placed in its southeast corner and a new pipe was installed for the sink.  in the southwest corner of the rear parlor, the crew also continued to repair the cove ceiling where the old bathroom was located.

on the garden level, some new copper pipes appeared in the southwest corner of the family room that were related to the powder room plumbing above.  in the opposite corner, the old bathroom window was removed and the resulting hole was quickly evened out with new bricks.  since the new window was now going to be centered on the western wall, the crew reinforced more of that wall with additional steel lintels and did work on the exterior too.  the cable guy had to come out and relocate one of their boxes from its existing location since it interfered with the new window placement outside.  the wood beams in the interior also got new studs which would be used to level the new family room ceiling in the future.

the plumber put in the pipes to supply the island bar sink in the kitchen.  in the garden level bathroom, some plumbing went into the floor related to the toilet.  i placed the order for both sets of bathroom fixtures on tuesday, and the majority of it was delivered by thursday.  the tub and a couple of additional items would arrive in approximately two weeks.

in the cellar, another duct was installed on the south wall to the right of the furnace and in front of the waste pipe.  the plumbing was also connected for the island bar sink and a portion of the duct in the middle of the south wall was connected. finally, part of the brick wall between the main part of the cellar and the rear room in the southwest corner was demolished in order to create a large enough opening for additional ducts to pass between these two spaces.

 

anastasia sent over a 3-D rendering for us to get a better visual of how the new, open family room would look with the centered window as well as the necessary modifications for the relocated garden level bathroom.  we were happy because the brick in the pantry area was also in decent condition, so we would be able to leave some of it exposed just as we had contemplated when the bathroom was to be located in the rear extension.