Things have been happening at a fast and furious pace at the house. We have been working hard to stay ahead of the contactor, meeting with the various suppliers and getting quotes. Visiting more kitchen cabinet builders/importers, flooring suppliers, and plumbing fixture stores. Progress at the house has been particular astonishing. The rough framing of the extension has been completed and we now have a very good idea of the size of the new area.
WEEK THREE
- Waterproofing and protection for foundation completed
- Ground level floor joists in extension installed
- Subfloor for extension laid
- Exterior walls for extension build
- Roof framing for extension completed
- Old radiators removed/relocated for wall construction/floor installation
- Laminanted wood beam installed to support second floor foyer celing, removed old supporting post
- Framing for new main floor hall closet, storage closet and powder room completed
- Basement rec room demolished, framing for storage rooms constructed
- Inspection of foundation completed and passed
WEEK FOUR
- Backfill of excavation
- Flat roof for extension completed
- Rubber membrane for extension roof installed
- Final wall of old cold room removed by hand
- Top layer of gravel for basement laid
- Dining room window partially removed (still have storm window intact)
- Third floor stairwell celing removed
- Drains for new kitcehn and powder room installed and tied in
- Electrican commenced replacement of all electrical wiring
A couple of problems have sprouted out. The biggest one being our first encounter with the building inspector. It seems that we have been assigned a relatively stringent inspector who demands to see every piece of detail being done "by the book". While It's not really a gripe, I would now anticipate delays due to the numerous inspections that will have to be scheduled. For now, he has held up our backfill for a week, until we provided a engineering report (at our cost) for the underpinning of a non-structral wall.
After removing the wall paneling in the basement rec room, we found mould on the old wood strapping. The problem is probably caused by moisture coming in from the exterior wall and settling on the bottom plate which unfortunately was not properly protected from moisture. We will have to remove all the old wood, install new plastic sheathing for protection, insultate but leave an air space, and create a continuous vapour barrier. We will use pressure-treated lumber to prevent future damage from moisture.
The electrician has commenced work to replace all of the wiring in the house. I was disappointed to find that even the wiring that was supposed to have been replaced by the previous renovation is not complete nor legal. As there was no grounding, and new copper wiring was simply tied back to old knob-and-tube wiring. Numerous segments had connections from old wiring to new, back to old and to new again. For some parts, power was tapped from an outlet in a different floor or whereever convenient. He exclaimed that he had no confidence in any of the old work passing inspection and will have to rewire everything (which is what we demanded anyway).
When I visited the house on Tuesday night, I found a stream of running water in the laundry room. After a panic attack, I investigated and found that the (fresh) water was coming from behind a wall next to our washer and dryer. The water supply was shut off and investigations planned. It was found that a water supply line was not properly capped, which I believe it's due to removal of the dishwasher, combined with the cold weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment