Home Renovation, back yard
| May 4, 2012 | Posted by matt under Uncategorized |
When you undergo a home renovation that affects exterior walls, there is going to be some damage to the yard and landscaping. In our case, our contractor had to remove the back fence and use the alley for access for the bobcat, dumpster, and all the deliveries of lumber and drywall. This, along with the digging of the foundation guaranteed that our back yard was gone and replaced with a giant pool of mud and clay. While the back yard was completely ruined, it was a good opportunity to do some work on our drainage situation. Before the renovation, we would get quite a bit of water in our single sump pump, most of it coming from the back yard under the concrete patio. Our contractor recommended we install a french drain system with a basin at the end to move water away from the foundation and to the back of the yard. We decided to go ahead with this, and after a few nice rain storms last night I can report that it is working pretty effectively, the sump pump is running far less often than it used to.
Drainage from the house
Drainage to the back of the yard
Our contractor’s commitment for exterior work was only to provide a rough grade and reinstall the back fence. We were responsible for all landscaping and any hardscaping improvements. We definitely are trying to keep this reasonable in terms of cost, so we will be taking a phased approach to the back yard. We have decided the most urgent need is to grade the yard, get some sod, and do some basic plantings. We were fortunate to get some plants from a friend’s mom who is moving out of her house, and to get a nice Japanese maple from Laura’s parents. We also have some existing plants that we dug up before construction, so we will end up spending no money on plants.
We obtained two bids for the landscaping. We decided on going with our local neighborhood landscaper who does cleanup work for us in the fall. We decided on a first phase of sod for the backyard and rocks for the back 12′ where we will have our raised beds for the vegetable garden. The yard first needed to be graded, then soil applied to the top of the rougher grade of clay, with sod applied to the top of the soil.
After the rough grade
As you can see in the picture, the soil is very lumpy and has quite a bit of clay mixed in. There’s no evidence of any grass remaining from before the construction.
After the layer of soil was applied
The yard went from construction site to beautiful garden in about 30 minutes!
A new lawn
We watched as they rolled out the sod, the yard was transformed. After a good watering and a heavy rain it is pretty wet, but the grass did a great job of soaking up the water and it looks fantastic.
The garden area
In the garden area, the landscapers laid out plastic landscaping edging and weed barrier with about 3″ of river rock. I’ll be putting the raised beds on top of this gravel with about 2″ in between each bed. This will cut down on all the weeds I had growing up into my garden beds the last few years. I’m really looking forward to getting the garden going soon.
Home Renovation, tile
| February 12, 2012 | Posted by matt under home |
An important part of any renovation that includes a bathroom or kitchen will most likely be tile. We are also adding a mudroom and chose to use tile as the floor surface for that room since it will see a lot of wear from dirt, mud, snow, and rain. While we were having the work done, we also decided to make a small change to the tile in our old bathroom since it was going to need patching in the shower anyway due to the fact that the window that was there was going to be covered up in the addition.
We took several trips to the tile store and gradually narrowed down our preferences to a dark tile for the mudroom and bathroom floor, with subway tile for the shower surround. We still needed to decide on details for the shower pan and any extra colors or borders for the bathroom.
As boring as it may sound, we chose the same tile for the mudroom/powder room and the master bath. It’s a dark gray tile with some lighter gray streaking in it that was available in 12 and 18 inch squares. We elected to go with the 18 inch size and chose to have it laid down in a brickwork pattern. The grout is a medium gray.
Floor tile for bathrooms and mudroom
Mudroom tile
For the shower, we elected to have subway tile for the walls and ceiling, with penny tile on the floor and for one strip at about eye level. The shower pan tile was a matte finish, while the stripe was a glossy finish to match the subway tile.
Master bath tile
Penny tile stripe detail
Penny tile from shower pan
Our current bathroom also needed a bit of work on the tile. The bathroom had been remodeled by the previous owners, and they had chosen square white porcelain tile, but had topped off the tile outside the tub with a rope tile that was not our style. It also accumulated a lot of grime. We had removed several soap dishes as well, and the old holes in the tile were patched with caulk, so we had the tile replaced.
Closeup of rope tile
The rope tile was replaced with bull nose tile.
Bull nose tile that replaced rope tile.
The window was covered up and the shower, you can’t even tell where it used to be.
New tile covering old window in shower.
The tile work in the old bathroom was really just a few small details but it really makes a big difference. We also replaced the medicine cabinet and lights, and the old bathroom is finally how we want it, after being here for eight years.
The new medicine cabinet and light
Home Renovation, siding
| January 30, 2012 | Posted by matt under home |
When we bought our house in 2002, it had dark brown aluminum siding. Here it is, circa 2002.
Several years ago, we had the siding painted a lighter brown color, knowing that it would not last for more than a few years. This helped a bit, but we weren’t completely happy with the color.
After demolition, we found that the exterior of the house has changed even more over the years. We think it was originally white plank wood siding with a nice dental molding on the front that was still exposed after the aluminum siding was added. Take a look at what was on the side of the front door under the aluminum siding.
Since we were adding on some new space in the back of the house, we needed to choose how to finish the exterior. Currently, a popular choice is Hardie board siding. It is a fiber cement based product, that has a color finish applied at the factory. It is available in various finishes and styles, including plank, shingle, and panels. The planks are also available with different textures. It is engineered to be durable in cold weather climates like Chicago. The color variety was good, but making a choice was fairly difficult. We narrowed our options down to three choices: Monterey Taupe (l), Khaki Brown (c), or , Woodstock Brown (r).
We decided on the Woodstock brown. The trim is cedar that is prepainted white at the factory. One option that we had wanted to have was the shaker style of siding that Hardie offers. It turns out that it is insanely expensive, we were quoted a $1200 up charge just to have the front triangle and the two dormers done in this style. I’m not sure why it’s so much more, but we opted to stick with the plank siding. If the house was all siding instead of part brick, we may have wanted to break up the siding by using the different style.
Here is the siding up close with some of the trim. In this picture, the caulk has not been applied yet.
Here is the back of the house.
And the front.
There is still some trim from the old windows to paint white, and the gutters have not been put on yet, so it will look a little bit different when complete. So far we have been very happy with the color and finish in the product.
Home Renovation, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC
| January 30, 2012 | Posted by matt under home |
A big part of any home remodel is all the stuff that’s hidden in the walls. For our home remodel, there have been few surprises in these areas, but a considerable part of the budget goes into them, mostly in skilled trades needed to do the work.
We managed to avoid some of the more costly upgrades such as needing a new main water line. For plumbing, we had the following changes:
- A new 3/4 bath for the master bedroom
- A new powder room on the main floor
- A surprise failure in our 40 gallon hot water heater, so we replaced it with a new 50 gallon model
- Relocation of the hose bib outside, since the addition covered the original location
- Minor plumbing changes needed for the new furnace
For electrical, we had fairly typical changes to keep all the new areas up to code, along with a few upgrades. When we remodeled our kitchen 7 years ago, we upgraded our electrical service, so we had enough power for the new areas of the house.
- Moving the main electrical lines to the corner of the house to accomodate the new areas of the house
- Code requires smoke detectors and CO detectors to be hard wired in the entire house
- Several extra outlets in closets and behind the TV location
I also decided to wire all the new areas for cable TV and Cat5 ethernet or phone, also known as low voltage wiring. I also wired for in-wall and in-ceiling speakers for the family room. Once the drywall is fully installed and painted, I will install the speakers and wall plates and terminate the wiring. I was able to purchase all the tools, speakers, wiring, and supplies for under $500 from monoprice.
For HVAC, there is a new furnace and A/C unit installed on the second floor. It will handle heating and cooling for the master suite and the third bedroom that is also on the top floor. The downstairs furnace and A/C unit will handle cooling for the new family room, the main floor, the two lower bedrooms, and the basement. The chimney that went up the back of the house had to be torn down and the vent for the furnace and hot water heater moved up through the house to vent through the roof. This bought us a few extra inches in both the powder room and one of the closets in the master bedroom.
Home Renovation, roof
| January 28, 2012 | Posted by matt under home |
Our roof was nearing the end of its life, and replacing it was part of the motivation in doing our renovation at this time. While a roof is not extremely expensive, it made no sense to replace the roof and then do any changes later. The color was a medium brown that had not matched the original dark brown siding, and we had never liked it. We had painted the house a few years back, but the roof was always a sore spot. It also needed repair, we had a few ice dams near the front windows during the winter and the shingles had started to degrade quite a bit.
We went with a charcoal architectural shingle that matched the roof on the garage that we had replaced a few summers ago. The new roof is probably at least a third to half larger than the old one due to the higher peak and the fact that the back is now all shingled, whereas before there was a flat roof on the sunroom.
The roof went up in about a week, the roofers had some pretty good weather the week before Christmas. The roof was finished the day of a pretty good rainstorm and we had no leaking.
Home Renovation, framing
| January 22, 2012 | Posted by matt under home |
After the foundation was poured and the crawl space slushed, the foundation was ready for the framing to start on top of it. We knew that the framing would be dramatic, moving quite quickly. The first day, I came home from work to see that the entire first floor was installed, and two walls were already up. By the second day, both all the first floor walls were complete and the carpenters were already working on the second story. Their approach was to build out the new area of the addition and move over the back of the house. They saved the front dormers until last.
The second story took a few more days to take shape. A temporary door at the top of the second floor bedroom was installed and the third bedroom was ready for the demolition required for the access to the rear of the house.
We had now reached a decision point that our contractor had told us about when we signed our contract, the space between the new master bedroom and the old third bedroom was occupied by rafters from the original roof. The original plan was to remove just enough rafters to make a hallway and small utility closet for the furnace. But depending on the layout, the carpenters were going to see if they could install a beam above ceiling height that would allow support for the roof top and the back of the house, allowing us to claim all the space between the two rooms. This amounted to about a 5′ by 15′ area that could be used to enlarge the bedrooms or provide closets. It turned out that they were able to do this for a very reasonable amount of money, so we decided to go forward with that change.
Here you can see what the beam did to the interior space of the old third bedroom. It provided almost a foot of extra headroom, and removed the clipped ceiling from the south side of the room.
Here you can see the temporary support for the laminated beam. At the time the photo was taken, the beam was not supported down to the foundation so it was supported temporarily for a few weeks until lumber could be dropped through the house walls to provide enough permanent support.
Beyond the photo is a five foot deep area for closet space. We elected to divide the space into three closets. The one on the west side of the hallway is a utility closet for the furnace. It has some extra space and room for attic access. The other area to the east of the hallway was divided into two walk in closets, a smaller one for the third bedroom and a larger one for the master. This allows the master to have two walk in closets.
Home Renovation, foundation
| December 28, 2011 | Posted by matt under home |
One part of our renovation that we will see very little of is the new crawlspace. The old sun room had sat on a concrete slab, and was quite cold in the winter. The new addition all will sit on a new foundation with a crawlspace complete with a second sump pump, drain tile, and a slushed floor. The old crawl space under the house also received a new slush coat, making it much easier to store items and move around versus the old gravel floor. It should also cut down on the amount of moisture in the basement. Access to the new area is through a hole cut in the south foundation wall of the dining room.
Here are the molds to the new foundation walls. The hole in the existing foundation wall is seen boarded up.
Here is the finished foundation and crawl space after the molds were removed. This is looking over the family room and towards the dining area and mud room. The floor is finished with a slush coat of concrete.
Here is the foundation seen when looking towards the kitchen. You can see the old retaining wall which is now going to just sit in the crawlspace protruding from the floor.
The existing crawl space was slushed with a coat of concrete, here is what it looked lik with the vapor barrier before the concrete was poured.
And here it is after the slush coat. This will be much easier to move around in and store things in plastic bins.
Home Renovation, demolition
| December 20, 2011 | Posted by matt under home |
Before you can build something up, you have to tear it down. The first step in our remodeling was the demolition. The sunroom on the back of the house had to come down first, revealing the concrete pad that it sat on.
We had a large concrete patio as well as the concrete slab from the sunroom that had to come up. After the patio was removed, it was revealed that there was a retaining wall for an old underground garage entry at the rear of the house. Our lower level (a half basement) used to be an underground garage, similar to other homes on the block. Everyone has since filled in their driveways and built garages on the alley, but the retaining wall needed to be partially removed for new foundation wall. This was a change order, but not too expensive considering the amount of work needed to remove the wall to the depth of the frost protection.
At this point, the necessary excavation for the crawl space had been completed. This work took place in the first two weeks of November.
Once the space for the foundation was cleared, the footings were poured. The foundation is starting to take shape.
Home Renovation, intro
| December 11, 2011 | Posted by matt under Uncategorized |
Laura and I bought our house in 2002. When we bought it, we knew it was going to need a little work – mainly paint and a new kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Following the advice of our realtor, we decided to live there for six months before doing anything besides cosmetic work. We renovated the kitchen with a general contractor who subcontracted out plumbing and electrical work for a six week project. That project went very well, and we’ve been happy with the work. I also renovated the basement, putting in a new bathroom and a new ceiling with all new electrical.
We’ve now lived in our house for 8 1/2 years and we have realized it’s time to consider some more work. The house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath split-level built in 1950. There is an entry area, living room and adjoining dining room, kitchen with eating area, sun room, downstairs family room with a bathroom and laundry area, and three bedrooms with a shared bathroom. The house comes in at about 1700 square feet. The space is enough for us, but there are multiple areas that need improvement.
- The rear entry of the house has nowhere to place clothes and shoes, and ends up being a big mess
- The sun room has poor electrical with only one outlet, very little insulation, and is built on a slab instead of crawl space. The room is too cold to use regularly in the winter, and has no walls for placing furniture against. It also has two large picture windows that have leaked and are are impossible to see through due to cloudiness.
- The siding on the house is in some disrepair and we would like to change the color.
- The roof has only about one or two years left on it, and we would like to change the color.
- There is no first floor bathroom.
- We would like to have a master bathroom attached to our bedroom, and there is no room to add one on our current bedroom.
- Front of the house, before the project started
And here’s a shaky home video of the back of the house.
On having appendicitis
| September 28, 2011 | Posted by matt under family |
On Sunday evening I underwent laparoscopic surgery for removal of my appendix. I had been feeling ill for about two days and woke up at 3 in the morning with a pain in the middle of my stomach, right under my navel. The pain continued all morning, and after not feeling any relief I called my Doctor’s office and the doctor on call recommended I go to the ER immediately. After about a 45 minute wait, I was in the ER and answering questions. I still felt like it couldn’t be appendicitis, and that I’d somehow end up being embarrassed to find out that I just had bad gas or some food poisoning. I wasn’t confident it was appendicitis until they started pushing on my stomach at the spot of the appendix and I felt severe pain, while other areas of my stomach felt fine.
They did the typical lab tests of blood and urine to eliminate a urinary tract infection and to get an idea of my white blood cell count. I didn’t have a fever or a high white blood cell count so they also ordered a CT scan, and it turned out positive. I underwent surgery about 7 hours after arriving. I spent one night in the hospital and was discharged the next afternoon, about 20 hours after surgery. I’ve been home for a few days and recovering pretty quickly.
When I was a kid, living in Venezuela, there was a man who died from appendicitis. He had no access to good health care, the local clinic had sent him home with pain killers when he had come to see them with initial symptoms. His appendix burst, and he was unable to survive the ensuing peritonitis and died, leaving behind a wife and children. In reality, just a few centuries ago I would have probably had an experience very similar to his, with a high chance of serious damage from an event that affects 1 in 15 Americans. I found this Time article from 1931 that indicates that 18-20,000 people died annually from appendicitis at that time.
I’m truly grateful for a great hospital, good doctors, and access to good healthcare.
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