What's Behind the Walls is Important

This is the point in every project where people get bored with following along, because they don't think all the systems in a house are interesting (HGTV rarely talks about it on their shows!).  But if you want to buy an old house, this is the most important part of your home. It's where a huge percentage of the budget gets spent and will have an impact on your costs to own the home for decades to come.

So let's start with electrical.  There was no knob and tube wiring in this house, which was a refreshing change.  Instead it's all armored cable (with cloth wrapped wires inside).

 But there wasn't a lot of wiring.....period.  The living room had 2 outlets.  The kitchen had 2 outlets.  That's not enough for modern living and it also means lots of extension cords everywhere (which have their own safety issues). The wiring is ready to be replaced!

Cloth covered wires fray over time....this needs replacing!

So once again, we're starting from scratch.  The guys pulled out all the old wiring and have replaced it with new, up-to-code electrical.  

Because electrical demands are increasing all the time (heat pumps, EVs, fancy appliances, etc), we decided to upgrade the electrical service to the house from 100 amp to 200 amps.   We also relocated the electrical panel to the new 'utility' room in the basement. (there was a sub panel in the upstairs bathroom that needed to go, it would not be attractive in our brand new bathroom!!)

Brand new 200 amp service!

This might sound odd, but when the electrical is going in, you need to know what type of fixtures you will be installing.  Maybe you don't know the exact fixture, but you need to identify if it's a pendant, sconce, recessed light, etc.  That means the kitchen and bathrooms need to be designed, so all of the light fixtures will be in the right place.  So while we won't install those things for months, we need to know the electrical requirements now!  (and sometimes I don't like the fixtures I picked out.....it's better to decide that now, so I can find something different).

This fixture looked great in the Pottery Barn store - but it is too big for this space

And there is something so exciting about seeing all this nice, new wiring throughout the house! 

Be still my heart - look at that gorgeous new wiring!

With all this new electrical capacity, it's time to talk about heating and cooling.  We'll be installing heat pumps into this house.  These are the cold weather ready heat pumps that can handle extreme cold.  The lines get roughed in now and the indoor and outdoor units will get installed later in the project.

I still hear people say that heat pumps can't handle a Maine winter.  They must be talking about previous generations of heat pumps.  Or they may be in houses that haven't been insulated and air sealed - we will be doing both. The units we are using are good down to minus 20 degrees (my own home has only heat pumps and they're great!).  And of course you get the added bonus of air conditioning in the summer!

Another key 'behind the walls' element is all new plumbing.

It's starting to look like a bathroom!

I've learned over the years that it's just easier to pull out all of the old plumbing and replace it with new.  That way you know you're in great shape for the future.  And of course with an additional bathroom and a redesigned kitchen, we need new plumbing anyway!

Finally, we are air sealing and insulating the house.  The first step is to spray foam critical areas that don't do well with traditional insulation.  I have a love/hate relationship with spray foam.  It does a great job of air sealing and insulating (with a very high R value), but it's not great for the environment and it's hard to install.  So I use it sparingly, where it's absolutely necessary.  For this house, it means spray foaming the sills in the basement - including the walls 2 feet below the ground level outside.  The floor of your basement will be at 55 degrees.  But as you to upwards and closer to ground level, the temperature will be similar to the outdoor temperature.  In the winter, that can mean some really cold walls. So this keeps everything nice and warm.

We also spray foamed the ceilings on the former porches (the sunroom and the powder room) and the floor below.  With its high R value and air sealing, it ensure we will have nice warm spaces on a cold winter day.

Finally, we used dense pack cellulose for all the walls and sloped ceilings.  This is my favorite insulation - it's environmentally friendly (recycled newspaper), has a good R value and does a great job of sound suppression.  The first step is to put a mesh web up on all the walls.  Slits get cut into the web and the cellulose is pumped into the cavities.

It's a messy job, but as soon as they're done, the difference is amazing! 

We have passed all our inspections, so now it's time to start installing drywall.  That's always a huge milestone - can't wait to see the walls go up!  Pin It

Kitchen Design for the Craftsman Cottage

It might be surprising, but before the plumber and electricians can start, we need to have the kitchen design completed.  The exact location of the sink, cabinets and the light fixtures need to be defined so they can begin their rough-in.

This kitchen will change a lot!  And it's certainly ready for some updates. 

Kitchen - Before

Kitchen - Before

We got started by opening up the wall to the dining room - and also the wall to the old half bath.  This will give us a lot more cabinet and storage space, as well as an overall feeling of spaciousness.  And with access to a new deck, it's easy to grill your dinner and eat outside or in!

Here's how it looks now:

The new design has cabinetry around the perimeter of the room.  It will be painted maple in a soft taupe.  It's a great neutral that goes with everything. 

For the island, sink base and pantries, we are using cherry cabinets that reflect the original woodwork that's found throughout the first floor.  

And we are able to include some great storage next to the refrigerator.

I'm still working through the countertop and backsplash - but I'm thinking a quartz counter on the painted cabinets, around the perimeter of the room.  I'd like a wood top on the island.  The backsplash will be a combination of subway tile and a calacatta marble (I love this marble penny tile for behind the stove!).

Our plumber is getting all the water lines and drains in now for the kitchen and the bathrooms above it.  And the electricians are getting the new electrical service installed.  It's a great start to getting our new plan completed! 

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Creating a Sunroom in the Craftsman Cottage

A sunroom in Maine is an incredible luxury.  Our winters are long and cold, so to have a sunny spot to curl up with a book and look out at the cold outside (after you've pushed the dog/cat out of the way, because that will be their favorite spot!) - is a wonderful thing.     

Sunroom Concept

We've been able to include a sunroom in a couple of properties (including our own home), so I was excited to create one at this house too.  The front porch faces southwest, so it's the perfect location for this room.

But first we had to assess the existing porch.  Just looking at it, you can tell it has problems.  It droops on the left side, the shingles where the roof attaches to the house are coming off, and the decking is covered with plywood - which still doesn't hide the distinctive trampoline bounce on the floor.

So we started to open it up.  First discovery - the porch was held up with a log, with a big split in it!  It was sitting on a concrete block, but under that block there was just a bunch of rocks - there wasn't a true footing.  That explains how it kept drooping over the years.  The other discovery, the joists ran the long way across the front of the house (so they were overspanned for the length of the porch).  Oh, and one of of the joists had fallen out, which probably explained the trampoline bounce.

So we decided repair didn't make sense.  The guys had to pull apart that side of the porch, pour true concrete footings and rebuild.  But once we did that, I started to wonder if that part of the porch was original.  You see, the foundation has mock stonework.  The original builders molded the concrete as they poured it to look like large stones.  They didn't bother with that on the back of the house (where the public wouldn't see it), but they did where the long porch was.  So it must have been a public space.  There is also a window there, which doesn't make much sense if it was under a porch.  So our guess is it was added at some point.  The porch in front of the door with the steps is original (no mock stonework under there).

Once the guys got the porch squared up with the new footings and supports, we had to address the porch roof.  It was slipping off of the front of the house, which explained the tilted roof and unattached shingles.  It had dropped a few inches, but thankfully we discovered the root cause and got it repaired.  But geez.....that's a lot of issues for one porch!

Going

 

In addition, we had to address the dangerous front porch steps.  Dave tackled them with a jackhammer and soon they were a pile of rubble.  We will rebuild with wooden stairs, once the new walkway is in place.

Going

Gone!

Kyle got the rest of the sunroom framed in and it was exciting to see it start to take shape.  One of my favorite features is the new location for the original stained glass window.  I have to admit, I held my breath as it got moved.  But I love it next to the front door.  It's the first thing you notice when you come up the porch.  And on the interior, when the sunlight hits it, it brings those glorious colors into the sunroom. 

The rest of the windows were installed and it really started to feel like a room.

New windows going in

And here's the first peek, as the guys started to cut the opening between the living room and sunroom.  Isn't it great?  It makes the whole living room seem brighter, now that it's not in the shadow of the front porch.

And the exterior view???  It's looking good!  Next we will have spray foam insulation installed underneath, to keep it nice and warm.  And then we can start trimming it out - with front steps!

No more sloping porch! 

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In Search of Taller Ceilings

There are so many things I love about this house - but the low (six foot, six inch) ceilings on the second floor aren't one of them.  Fixing them is a big project and will take a sizable portion of our budget - but it's totally worth it!

6' 6" ceilings 

So, what's involved?  The existing roofline is supported by a series of rafters, nailed into a narrow 1x6" ridge board across the top of the house.  We need to swap the wimpy ridge board out with a structural ridge beam, comprised of 2- 12 inch engineered beams.  The beams will be held up with structural posts that are posted from the top of the roof, all the way to the basement.  

It's a big job for the professionals!  We planned for a week's worth of work to get the major framing complete.  The guys started by removing the chimney (it was for the old forced hot air, oil furnace), to open up space for the new structural support post in the middle of the house.

 

With that out of the way, they built temporary walls to hold up the roof, while they installed these big LVLs and their supporting posts.

New Ridge Beam Going Up

And as the temporary wall came out, the moment I'd been waiting for happened - we had a huge open space!  

Now that it was opened up, we debated a bit on how tall the new ceilings should be and decided 9 feet would be a great height.  So new collar ties went across rafters, to establish the new ceiling height.

9 foot ceiling heights

Look how big that space is! 

With the new ceiling height, I had a lot of flexibility on how to change the floor plan.  What seemed to work the best was to make the original hallway smaller and increase the size of two bedrooms.

Before

To-Be

New Walls Getting Framed Up

The old giant bathroom can now be one family bath and a half bath for the primary bedroom with the new floor plan. 

The old extra large bathroom will now be a full and a half bath

Photos can't really show how dramatic the changes are.  The rooms feel so much bigger and more spacious!  It's a total change that will make it much more appealing to a new family.  

New Primary Closet Getting Framed Up

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