stairway – can’t do this before that

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It is the same story throughout this project – A has to be done, but we can’t do that until B is done.  B must wait until C is done.  And so on. 

The stairway to the 2nd floor must be rebuilt.

Before that, the walls separating the bottom landing of the upper suite and the main suite must be built. 

Before that, the wall footprint must be corrected. It was a few degrees crooked previously, likely a) from sloppiness, b) to save wood (the previous two perpendicular walls totalled 8′, but the new will total 8′-2¼”), or c) to save a bit of space in the main suite kitchen. 

 

Next, the upper landing must be moved 18″.  To do that, the stair header must be moved (removed, rebuilt). 

 

We rebuilt this upper landing several months back without knowing we would move the staircase.  Now I have to undo all this work.  Such is life! 

Next:  New sistered floor joists spanning from the balloon studs to the stair header.  This will replace the hodge-podge of crap that filled in the old staircase area from, presumably, when the house was new.  I knew we should have replaced it all when doing the 2nd floor! 

kitchen ceiling removed

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The kitchen ceiling was full of greasy dust bunnies.  The light / fan fixture helped spread the grease around the stippled ceiling material.  There were two layers – lathe and plaster and beaverboard.  The beaver board is quite flammable, so out it came.  Of course, the plaster wasn’t in very good shape, so out it came as well.  We removed it all within one day. 



insulation, cleanup, vapour barrier

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We finally insulated around the electrical panel.

 

I thought we were going to add another outside receptacle billed to the second floor, but I decided against it.  12-2 wire is expensive.  (No, I’m not running 50′ of 14-2 to plug in a vehicle block heater that uses close to 15 Amps.) 

Lots of clean-up and organization of tools, materials, equipment, etc.  I only had three hours between other work, so not a lot was done. 

But we did manage to put up the first vapour barrier in bedroom 1, so that’s a little progress.  No pic for some reason.  Probably in a hurry to get out the door. 

more electrical, more removing partition walls

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So today was mostly about prepping for 6-mil poly (plastic vapour barrier).  No time yet to put it up – prep was kind of time consuming.  We wound the kitchen circuit wiring (a 20-Amp kitchen counter and a 15-Amp microwave) through the furring strips. 

That done, we all stood around the 2nd storey stairway to determine the best plan of attack.

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mostly electrical, some walls

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I generally take pics of everything I do to keep a record of stuff.  Today’s big task was re-routing electrical wires.  The previous person had 16 objects on one 15-Amp circuit.  To me, 10 is about maximum, and they would be mixed within various rooms.  These 16 were mostly in one bedroom, the living room, and the bath.  As well, they mixed lights with receptacles (outlets), a no-no in today’s practices.  I cut the circuit in half, ran a new 14-2 wire from a new breaker to the second half of the circuit in question (living room, now total 8 items), added four extra receptacles to the original one (total 9 items), and cut the lights from this circuit, adding them to another light-dedicated breaker.  Sorry, no pics.  Maybe later.  Late night.  I got home 15 minutes before the New Year celebration on TV (CBC, I think). 

Also, a partition wall between the hall and the stairway leading to the 2nd story suite was taken down.  Not to code! A fire-rated wall will be put in its place. 

 

I also found my notes from the last renovation four years ago. 

lights installed, stairway partition gone

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Lighting was the main reason for starting first-floor renovations. 

Bedrooms 1 (front) and 2 (middle) had no lighting.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  Long ago, it had lighting.  It seems that when panelling was put up to hide the plaster, they simply paved over the light fixtures.  (Boneheads.)  I’ve had the house for about four years now, and this has always been a sore spot.  Now?  Let there be light! 

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re-moving BR1 window

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The insulation of the first floor has begun. 

beginning rockwoll insulation

From the looks of the framing, there used to be a west-facing 30″ x 60″ window in bedroom 1 (front bedroom).

original and new window area

They framed it in and paved over it with rock-dash stucco during the stucco craze.  In its stead, they added a south-facing window.  I’m not sure if the front porch was built before or after, but this new window opened onto the porch (a.k.a. sun room).  So, if in the middle of the night you wish to get some fresh air, you can’t, unless you wander outside and open the screen door window.  No other window in that porch opens.

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dump run gone wrong

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“The trailer’s a bit heavy,” I said.
“I think it’ll be fine,” HFT said.
“Looks heavy to me,” D said. 

 

We didn’t make it more than 5 blocks when a tire blew.  We stopped along 13 St N, hazard and overhead lights blinking.  I put out my safety triangle 10 paces behind the rig.  Luckily, I decided to bring the spare trailer tire this day.  Yay!  Except…

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electrical and structural supplies

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More work must be done to raise the 2nd floor back to its rightful elevation.  The load-bearing partition between the living room and laundry / bathroom is, by my measurements, two 2 1/8 inches too short.  The floor dips that much from over 28 inch span across the hallway.  The installers of this wall didn’t really care enough to make it the same height as the other interior partitions.  So, it has to be removed and another put in its place. 

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