1403 3 Ave N upstairs

Today I started my plumbing.  I couldn’t get started before because ….

plumbing
-shower placement

framing
-furring strips
-fastened braces

electrical
-new elect. panel

We got a load of 3/4″ plywood for the floor, pipes to divert the drain / vent stack, and more soundproofing panels for inside the floor.  Now that the joists are set in place, we can get blocking done (got some joist hangers from Rona) and get ready for the next few steps.  Slow going! 

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We were diverted by ceiling work in the 1st floor, but now we’re back!

The final joist is almost in place.  Still missing one 8′-length of 2×10 to tie it all together.

Wow, the number of spliced, pieced-together pieces of s*** – we’re talking 2x4s nailed to 2x6s and everything else – is just incredible.  Who would build in such a way!?  So we’re almost done this task.

Next: 

• 3/4″ ply to replace the floor boards
• vapour barrier for main floor bath ceiling
• 1/4″ or 3/8″ ply for main floor bath ceiling
• pipes to divert & rebuild the vent / drain stack
• soundproofing panels for floor
• …and many, many more

The old kitchen window (new kitchen location, old window) came out today.  The old sliders that are in the house now don’t seem very old, but they are stiff to open and close, and plastic parts are broken.  The new one is a triple pane casement.

The removal didn’t take much effort, but altering the framing did.  By building code, if we are not enlarging the window, the original framing can be used without being required to add king, jack, or cripple studs and headers.  The old window was 30W x 60H, and the new one is 30W x 40H.

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Yay!  My laundry machine has arrived.

1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250321_093435 LG WashCombo All-In-One lanudry machine delivered, right.jpg
1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250321_093443 LG WashCombo All-In-One lanudry machine delievered, back.jpg
1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250321_093500 LG WashCombo All-In-One lanudry machine delivered, left.jpg

It’s an all-in-one machine (washes and dries).  Of course, I can’t use it yet as the whole place is currently in shambles.

I’m really not sure why they built the upstairs with this weird little crooked landing area.  Was it a feature?  Did they run out of lumber?  Was there not enough headroom in the first floor?  (It already intrudes at a 45° angle halfway through the bathroom entrance.)  Was the last step too steep, so they added a little landing?

We tore off the top layers to see how this thing was built.  It seems that the entire set of stairs are attached to the floor joists by two lag bolts.  Hmm.  And the top step, the landing, is kind of resting on the ceiling boards of the first floor.  It’s not framed very well. 

Another trip to the landfill, this time with 596kg, mostly old wood and plaster.

After the dump run, FT and I worked on tearing out the rest of the ceiling nails from the roof trusses. 

 2/15/2025 12:52 PM      3246190 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250215_125209 roof trusses.jpg
 2/15/2025  5:17 PM      2660152 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250215_171757 roof truss ceiling nails.jpg
 2/15/2025  5:18 PM      1102801 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250215_171820 Allan pulling roof truss ceiling nails.jpg
 2/15/2025  5:18 PM      3472656 1403 3 Ave N Lethbridge AB up 20250215_171829 Floyd pulling roof truss ceiling nails.jpg

And this is how the living room, kitchen, and bedroom look now.

Almost finished!  (Right.)

After a bunch of cleanup – mostly removing plaster from the lathe boards on interior and exterior walls …

… we began removal of the living room / bedroom partition.  It was not a load bearing wall.  It had no top plate, and studs were side-nailed to the ceiling boards. 

So why remove the partition? 

The old bedroom will become the new kitchen, and the old kitchen will become the new bedroom.  The kitchen and existing living room will become one room. 

• The new kitchen / bathroom load bearing partition will extend outward farther (westward), adjacent the living room / new bedroom partition.
• The LR/BR partition will also be extended another 18″ or so (eastward), leaving only one rafter tie (or ceiling joist) without support.  It will also be moved to accommodate a larger living room and more evenly transfer offset loads down to existing load bearing partitions in the main floor. 
• The existing stairway / new bedroom partition will eventually be moved to support this last rafter tie. 

In this way, more load will be transferred from the roof to the 6×6 beams in the basement. 

Of course, as things are exposed during renos, this plan will likely evolve. 

The chimney floor hole needs to be addressed.  It has been an open wound for too long!  However, there is nothing to fasten the floor boards to as the joist was cut clean through long ago to make way for the chimney, and the scabbed wood they added didn’t seem to do much. 

So I cut a piece that fit overtop. 

It will likely be a temporary piece; when the main floor is renovated and the area is more accessible, it will be repaired in a more appropriate way.  In the mean time, it will hold the floorboards up. 

(Notice there is no soundproofing or fire block insulation yet?  This is to come.)

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