From removing to installing ...

Every week it seemed we had to remove another piece of the house.  Well into March, we were still demolishing, but at least now we're also enjoying episodes of installation, of putting it back together!

Carpenter Glen bravely bore the news of the worst structural problem:  some remodelers 75 or so years ago removed a supporting wall when they moved a staircase to create what we now call the "great room."  Alas, we tore down part of the sturdiest plaster ceiling in the house so that he could run new floor joists beside the interrupted ones and place a heavy header across the double doors (In the photo above, the lighter wood is the newer).  On the plus side, the floor is a lot sturdier now, of course.

We've been using the recent bathroom addition to store lath for re-use.  As we've cleared the room out again, we're able to get at the walls to remove them and restore the window hidden behind the addition.   The bathroom addition will become a good-sized back porch.  We sold enough scrap metal from the old wiring, plumbing and heating systems to purchase that back porch swing April 16 already.

We're quite proud that, despite including the cost in our budget, we will not have to resort to a dumpster for this extensive remodeling project!  The wood we can't reuse a friend will burn in his pottery kiln.   The scrapyard has been happy to take our old plumbing.  The bottles and cans from Mountain Dew, which fuels most of the work force here, recycle easily.  The old fiberglass insulation now soundproofs the louder plastic plumbing we've had to accept in place of the original drainpipes.   A large pile of plaster and sawdust will be buried as fill under the back porch, before final landscaping.

At left is the railing we're erecting around the new hole cut in the living room floor to create easier access to the basement and garage.

Below, left, is how you anchor a newell post!

Below are the original basement stairs, with a few new ones added, which we're using during construction in the new opening.

And coming down those stairs, we find ...

... Pete!