IT STARTED ON SAWYER

Adventures in Sustainable Renovations

Monthly Archives: January 2015


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Progress Week 09

Demo, demo, demo. It’s been a messy week of removing lath and plaster, storing wood trim, and dismantling doors and frames. The majority of the demo work left is the main level and we are starting to see the light at the end of the demo tunnel.


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Progress Week 08- The Demo Continues

We were blessed with a break in the Chicago January weather. We are taking advantage of this January heat wave and getting as much work done as we can before the temperatures drop below freezing again. At Week 08 we have the basement fully demolished and 90% of the demo in the second floor unit complete. Why is it taking us so long to demo, you ask? Two words: selective demolition. We are carefully removing the plaster ceiling without damaging the structure; removing the lath and plaster on the walls without scratching the doors or trim; and repairing the brick work while minimizing the damage to the hardwood floors.

We have yet another full dumpster ready for sorting and processing by Ravenswood Disposal Services, Inc. RDS will pick up, sort and recycle our construction and demolition waste. They are able to divert any scrap wood, metal, paper, cardboard, gypsum, and stone products from landfill. We are working to salvage, donate, or restore as much as possible in the house, but not everything can be saved. Materials that are at the end of their useful product life are sent to RDS for processing. At the end of our project RDS will send us a formal report outlining the construction and demolition debris diverted from the landfill.

http://www.ravenswooddisposal.com/


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Project Progress Weeks 05, 06, 07

The last three weeks have been busy. The first four weeks of our renovation was nothing but demo work. It’s refreshing to see the house being put back together. Our masons have done a wonderful job of building the house back up to it’s former glory- arched front windows and all. We were able to reuse all original face brick, mostly from the front stairs. Reusing the face brick from the stairs allows us to match the original brick of the remaining front facade. Our masonry team was able to include all the original limestone detailing into the front wall. The team has also rebuilt the firewall/parapet walls along the roof. We have reused as many bricks as possible for both the front wall and roof line to save the materials and preserving the character of the property.

Keep your fingers crossed that we continue to be spared the heavy Chicago winter snow. Just another week or two and hopefully our next post will be about our wonderful new roof!