To start this week, our flooring guy has kicked out all of the other contractors so that he can install and prep the floor boards on the first floor. Similar to the 2nd floor, we tried to salvage as much of the floor board as possible, but many areas were simply too water damaged. Half of the living room, the office area, the kitchen and back area all had to have new floor boards installed. Once the floors were installed, our contractor sanded the whole floor to get it prepped for staining. By the end of the week the floor was all prepped and the stairwell to the 2nd floor received a new coat of stain.

Millwork continued for a few days this week as well. On our main floor, we are trying to bring back more of the old wood work that made us love this house in first place. During demo, we had placed many wood interesting piece we thought we could salvage into the garage. Now our millwork contractor is taking his time finding old baseboards, window trim, and other details and matching them into the house. This week, we brought back three of the stained glass doors and got them installed. Two of the doors will still need the glass repaired at some point, and holes drilled for door knobs (they were originally swing doors), but I think its great to see them back in the house.

Also this week, our millwork contractor installed both 2nd floor bathroom vanities as well as the wood decking on the back deck. With the decking installed, I think we can consider the back stairwell / deck work complete!

Our tile contractor kept doing his thing this week, this time focusing on the basement master bath. He’s building this tile work up in phases, having to make sure the wall tile is complete prior to the ceiling tile getting installed. There will be a rain shower head in this bathroom, so we have to put tile on the ceiling.

Next, painting and staining is on-going on the 2nd floor this week and is nearing completion. The big noticeable difference now are the stained window trim as well as the stained dining room ceiling beams.

Finally, our metal contractor came back to install the front fence. We had given him a sample of the original cast-iron fence and asked him to replicate the details for the new fence. Though the new fence isn’t full cast iron, the added detail brings back another piece of that house character that we liked so much.

New floor boards brought to site

Integrating the new floor with the old

One of three stained glass door brought back in from the garage and installed

Tile going up in the bsmt master bath

2nd floor hall bath vanity

2nd floor master bath vanity

Tile is resting and setting into place

View towards the first floor entryway

Front fence is installed

Decking gets complete

1st Floor getting sanded

Sanding complete

Stairway to 2nd floor gets stained

Painting / Staining in progress on the 2nd floor

2nd Floor dining room beams get stained

Original doors get stripped of the old varnish and are ready to get installed

Another week and another host of new updates to post! Starting with the exterior, our metal contractors continued their work on the deck and exterior stairs. They ended last week by spray-painting the erected metal with a protective layer of primer and another coat of black paint. This week, they are back to finish the job, and they have installed the railing on both decks and stairs.

In the front, we scoped the drain piping from the front bay window wells and unfortunately found out that the piping had completely eroded and had collapsed. Therefore, we had to dig out the drain pipes (they were 6 feet below the dirt), including the 4-way junction pipe and install brand new ones. This work was unexpected, but since we were doing it, we decided to add in a clean-out access point on the exterior of the building. This way if there are ever any issues, we have a simpler access point, and won’t have to go through the interior of the house.

On the interior, millwork on the 2nd floor apartment is about 95% complete, so we have started some painting of the ceiling and walls and staining of the woodwork. Since this will be a rental apartment, we chose a warm neutral gray to give the apartment some character (as opposed to apartment white) while keeping it neutral enough that tenants would like it. For the woodwork, we are going with the same dark walnut color as we used on the floor. This will help bring back some of the home’s original character that we fell in love with when we first bought the building.

In the basement, the millwork has continued, this week focusing on building up the basement footings. As you may recall, we had to install the footings to reinforce the basement foundation, but now we have to find a nice way of incorporating them into the living space. In the master bedroom and public areas, we’re going with the stain-able hardwood over the top, while the remaining areas we’re going with the white MDF board (a little cheaper + we would be painting it white in those spaces anyway).

Our tile contractor was back on site working on the basement bathrooms. Each bathroom will have a different look to it, but hopefully enough similarities that the overall feel of the space will work well together. In the guest bathroom we are going with a modern, elongated, subway tile with a splash of blue / green decorative tile mixed into it. The shower floor will have a hexagon patterned marble tile. In the masterbath, we went with a volcanic basalt tile on the walls, but a marble tile on the floor and ceiling, as to make sure that bathroom doesn’t look too dark and heavy. Andrea and I were nervous with this pick, but I think its turning out rather nicely.

Finally, mid-week we took some time to stop by our neighbor’s workshop. Our neighbor, Fred, is a detail carpenter / wood specialist and several weeks back we gave him the original front door to the house in the hopes that we can get the door restored to its original character. Some of the detail wood was in very poor condition, so he is will replicate the original detail with new wood pieces. To strip some of the old paint and stain off of the wood, he bought a volcanic pompous stone to use over sandpaper as he can better get the stain out without damaging the wood grain itself. He’s got a lot of work left on that door, but its great to see progress!

The metal work has been painted a finish black color

Our contractor getting ready to install the railings

Deck with the railing installed

2nd Floor window stained walnut brown

Bsmt footing getting covered with wood work

Digging up the front to replace the drainage pipined

Our original front door

Fred using a volcanic stone to strip the old finish off of the wood

Hex Tile going into the guest bathroom

Masterbath tile floor has been laid

Guest bath showers walls in place

Masterbath wall tile going up