IT STARTED ON SAWYER

Adventures in Sustainable Renovations


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Progress Week 22 – Basement footings + Drain Tiles

Another week, another challenge. Once we finished demo on the basement, we learned that our building was built using a rubble foundation. After 100 years of season changes, moisture, and ground movement the foundation has many cracks and fissures. The best option to stabilize and reinforce the building is to build new footings along the entire perimeter of basement.

Our crew dug a trench down along the existing foundation, about 12 inches wide and 24 – 30 inches down. They then set up the formwork and poured the concrete footings, ending about 12 inches above the original basement floor (to ensure that we tie into the existing foundation).

Once the footings were in place, we trenched the perimeter along the new footings in order to install the drain tiles. (This is one of several lines of defense that we are planning on to address water and moisture issues that can be very common in basements.) Water naturally creeps horizontally in dirt and will be drawn towards the concrete footings. Concrete, being porous, will soak up this moisture and cause the basement to be humid and damp, something we are working hard to avoid (we’ll have bedrooms down here!). The drain tile system consists of a perforated pipe that is run along the perimeter of the foundation and this pipe is sloped towards the center of the south wall of our building. At this location we will install our sump pump which will pump away all of this collected moisture.


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Progress Week 21- The Back Roof

We’ve been working on finalizing our full building permit with the City and coordinating new water service and underground plumbing. Our recent progress has kept us busy, but unfortunately we’ve been a little behind in our blog posts.

So to catch up, check out our rebuilt back roof. Our back roof is a low slope roof, meaning it has a rise to run ratio of less than 1:12. We installed a bitumen roof with two layers of polyisocyanurate insulation. We installed Johns Manville Energy 3.E insulation board. JM 3.E is unique in that it maintains the same R-Value (insulating factor), but is free of Halogenated Flame Retardants (HFRs). HFRs have been linked to many health and environmental problems- including respiratory issues and cancer. Johns Manville has developed a product that performs to the same level as competing products, without the dangerous HFRs, which aligns perfectly with our goal of prioritizing healthy and environmentally conscious products.

Sourcing an insulation board without HFRs was not an easy task. We worked directly with Johns Manville, but finding a supplier to deliver the product was difficult. We had to correct the wrong product being delivered, the wrong dimension of insulation delivered, and paying almost a 100% markup to finally source the correct product.


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Certified Wood- The What, Why, and Where

Chicago Flameproof Truck

We have elected to use only Forest Stewardship Council Certified Wood for all new wood applications on our renovation. FSC is a not for profit organization with a mission to promote the environmental management of forests in a socially beneficial and economically sound manner. FSC certified lumber is harvested from forests that are managed in a way that protects natural ecosystems- both within and beyond the forest itself. FSC principles protect water quality, work to prevent the loss of natural forest ground cover, prohibit the use of hazardous chemicals in forest management, and prohibit the harvesting of trees from rare growth forests. Acknowledging that trees are much more than a building material, FSC Certification serves as verification that trees are treated as a natural resource and part of a diverse ecosystem.

Bart and I acknowledge that our world has a finite number of resources. The impact of the decisions we make during the course of this project go far beyond our daily lives and the lives of our neighbors. Ecosystems around the country and around the world are impacted by the material decisions we make. The intent of FSC is to manage forests in a way that meet the resource and economic needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations. We are confident that selecting wood products sourced from FSC managed forests allows us to do our part in protecting natural resources for future generations.

Planning to use FSC wood products is a noble goal, but actually much more difficult for a residential project to follow through on than it should be. We have yet to find a local Chicago home improvement store with FSC Chain-of-Custody that stocks FSC lumber and many local commercial lumber yards do not stock FSC.  Many home improvement stores advertise FSC certified products, but when we inquired it became obvious that they neither stocked the products we were looking for or were willing to take the necessary steps to procure FSC products. Lucky for us Chicago Flameproof not only holds FSC Chain-of-Custody, but they have FSC Certified dimensional lumber and wood sheet goods in stock. They have been a phenomenal resource in meeting our FSC goals and they can typically deliver within 24-72 hours. The Chicago Flameproof staff has been helpful in putting together our lumber orders; offer competitive pricing on FSC products; and have gone above and beyond to keep our project running on schedule (they have worked with us to provide on one occasion next day delivery and on another Saturday delivery- going above and beyond their typical service schedule on both occasions). For project teams in the Chicagoland area looking to source FSC products, I highly recommend utilizing the resources at Chicago Flameproof: http://www.chicagoflameproof.com/

For more information on the Forest Stewardship Council’s mission and a directory of FSC Chain-of-Custody harvesters, manufacturers, and dealers visit: https://us.fsc.org/


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Progress Week 19, Rebuilding the Back Addition

Another week of progress. Our team has successfully rebuilt the back addition with sun rooms, replacing the dilapidated wood structure that once stood in its place. The mason opened up the back masonry wall to provide better sight lines from the kitchen, through the sun rooms and onto the back deck and yard. Built entirely from FSC Certified dimensional lumber and FSC plywood with no added urea formaldehyde, we are striving to prioritize sustainable, healthy materials from local distributors.


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Back in Action, Progress Week 18

We were lucky enough to have a mild January in Chicago, but February and early March were not as kind. We’ve been held up for a few weeks with freezing temperatures and snow, but as spring slowly crawls back we are making progress. Our mason spent two weekends sand blasting the exterior and the results are mind-blowing; who knew the building was made of red brick!!

Below are a handful of photos during and after sandblasting. Of all the work we have done to date, this has to be the most noticeable change. Good bye to the last 120 years of soot and grime!


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Progress Week 10

We are officially finished with interior demo!

After dust clouds of plaster and yet another full dumpster, we are finally at the point where the house can be put back together. During week 10 we removed the remaining lath and plaster, took down all the water damaged studs, boarded up the front windows and… wait for it… got rid of the pigeons!! We can’t thank our team enough for all of their hard work. It took us ten weeks just to get to a neutral point, but all the hard work was certainly worth it. You can finally see just how expansive this home is. We are shifting our focus to restoring the unique elements, both interior and exterior,  to bring back the home’s charm and character.

Huge feeling of accomplishment standing in the back, where the kitchen was, and looking all the way through out the front window!


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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!


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Project Progress- Week 04

We are a week behind in updating the blog, but in our defense interesting things have been happening. We have been issued our masonry and roofing permit. During week four of our renovation we demoed the rear wood porch, opened up the rear masonry wall, and continued demo of the basement. Check our progress photos from week 04 and check back soon for more.