Weeks 5 & 6: Stair Removal and Beginning Excavation

The first half of December brought the next stage of demolition.  While demo continues in many parts of the house, excavation and digging in the front of the house has begun in full force.  The method decided upon for proper support and maneuverability required the removal of the floors at the dining room/kitchen level, and removal of the staircases as well.  At this point, the project went full-force into 'rebuild' mode.

Before looking at the entry/basement area, let's do a quick tour of the exterior of the house to look at demolition progress.

First view upon entering from the driveway.

A closer peek.  Some of the framing above the garage has been removed
to facilitate removal of old materials.

Around towards the back yard, the barbecue brickwork is still
intact, though you can see that the other walls, including the deck above,
has been taken down to the studs.

Standing back a bit provides a view of the upstairs as well.

Looking in the other direction,  you can see that the bedroom wing has
been worked on and cleaned up a bit.

The work crew was just as enchanted by some of
the house's old treasures as we were.  :)

Turning the corner past the pool and bedrooms, here's a glimpse into the
Master Bedroom and courtyard, with the gate leading towards the herb
garden at the right end of the photo.

The Master Suite's courtyard still remains.
For now.  ;)

On the other side of that courtyard, over the herb garden, lies a huge
mound of soil removed from the area that will become the basement.

The view from the trash can area towards
the dining room is now so altered
as to be unrecognizable.

The front porch and bridge have been removed.  This is looking towards
Timothy's room and the guest room from the front porch area.

Moving on to the entry way and basement-to-be, prepare to be confused.  I know that I was when I first saw the space, and I even had the added benefits of having lived in the house, and seeing it in person!  I'll start with views from inside the house.

The infamous chandelier still remains!  What is quite noticeably absent is
the giant floating curved staircase.  It has relocated to the garage, I am told.

Looking towards the Great Room gives you another perspective.  Not only
are both of the staircases gone, but the whole floor at the front door level
(including dining room and kitchen) is gone.

The next photo is the shocking view in my opinion.  Imagine standing at the doorway of the office and looking up towards the dining room.  You can see the chandelier at the top of the photo.  The doorway on the far left of the photo is that leading towards Timothy's room.  The front door is gone.  The wall between the front door and the dining room is hanging.  

It's all gone.  :)

Looking towards the kitchen is a tangled mess of beams.

That room without a floor, hanging in mid-air, used to be the kitchen.
The room with a floor is the living room.

And yet, through it all, the wall mural remains.

Weeks 3 & 4: Shoring

The Thanksgiving holiday and many drizzly days slowed down progress on the work, but that's okay because the many Christmas parties and preparations have slowed down my progress on the blog!  Recent developments include more demolition as well as the installation of numerous steel beams that will be supporting the house while the basement is being dug.

A kind of funny view from the street by the garage shows that while much
demo has been done already, there is still more to do.

Here you can see the same wall as in the previous picture, this time the
photo is shot from inside the house (from Tim's room).

And now the opposite view...looking back at Tim's room from the great room.

Over on the other side of the house, the walls around the master suite are
being worked on as well.

Up on the upper deck by the great room, some exploration has been done
in hopes that we'll be able to figure out a way to raise that corner of the
house, as it has suffered from settling of some sort.

In this view of the living room and bedroom wing, you can see into (and
through) the bedrooms, and you can also get a hint of how the steel beams
are installed around the front of the house.

The other end of those beams stretch out the front of the house.

Inside, walking around isn't much of an option at this point.  This picture
is taken from the kitchen, looking towards the living room.

(This is a weird picture—it took me a while to figure out the perspective!)
So, this is taken from the kitchen entrance/dining room wall, looking up into
the great room.  You can see a steel beam in the foreground, you can see that
our chandelier happens to still be in place, and you can see that a fake tree or
two have yet to meet their end.

This is actually looking at basically the same area as
the previous picture was, just a bit narrower in scope.

Front porch & bridge area

Looking from the front door towards the back door.

As you can see, progress is being made.  All the changes feel like big changes, although the end isn't anywhere in sight at this point.  When shoring is complete, the foundation work can begin.  As far as design goes, we are firming up plans for the basement area so that electrical and plumbing placement will be ready to go once the foundation is complete.

Week 2: More Demo

Demolition continued this week--it's a big house and there is a lot to be done.  The focus this week, in addition to continuing effort on taking out existing tile floors and interior finishes, was some exterior walls and vegetation in the front.  Entering the house from the back patio, things don't look all too different until you fully turn the corner.

The living room and kitchen were largely torn out after the first week's work, but the big change there this week is the removal of the exterior siding (other other materials on the exterior wall).  Here are some pictures from both the interior and exterior points of view, including the look into the dining room that I pointed out in the last post.

Another area that saw the beginning of demolition this week was the great room.  The pocket doors by the dining room were removed, and in the great room--the floors, windows, and wall facings.

The last area seeing major change this week was Timothy's bedroom and bathroom.  Walls came down, cabinets and windows were removed

View from Tim's room into what used to be his bathroom (toilet was on the
right, shower in the middle, sink/vanity on the left.)

Same view as above.

I tried to capture the opening to Tim's bathroom
here, to re-imagine the new layout.

Seeing some minor[ish] changes were the master bathroom (where the tub/shower tile were all removed) and the laundry room (where the cabinets etc. were removed).

Master bath: tub was in the middle, with shower on left, toilet on right.

Laundry room...where the cabinets used to be.