So it has been a couple of weeks since I last gave an update and so much demolition has occurred. It seems as if every floor is gone, exposing huge logs as the floor joists are unveiled. I have learned that when your contractor says he wants to meet with you, it usually is not for dinner :)
First stop on our "run through" in the house was the kitchen. Exposed this week was the stairway to our basement that had been covered over with a kitchen floor many years ago.
Currently, we go outside to enter our basement, a Michigan type basement with stone walls. Prior to the addition of the kitchen, which appears to have been a renovation of sorts some time ago, the members of this household were able to enter the basement through this door. When this space was converted to a kitchen, a floor was placed over the entrance to maximize floor space for the kitchen.The dilemma we faced was one which dealt with a question of ceiling height. One of the quirky things with old homes is the roof lines and the non-exactness of them, as well as the lines of the corresponding walls and structure. Typically, I love this about our home, it is what makes it what it is. But..... at times it is frustrating. For a price we can make the ceiling height the same throughout the hallway and beverage center or we can accept the quirkiness and a slight variation in height. We still need to discuss this a bit more but I am leaning toward embracing the quirkiness :)
Second stop was the master bathroom. Our plan was to have two 2.5 ft. windows behind my clawfoot tub. Unfortunately, my sweet old house did not know it's future plans and placed a beam, which was the cornerstone of the original house, right smack dab in the middle of my window plans. Our choices here are to move the bathroom 16 inches toward the bedroom and keep the window size as designed, or move the bathroom 4 inches toward the bedroom and utilize two 2ft. windows instead. Both options made the bedroom smaller, one just more than the other. Not wanting our bedroom to be 16 inches smaller we opted for the smaller windows. Good news is my closet will be 4 inches bigger!
The final stop in our walk through had us remaining in the bathroom. When the floor was pulled up, it revealed some structural faults that ultimately need to be addressed. Although, I find my new open floors to be totally fascinating, they are not structurally sound. The hope was that we would be able utilize the existing log joists and place the subfloor upon it.
Due to a sagging main beam and apparent unsuccessful, prior attempts to fix this situation, the thought is that we will need to entirely replace this floor, removing the log joists. We are trying to keep as much authenticity in this house as possible but our contractor gave a better argument for replacement of these logs. Our plan is to repurpose at least one of these log joists into a mantel for the fireplace in the lake room.
This coming week we will head out to choose our sinks and faucets for the house. I am anxious to start this sort of thing and am looking forward to beginning work on the interior aspects of our home. I have to say I miss my sweet house and the serenity of the lake. At the same time, though, I am treasuring my time with my sweet Nora. Fall is such a fun time to be around her. She loves Depot Park in Clarkston; the swings, the slides, really all of it. After talking with the contractor we spent some time with her and Britt at the park. Nothing like a few minutes on the playground with a little one to take the stress away.
Stay well,
Laura
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