Hello, friends! Welcome back to tales of destruction!

Last week saw the utter demolishment of our walls! And ceiling! Thanks to the previously discussed abestos in our drywall, they all had to come out. In my mind, I thought I would be prepared for the aftermath of that, but the reality was, well, surreal.

Now that the walls were down, we could get a bit of the feel of what the new space might be like. It was strange how dark and small it was without the light of white walls and ceiling. The fireplace wall will be pushed farther into the garage space, giving us a bigger, open, living, dining and kitchen area, with a laundry pantry area in the back of the current garage. The window area in the garage will be a powder room. It will go from a 980 SF house to a whopping 1,220 SF. A freaking mansion compared to what it was.

Oh! The electrical panel was upgraded and moved to the side of the house, in other progress.

All was not rosy in remodel land, however. At the weekly status meeting, we found out the water line, as we were told might be likely given it’s 69 years old, was rusted galvanized pipe. So the second not-fun change order. Womp womp. However, now that pretty much all the guts have been revealed, hopefully that will be the last of the unpleasant change orders. You hear me, Ryan?

In the meantime, we are working on the final Kerf cabinet layout, since that came in $20,000 over budget. We are cutting out the bedroom built-ins and the long bathroom built-in to see where that lands us. I don’t recommend taking on a massive remodel during a pandemic. It affects the budget in ugly ways.

The current week includes replacing the water line (there is a backhoe in the yard!) and a couple of inspections. Footings were poured for the new beam and wall as well. Things are happening apace!

Ciao for now!