Our Old Home Project – Part One

Our home renovation project was initiated (by yours truly) way back in 1999 with the nearly complete gutting of home’s second floor. Over the years, we have had a steel roof installed, removed the wood clapboard siding and replaced it with cement board siding, had all the windows replaced with new ones (nearly 28 of them!), and installed radiant floor heating on the first floor that is powered by a 1000-gallon wood burning boiler (curtesy of Switzer Home Heating Systems).

So, this Memorial Day weekend (22 May), our beloved builder/contractor Dave Irwin began our upstairs endeavor. Dave has worked here before putting up most of the siding, and he has done a marvelous job.

This project has been a real challenge as he had to rewire, plumb and put up walls, and as you will see from the photos over the days to come, our second floor has been going through quite the transformation!

22 May: second floor is practically bare bones!

Dave and my David spent the day removing old wall and ceiling joists and tossing them out of second story window--look out below! — Dave and my David spent the day removing old wall and ceiling joists and tossing them out of second story window–look out below!

New ceiling and wall joists installed and note the state of the floor. Our “grand dame” Melanie is making an unannounced inspection.

ceilingandwalljoists — All this new wood looks like a new house!