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We’ve Been Framed.

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First, let us apologize for the title.

The crew started the interior framing on the garden and parlor floors. It was great to get a feel of the room sizes. Some feel bigger, others smaller.  One disappointment (and there is always disappointment in renovation) was that the square footage calculation for the master bathroom did not account for about a foot and a half of space taken up by the old brick fireplace–this was not drawn on the plans.  This fireplace will not be removed because they are concerned that it provides structure for the fireplaces on the two floors above it.  There goes the dream of a two sink vanity!  Expectations adjusted.

On a positive note, we were able to catch a mistake we made in the plans. In our second bedroom, the opening to the closet follows the plans exactly but we realized that there is about  one to two feet of space on either side. We thought about how annoying it would be to dig in the side of the closet to reach stuff. Our architect suggested we use part of that space for shelving and move the doors over and re-center them. Hopefully we will be able to offset the cost of this oversight by finding areas that we can cut that save the contractor work.

They also started the framing for the parlor floor hallway.  This will be where we separate our duplex from the rental unit.  The first plan was to try and save the original railing in case some day we, or another owner, wants to turn the house back into a one family home.  The contractor put up the framing to see how it would look.

We decided that the gap between the wall and the stairs would be too weird and went with option number two–the wall right up against the stairs.  It will look a little institutional but at least it won’t look wonky.

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View from the 3rd floor

View from the 3rd floor

Ups and Downs

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Last weekend was a series of ups and downs.

Things are moving forward again.  Last week, all the debris was removed from the house, the footings were poured, concrete testing was performed, engineer inspection was complete, and they will be installing forms for the foundation walls, which are scheduled to be poured by this mid-week.

This weekend we got a call from our neighbor.  In the middle of the night the wind blew a partition (the old wall of the extension was left up to block debris from getting in this neighbor’s yard) into his backyard and damaged his barbeque, table, fence and garden hose.  Now he is hopping mad.  We told him our contractor would cover the cost of the damages but now he says he does not want to let the construction crew on his property.

Last week we offered him some “inconvenience money” to make up for the noise and the hassle of the construction but he wouldn’t take it.

We don’t know how this will effect the work but hope he will come around.  After all, if we can’t get on his property he will have to look at a wall of cinder blocks and flashing which won’t be pretty.

In these old Brooklyn neighborhoods, the real culprit is change.  No one likes it.  We find it funny that our neighbors would rather have the old overgrown backyard overrun with mosquitoes and rodents than suffer for a couple of months and have a nice clean well-kept house and yard next to them.

The Concrete, the Rebar and the Worry

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On day 80 of our construction countdown, the crew was scheduled to lay the concrete foundation for the extension.  Pretty exciting, right?  As always, things went awry.

We were excited that the concrete pouring was happening because the cold weather is coming and concrete should be poured and allowed to cure in temperatures over 40 degrees.  I was able to go to the site at the allotted time to take photos but when I arrived the crew was still be digging out the area.

Prior to pouring concrete, a number of inspections must be done.  Our structural engineer must inspect the rebar framing (short for reinforcing bar) to make sure that it is in the correct place, depth and quantity.  A concrete inspection lab must test a sample of the poured concrete and confirm that the concrete is what the supplier says it is. They also complete what’s knows as a TR-2 report for the D.O.B.

If our concrete was delivered by a concrete truck we’d also need a TR-3 report for the DOB. This report certifies that the supplier is properly mixing the concrete. In our case, because there is no access to the backyard and because our contractor does not want to risk running a tube of concrete through our house, the crew will be mixing the concrete on site from premixed bags. This takes more time but we save a little cash because we don’t need the TR-3 report.

Since I had no idea how this process works, I just smile and nod to the all Spanish- speaking crew.  Eventually, I go sit on the stoop and greet the guy from the concrete inspection company.  He is concerned because the mixer is not even on site–which to him means he may be waiting awhile.  Our structural engineer then shows up, and thankfully explains things to me. He sees that the rebar has barely been started and will likely take a few hours and by then it will be getting late and with the sun going down the temperatures are expected to drop into the 30’s.

I made a flurry of phone calls to our architect and contractor, in the end the concrete will not be poured until Monday. Luckily no rain or freezing temperatures are in the forecast for next week otherwise we would fall even further behind schedule.

Moral of the story:  Is wise to visit your renovation site on a work day?  I came away feeling like things were very disorganized and communications were not well executed.  Now I am worried.