a split-level fixer-upper: 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

A little bit of woodwork

Our house was (first) built almost 40 years ago and that probably means these steps are about that age. The concrete slabs have been holding up very well but their wooden frames were so thin, cracked and rotten about 2 years ago that we decided to throw them out and just rebuild them.

Before installing these boards, we cut them to size and stained them with a reddish brown colored stain.

All the pieces were drilled and screwed together at their corners.

Thank you Silvestre for your help with this project!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Laundry in the garage

I have posted about the laundry room before but at that time I didn't upload any images showing how much work was involved. Well, I have found some more photos in the meanwhile; so here they are:

This is how it all started: we were remodeling the downstairs studio. This door used to lead from the garage to the studio, and it was right next to the laundry area. The small hallway used to be super narrow with a very low ceiling so we needed to move walls around.

The walls were already taken down inside the studio, but the plan was to remove them on the laundry's side as well. We might as well kill two birds with one stone, --wouldn't anyone?

As soon as all sheet rock walls were taken down, cables and plumbing had to be re-wired and moved.

New insulation material showing above laundry area and some new boards reinforcing the old columns.

Here the new entrance for the studio is shown, but the laundry door is not yet installed.

New, clean walls for the laundry, ready for washer and dryer with brand new wiring and hot/cold water!

New washer and dryer is now installed. A small sink with a new cabinet for detergents and cleaning supplies can be seen on the right hand side. Thank you, PL for the beautiful wood work. Doing laundry is no longer a problem around here :)

When the laundry door is shut, nothing can be seen. A small little issue: the entrance door of the studio (on the right) appears a few shades lighter in color than the rest of the wall and the laundry doors; it is likely because the wood is different... oh well, we say no big deal!

Welcome

“There was a time in my life where I remember thinking to myself hey, you know, you're doing OK. You're not even 30 and you're married, you own a home and you have this career. And you really have your ($&*#) together and you've really sorted some things out, and you should be really proud of yourself.
And then I remember thinking that a house does not make you a better person, or a more complete person. It's just a house. And it's the things that you do in that home, and who you do it with and all that stuff, that's far, far more important.”
(Kathleen Edwards,
NPR Interview, Jan 2012)

A cookie-cutter split-level

"the split-level is an original type that represents a significant time in the history of North American housing, the postwar building boom (and it) has a cultural value worth preserving.
(…) this is unlikely to occur until the split-level acquires widespread cachet, which it currently lacks, or the stock becomes endangered.
Right now there is a surplus of cookie-cutter split-levels strewn across the continent. These buildings will continue to come down – which is wasteful, because many of them are structurally sound. When people talk about sustainability, they are usually referring to new architecture (...) but when you figure that most of the energy that goes into a building comes from the one-time act of construction, you are already ahead when you can keep a building rather than demolish it."
(Dwell magazine, Dec/Jan 2008)