Week 4: Home renovation weight loss diet

It’s been over two weeks since I wrote.  With all the unpleasant surprises uncovered in the first two weeks of demolition, leading to costly change orders, I was sick to my stomach.  When I’m stressed, I forget about food or can’t get it down. When you don’t eat, you lose weight.  Not good. Because then, you have no insulating body fat when the heat goes off.

It was raining and thundering this morning. The machines have churned the backyard into a mud pit. The foundations were poured yesterday and removed today.  Now, it’s sunny and windy.  The wind isn't so good while riding a bike, but we need more sun and wind to dry the yard so our soil doesn’t keep walking away on the bottom of everyone’s shoes.

Days 7-9: Here be dragons

It’s been some challenging days. I can make do with spotty electricity, water, and heat.  But the internet started working intermittently on Monday.  When I called Verizon about FIOS (calls of 40, 20, & 10 minutes duration for service troubleshooting), I was told that there was a network outage in this area. It’s hard to work from home without an internet connection. I am thankful for friends who allowed me to use their internet.  It sure beat sitting outside the library (closed) and starbucks (forgot money) using the wifi connections there.   

Internet wasn’t the biggest dragon encountered. In using a bobcat to remove the patio, the driver, Adelino, snagged a piece of rebar embedded in concrete. It was the cover of a brick-lined well—probably the water source predating the current water pipes. A neighbor mentioned he also found a well in his backyard during a home renovation. Between the well discovery and the bad foundation and footings around the kitchen, it has been some discouraging days.

Daily demo death toll: 2 trees and a bush.  Today's rain is churning the dirt into a mud bath.

Day 6—Between an arch and a hard place…

Some people like surprises (sorpresas) more than others. The rule of thumb with a renovation: surprise=change order=$$$

Two issues arose yesterday. The patio has concrete under the bricks. Because of how uneven the surface was, we figured it was dirt under the bricks. So, the concrete needs to be removed to make sure the floor joists can be made level.  Today’s jackhammer noise is the sound of progress. The patio and the arch have been turned into a heap of bricks and concrete.

And there's a metal tank under the driveway...  It appears to be an old heating oil tank. Our current HVAC runs on gas and we figure that this furnace is over 30 years old. So, I guess the tank has been there for a while. It’s at the edge of the house where the foundation will be poured, so it needs to be removed.

Day 5: I-beams away

The backyard looks like a tornado hit. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the faith.

This house has secrets. Given that it was built in 1928, perhaps that's to be expected, although it’s the rear section that is oddest and it was built in the 70's. The room subject to demolition was suspended over two I-beams resting on a brick arch. The circuit panel indicates welder. So, was it a welding workshop? Why was it built the way it was? Were there leftover steel I-beams in the yard and it seemed like a good way to put them to use?

Possible crisis averted: With the temperature below freezing (muy frio) yesterday, the exposed plumbing was a problem. Since the kitchen sink is now outside, it was vulnerable. A plumber came and capped the pipes to prevent them from bursting.

Day 4: It takes a village to raze a house...

Today’s high is supposed to be 34°, but sunny.

Given the current state of the kitchen (la cocina), I’d take the old one. But I am looking forward to what comes next.



Thankfully, the door between living space and demolition area was installed yesterday. It helps buffer the cold gusts. I still mostly wear my coat and hood when I'm inside though.

As I was taking pictures, I noticed attic insulation and gaps, which means that the eaves are open to the air. Washington Gas Company will benefit from our energy profligacy this month. I'm sure Climate would say, "This is hurting me more than it hurts you."

La pared (wall—but fewer walls as the day goes on)

Steve surveying the demo

Luis & Salvador

The dumpster filled up yesterday.  As a diehard recycler & composter, I feel bad about all the debris we’re sending to a landfill, though less than if we razed the house. The workers are separating the metal, so there's a stack in the yard now. I just need to get it loaded into our small utility vehicle (amazing how much a Civic can carry) and haul it to Potomac Metals http://www.potomacmetals.com/. The closest facilityis in Springfield, but there are three other sites in VA & MD. Every little bit helps.

Dia tres: Semper Gumby

Today is the 3^rd day of demo. Luis and Salvador are the ones tearing down the house. This is a good opportunity for me to learn some Spanish during construction. 

It’s one of the coldest days we’ve had in northern VA. Of course, winter and the new year have just begun. The high today is supposed to be 31° with a low of 20°. We've even had some flurries.

The kitchen now has a partial roof, and currently there is no door/wall blocking the living area from the demolition. My focus is La Puerta—to get a door installed today. I am thankful for having heat, even though we are helping to warm the neighborhood with a large gap to the outside.

The kitchen is now on the enclosed porch--of course, no running water or stove there. We thought we were smart with this setup. Unfortunately, the porch electricity is on the same circuit as the I-beam room that mostly disappeared yesterday. So I have an extension cord running to the DR outlet.  

This photo show the I-beam wing at the end of the day. The arch & beams will probably come down tomorrow. They certainly added character to the house but make it hard to create a functional layout.

Being affiliated with the military is good preparation for renovation, hence Semper Gumby—Always flexible.

Day 2--construction photo album

More photos of the construction process:

https://picasaweb.google.com/greyjs/Habitat4serenity?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKHTxOKGqMmeQA&feat=directlink 

Day 1 of demo: Arlington graffiti

Demolition started on 30 Dec. In the Army, there is now zero week before you start Airborne school. We have had 18 months of pre-construction zero weeks--planning and preparation to get to this stage of construction. It’s amazing to watch what probably took months of construction getting turned into rubbish in a matter of days.

Steve, our GC from RARCO, tagged surfaces and items with spray paint indicating those to be demolished and what will be kept.

General contractor--in charge of what happens and fails to happen

The I-beam room now has no roof. It is capped with the blue tarp of rooflessness, like post-hurricane Florida.

The heat pipes and radiators were removed from the rear of the house. The HVAC crew fixed it so we can have heat in the part of the house we'll be living in. Of course, right now, there's no door separating the front of the house from the rear so it's pretty cold. Good thing that temperatures have stayed above freezing.

I think I will go investigate what the loud crash was...