8th, 9th and 10th of September

and we're still framing. On Monday and Tuesday the opening between the living room and dining room was enlarged (see the huge new beam? It replaced the huge old beam, but is longer by about 3'. The old bathroom window has been replaced with framing.


The old kitchen window shrunk in size. The frame for the new kitchen window was added. They put-in temporary windows for light (rather than boarding up the holes). But the sizes are right.

The french door framing is also done (not shown).

The contractor suggested we move the wall for the bathtub to make it larger as we had 4"-6" of extra floor space not being used. This picture is the bathroom, with me standing the bathroom doorway. To the immediate right will be the vanity, following that the bog, and after that in the large area (nearly double the width of the rest of the room, will live the bathtub.

You can also see the framing for the bathroom window which lives above the bathtub. The window will be 3'x2'.


There were also some questions with the exact sizes of the cupboards - the drawing supplied by the kitchen designer were a little confusing. I think the CAD software screwed up and moved some of the sizes to the right. He also needs to double check some measurements with her (depth of the vanity, depth of the bookshelf cabinet).

The carpenter doesn't think he can patch the siding on the outside of the house where the window was removed to replace it with the french door.. there isn't enough siding. Can't understand how, as the door is larger than the window. I think he just doesn't like patching; I agree it isn't nice. Our contractor said 'I did tell you we'd have a problem with the siding'. To which my reply was 'I'm not paying $50k (his original quote) for new siding just because we're missing a few feet - we'll patch it and then add shutters to cover up the difference. Anyway, our contractor then said it wouldn't be $50k - that his quote had originally been for the entire house. So he asked the carpenter for an estimate for new siding, which is on its way to me. Sometime. I suspect instead of the original $50k it will probably only be $35k. If I'm lucky.

When we remove the siding, the carpenter also suggested we replace the exterior chipboard because he was worried about hitting electrics or plumbing while residing. Which will obviously cost more; he estimated 5 more days work. The benefit is we can add insulation to the outside walls, and the new chip board/sheet rock (or whatever it is) also adds strength to the house, too.

So now we're probably replacing the siding, we can get rid of the horrible frames around the windows.. and replace them with a window frame that includes a window sil...

We also decided to replace the sheetrock inside the living room, because we couldn't match the lovely wood paneling; we needed matching paneling because we need to patch part of the wall where fireplace brickwork is being removed.... And as we're having to sheet rock the living room, we can also get rid of the narrow cupboards in the corner - the only reason we hadn't done this before was because we couldn't have matched the wood paneling, which, now, of course.. is being removed!

At the same time, the pocket door between the living room and kitchen which is wonky can also be replaced (we wanted to, but couldn't due to the wood panelling).

Basically we're rebuilding the house (exterior, kitchen, living-room, bathroom). Lovely. Well, it will be when we're done. I suspect the price is going up and up.

Our contractor reminded me we have to choose the granite for the fire place surround. He said we needed an entire slab.. which is around 50 square feet (10x5). The simple black honed granite I liked is only $22/square foot. I can't work out why a fireplace surround and hearth will require 50 square feet of granite. So maybe I can have them make something from the remainder. Maybe a table top for an outdoor table? Or a top for a rolling pastry table for our tiny kitchen? Something. I hate the idea I'm spending money on something I won't use most of.

The plumber also arrived as the carpenters left; to work out what parts he needs.

Am off to choose the slab now. Hopefully I'll have time to take some snaps and upload later today.