A post of the post

Happy Sunday!  So the beam when up last night which means that we are that much closer to finishing our downstairs.

Here is the beam in our driveway Friday (was too cold to go outside and snap a pic) which is 600 lbs, 19 feet, 12 inches deep and 6 inches wide.  Derik claims that it was lighter to lift than our bathtub that he removed a couple of weeks ago. I know, not a very exciting pic...

And here it is up supporting our entire 2nd floor and the roof

It's funny, we get so excited when we finish a project (we even went out last night to celebrate) but the excitement quickly wanes and we get ancy to tackle the next project (like this morning). It may be another month before we actually start laying down the hardwood, I know bummer, right? Next we need to have the city inspector come in to ok our permit, wire both rooms with about 12 pot lights, box in the beam with drywall, get it taped and mudded and then we will be able to start putting down our new floors.

During this time we will also be finishing the main floor washroom which has now been tiled and grouted. We found a vanity and sink yesterday which we will be picking up today, woot! The reason I am excited is that the vanity needs to be no more than 20" wide which is extremely small for a vanity as they are typically 24" or larger. We have to get creative and are going with a cabinet and then installing a vessel sink on top, crossing our fingers that it will work out.

Well, that's it from 224 Sanford, enjoy the weekend and Oscars this evening!

Our piece de resistance

Today was/is the day we have been waiting for for a lonnnng time, the removal of the load bearing wall that devides(d) our future dining room and tv room.  For the past 2 months we have jammed our sofas in the kitchen with our 50" tv propped on our counter which is needless to say getting a little tired.  We can't wait to move back to the Living Room and live like civilized people.  But that could still be a month away but today was very exciting, by bye load bearing wall and hello, open concept!

This is the before

before looking in from entrance

this was last week just down to the studs, this let in so much more light than before as the back of our house is south facing, oh wall you are such a tease.....

Can I have a drum roll please........

Ok, it's still pretty much Crazytown but we are so pumped, we are now that much closer to laying the hardwood which you can see on the floor to the left and painting and putting in baseboards and crown moulding and, and and.....the guys are still downstairs working on the posts on either side of the beam, so hopefully will be back tomorrow with more pics that don't include scaffolding!!

Guest bathroom

Unfortunately, since our contractor is about 2 weeks late in removing our load bearing wall  we decided to tackle the main floor bathroom.  To give you an idea of size it's 9 by 5 feet.  This used to be the only bathroom in the house until they added the second floor and there are houses in our neighborhood who still have this model house.  We are lucky we have a bathroom upstairs....that remodeling picture/project, well maybe later this year. Right now we are focusing on our main floor b-room.  Now because right now we only have 2 full bathrooms, removing the shower would be bold.  We decided to remove the tub and build a shower....turned out that the tun was made of cast iron and woohoo that took a sledgehammer to take apart, it was so unbelievably heavy!  Here was the before when we first had our walk through of the house:



and when the demo began it was a little like this:

How am I ever going to find a small mirror to fit this small space!

notice the tub on jack?  We had no idea it was made of cast Iron which meant it was a good 300lbs plus. Jacking it up we thought we could create some sort of leverage to haul it out...no way, that thing wasn't moving.  Well, after a few minutes on YouTube, it taught us that a sledgehammer is the only way to go.  3 hours later the tub was in pieces and we were able to cart it way....

So the tub was removed and started to build our shower......and now tiling has been completed on the walls. Flooring and the shower installation should happen this week.

Unfortunately, we have both been fighting a cold and bathroom construction had to end early today so that we could rest up. We have been loading up on garlic and Viatmin C and hopefully will be in full force tomorrow...back to work tomorrow so no choice I guess right? ;-)

Kitchen updates

Happy Family day!!  It's so nice to have an extra day off on a weekend to catch up.  Stores are closed, so now I don't have an excuse to go shopping and now can send some updates :-)  Can't believe I haven't included kitchen updates but the kitchen has been in such use (this our main living area) it's hard to get a picture when there isn't some sort of mess happening.  But I was able to take these.....what a difference, hey?

We have a few finishing touches left in the kitchen as we work on the main floor bathroom and wait until our main floor load bearing wall is moved next week (fingers crossed as it has already been pushed out 2 weeks).  Once that's removed and replaced by a steel beam we will be able to lay the hardwood, install baseboards and crown moulding and then paint.....and then use those rooms which have been unhabitable for the past 2 mos already.   That wall is going to be a game changer for the house and it's just around the corner!!