Frozen, Sat 8 Feb

Well, turns out we were right to be worried that the kitchen pipes might freeze, because they did. I came downstairs this morning, Saturday, and checked to see that the kitchen faucet still worked. It didn’t. I tried thawing the pipes gently with a blow dryer and the pipe objected, bursting a fitting and spraying me and the kitchen pretty thoroughly.

When the addition was put on the house, apparently most of the installation that used to be on the kitchen corner of the house was removed. Behind the counter on the South side there is no insulation and no interior gyp board either so that side had only a half-inch of gyp on the outside and then a few three-quarter pine planks. The faucet side had about an inch of fiber glass with lots of holes in it.

After my unanticipated shower, icicles formed on the pipes in the sink cabinet. Even the drain was frozen.

Fortunately, the builders had planned to work Saturday and were on hand to help repair and mitigate the pipe problem. They pulled off the exterior sheathing and put in sufficient fiberglass and they covered back over with salvaged wood from the dining room. It only has to last a month or so cause the kitchen will get deconstructed once the addition is weather tight.

Rebuilt kitchen walls so the pipes don't freeze again.

Rebuilt kitchen walls so the pipes don’t freeze again.

Also done today was the rebuilding of the East ledger and family room floor. They even began adding support for the new family room floor which will be up about 8 inches from the old one.

The rebuilt sill, rim joist and new rim joist for the family room.

The rebuilt sill, rim joist and new rim joist for the family room.

At the suggestion of the builder, I enlisted Stover and Britt to venture into the crawl space and pull out the old insulation. It will be replaced with closed-cell foam. The kids were great; they made quite a pile of fiberglass.

Insulation from below the family room.

Insulation from below the family room.

Friday, 7 Feb

Foundation plantings are gone and some constructions stairs are in place.

Foundation plantings are gone and some constructions stairs are in place.

The builder was back yesterday to plow away the foot of snow we got on Wednesday. He plowed the driveway we have, another around the house to the backyard, and much of the backyard. The dining room part of the 1980 addition was apparently built without a proper moisture barrier between the foundation and the sill plates, so it had to go. As so it went today, along with the entire dining room floor above it.

The dining room has been reduced to dirt.

The dining room has been reduced to dirt.

It is all just as well since a new foundation pier needed to be dug through the dining room anyway. Also, all the rotten rim joist and sill at the rear of the (former) family room was removed.

And it begins, 31 Jan

I got a text from Britt on Friday (1/31/2014), the ‘builders are here’ it was 3pm. I called Scott, couldn’t reach him. Stover, who had been at home all day, had said nothing. It turns out a warm spell was expected for the weekend, so the Builder brought his team in on Friday to close off the kitchen openings. By the time I got home on Friday, I had a closed in kitchen and a door, yikes! The plan was they would return on Saturday to demolish the old addition.

Saturday morning was a bit of a panic as we scrambled to ensure all our ‘stuff’ was out of the way. We salvaged some stuff, then we watched it all happen. The photos don’t quite capture the shaking of the house as the pieces are pulled apart.

Little pig, little pig, let me come in.

Little pig, little pig, let me come in.

Videos: a last look, first swing, some more, from the kitchen, the corner goes (more to come from the girls iTouches)

A few hours later there isn't much left. The addition has become a subtraction.

A few hours later there isn’t much left. The addition has become a subtraction.

 

That was a ceiling.

That was a ceiling.