New Room

We had a new room added onto the bottom floor of our house (under the kitchen) and we had our tiny master bathroom enlarged. The renovation started in late February and was finished just before Alisa came home from the hospital in early April. We didn't have much privacy during that time because the guys worked 6-7 days a week and 8-10 hours a day (they set their own schedule). Craig got to know them pretty well and enjoyed hanging out with them when he wasn't doing school work.

2 guys (Kevin & Brian) did most of the work. They are some of the ones who renovated the house in 2003 (years before we bought the place) so they know our house well and do excellent work.

They ran into many obstacles that caused some things to take longer. They had to reroute many pipes, redo wiring and correct some wiring errors, and even remove a snake that slithered up through the old utility meter closet and into the bathroom ceiling (I posted pictures of the snake on 3-07-07).

Here are some pictures of the process and the finished product....

The wooden platform where we stored hoses and other stuff had to be cleaned off and removed:



This platform and the dirt under it had to be removed until the ground was level with the bottom of the house:



Kevin starting to dig:



The digging is complete...now there is room for the new addition (the ladder gives you an idea of how deep they had to dig):





The dirt that was removed from under the house was piled on both sides of the house and spread out in the yard later to level things out:









Electric meter and old pipes that were moved during the construction (including the tiny pipe going off the left side of the picture):



Lumber for the new addition:



Starting the floor:



Wood for floor is almost all in place:



Kevin working on the ceiling (which is the floor of the kitchen):



Framing the new room:



Walls going up:





Plastic covering the walls:







Vinyl siding is put in place:







Brian taking a break:



The plastic covered walls show where the new room is. The window on the bottom left was in the master bedroom but now it's in the master bathroom. The window on the bottom right is also in the master bathroom (there is part of a wall with shelves separating them).



Framing of the closet:



Ceiling insulation is exposed (the wall on the left was the existing one that was knocked out):



Stairway wall before removal:



Craig by wall that was knocked out:



For weeks, plastic separated the downstairs from the main floor to minimize dust. We had to part the plastic to go from our room to the upper floors and vice versa. This was not so fun to do when you had both hands full or in the middle of the night when I had to stumble up to the 3rd floor half alseep during the last couple weeks of my pregnancy to go to the only working bathroom at the time. Our room was soooo dusty. We covered our bed with plastic every day to keep it clean and only went to our room to sleep or get some clothes.



Here you can see the open doorway to the old, small master bathroom in the hallway (and wires that were in the wall that was removed):



Insulation in the new room:



Chip (Brian's cousin) standing outside the new room. He did the wall texture and a few other things.



Pole near stairs:



Sheetrock by pole:



Sheetrock on closet:



Lights in new room:



Sheetrock by outside door in new room:



Finishing the sheetrock installation:



Preparing the walls for paint, texture and outlets:



Nook before carpet is installed:



Carpet padding:



Nook after carpet is installed:



New room has an outside door with tile in the entryway:



Furnished:



Closet door in new room:



A desk is being built into the nook area (it's not finished yet):



We hung this on the wall of the new room:



New stairway railing before it's painted:



Stairway railings are almost finished...just need to add the rest of the pieces on the back railing so kids can't fall through. We were going to have an accordian-style door installed across the large opening here so we could close off the new room for some privacy when necessary (like if extra guests stay in this room) but we ran out of money at the time so that idea was put on hold.



Platforms for the outside stairs are in place:



Outside stairs are finished:



Outside utility closet (for electric meter) is created to the left of the room door:



This is in the laundry room on the main floor...the 2 pipes on the right used to go down through the 2 holes in the floor and were hidden in the wall of the master bathroom where they went down through the floor and under the house. They were rerouted to the larger pipe on the left so they could be removed from what became the walkway in the renovated master bathroom.



Here is a picture of the nook in the master bedroom with the carpet pulled back. The enlarged master bathroom took over this area. They removed the wall that was hiding these pipes and later moved the 2 pipes on the left so there would be a walkway in the bathroom from the sink area to the shower and toilet area.



Debris from the old master bathroom:



Mess from old shower:



Old tile from bathroom:



Looking at the new bathtub from the master bedroom:



Framing for the new master bathroom:



New master bathroom door is inside the master bedroom instead of outside of it in the hallway like it was before:



As the bathroom renovation was under way, it was discovered that the floor there was wet and rotting so they replaced that. Now, the part of the wall at the end of the stairs (where the trim forms a rectangle) is a removable panel that opens up to the shower pipes so we can periodically check to make sure there aren't any leaks rotting out the new floor. Pretty clever, I'd say, as it saves having to bust out part of the wall in the future. It was nice getting to help plan the renovation because we were able to request an outlet in the hallway where there was none before (it's handy when vacuuming). And the guys had some good suggestions too, like an extra outlet high on the wall in the bathroom for a nightlight.



Panel removed:



These are the 2 pipes that were removed from this walkway. The pole and overhead beam were enclosed in sheetrock and wall texture.



Wall texture and light switches are up:



Preparing the bathroom floor for tile:



Laying tile in the bathroom:



The guys angled the corner of the bathroom wall that it is our bedroom so it wouldn't hurt as much if we ran into it (how thoughtful!):



Master bathroom tub/shower (we love our new showerhead that has many different water flow settings):



Furnished bathroom pics....

Shelves were put up for extra storage space (bath & beach towels, toilet paper, etc.):





We haven't put the blinds back on this window yet:



This dividing wall hides the support pole and pipes coming down from upstairs...turns out to be a nice thing because it gives the toilet some privacy and was the perfect place to put shelves:



Shower and toilet area:





The overhead beam is enclosed:



Tile: