We removed part of our house (part 1 and part 2) to make way for the new construction, leaving a large exposed wall and some chopped up roof area. Of course, we are going to live in the house still, so we needed to waterproof that section before the next rain storm. A small crewRead more about Waterproofing after demolition[…]
We have a total of 8 large Canary palm trees on our lot. We love them, but they are in pretty random locations, so we are going to move most of them into more aesthetically pleasing positions. In preparation to move them, they first tie up a bunch of the fronds to keep them outRead more about Moving the palms – prep, day 1[…]
A word about salvaging old materials for re-use. Charlie has a keen eye for what might be worthwhile to keep. Here is the pile of stuff we pulled out of the part of the house we pulled down: It’s all redwood, con-heart and some very very nice clear. Look at this piece: This is clearRead more about Re-using materials[…]
Our property came with quite a few trees that are less than desirable. Chief among them are Pittosporum. This is a very typical hedge plant, that, if you let it grow, will become a tree. The problem with them is that they are incredibly messy. It pretty much drops stuff like that year-round. Another treeRead more about Tree removal[…]
Part of what I was curious to see during the demolition is whether we could uncover any further clues as to the history of the house. What we found seems to just add more uncertainty. We believed that the part of the house being demolished was likely built in 1922 (whereas the original single-story partRead more about Clues in the demolition[…]
The crew continued on the demolition today, taking the part of the house being demolished all the way down to the foundation, which the guys doing the excavation of our basement will remove in a few weeks. Here is where we started this morning: And here it is at the end of the day:
Today is the day! We had a little ceremony with the girls to thank the part of the house that is being torn off for 3 years of shelter and good times. We are sad to see the sun room in particular go, but we are going to build a similar feature into our newRead more about Partial house demolition[…]
(As an aside, we designed the house so that the minute you step in the front door, you have a clear view all the way to that beautiful fireplace above, which will be perfectly lined up with the front door. The fireplace was once part of the original house.) So here we are, at longRead more about Starting deconstruction[…]
Once the historical report was complete, we had to go before the Historic Landmarks Commission and get the HSSR approved. Getting it approved meant that the HLC agreed that there was no significant historical value to the house (other than the wall out front) and we were clear to tear it down. Now, here isRead more about The Backstory: Planning & Permits[…]
We initially thought it might take a year until we had permits in hand. Boy was that naive. First, for any uccoructure older than 50 years, you have to get a historical site & structures report (HSSR) done. This is intended to uncover whether there is anything historically significant about the house or property (inRead more about The Backstory: History[…]