The second day started with trying to remove the last layer of flooring, and it was super-slow going. They had one guy working on it, and I believe they gave up on this after half a day.
They also removed the corner walls that used to house the fridge, opening up most of the space to the living room. They installed the support beam in the attic space. They pretty much ripped out the ceiling along the path that the beam ran, then cut some stuff out and put it in place.
Day 3
The framers didn't get started until the afternoon, though our new back door and the pocket door were delivered first thing in the morning.
They figured out that there was another layer of plywood (in addition to the subfloor) associated with the last layer of floor. So they cut the floor into strips and pulled it out easily. They removed the back door and the window on that wall and framed up both of those spaces, then framed the space for the new back door and installed it. One of the things that we had been concerned with in the design was how close the back door seemed to the countertop and to the deck railing out the outside, like there wasn't much room to get through. Since the cabinet shop's pantry was smaller than the one shown in the design, they wanted the door centered between the pantry and the counter, which meant it got spaced a little further from the counter. When walking through it, it seemed to be in a perfectly reasonable spot and it didn't feel weird as opposed to the old door. Of course, there's no cabinets in there yet either.
When I got home they were wrapping up and mentioned that they had installed the door but didn't have a lockset, and asked what I wanted them to do. It sounded like they just wanted to leave the door there with two holes in it for locks. Now it wasn't all that obvious, and someone would have to walk up onto our deck and navigate the sea of wood pieces and framer tools if they wanted to get in. But then they'd have their pick of all our worldly belongings, especially since we weren't going to be home. I suggested that they take the locks off the old door and install them on the new one. It sure sounded like that hadn't occurred to them, which was a little disappointing. They moved the locks to the new door, though it took a little while.
Day 4
Our architect came out to have a look at the progress, and he seemed pleased with what they had done. He was particularly interested in the new beam that they put up in the ceiling, and they must have done what he wanted. He agreed that they could do a better job of sealing off the workspace, so we asked them again to try and tighten it up.
We talked with the architect about counter, tile, and paint selections, and got a slightly better feel for the process. Mostly they seemed to echo a lot of what we were already thinking, though he did say that if our counter had any sort of appearance of texture, then they would suggest a very simple and plain backsplash. Unfortunately, one of our favorite tile contenders probably has a little more going on than they would like. So we're still thinking.
I sent an email listing the things that we expected for the weekend, since we were planning on moving back it. Things like removing debris from the living space, making sure the electrical was safe and back on, and doing a good job of sealing up the work space with the sheeting. By the evening they had done a much better job, pretty much by running duct tape along the sides and top/bottom.
Over the course of the day the big window area was framed, though they didn't cut open to the outside; they just framed it out on the inside. The closets in the hallway were demoed.
During the design phase with the architect we mentioned how the closets in the hallway were not of the same depth in all locations. We mentioned the same thing to the builder at some point before we had a contract. Well, once they had demoed those closets out, you could see exactly what was going on. There was a column running up the height of the wall which came out about 6-8 inches from the wall, and was about 8-12 inches wide. The builder was pretty sure this was a vent for the bathroom. Next to it was a slightly shallower box that only went about 1/3 of the way up the wall, but was about 2-3 times as wide. This is likely for the bathroom plumbing.
Of course, the vent is right in the middle of our laundry area. And we're so used to that hallway being the length it was before, that now that it will be shorter, it seems really small. It's pretty unlikely that a washer and dryer could fit in there with the vent column, even if they were stacked. So I discussed it with the builder, and then sent email and left a voicemail for the architect. I get the impression that the builder will just re-route the vent, though I have no idea where (there's really not many other options).
Day 5
Today they installed the frames for both of the pocket doors. They removed part of the corner casement window - they left the side that was facing the street, presumably in order to keep the siding facing the street looking respectable for longer. They also framed a little spot between the fridge and pantry, which I thought was only supposed to have cabinet pieces in between. I may bring it up to the architect next week, but I suppose it's not a big deal to rip it out if they have to.
Ever since I lived here the house has had mint green vinyl siding, which isn't nearly as horrible as it sounds. It's actually fairly subtle and pleasant. The only problem is that I have no idea where it came from, or when it was purchased. So matching the siding is pretty much impossible. When we had the deck built they needed to do a little siding modifications, and they harvested siding from the side of the house that isn't really visible, then bought some white siding that was similar in shape and painted it. He made it clear that vinyl siding was not meant to be painted, and we would likely need to repaint it every 5 years or so. Well, it looks like there's going to be another harvesting episode. Heck, at this point I ought to just have them re-do that side of the house in white!
We planned to move back into the house on Friday, so I got home ahead of everyone else in order to do some clean up. A wet rag was able to pick up the dust from most of the surfaces, though several things look like you rubbed them with a dirty wet rag (go figure). Then there was some serious vacuum cleaning, including moving the furniture around in the living room. And a damp towel on the hallway wood floor, which has dust tucked into its nooks and crannies, likely for a while.
During the hour or two that I spent in there each day during the week, it had me completely congested. But we were able to live in the house over the weekend without my nose being completely stuffed up from the dust. We figured out how to rearrange the dining table and fridge to be a lot more useful. All in all not too bad.
There were a few other surprises, though. As you may have noticed, our guest bathroom and shower share a wall with the kitchen/laundry area. It looks like when they shoved in the frame for the hallway pocket door they busted up some of the sheet rock in the bathroom. Nothing major, but there were some new cracks and a wavy spot. Then in the shower area there were two slits in the wall above the tile tub surround that must have come from a framer's demo tool of some sort. I mentioned it to the builder in email, and I assume they'll just patch and touch up the two areas.
On Saturday morning when we went into the living room the top of the divider had come down. Later that day I got some "Gorilla Tape" and did some serious re-taping. I wouldn't quite call it air-tight, but I think it will hold for more than a couple days. Then on Sunday I tried to suck up most of the dust in the construction area with a shop vac. It was marginally successful - that small dusty junk would clog up the filter, plus it would just shoot out the vac's exhaust straight into the air. I had to clean out the filter and dump the contents a few times to keep it sucking, but in the end there was a LOT less dust lying around. Even though it was something that the builder probably should have taken care of, I think it will benefit us a lot in the long run, and I don't really see a builder putting that much effort into cleanup in the middle of the job.
So our house is livable, and the kitchen looks wasted! Awesome!
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