A little setback

We had hoped to go up to Camano today to photograph the digging of the foundation,  (there's a 7x14 bump out for the guest bedroom). Alas the county has thrown us another curveball. We need to get a permit to allow the work to continue if the archeologist should find buried skeletal remains. Apparently the comment period will end May 7th so we should be rolling shortly after then.

The good news is that this allows us to concentrate on the downstairs project here in Seattle. We're getting ready to rent out the basement. We already have a tenant, thanks to Amy. She'll be moving in May 19th. Meanwhile we're putting appliances in the laundry room which becomes the apartment kitchen. We're also putting a washer and dryer on the upper level, replacing  carpet, and  adding outside lighting. There has been a lot of downsizing to make this happen and it feels good to shed our unneeded stuff.

The old house is no more

Last week, the crew manually removed the first story walls over a period of three days. All that remains is part of the chimney and the foundation as you'll see below.

If you look closely , you'll see the name Hall inscribed on the top step. One of the previous owners was Everett Hall.
Our builder is Jim Hall. Strange coincidence, huh?

Yesterday I dropped by to fetch a few last items from the garage and take some photos.

The apple tree is in bloom and looks a little lonely.

I didn't stay too long.......

Wonder if PegLeg has found a new perch!

What's to come...

We call this gull PegLeg; seems everyone in our area has a name for him. Yes, he's a 'he'. He has been hanging out around our stretch of beach for a couple years at least. A favorite perch, the top of our chimney, has been removed. He is not pleased.

A lot of our friends are asking, what will the house look like?  The deconstruction is done; it's time for rebuilding. This  post shows the floor plans and the elevations. 

You will need to click on them to make them larger, or you have better eyes than I do!!

Here are the elevations. Remember that the addition of plants will make the building find it's place on the ground. :)

Click on these as well.

                                   

These views show the garage and the arbor coming in from the road.

 

This has been such a long time coming; we're so happy that it's underway.

Oh yes, don't forget to feed the fish! Just click anywhere in their pond.

the work continues...

We're in Seattle, taking care of business on the homefront. It's odd not to have a place to go to....

More posts to follow soon!

Deconstruction - Oh boy, it's happening now!

While it looked pretty 'normal' on the beach side,

(To enlarge any photo, just click on it)

The deconstruction had begun on the street side.




Slowly, carefully, each truss was cut off , craned off, cleaned off, and carefully stacked.


This is a video of the end cap coming off.
Work continued all morning and we enjoyed the crisp, sunny, windy day.

Jazz took her job as Big Dog Supervisor very seriously!

Meanwhile Brendan and I decided to check out the view from the beach. As we walked out to the bulkhead, we noticed two eagles intent on their task. Check out the video.

In the end, they got their prey, a surf scoter. It was pretty sad, but Brendan said it well, it was the cycle of life.

When roof was off, the crew enjoyed a good pizza lunch

while we checked on what was left of the interior.

After lunch, it was time for the chimney to come down. Sebastian strapped it together and down the top came!

The video shows it in detail!

Then it was time for the walls. They came off in big sections and were carefully stacked for their destination. A man up the hill is using all this material for an outbuilding. It's exciting to think that the house parts will still be on Utsalady.


I am amazed at the skill and teamwork of the entire crew:
Sebastian, who led the deconstruction, nimbly moving about on the roof like a tightrope walker;

Fred, the inside guy, worked to free up the trusses and wall sections;

Brendon and Dave who were on the ground, catching the segments, loading the dumpster, cleaning off the pieces that will be recycled; and

Jim, who made sure that all was going smoothly and safely; and patiently answered all our questions.

Let's not forget Tim, who ran the crane so skillfully. Great work, guys!



As we were leaving, the second floor walls were coming down. We retrieved a few more treasures from the garage. The wood panels containing the builders' signatures and date of the original house, 1925, and Judy's mussel shell wreath were the last treasures we brought home to Seattle to prepare for their place in the new house.

The house is gutted!

(click on the photos to enlarge)

With the wallboard gone, we got to see a little history of our house. There on the living room wall of the old house was a notation by Thomas Brue and Andrew Lieknes, saying they built the house in 1925! It's followed by another note saying that the ceiling was added July 8-14th 1931. A little while later we spotted a notation on another part of the wall- partially hidden by a stud. Mrs. Brue and Mrs. Lieknes gathered wild blueberries for canning, and caught 2 salmon in 193?.......

What does one do with this history? It must be saved!

Jeff and I spent a few hours today checking on the progress of the deconstruction. It's amazing what can be done in less than a week.

All that's left are the outside walls and roof, inside studs, stubbed pipes, a few electrical wires.

Meanwhile the work goes on.

The bricks are being cleaned off to be reused.

Downstairs and upstairs..

The house looks expansive.

This is a different kind of "split level"!


Our builder, Jim showed us some unique aspects of the construction.

Friday, weather permitting, the boom crane will be removing sections of the walls which will be trucked to a site nearby. That will be so exciting! You'll be able to catch the excitement in a future post.

The House is Coming Down!

I had this insatiable urge to check in on the deconstruction, so I got my buddy Shawn, who loves adventures, to come with me for a quick trip up to Camano

Although it looks pretty orderly from the street, there is a lot happening.

The upstairs is gutted; and the guys were madly working on the downstairs.

Our kitchen appliances have moved to the patio. The dumpster is full and they were anxiously awaiting an exchange.

The stairwell is now open.

Hey, Bruce was right, there's actually a lot of space in here!

Next post? We'll hopefully get to watch the big boom crane remove sections of walls. Stay tuned!