We've Made the Newspaper!

Tomorrow, May 1st, we will be in the Muskogee Phoenix Newspaper.  We met with a journalist who wanted to do a story on our house and the history behind it and we are so excited to see how it turns out.  If you live locally, pick up a copy!  If you are following from out of town, I think you will be able to view the newspaper online at www.muskogeephoenix.com.  Let me know what you think!

As for the house, things are still going smoothly!  The insulation was sprayed in by A&A Spray Foam Insulation and the closets upstairs are getting framed in along with the wall that will divide the master bath and laundry room.  The electricians are still getting everything wired in, which has been a huge job starting from scratch and wiring the entire house!  

The entire attic space looks like this and is top of the line insulation!

Because of the age of our house we were kind of worried about lead paint being present so I decided to head on over to Lowe's and get a test kit.  Unfortunately the test results were positive(see the pink test stick in the picture) so we called a paint company, Reliable Painting Company from Eufala, OK, who specialize in lead paint testing to come out and do a proper test.  Fortunately, after they tested the entire house, they only found it in a few certain places where the same color paint was used.  So they are going to give us an encapsulation plan to seal it up and we will be on our way.  They also told us that our workers aren't at risk because it isn't pealing and they aren't sanding it or messing with it so that was wonderful news.

On the side of the house where the garage will go there are tons of beautiful purple Iris flowers.  We are NOT very good yard/flower people but from what I understand, these are pretty durable, so we decided to replant them in the back yard since they were going to get dug up anyway.  We planted them around some of the trees in the back and I think they look great.  At least for our skills they do! Ha!  If they don't make it, then at least we tried.  

 It's a little bit harder to see in this picture because we need to mow!

Todd decided to venture up on the roof and I just happened to be in the front yard when he yelled down and freaked me out!  It's a LONG way up there!

Walls and Ceilings and Floors Oh My!

Everything is still moving along, even a little ahead of schedule, so that is great news!  The electricians have continued to put in all the new electrical throughout the house.  The heating/ac guys have also still been working hard getting our 3 units installed.  It is possible that by next week we will have all 3 units that sit outside in their proper place!  The framers had a huge job of framing out the basement to get it ready for drywall.  While this seems like a fairly normal job, the ceiling isn't quite level so they had to make slight adjustments all over to ensure that it will be level!  Talk about patience on their part!  It looks great!  Also the ceiling in the upstairs has been repaired and it looks fabulous!  It might sound kind of silly to be so excited about a ceiling, but they were really really sagging low and this is going to be a main bedroom in the house so to get that looking like a normal ceiling is a wonderful thing!  They have also gotten all of the cabinets out of the kitchen and it looks huge!  We will fill it up quickly with a new island, professional grade oven/range and a huge fridge and freezer.  Here are some pictures of the progress.

Here is the start of the framing.  You can see the ceiling boards in place but also a rectangular duct of sorts going in.  This is to run needed electrical lines, ac stuff, etc.  It stands out now but will blend in when the drywall is up.

Here is a picture of the wall going back up where it once was.  If you remember from the beginning there was a wall with a pantry in it for the original kitchen.  It had to come down to repair the foundation and it was a mess anyway.  We are putting the wall back as well as the pantry but changing it up a little to include an hvac unit. In this picture you are standing with your back to the front of the house in the basement living room looking to the back of the house.

 Here is another view now from the back of the house looking forward.  On the right of the picture you can see what looks like a small door opening.  This will be a door to access the hvac unit that will be walled in a the back of the closet.  On the left of the picture you can see a door opening(where the worker is on scaffolding).  This is the door that will lead into the living room. If you were standing in that doorway and turned to your right, you will be staring into the closet.  We are going to be using this closet as additional pantry space for the kitchen since we won't have a walk in pantry upstairs.  This room is going to be our home gym so we don't really need a closet but if we ever decide to convert the room to a bedroom, we will have a closet in there.

This view might make it look confusing, but it's a view into the closet, where the door will be, and you can see where the hvac will be in the back.  It will be dry walled in and so you won't see it when it's complete.  There will be floor to ceiling shelving on the left side all the way to the back and then across the back.  No hanging storage since we don't really need it.

 Here are a few shots of the upstairs ceiling.  So happy how they turned out!

 

Here is a nice view of the kitchen all emptied out.  I'm not sure when the construction of the cabinets will begin but we were very happy to see how great the floors looked when the island was removed.

 The floors on this wall were not in as good of shape as the other areas because the sink was over there and was leaking, so there is water damage.  Fortunately it's not bad enough to have to rip out and replace and because we will be placing cabinets and appliances on that wall they won't be visible anyway.

This picture might be a little confusing at first glance.  It was taken at the top of the stairs(see the railing on the left and you can barely see the window and doors from the main level in the center of the picture).  The popcorn ceiling on the right is the old ceiling and the wood at the bottom is the new dropped ceiling on the main floor.  As you can see the duct work is running through here along with some electrical stuff.  This is a tricky spot.  We are going to have to close up this gap without messing up the banister.  Just one of the fun little quirks you run in to when renovating an old space.

Workers Everywhere!

Things have really picked up this week!  I didn't think I would ever say that because they have been moving so quickly already!  Last night we had a meeting with the Fort Gibson Historical Society to get approval for our garage and our front porch addition.  The Historical Society's main goal is to preserve the original history of the house and so they are an important part of our renovation process.  If they don't feel the exterior plans(they aren't concerned with the interior work) live up to their expectations for a historical property, they can decline our permits.  They were very excited about the work we are doing and we were issued the documents needed to start work on the garage and porch.  We have been so happy to see the excitement that our house has brought to so many local people who have fond memories of the house and are looking forward to seeing it brought back to life.

Today the house was filled with workers!  Every floor had a crew working!  The front yard looked like a parking lot and I love it!  This means progress!

 Down in the basement they have begun the framing for the drywall and also there are lots of electrical and HVAC stuff running throughout but aren't visible in this picture.

 This is on the main floor.  There are electricians installing recessed lighting, outlets, light switches...you name it they are working on it!  And the heating and ac guys are working on this floor and the upstairs installing these pipes for the units (I think).

 

 Outside our head contractor, Spencer Roth, and our local building inspector and code enforcement officer, Joe Roark, are discussing plans for the detached garage.  I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture but there is a green garden hose marking off the front of the garage.  Don't worry, we will get a little more technical when it's time to pour the concrete! lol  This space is located on the West side of the house and because we are building a 3 car garage we are very limited on space.  We have to abide by city codes to stay a certain distance from the property line but we also don't want it too close to the house.  It also has to be 60ft from the front of the property(which is where the sidewalk is).  We are good with that distance but because of the slope of the land we will be building a retaining wall to level out the land.  It's a big project but it will look great in the end.

 This is a sketch I did of our future garage.  Sorry the picture isn't that great.  The slope of the roof will be similar to that of the house and we will have 3 carriage doors and the entire garage, on all sides, will be faced with local stone that matches the house.  We are trying to make it look like it's been there all along. 

A slow and steady week!

Things are still moving along in the house.  The HVAC crew is still working running duct work and all that goes along with that whole process.  The framers are starting to work on the upstairs ceiling and have really done a great job of getting the ceilings back up where they should be.  They will be getting 5" back!!  Which is a lot of sagging when you think about it.  We will also be getting a new roof withing the next couple of weeks.  We have had some rain (ok really a TON of rain lately) and because the ceilings are down we can see there is a leak.  We also have been talking cabinets, flooring, and lighting and actually picked out all of our light fixtures this weekend!  Wow, we are worn out from that, but I am so excited at all the great fixtures we found!  Here is a little sneak peek of one of our favorites!

This is one of three we will have hanging over the island in the kitchen!

Treasures!

This weekend we were able explore a little more down in the cistern.  It was all drained out and Todd spent about 2 hours digging around and leaving no stone, brick, and, um...tennis racket unturned!  We did find a few old items that are kind of neat to see and wonder what they were from but we unfortunately didn't find anything like coins or military type relics like we thought we would. At least now we know there is nothing down there and we can fill it in with dirt, rocks, etc. and close it up for good.  It's quite a safety concern having it open, even though it is fenced off.  

 

 Heading down to explore!

 

 Using the metal detector.  A friend's son let us borrow his metal detector and we will probably need to just get one because I can see us using it again in the future!

 Because there were rocks that fell in when it was opened, Todd had to check one side, piece by piece, and then move all the rocks to the other side and then look again.  It was a lot of hard work!

 Our most surprising treasure from the cistern!  There is a tennis court next door that was built by the Garrett family that once lived in the house in the 1930's so maybe it was one of theirs!

 So here is what he dug up!  The small thin pieces are part of a handle to an old bucket along with the piece that would have attached to one side of the bucket, which we assume was used to haul water up from the cistern.  The piece on the left is the hook and the cable type material that would have hooked to the bucket and pulled up with the cable.  The lower pieces are some bolts on the right and left and then a wrench in the middle.  The 2 rock pieces in the upper right are puzzling to us.  They trigger the metal detector but we can't figure out what they are.  The just look like rocks.

 Some up close shots of the bucket and hook parts.

 Up close of wrench and bolt

 When the foundation guys were working in the basement they uncovered this glass bottle.  I'm not sure how old it is but it has a cork top and looks like it was blown as opposed to more modern techniques.

We are so blessed to have this beautiful property and wanted to share our wonderful view from the back patio!  Can't wait to move in and wake up to this view every day!

A Busy Weekend!

This weekend the framers worked all day on Saturday framing out the ceiling on the main floor.  They used every bit of the wood that was delivered last week.  They still have a little bit more to do on that floor before they move up to the second floor and start to repair the ceiling from the fire damage.  Unfortunately the wasps have moved in to all the nice open rafters up there and we are having to do an insect bomb to clear them out before any more work can be done.  They were quick to build their nests once the weather turned nice.  We've also had a few birds drop in for a visit but they just spent the night and then were on their way!  

 

 You can see what a job this is to put up these huge boards! 

 

 This is a view of the living room ceiling.  The electrician hasn't removed any of the old lights yet because they needed them to see, but they will be removed when all of the new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC is installed in that space above the wood. 

 This is the room adjacent to the living room where our pool table will be.

This picture shows you how far down the new ceiling will be from the original.  It also shows how high the ceiling will still be from the doors.  On the one hand we hated to lose the high ceilings but our ceilings are still 12ft high, so that is still really really high.  And not only will the lowered ceilings benefit us because of all the electrical, plumbing, etc. that will be able to fit in now, but it will also help with keeping the house warm/cool.

It's still standing!

Yesterday the foundation crew lifted the basement ceiling and almost got it completely level.   We weren't expecting to get it perfectly level but were surprised at how level it ended up being.  I wasn't there to witness it, which was probably a good thing since I heard it was a little scary with all the creaking and popping noises coming out of the old house as they jacked it up, but it worked out perfectly and I've got some finished pictures of the supports in place.  

This is the block wall they built to support the new beams.  

 I'm not sure how it all worked out since I missed it but these metal posts will stay there forever.

 

 

 

   Today a big load of lumber was dropped off so they can start framing out the new ceiling on the main level.  Remember the ceilings on the mail level will be dropped to accomodate all of the new duct work, plumbing, and electrical. The framing is supposed to get done this weekend!! Yay!

 

 Also this week Todd was able to get down into the cistern with the metal detector and see if there is any treasure down there.  He did one side and didn't find anything but plans to go down one more time before we close it up for good.  We were surprised that we haven't found anything in it yet, but who knows what's on the other side.  It is also a little difficult to look around in there because of some of the debris that fell in when we uncovered it.  That makes it a little harder to get to the bottom and he is having to move stuff from one side to the other.

While the concrete dries...

While the guys have been working on the foundation in the basement, the crew from The Roth Company in Muskogee, led by our head contractor Spencer Roth, have been working upstairs pulling out the ceiling that was sagging and uncovered a mess in the attic.  Several years ago there was a fire in the attic, which we were told was started by the roof getting struck by lightning, and there was a lot of fire damage.  The roof was removed(we can tell that because of the way the support beams were installed from the top down which could have only been done with the roof off) and several of the important beams were just cut where there was significant fire damage and not replaced properly.  Therefore the ceiling was sagging along with the beams.  You will be able to see in the pictures where they just cut beams off randomly.  Also the guys from Action Air Heating and Cooling from Wagoner have been installing the HVAC ducts in the attic

The view at the top of the stairs! Yikes!!  It was a mess but they move so quickly that it was all cleaned up the next day!

 

 The bedroom directly at the top of the stairs is the master bedroom, as seen in this picture.  Fortunately there wasn't as much damage on this side of the house and therefore won't need a huge amount of work done.  The other bedroom adjacent to this room will be split up into our master bath and laundry room and will therefore have a supporting wall added to the middle to help make up for the damaged support beams.

 

 The other side of the house is where there will need to be more work done to repair the ceiling.  In this picture you can see some of the charred wood(and also the new duct work!! YAY!).

 

  

 Here is a nice view of the mess!  It's amazing how quickly they work at demo and then how quickly it all disappears into the giant dumpster out back!

 

 

  

 Well I finally went up into the attic to see the damage and so I thought I would add this picture of the ladder leading up to the roof.  And no, I didn't go any further! Haha.  One day.  But not this day!  You can see some of the burnt wood on the ladder.

 

 This is a really good picture of the new and old wood.  Our guys haven't done any repair work yet so you can really get a sense of what they did way back when to "repair" the ceiling.  You can see where they cut the beams and just did a half way decent job of adding some new wood but it wasn't enough to support the weight of the roof.

 

 Just another angle of some cut off beams.  One good thing about seeing the cut off beams is that we can see they weren't burnt all the way through, so they at least had some life left in them.  Enough to keep the roof from caving in I guess.  This will all be done correctly and then dry walled over.

 Just a few more pictures of the demolition and the HVAC going in.