The Framing

The old framing inside the house was quite interesting. Since the northwestern corner of the house had sunken 6 inches, all the studs had twisted in that direction. There were maybe two straight studs in the whole house. We discovered areas that had been burnt in a fire, and another that had been hit by a truck. They were all solid and the original 2x4 size held together by 1x12 lath on the outside, so the newer studs fit right next to the old ones. We framed for all new windows and doors, this time making them square. We moved the front door, and added a door to the laundry room. My Dad framed the inside walls and doorways, and Kristi and I replaced windows and siding. I drilled holes in the studs, and Kristi pulled all the wiring. The plan at this point was to get the inside wired, and walls drywalled (but not the ceiling) including the insulation. We were going to have to pull a permit to build the new roof, so we wanted to be far enough along so that it appeared we were replacing the ceiling drywall and insulation under the roof permit.

The Foundation

Once we ran the new drain plumbing, and built the forms, we were ready to call in the first round of concrete. The company accross the street from my work just happend to be the only one that pumps concrete for hire. The rest of the concrete pumpers were contractors who not only don't answer the phone, they won't call you back unless you wanted to build a new apartment complex. I knew this from experience, from when I wanted to pour a new garage floor back in '03. That little project trained me for this go around, and I was prepared to do it myself again, rented tools in hand. The concrete truck pulled up to the side of the house, and the pump on the back of another truck. They hooked up the hose, wetted down the mixture, and started pumping, with one of thier guys a the end of the hose, the other on the remote control controling the slurry from inside the house. We even had a bit extra to fix the jacuzzi pad, and the side walk where I had to dig under the front house. We now had a new stem wall, completely encasing the old railroad tie foundation as well as the old crooked fir studs. This house would no longer float away like Noah's ark in high water. It was only phase one, though, no time to relax or celebrate. A couple of days went by, and we were able to remove the forms. We were still left with a two foot deep hole in the middle to fill. You know you are screwed when the guys at the equipment rental store know your name. This time we rented a bobcat. We ordered some cheap cinder sand to fill the hole. The plan was to take the huge mound of cinder sand in the street, and dump it into a make-shift chute made from the old foundation forms, right through the window. We then used a compactor to compact the sand to a depth of about 5". It was back to the rental store for a concrete drill to bore holes for re-bar, so the new pad would be affixed to the stem wall. We threw down some reinforcing mesh , and ordered the last round of concrete. This time they just poured the slump through the window, and we finished it off level with the top of the stemwall. We finally had a solid level surface to walk on. The first time in 40 years I'll bet. We used to joke when Bert lived there, that the only time the floor felt level was when you were drunk. We put the windows back in and hung some sheets up for curtains, and let it cure, never to be seen by any city official. So far all the work performed was done on the week-end and after work. We were so careful to cover our tracks, because at this point we couldn't risk a 'stop work notice.' We would be sunk, the City would never grant us permission to finish, and we might have had to stop completely and raze the entire house. It was quite nerve-wracking especially because there was a new apartment complex being built at the top of the hill, and the inspector was always driving by. Kristi knew a fellow teacher that was doing some renovations to thier house a few blocks away. Just about that time, they recieved a 'stop work notice.' The inspector inspecting the business being built next door saw that they were installing a new door on the side of thier house and blew the whistle on them. They got off having only to pay for a $50 permit, though they had already completed a host of other renovations. Once they saw work being performed outside the house they called it quits on them. I counted my lucky stars it was them and not me.

The Demolition

The only thing left to do was grin and bear it, and take our aggressions out on the house. We tore out the walls, we tore out the ceiling, we tore out the floors. We shoveled the pulp insulation, we cut the water pipes, and we filled the dumpster, and again and again. Everything was scrapped, the electrical, the fixtures, the toilet, everything but the kitchen sink. That was still okay. We ripped off the siding, we tossed all the windows, and threw away the door. (This is starting to sound like a Dr Seuss Book) As I stood on the dirt floor looking at an empty shell, I began to realize that the house would have to be completely rebuilt from the inside out. Tearing it down and rebuilding would have been much easier. Then we dug. We dug around the railroad ties, and under them. We dug for days around the perimeter of the house to create an interior footing for a foundation. We then laid down re-bar at the base of the footing, getting ready for the forms.

The Damage

I didn't really bother trying to find the exact source of the leak, since it was definitely under the bathroom. There was no crawlspace, so the bathroom had to be gutted anyway. Once we gutted the bathroom it became clear that the entire inside of the house would have to be gutted. No more patch jobs. I had heard that the house was built on railroad ties, and it was true. No real foundation. To top it off the house had sunken 6 inches in the corner. I had to make a series of quick decisions. I decided to do an entire renovation from the ground up. I knew if I were to tear down the house, the city would never let me rebuild it. It was too close to the property line and would have to be moved to the set-back code, not leaving me any space to move it. Not to mention that the house is in a primary flood zone, as the incorrect alignment of the Rio de Flag runs directly adjacent to my property. I would have to do all the work with the existing structure under radar. After taking some measurements, we realized that the ceiling height was 6" higher than 8 feet from floor level. That meant that I could finish off the inside, by making it square and no one would know that it had sunken. Since I couldn't tear the house down and build a bonified foundation I would have to make a foundation inside the house by digging under the railroad ties and encasing the ties, and wall studs in solid concrete. Then there was the roof. It was practically flat, and became permently damaged from the huge snows from last year. The leaks could not be stopped. A new roof would have to be built, right over the old one. This was the plan, and I knew that no contractor would take on the challenge. They only want to do the easy stuff- new construction. Even if I found one desperate enough to take on the task, I would've beeen in the poor house by the time I was done. I would have to cash out on all the equity on the property, and have a new loan payment. To top it all off, the economy was tanking. Property values were sinking, and Kristi's job was up in the air. The daunting renovation was weighing on me with the realization that I would have to take all my savings, vacation time, week-end time, and every waking moment not at work to do the renovation. And I had to hurry. I was loosing rent for every month there was no renter. I already lost last year's vacation to put the roof on my house, which was still not done on the inside. I was saving my money to finish that, and had to quickly drop that dream and start a nightmare. This was the low point. I thought surely Kristi would be packed and down the road. Last year's project was taxing on the relationship as it was. I knew I could do it, but I new I couldn't do it alone. The path would be arduous, but clear. I presented the plan to Kristi and my Dad. Some how they reluctanly were on board. I think that they saw no other options either. They knew I was in trouble, and by the grace of God, loved me enough to stick with me to the bitter end. Oh, did I mention the mold and smell of cat piss?

The Water Leak

On March 20th I discovered something somewhat expected. What I mean is that when owning a house built in the 1940s there are bound to be some maintenance issues. How was I supposed to know it would be the worst case scenario? My water bill came, and it came with a vengeance. I had used 55,000 gallons of water. I really didn't know where it was leaking though. There was no clear evidence. No flowing river of water from a identifiable source. So, I had to hire a plumber to probe the ground listening for running water. It was discovered coming from the rental house, in back. I notified the tenant, Joel that there would be a possibility he would have to move out. He wasn't at all happy. I suggested to him that if we would be able to access the leak and repair it, he wouldn't have to move, if not, than a major renovation would probably be the result. I dug down next to the foundation, and a flood of water came rushing out. It had filled up the crawlspace. That explained why the floor was sinking, but the shower and toilet wasn't. I gave Joel a month's notice to vacate (fortunately he was on a month-to-month lease). For the next month I had to go to the curb in the morning, turn the water on for an hour, then turn it back off until evening, then go to the curb and do it all again. Once he had moved out, the renovations began with the water line. It was galvanized pipe from the curb to both houses. I saw no point in trying to salvage the elderly steel. I called the plumber again and asked for a bid to replace the line with PEX plastic piping. If I did the excavating it would cost me only $1000, otherwise it would be $4000. I figured I could run a ditch witch as well as anybody, especially if it saved me $3000. Little did I know I would be needing every penny I had. The first challenge was to move the 5 person jacuzzi tub. I figured that if the Egyptians could move giant rocks, I could move a jacuzzi. First I built a cart, welding it out of steel and using wheel barrow wheels. Then I used pipes under the tub to roll it onto the cart. Slowly we rolled it out of the yard, like a house mover. A few welds broke in the street as the result of trying to make too sharp of a turn, but I eventually got it into the side yard. The next task was to concrete saw the jacuzzi pad and jack hammer a section to allow the ditch witch a path. I ran the ditch witch for three days, parallel to the old water line for a total of about 80 feet. I then had to dig under my house foundation, and under the rental foundation by hand, so the new plumbing could be connected. The photos show the 30" deep trench with boards covering it up, so the dogs or Kristi wouldn't fall in them and break a leg. The trench was only about 6" wide after all.