Kitchen Nightmares: Somerville Edition

So I had a request for more info on the big support beam we had installed yesterday.  I’ll try to describe the issue and show some more detailed pictures.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, our upstairs bathroom sits on top of the kitchen, but it only covers about half of the room.  The other half is where we have a higher ceiling in the back of the kitchen.  At the back of of the bathroom, a load-bearing wall across what is now the kitchen must have been removed at some point.  No replacement support for the upper floor was added.

Now, I don’t believe that the upper floor was completely unsupported because we never had any settling or or instability up there.  I think it just wasn’t supported in a way that met modern building codes.  It looked like the framing of the upper floor may have been attached to the side of some large support columns on one side, but there was nothing supporting it directly from underneath.  The bottom of the upper floor looked like this:

Kitchen ceiling

Unfortunately I don’t seem to have any pictures of the sides of the upper floor, where it meets the two kitchen walls.  Just the photo above, which shows what the main part of the ceiling looked like before the changes.  The old strapping, about 3 inches’ worth, was removed, lessening the amount that we would have to lower the ceiling to accommodate the beam.

Yesterday, the new support was installed across the kitchen.  It’s the large, medium-colored horizontal beam in this photo:

New support beam

It’s now sitting underneath the back of the upstairs bathroom.  The old wood above the beam in the photo is the outside of the bathroom.  On what would be the left side of the photo above, it’s supported by a large column that was already part of the structure.  A notch was cut out of the column and the beam was set into it, like so:

Left-side support for new beam

The existing column is the ancient-looking wooden piece in the lower-right.  A new 2×4 was also placed to the left, presumably to add extra bracing to keep the beam in the notch.  The three horizontal slats below the beam are unfinished strapping for the ceiling to the right.

On the right side of the first photo, a new support column had to be built.  It consists of three 2×4s stacked together and placed alongside part of the brick wall.  You can only see one of the three 2×4s (the others are stacked behind it), and there’s a lot of other stuff going on in this photo, but here’s what it looks like:

Right side support for new beam

Again on this side, there’s an extra 2×4 to support the outside of the beam and hold it in place horizontally.  The plywood over top of the column is extra support for cabinets.

In the end, we lowered the ceiling below the bathroom by about 6 inches.  The old ceiling was somewhere around 9 feet, so we’ve still got an 8 1/2-foot ceiling in that part of the kitchen.  Not too bad.

Progress today was less dramatic.  There’s a lot of that plywood bracing for cabinets:

Plywood supports for cabinets

And the plumbing for the sink was moved:

A very exciting picture of new pipes

I am pleased to report that we have had daily inspections and have, to my knowledge, passed them all.  Every day when he’s allowed downstairs, Ruskin heads straight for the kitchen and sniffs everything from new construction to floor protectors to tools that the workers left behind for the night.  As far as I know, his only complaint has been that it’s “different.”

The inspector at work

Also today, Anne had her LASIK enhancement.  We ordered from Redbones and ate in near-darkness to avoid hurting her eyes.  Afterward I finally washed some dishes in the upstairs bathroom.  It was awkward without a drying rack.  I was constantly worried about clogging the drain with the little amount of food left on the plates.  And I just know I’m going to drop a bunch of glasses trying to carry them up and down the stairs all the time.  Maybe plastic is best.

Uncategorized construction, framing, inspections, open walls, plumbing

Yesterday’s bad news turned into today’s progress.  Many of the fixes were completed, including installation of the big support beam, leveling out of the main wall, lowering the frames of both ceilings, repair of the mystery door, and removal of the insulation which wasn’t up to code.

Incidentally, today I was home trying to get over a slight cold.  The goal was to get some rest to keep it from getting worse.  It’s hard to rest, though, when the house is rattled constantly by hammering, pneumatic nail guns, and the extremely loud air compressor powering them.  I guess it’s just not a good idea to be sick during a renovation project.

Had an Anna’s burrito for dinner tonight.  Very few dishes required for that.  We haven’t even tried yet to deal with the microwave/toaster oven setup we’ve got in the dining room.  Dining In and our favorite delivery/takeout places are our best friends.

Here are a couple of pictures of the new work:

New support beam and lowered ceiling frame

Other side of the support beam, and repaired mystery door frame

Lowered upper ceiling frame to accomodate new insulation and lighting

Uncategorized construction, framing, open walls

We knew that once we got started, there might be additional costs that we didn’t or couldn’t expect, especially since the plan was to tear down all the walls and expose 118-year-old structural framing.  Like clockwork, the day after the walls came down, we got the bad news: there were structural issues that would need to fixed to meet building code.

There were little things: framing around the door and window weren’t adequate.  The mystery doorway had been poorly filled in.  There was no insulation on the outer wall and the ceiling insulation was both inadequate for under a roof and not properly vented.  The main wall was uneven and needed to be leveled with plywood.  All of this was annoying, but (miraculously) included in George’s original cost.  He had budgeted for framing enhancements.

Then there was the big one.  As you can see in the picture below, our kitchen ceiling is normal height in the front of the room, then shoots up higher toward the back.  This corresponds to the upper floor ending and the ceiling reaching up directly to a lower roof, below our upstairs bathroom window.

Kitchen ceiling

Apparently, there used to be a load-bearing wall at this point holding up the upper floor and the roof above it.  Now there’s no wall and no replacement support.  While we have never had any settling or structural issue resulting from the lack of support, it doesn’t meet building codes.  Now that the walls are open and it’s visible, we have to fix it.

The fix involves putting a 9-inch beam across the room and attaching it to support columns on the sides.  Fortunately, there’s a giant wooden support on one side where the beam can be attached.  On the other side, we need a new column.  No big deal.

But now the beam will stick down into the room.  There are three inches’ worth of extraneous wood that can be removed from the existing ceiling, so we only have to lower the ceiling height by 6 inches.  Aesthetically unfortunate, but it still fits with our cabinet design.  Big sigh of relief.

The final tally: $1,900 added to a project that was already way over budget.

Pictures of the beam and new ceiling tomorrow…

Uncategorized construction, extra cost, open walls

When we originally met with our contractor, George, he advised us to let him tear down all of the plaster and drywall so that the electrical and plumbing work could be done more easily.  We’re moving the sink and cooktop and adding a lot of lighting, so in the end it would be faster and easier (and cheaper) to strip down to the studs rather than routing new plumbing, gas, and electrical lines through existing walls.

Of course, that makes for a much more radical transformation at the start of the project.  When we came home today, we didn’t recognize the room.  There was the exposed brick of the firewall between our unit and next door, the frame of an old doorway we didn’t know existed, electrical wiring sticking out all over the place, and a hole in the ceiling where we could look up and see the bottom of our bathtub in the bathroom upstairs.  The only thing left of the original room was the hardwood floor and the back door, which we’re keeping.

Our place was built in 1890 but because of renovations does not feel nearly that old, at least above the basement.  Without any walls, you can really see how old a building this is.  The wood framing looks absolutely ancient.  Lots of photos below.

But first, an update on the cat situation: by blockading the entire railing with spare shelves from the basement, we’ve managed to contain Ruskin, at least for now.  Clyde still seems able to pass through the gate at will.  No idea how she does it.

Formerly the main wall with all the cabinets. That's our screen door that they removed during construction.

More of the main wall, with plumbing and haphazard electrical wiring

Other wall, with mystery doorway on the right.

One familiar thing: the back door.

Looking up into the bathroom wall at the bathtub drain. I repaired the wall above after we had our shower leak repaired.

Protection for the hallway and dining room.

Uncategorized construction, open walls