All Cleaned Out

It took 12 grueling hours with 5 people and 2 runs to the dump, but the 2nd and 3rd floors of Race St are cleaned out…nothing left but brick walls and floors (and the furnaces that, come to find out, were not installed with a permit). The 1st floor is almost as bare, I left 2 stud walls up to hold an elevated furnace in its current position, as that will likely be my heat source for that space come winter. The prettiest bathroom in the world is also still tucked in the back corner (when you gotta go….)

1st Floor

Looking in from the front door

There used to be walls...

2nd Floor

3rd Floor

The one thing that pisses me off? If I had decided to just gut the whole thing in the first place I could have had this done in two weeks and a few dumpsters….max. On the other hand, by essentially deconstructing the house piece by piece I learned a lot about construction (although much of that was what NOT to do).

The next step is floor plans. I’ve been sketching things out at 1/8″ scale, and it’s funny how it all works on paper, and then you stand there in the space and realize none of it works, and it’s back to the drawing board. Here is my latest set of hair-brained ideas after laying things out in the empty spaces. The coolest part….I think I can eek out a 2 bed, 2 bath which adds so much more value to the property.

I think this is the 8th revision, which means there are about 100 more to come before I’m happy…