Permit, finally (partially)

Right before the Christmas, our building permit came out. It is for the 1st and 2nd floors. The basement will be "filed" (meaning, it will continue to be perused by the authorities, due to the technical nature of its underpinning process). At least we can start something! We have started the process of selecting windows, interior and exterior doors and skylights. We have also met with candidate contractors for masonry, insulation and the security system. Right after the New Year's Day weekend, work will start in these areas. Yeah!

Lots more pictures

Here are many pictures of the house interior before we started, the demolition, and some of the new stair opening. The bright spots in some pix are dust caught in the flash.
Before:
1. This shows the LR fireplace before demolition.

2. Kitchen appliances with water heater.

3. Second BR in lovely green with light bulb and transom.

Demolition Phase:
4. Chimney in transition. Looking from dining room - backside of fireplace in Picture 1.

5. First floor demolition nearly done. Dusty!

6. MBR demolition

7. MBR wall with furring remaining. The light colored horizontal strips in the brickwork are where the builders inserted lath strips between the brick courses as nailers for the furring.

8. First floor demolition. No more chimney-opening it up inside.

9. Second floor demolition looking into the MBR. Note the plaster marks across the old remaining studs.


Stair opening and joist support:
10. New stair opening to basement (note ladder sticking up) and kitchen subfloor repair. Stronger and better already!

11. Close up of new stair opening to basement showing the now-vacant joist pockets in the common wall.

12. In the still-scary basement. Sistered joists, old joists, and new joists. The red bricks at the far end are the expanded joist pockets for the sisters. The extra large pockets will be filled in when the final floor leveling is done.

Permit Limbo

Not much is happening now as far as construction is concerned. We are waiting for construction permits to come out. We have finished everything required to send to the "permit runner" (a person who does the dealing with permit authorities for living). I personally believe that construction permit regulations should be straightforward enough for us laymen (and laywomen?) to handle, but in the real world they are not and we rely on those people who have had a lot of dealings with the corresponding authorities and therefore are better able to predict what they will say. That's why they are also called expediters. We are using this time to research on different options on insulation materials, multiple showerhead systems, flooring materials for different parts of the house, water heaters, exterior paint colors, and so on.