Craftsman Full Gut & 2nd Story Addition!

Craftsman Full Gut & 2nd Story Addition!

Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes

Howdy!  This isn't "My" deal, but I get to be directly involved, and part of the process.  I am working part time with an HVAC contractor who has started remodeling 100 year old houses as a "hobby".  It doesn't make him the margin some accomplished flippers achieve here, but what they do with these houses is amazing!

This particular house was purchased for cash.  He has an agent that he works with (sadly before I got my license) whom he asked to door-knock about this house.  Sure enough, the owners were old and ready to sell.  It was in really rough shape.  Nearly every surface in the house will need to be touched, and in some cases gutted down to the dirt.  I will post lots of pics along the way.

The house was purchased at the end of last year.  I've been involved since the 2nd week of January, working in Sketchup to model the house as is existed, then work up plans for the new layout.  So plumbers, framers, the city, etc. will have what they need.  Meeting with the project manager, owner & his wife nearly daily to talk about options and changes, and take pics of te transformation. 

Getting paid to learn Sketchup on the fly, and learn the ins and outs of a ground-up full gut renovation along the way!  

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Contractor · Denver, CO · Member since 2009 · 399 posts · 166 votes
10y

Where the plans engineered?  I hope you put a foundation in there before adding a second floor.  Looks like the whole house sits on blocks. I wouldn't cut that bottom chord either. It's holding the roof together. 

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  • Bealeton, VA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 14 votes
    10y

    @Shane WoodsGreat pictures.  I'm going to have to start doing the stairs on my new construction soon.  I've never done interior stairs before myself.  Any general things to look out for?  

    How are you going to finish the steps?  

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Hey @Jimmy Nguyen, funny you should ask about stairs.  I just finished getting those pics.  We have "a guy" that does the stair finish out.  You'll see from the pics what the plan is.  Open for a few steps on both sides, then wall the rest of the way.  We'll have custom ballasters on both sides of the exposed steps.  The banisters will also be custom, and wrap the corner & continue up the wall.

    We did the stairs with good old fashioned algebra.  Or simple math and lots of "try this number", whichever you prefer.  We knew the height of the top step, and we know code says we can't have more than an 8" tread height, and we know we want 12" stair depth.  So you divide the top stair height by the tread height to get the number of steps (use the whole number only).  Then adjust by a little until you have equal steps except the first one can be a little less, but not much.  We ended up with somewhere near 7.5" per step. It's not an exact science.  Then you have to take the tread depth (12") and multiply it by the number of steps to get your floor footprint...in our case we had 17 steps so our stairwell footprint is the width of the stairs x 17' deep.

    Hope that makes sense.  Then you have someone that's done it before (we have a guy) to build it all. 

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Yesterday and today, we got almost all the 2nd floor joists in.  We're using 14" BCI on 16" centers, except where we needed doubles, smaller gaps, etc.  We also installed the super heavy 6"x14" Beam for the opening into living/dining off the stairwell.  Here are some pics of the big beam and 2nd floor joists going in. 

    Here's the Master Bedroom with all joists above. Hallway side sits on the hallway wall.  Saved money on hangers, and makes the wall more structural.  Note the double joist above on the far wall.  That is where the load-bearing wall on the 2nd story dormer will be.

    Here's the exterior Wall side of Master Bedroom.  For those who may be wondering "where are the hangers?". The answer is they were installed today. Our PM prefers to hang them with a couple nails first, then go back with hangers, to make sure the joist and the hanger are exactly where he wants them.

    Here's one end of the mega beam. It was too long to capture in one pic. Note the equally big post.  6" beam = 6" post.  Don't skimp on weight capacity.

    Here's the other end of the mega beam.  Again, 6" post to support it.  We'll fur out the wall next to the 6" post on this end to make it look right.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    One of the coolest parts of the rehab for me, the stairs are done!  Here are some pics!

    Here's the view from just inside the front door.  It's about 7' from front door to where stairs start.

    Here's the view from the living/dining area

    This angle from inside the office shows the framing for the hall under-stairs closet.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Did I mention all the reclaimed wood?  We kept all the exterior wall studs, much of the sill plates & top plates which were in good condition to be 100 years old.  We also pulled off A LOT of wall board.  Most of it is just "regular", and some of it is shiplap.  The shiplap will be cleaned and reused in the office.  At least on the fireplace wall, if not more.  The "regular" board, will be ripped & planed to make floors and doors.

    We have a couple guys that work periodically for minimum wage just de-nailing reclaimed wood.

    The goal is to use all the flooring we salvaged to be used upstairs.  Hopefully there will be enough to not have to add any upstairs.  Downstairs, we plan on using the old wall wood to turn into beautiful wide solid flooring planks.  We're also (if time allows) going to do custom front and back doors out of the old wall-wood.  Maybe even some interior doors as well.  Possibly the kitchen island top.

    Here's an idea how much wood there is to use.  These two pics are only the wood that's been de-nailed.  There's still lots more besides these pics. 

    This pic is all of the long wall boards, flooring, and siding we salvaged.  All De-Nailed. 

    This picture is the huge stack of short & long wall boards.  They got a little wet, so we stacked them this way so they'll dry out straight.

  • Millersville, MD · Member since 2015 · 140 posts · 47 votes
    10y

    @Shane Woods

    Thanks for the updates.  I'm really enjoying follwing this project.  Looks great so far.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Glad you're enjoying @Jim Brown!

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    So today became big changes day.  I don't have pics yet, but we went upstairs to see how everything looks with the joists in...and we realized immediately the dormers and bedrooms were too small for the space we have available. So we worked it out onsite to make the dormers 3 feet wider, giving each upstairs bedroom an additional 40sf or so. This will also cut down on some space up there we couldn't "sell" at full price.  I'll be making changes to the Sketchup plans on Monday.

  • Investor · Hortonville, WI · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 25 votes
    10y
    Great progress I'm following just so I can see more pictures! I love old homes, this one is going to be a beauty!
  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Lots more has been done!

    2nd floor sub floor and most framing is in. As soon as this rain quits, we'll cut a notch in the roofline on both sides and erect the dormer walls.  We found out the roof pitch is 5 inches rise in 12 inches of run. This is great because we can go higher with the former walls than expected. This translates to more headroom inside the bedrooms. The dormer walls will be framed at 6' 5", which is nearly a foot higher than we expected. Only the tallest humans will have to duck at the sides of the upstairs bedrooms. Flat ceiling height will be 8'. The 8' flat part will be between 4' and 5' wide down the main house & inside the dormers.

    The knee walls upstairs were framed in ~5'. On One side the roof was a little lower, and we didn't want to jack it up 3" to make the walls match. 100yr old framing doesn't want to "adjust" that much.  The knee walls are now supporting most of the roof weight, with most of the temporary roof supoorts gone now.

    I've been going through taking lots of framing measurements for Sketchup model to give to the city. The original model was my "learning" period, and I didn't build some of the walls to correct thickness. Also, we changed a fee things to make the house flow better..and align bearing walls with foundation beams a little better.

    City will need to come before we cover anything up.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    So it's been nearly a month since I've posted. I figured it was time to post some updates!  Lots has happened since the last post. We got our paperwork to the city, and got approval to continue.  I'll post pics of the progress since last post! If y'all have any questions, please ask. I never know what kinds of things folks may be interested in.

    I LOVE seeing these old houses come together.  

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Here's one right after we cut the roof for the first dormer.  This side is the hard one, because there was an existing gable we'll have to deal with the angle framing for.  Took forever to get the new lines spliced into the old lines, but it looks right now.

    Here's one of the guys setting one of the dormer walls

    Dormer 1 in Progress

    Dormer 1 more progress

    We made it work, and it looks right!

    Inside Dormer Framing Finished

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    Here's a front angle shot of dormer 1

    Here's a back angle shot of dormer 2 on the other side of the house. This one went up FAST! No existing gable framing do deal with, and already figured out the measurements on the other side.

    Here's a shot from the back of the house, showing both dormers

    This week we're working on plumbing and some exterior framing work.  We're shortening all the existing soffits, so they won't sag over time like these have. Very time consuming work, but the end result will keep the style of the house, and last much longer than if we kept the original length.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    I thought I'd include these just because they look cool.  I've never been around framing before, so this is all new to me.  And just cool!

    This is inside dormer #2 after the plywood was up. Just looks neat!

    This is a cool picture! This is where the two dormers meet the existing original roof line. Framing geometry at its best!

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    10y

    And onto the current pictures.  Its plumbing week inside! Love the cute brass stub-outs!.  All pex supply lines. Never been around a new house piping either...so again, it just looks cool to me how it all goes together!

    Stub-Outs for one side of Master Vanity

    Washer Box

    Upstairs Bath piping. 

    Roof Vent

  • Investor · Port Townsend, WA · Member since 2014 · 103 posts · 50 votes
    9y

    Hello @Shane Woods Do you have any more updates?  I am looking forward to seeing your finished out.  Thank you. 

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    I'm a little late, but thanks @Dash Siva!

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Hey @Casey Rolland, Long story....

    I need to go ahead an finish out this thread with what I have, but I won't have finished pictures. My buddy who was doing this house sold it before it was complete, and the buyers said no more inside pics past a certain point. They were a "concerned" with privacy.

    Let's see...where were we..

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    I'll go ahead and start from where I left off. Some of these you may have seen already.

    Here are some framing pics of the stairs and 2nd Floor Joists going in, and partially decked 2nd floor. 14" BCI on 16" Centers. Doubled where an upstairs wall would be. Mounted with nails first, then secured with joist hangers on the exterior walls, and sitting on top of the load bearing walls down the center of the house.

    Here are a couple of the big beams going in. Small one is for stairwell, larger one is for entry opening in to living. Large one is a 6" Beam, serious!!!

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Here are some pics of the upstairs as decking went down

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Here's some of the neat work upstairs!

    The short walls were 5' and designed to be load bearing. So was the Framing at the end of the "big room". You might notice a small doorway for storage in one side wall, and a door frame for HVAC access in the end wall.

    Roof Braces at 8' ceiling height.

    Upstairs Bathroom Framing

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Here is some of the detail framing around the old fireplace. Notice the framing for built-ins beside the fireplace!

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Old 7' window openings were re-framed for 6' windows.

    Old 4-window set was scrapped for a 3-window set, new framing

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    Here are some pics as the new windows went in and some exterior trim was added.

  • Real Estate Agent · Weatherford, TX · Member since 2011 · 726 posts · 284 votes
    9y

    The horizontal window here was original to the old house. Cool to be able to keep it. The trim board to the right of it separates some old and new siding. The new siding wasn't an exact match, and the patches didn't look right. So we pulled it all off, put all new on one side, all old on the other. Can't tell with the separator board! #FlipperHacks

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