Team AngelaIt's Like Extreme Home Makeover: Angela Edition!

It’s alleged that the first time Margie P. visited the house with Angela and their friends, before she even got out of the car she said, “You’re putting in a semi-circular driveway, right?” That hadn’t been the plan, but it is now. Margie closed me on the idea when she said, “It will take the place of a lot of grass that you then won’t have to mow.” Done! In addition it allows Angela to avoid backing out of the driveway, which can be harrowing in a neighborhood with so many kids, most of whom are used to playing in the street. Maybe just as importantly, it provides an enormous canvas for Diana and Cristina and Dante as they do large-format sidewalk-chalk work. There are “before” and “after” shots of the driveway here, and I have to say, it was an outstanding idea.

Drive before

Drive after

Last week John, our builder, said he was going to kill me, but I’m almost positive he was joking. You see he and Mike had started to install the baseboard, and the casings around the windows and doors; it’s all clear pine (no knots) to match the doors and windows. When I’d decided to use it, I had imagined it would have the same tight grain pattern that the clear pine doors have (important tip: imagining things doesn’t make them so). In the lot of lumber that we got there were a bunch of boards with thick wavy grain, which I’m not as wild about, and which the guys installed as casings. I saw them during my visit last weekend, and since I just like the tight-grained wood better, I sent John and Natalie a note asking if they could use the tightest-grained pieces for the main living areas (and maybe swap the lumber yard some wavy for some tight…). I then spoke to John a couple of days later and that’s when he told me he was going to have to kill me. But as usual he ended up doing more than I’d asked- he and Mike took down the wavy-grain casings and replaced them with tight-grained pieces (the wavy pieces went into closets, bedrooms, and upstairs). The result is, in a word, spectacular! And so far I’m still alive!

The concrete footings for the deck are poured in their cardboard sonotubes, so the deck itself can’t be too far off. We couldn’t wait, which is why there are two white plastic lawn chairs on the crushed stone that will sit beneath the deck. They also poured a slab that will hold the base of the wheelchair ramp that will run along the side of the house, giving Angela easy access to the yard.

Not too far from the end of the ramp is the core of our water-management system- our very own storm drain! There’s a picture of it with a white plastic drain pipe running to it under some dirt. It has two main functions: 1) it will whisk away runoff from the front and side of the house, and 2) it will collect an untold number of small items that the kids will drop into it to see what happens.

The red oak flooring is also in the house- you can see it in a big pile in our bedroom. I’m hopeful that they’ll spread it out a little before we move in.

This coming week there’s painting and then the flooring, and after the flooring comes the kitchen, and then finish plumbing and electrical. We are almost there!

Finally, I’m interested to know what you think about a critical design decision that we have to make this week: should we stain the doors and trim a light “natural” cherry color, or should we simply clear-coat them and leave them truly natural? Feel free to post a comment!

Visiting the house now is like opening a present- a little more is revealed every moment.

In about a week we’ll be able to lock the doors, though that’s not done all that often in our new neighborhood. John’s got the windows and patio doors in, and soon we’ll get our entry door. I still have to pick a garage door, but I’m slacking….

Our plumber is now on the job, and we’re extremely glad it’s Jimmy Trudo, Bobby’s brother- Jimmy’s one of the good guys, and has been taking care of us for years. When I visited today I saw that he’d installed the drains for all of the baths and the laundry, and he’d also installed the bathtub upstairs.

Jimmy’s meticulous, so he doesn’t mind all my detail-oriented questions; he told me he’d be the same way if he were building a house. Maybe, but I’m betting I’m worse. I mean, I wouldn’t want to work with me… but at least I know it! In fact when Jimmy told me the HVAC contractor (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) who’s bidding on the job said he wanted to walk through the house with me before he bid on it, I said “So you didn’t tell him about me?” I actually met the guy today and we got a lot done. Incredibly his brother was diagnosed only a month ago with bone cancer, and he’s being treated at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. It’s just about the worst thing you can have in common with someone.

When you peek at the pictures, there’s some fun stuff to notice (try not to notice that I failed to set the date correctly on my ancient digital camera):

The window and door frames and grills are mocha-gray colored so they look like the bark of some of the hardwood trees on the lot (seriously, that’s why we picked them). The siding will be natural red cedar shingles, and the trim a mossy olive-green. The intent is that the house will look “like it grew there” as my buddy Jeff would say.

There’s a picture of Diana in the crawlspace sitting on the “crawl space creeper” Angela and I made for Jimmy; it’s a video game chair mounted on a furniture dolly. When he sits on it he can roll around in that low space and work overhead more easily, and it also keeps him off the slab down there which is horrendously cold.

There’s a picture of the sun coming in the windows and French doors to the dining area, and another of the sun coming in the windows on either side of the fireplace opening. I have been steadily complaining that the pine trees to the south block too much winter sun (I already cut down the ones that were ours, and some of the neighbor’s too, with his consent). Angela’s sister Alexandra has been steadily telling me to quiet down, and that there’s plenty of sun. When she walked in the house today she saw me with the camera and said, “Why don’t you take a picture of the sun coming in?” She’s pretty funny.

There’s a picture of the back of the house, showing the newly-framed chimney and the pretty double window of the bedroom above the living room. The house will have three bedrooms when it’s done, and that one looks out into the woods.

Overall the house is coming out way, way better than I’d imagined it could. Our architect, Henry Arnaudo, really did conjure up a beautiful little New England Cape, and John Corsi, Jimmy Trudo, and the rest of the guys from the Lake are making it real in spectacular fashion.

First, a word about our house in Newton… it’ll be on the market very shortly! We’re in the middle of fixing every little nagging thing, like windows that stick, bathroom ceilings, leaky gutters, and torn screens. It’s a lot of minor stuff that creeps up on you over time, and you don’t want to show it off at an open house!

Our realtors, Buzz and Margie Birnbaum of Hammond RE have been a tremendous help. They referred us to Alli Krongel of Whitney Interiors (her contact info is in the “Building Partners” section of this site). She’s a house stager and interior designer, and she took the furniture, artwork, etc. that we already had, rearranged it, and the whole place looked 10 times better! There’s a picture here of one corner of our living room that she turned into a little oasis in less than 10 minutes; the whole job took her 3 hours. I’d recommend her in a flash- she has great taste, plus a fine sense of color and space, and she loves what she does…and she does it at very reasonable rates. A find.

Now on to Westwood… 109 Colburn is starting to look a little more like a house. This past week they got the plywood sheathing on the roof so you can clearly see its lines (real purty…), and they fitted the facia and soffit boards which go over the ends of the rafters. They’re the white boards at the bottom edge of the roof in the pictures, creating a finished look where the roof rests on the outside walls of the house (as well as a handy place to mount gutters).

Tech note: The soffit and facia boards are actually plastic- they’re from a company called Azek which makes house trim pieces (and a lot of other stuff) meant to stand up to the elements without requiring maintenance. Paint sticks to it like glue, so it should be a long time before we have to repaint the trim. Remember, whenever you paint something, you’re also making an appointment to paint it again at some time in the future. The further out that appointment is, the happier I am. That also accounts for our decision to leave the interior doors and trim in a natural wood finish (which a carpenter I knew long ago said is fancier than any paint job you could ever apply- a sentiment I’ve never forgotten).

We’re having an insulation adventure. It turns out there are a bunch of ways to insulate your home, all with pros and cons, resulting in a matrix of possibilities that I should probably be kept away from so I don’t stall the project. It’s sorted out I think, but you never know until it’s applied!

They’ve also fitted the first floor ceilings with strapping, narrow boards that will make it possible to attach sheetrock to the ceilings. There’s a very cool picture showing the strapping in place, and it gives you some sense of how much work is hiding beneath the interior skin of your home.

Finally, we saw a nice big pallet of red cedar shingles sitting in the front yard, and the windows are supposed to show up this week, which means in just a few days it will look much more like a house. Can’t wait!

I almost made it to the second floor today. In one of the pictures you can see my head peeking up through the opening for the stairwell- it’s right at floor level. I didn’t get any farther, as it turned out to be harder than I thought…

I had asked one of the framers (all of them about 19 years old) if I could go upstairs. He spoke only a little English, so he nodded, positioned a 6’ step-ladder in the stair opening (there’s no staircase yet) and swung his hand in an upward motion, suggesting I go on up. I gestured at the ladder and offered to let him go first. He scampered to the top of the ladder (“Danger – Not a Step”) and then launched himself the last four feet or so using only his arms, like he was climbing out of a swimming pool, and landed on his feet. To this minute I don’t know how he did it, but I’m deeply envious.

I climbed to the top of the ladder, which is where you see me in the picture, and took stock of my situation. The framers and my buddy John Breen were watching me, which caused me to suffer a brief bout of testosterone poisoning and to consider trying to climb up…. Recovering, I said to the oldest of them, “Hey, can you take a few pictures for me?” and held out my camera. He looked very relieved, did a fine job, and I remained uninjured (except for my 50 year old ego).

The second floor is really neat. It will have sloped ceilings and knee walls, and the little nooks and crannies you get with a second floor tucked under rafters (which we did to save the cost of building a full second floor). The kids’ bedrooms will be up there, as well as a storage room since we have no basement. The goal is to get rid of so much junk when we move that the storage room is almost unused. We’ll see. Angela still has a book report that she and Carol did in the 7^th grade. I can’t say I’m optimistic.

Tech note: we’re going to insulate the entire roof by shooting foam, then cellulose, between the roof rafters. By using this technique we’ll get a first rate air seal between the second floor and the outdoors; it will be like putting a giant hat on the building. It will also dramatically reduce the heating and cooling loads (and costs) for the second floor. Another top-notch suggestion from Kohta at Building Science Corp.

Now that the sub floor is installed upstairs, you can get a sense of how the first floor will feel, since it effectively has a ceiling. I hung around for a long while, standing in the sun coming in through the window openings, and realized that Henry, Dean, John, Natalie, Kohta, Angela and I are creating something profoundly special; a home that blurs the line between inside and out, with spaces that flow into each other so naturally it’s like they were carved out over time by wind and water. It’s palpable, astonishing, and I can’t wait to live there with the people I love.

We’re out of the ground! John and his crew are zipping along, and have the first floor deck on, and the first floor walls framed. Walking around in the newly-framed space is like wandering around in ideas that have come to life. The spaces feel great, with windows in good spots, and the rooms just the right scale. I was almost speechless, which should give you some idea how well it’s turning out.

While I was imagining eating breakfast in the dining room/kitchen (I had imaginary waffles), Angela’s sister Alexandra, her husband Bobby, and their kids walked up the street for a visit. Then one of our neighbors Steve (terrific guy) stopped by with his little girls, and pretty soon we had kids running all through the house and yard, and the adults chatting away. It didn’t take any imagination to see how friendly a place it’s going to be- our decision to move feels better every day

Speaking of which, it’s getting to be time to put our house in Newton on the market, so if you know someone that might be interested, have them drop us a line at bauer.c at comcast.net. We’re at 642 Centre St., in a well-loved home within walking distance to just about everything.

The foundation inspection took place last week, and we passed, which meant they were able to pour the footings for the foundation walls. The pictures you see included with this post are of the footings, which form a nice wide stable base to keep the foundation walls from sinking into the earth. I’ve labeled where some of the rooms will go… I’ve been imagining how it will come together for months now, and the reality is better than my daydreams.

Because there are lots of mold and mildew allergies in our family, we designed a drainage system to keep the crawl space dry. You can’t see it here, but it will move ground water and runoff away from the foundation- though the pump will probably only turn on in the spring when the water table in the earth reaches its high point. It’s interesting that indoor air quality starts with the part of the building that’s right in the ground!

Here are some pictures of the trees that we cleared out to make room for some sun on the lot, and to keep the dead ones from squishing us when they finally fell! It took the tree guys two days and it looked like one of those logging reality shows. I can’t believe more people don’t get hurt doing that kind of work.

In the picture labeled “Pine and Hemlock” you can see a big yellow pine that Cristina and I are pointing at- it’s actually in my neighbor’s yard. He let me cut it down since it was leaning towards the lot. His lot is so huge, and his driveway so long that I couldn’t figure out which house was his when I drove around to the back of the block. Turns out it’s completely buried in the forest. I eventually walked through the woods to his backyard- he was getting something out of his car when I emerged from the underbrush, and I think I gave him a little start! He was about 70 years old, and he had wide wale corduroys, a Range Rover, and a gravel driveway snaking off through the woods; serious New Englander. Turns out he’s a long time resident whose son owns the house next door to his. He’s kind of an old-guard business baron in town, and I’d describe his greeting as “reserved”- which is probably a good idea when some grubby dude walks out of your woods into your yard.

After I’d said “Hi” and introduced myself, and told him what I was doing with the lot behind his, I pointed at his home and asked, “Is that a Deck House?!?” If you’re not familiar with them, a Deck house is a modular home from a company that delivers Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design in factory-built homes. They’re gorgeous, and rare, and I think he got a kick out of the fact that I knew what it was.

Later while we were walking his woods he tested me, “So what kind of siding was on that house you tore down?” and I said “Asbestos. We had a top flight guy do the inspection, and the remediation team was incredibly thorough- the stuff was in the floors and walls too. In the end we got it out safely and quickly.” I shut up and watched him, and he thought about that for a second, and then said ”Good”. I think I passed; the rest of the conversation was really pleasant.

At any rate we finally got the trees down, so now we’ll get a little more sun, and falling timber won’t crush the house. The last photo is of the guys removing the tarp that protected the foundation hold during the recent rains. In the next update you’ll get to see the foundation, which oddly enough is one of the most complicated parts of the whole project!

Now you don’t.