Renovation: week 1
After almost 2 years, the renovation has started. I drove over on Monday specifically to see the bin in the driveway and just to see that it had finally started. It feels good to be moving forward.
Everything started on-time as planned. The contractor and crew managed to make a lot of progress. We got temporary power setup; all the basement electrical pulled out; the stairs removed; the two chimneys removed; the plumbing removed; the mechanical (furnace and hot water tank) removed; the environmental inspection completed; and the roof sealed back up. The new drawings and structural changes have to make their way through the City next, but should be at best a small administrative task.
With everything pulled out the space feels a lot bigger. The only surprise was a small squirrels nest that was starting to form near an opening (sneaky bastards). I’m hoping to save some of the chimney bricks to use for landscaping as some of them can be salvaged.
Next week is the big job of the char removal which is like sandblasting it off with a particulate (usually glass or baking soda) so that all the fire damage is removed and all that will be left is wood. The shed also gets moved to make way for the new parking pad and they’ll be framing in the chimney openings.
The picture below is a drawing my son did at his architecture class this weekend of our temporary digs — a furnished condo near BC Place – where we’ll be living during the work.
Hey Benry,
Just stumbled across your blog and I hope everything works out for you. It’s just horrible how M and Q could sell the house to you without giving the proper information… people nowadays, all about the greed.
Noah is in an architecture class? huh?
PS: that’s a shitload of bricks!
Yes, he’s hoping to be an engineer one day and wanted to take the class. Lots of bricks. We’ll be saving them to use for other things.
Wow! That looks like a huge amount of work! It will be nice and satisfying once it’s done!
That drawing Noah did is awesome!