The final (inside) kitchen demo

things you discover behind walls...

Just when it appears we had accomplished so much with demo...there were still the floors to pull up. With less energy on Sunday, and Nico demoing solo, the progress taking out the floor was slow going. We had found some really crazy stuff under those torn-down walls
...taped wires, roof held up by a few inches of wood, and other interesting carpentry...




 I worked to keep his energies high with assistance and good food and music. Inspired by the hypnobirthing attitude in which we're immersed, I even tried affirmations:

vision of complete demo

You are strong and determined to accomplish this task.

Your hands are healthy and  pink and your lungs are clear and free of debris of unknown toxicity. 

You were very wise to do this backbreaking work on the weekend in lieu of kayaking or relaxing (or getting a presentation ready for work) to save our meager budget. 

You are amazing.

Needless to say, we were both grateful to have a strong team of ...all climbers, actually...join us for the final tasks of inside kitchen demo on Monday night.

view of Patrick demoing floors in kitchen from living room

[come back to see video that doesn't seem to upload now...]

Danielle's climbing skills pay off, removing nails from walls...

Patrick removing the last piece of floor (and a bit of subfloor...) with gusto and Peter ...a gusto that Nico had since used up after 2 full days...

Peter, Patrick, and Danielle takin' us to the finish line!

All in time for Rising Sun Construction to start tearing down the exterior walls - and rebuilding them with SIPS from SIP school!

"Nesting"

Everyone who came near our home this weekend joked about the degree of our "nesting" as we demo-ed the kitchen. By midday Saturday, Nicolas sure looked like he was in a nest...of insulation and pieces of wall...

Here's our weekend recap in timeline form:

March 22-23: We finalize kitchen details (floors, cabinets) while Rising Sun makes addition floor off their concrete piers.

Check out the gap in our kitchen wall (left) - you can see light through it! No wonder the kitchen is so cold!

 

Imagine the future: dining area (left), door and mudroom (center), and pantry (right)

Siding came off to make way for structurally insulated panels (SIPs) from SIPschool that will build the addition. We're still looking for windows, doors, and siding options...

March 23 (Friday night): A recap of our conversation:

"Love, after such a busy week, wanna relax and watch a movie tonight?" 

"Na, let's pack up our kitchen until the wee hours of the morning instead."

Nico takes the 'fridge for a walk down Oakland, getting shout outs from WVU students leaving for spring break

Chris building us his patented dust barrier while Nico and I emptied the 'fridge to move to the basement

Sera and Peanut treat Chris' finger in the living room infirmary

early morning stoke from Nico and Jon

March 24 (Sat morning): Our buddy Jon shows up with so much stoke (maybe because it's raining, and we're all kayakers who get excited when rivers are full...) and we finish the move-out of everything, including the cabinets.

We even got video of the early phases (before I decided to get out of the dust...)

 

March 24 (Sat afternoon):When the walls came down...and the ceiling...and the floor...

Nico, Jon, & Doug with tools of destruction

Before Jon took off to make dinner for his sweetie, he had effectively helped us move our kitchen, seal our house, remove the cabinets, and demo our walls. (And, he could have been kayaking  -what a friend!)

Then, (gratefully) Doug showed up.

Everyone says that ceilings are the most fun to demo. Doug put on his cavesuit and showed us how it's done. To me, it looked less like fun, and more like real commitment. Doug is amazing. And, that's what I call a "nest"...

Doug "the ceiling man" breaking out

While I coordinated dinner, the amazing Peter showed up. With brute strength and a sledgehammer, bashed up all the tiles, then left as quickly as he arrived: "Ok, there you go". Nico and I were just flabbergasted and grateful.
 

Peter reinacts the last thing our wall saw...

dump truck backed up to side door for debris

March 25 (Sun morning):Nico swept and shoveled the mess until his body beckoned for bed (mine had long since retreated, and Peanut had stopped dancing). Dusty, tired, accomplished, we slept with visions of of the day: dust and wall pieces, jerry rigged wiring, holes in the house the size of a small animal (covered only by siding and drywall - now gone)...

Nico's goal for the day: remove final pieces of wall and ceiling, tear out rest of the floor.

 

One of my goals today was to find a home for the old cabinets - super exciting to find a couple in nearby Clarksburg (thank you, Craigslist) who needed the type of cabinets we carefully salvaged. We used our kayak-loading savvy to load them up, and they took away our cabinets for their kitchen vision (and left us a few bucks in return too). Great deal on both ends. And good karma too. Not to mention I share a Colorado heritage with the fella who actually knew my western slope hometown! Gotta love those converted Coloradans - we got here (to West Virginia) as soon as we could...


On tap for the evening hours: nail removal from beams...how romantic!

the last breakfast?

Leaning on wall that'll be gone in a few days

They say that the third trimester of pregnancy you start feeling the need to organize. Some gut their file cabinets, others reorganize their kitchen drawers, and some weed out things they no longer use. Many find themselves crazily cooking to freeze and store food.

We're doing all of that too. Oh, and, tearing down a few kitchen walls...

Today may mark the last day we have breakfast in what we consider our kitchen. While Rising Sun is tearing down the outside walls, we're "moving out" so we can demo the inside walls. The outer walls of the kitchen will be rebuilt on concrete piers with Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPS) from SIPSchool who will use our house for education and training purposes when they wrap the entire house during our Green Retrofit.

the last breakfast (before demo)

Say goodbye to the wall, and the "bumper pool" walkway to the living room

Battling doors - outside door with basement door...entry door will move to the right with renovations

surround sound kitchen...yet only room for one passionate cook at a time

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall." (...and make the kitchen connect to the living room)

Protecting the garden - peaches blooming on left

This side of house will come out about 4 feet to make way for pantry, mudroom, and to the far left is the new dining room...once they build it (WVU dorms in back)

 

spectators in the building process...besides all the employees and students at WVU

 

Groundbreaking morning

I thought I was dreaming this morning when I heard voices talking about construction. "Man, I must be getting really excited to be dreaming about this," I thought. Then I looked out our window...


Diggin' holes - concrete piers will go there to support the addition



Chris from Rising Sun came by the house yesterday to discuss the details of our new kitchen. He'd mentioned he'd start digging in our yard today to create the piers needed to hold our little addition. The fact that he's always been early to our meetings, and stuck to his word didn't clue me into the fact that the guys would be there digging by 7:30 am.

"Ni...coooo.lasss....Peeeaanut....," I cooned. "Wake up, first day of spring and we're breaking ground!" (It happens to be Mom Janson's Birthday, too! Happy day!)

Now for moving out of the kitchen for demo this weekend. Free pizza and beer for those willing to smash some walls...



Good thing the garlic and greens are planted!



Here we go!

Exciting news: I stopped by the city yesterday to check the status of our building permit submitted almost a month ago! There's two women my age that work there that I love seeing - they're super supportive of the growing Peanut, and understand my desire to get this show on the road!

The ladies checked, and it turns out the permit was held at Morgantown Utility Board (MUB), and they would email them for an update. They also gave me names/numbers to call, and I ended up leaving a message. Within an hour, MUB called me back, apologizing, saying it was “hung up on a desk somewhere,” but that now the approval is with the city! Now we're ready for some big stuff! Spring break plans = demo the kitchen! We're taking volunteers...:)

For the good of Peanut’s bare feet

Our house is really cold in the winter. I don’t think they thought much about energy conservation in 1948. Come to think of it, today’s new buildings sometimes don’t have energy conservation in mind either. We have virtually no insulation, but over the years we’ve been trying to seal up the cracks, putting foam around our leaky doors, windows, and pipes. How inefficient is our home, really? Curious, we found out this past winter (2011)after an energy audit. 

Al Cobb with SIP school and Randy Schwartz with Home Efficiency Solutions conducted the audit.

WVU professor Chris Haddox, who specializes in sustainable design, brought his students for the hands-on training opportunity (our house is just a 3-minute walk from his classroom).

 
Here’s a video and interview documenting our audit and our vision for a Deep Energy Retrofit:

Results from Al Cobb: “Team Zegre: The analysis … revealed that we have a tremendous opportunity. The blower door test showed a leakage rate of over 15 air changes per hour. That ranks the energy efficiency of the Zegre’s house with most tree houses built by eleven year olds.”  

Yikes! I know we're not alone...Al plans to install an ECOP monitoring system to monitor our energy use/consumption. If all goes well, everyone will be able to track our energy pouring from our our house in KWHs, BTUs, and $$$.

We are fortunate to link up with Al Cobb with SIP school in Shepherdstown, WV via Chris Baily Rising Sun Construction in Morgantown, WV; these fellas are the visionaries behind this project.

Currently, there are no examples of a Deep Green Retrofit using SIPs here in West Virginia, only on newly constructed buildings. Nico and I are super excited to learn more about Deep Green Retrofit through this process and look forward to spreading the word about the benefits. Collectively, we hope to use this project as a venue for training skilled workers such as Habitat builders on the virtues and techniques of deep energy retrofits using this method. 

We continue efforts towards promoting our project for the good of understanding and promoting deep energy retrofits...and for the good of Peanut’s bare feet! Our promotion of this project has led to many discussions with groups from the local to the Federal level. Let us know if you have ideas or resources! 

The foundation of it all

Peanut requested an efficient home and a functional kitchen, so our 1948 home could use some work. But, before we made any major changes, the foundation wall needed repair (yet one more wall that was supposed to be made “structurally sound” by the flippers).

So, the foundation wall work (see right of house, below) becomes the foundation of it all: can't invest in a home that may collapse!

Our building visionary, Chris of Rising Sun Construction saw a few nice days and led the charge to dig, rebuild, reinforce, and backfill (with gravel rather than WV clay)...  



 
 

First step: remove the soil and stoop from the side yard...and the old lattice...and the little awning...










Below the side door (leads into the kitchen) we found lots of great "ventilation" (the wood = disintegrated). No wonder the kitchen is so cold...

Entertainment for WVU freshman (dorms on left)? Lunch talk for our colleagues across the street at College of Forestry?

 

Valentine’s Day 2012: We love our cats so much we decided to give them better access to the outer world… while replacing part of our wall

A view from the outside that we hope the freshman cannot see…suppose the “trench” would keep them out even if they wanted in.

Feb 19: New foundation wall complete in a few days - no problems and ahead of schedule thanks to super organized and detail-oriented Rising Sun Construction

A little detail worth noting: We have glass bricks in the foundation wall side of basement rooms; they were installed about a year ago. With this recent work, they had to re-install one glass brick window.

Now for a quiz: which mason work do you prefer? 

(a) The “old” window, installed less than a year ago

(b) The new window