That's So 70's

Its been a while since my last update. I have been sharing small feats on our instagram page (@thatsso70sblog) so this post will be a wrap up of the last several months as we have completed the building phase of the reno. We finished the electrical work; adding brand new lighting in the living spaces, changes to the lighting plan for the new kitchen layout, adjust everything that comes with those changes and personalizing our electrical needs for the spaces we are planning. We have also framed in the steel beam, created the new pantry, and edited the utility closet. In May we demoed the remaining kitchen and have been living with a make shift sink, oven in the middle of the dining room and only having a folding table for counter-space. Its been....interesting.... Following this we had to rip out a thin layer of plywood and 3 layers of linoleum from the kitchen/back entry. This job, this job was definitely the most grueling/physically demanding. I would happily take scraping popc

The day has FINALLY come where I can share with you our open concept floor plan. It was quite a journey and with me struggling to manage my lack of patience we got there, and its beautiful. We had to have more walls before we could have no walls. For 2 days we had 4 walls. These walls were the temporary support walls so our contractor could remove the current structural walls and install the two steel beams. After one night of weaving through walls, which was quite entertaining, it was beam installation day. One beam was 1500 lbs!!! I am so grateful for the pack of workers that had to lift, carry, and install this beast. There shoulders were destroyed and I was told there was a lot of swearing, but it went up without a hitch. Luckily Darrel and I arrived home after our day of work to watch the second "lighter" beam being installed. I am also very happy I made it in time to watch this. I was curious as to how a project like this gets executed.   They had one end resting o

As of a couple of weeks ago progress as finally been made with our main floor renovation. After waiting 2 long months for the city to approve the permit for the structural walls removal, our contractor started work in the basement for the new footings. These concrete footings will support the load from the steel beams that will replace the current walls. Step one was to cut open the concrete and dig a larger and deeper hole for the new footings. This made a HUGE mess. SO. MUCH. DUST. Lesson learned, do not assume they will tarp off areas of your living space. ASSUME NOTHING. Step two is to fill these new holes with concrete and wait for it to set. In the mean time we demo'd more of the main floor/kitchen area in preparation for wall removal. All of the drywall, electrical and some plumbing had to be removed. Along with some kitchen cabinets. Note, our oven is currently in the middle of our dining room.   This week they are putting up the temporary walls followed

Over this past weekend we underwent a big project for our house. We replaced our old 40 gallon hot water tank for a 50 gallon power vent hot water tank. I will give you a moment to lower your hype. I know! haha. This was a very exciting project for us, more so Darrel, because this meant we could remove the massive B-vent running through the middle of our house. Getting us one step closer to our open floor plan dreams. What I have been told this difference between the two systems is the original b-vent relies on evaporations/draft to vent out fumes from the hot water tank. And normally they just get reabsorbed into the tank. The power vent has a fan like system that pumps the fumes outside of the house actively, instead of them floating up and outside. I don't think one is better than an other, just a different way of doing it. The nice thing about this new tank is even though it is larger, it uses less BTU's than our previous tank meaning it is more energy efficient, which is

Here we go again. On boxing day we started demo of the main level. We have since torn out all the remaining carpet, taken down most of the drywall on the walls and ceiling, and removed the non-structural walls. Last week we met with out contractor to get the ball rolling to have the two structural walls removed to create an open floor plan on the main level. We will need 2 steel beams that will run parallel to each other. One of the beams will span from the back of the house to almost near the front, we have been told this will weigh around 750lbs!!! The other steel beam will be parallel to this monster and will open up the kitchen space. This one doesn't HAVE to be steel but since the steel beam is only 8" deep (rather than 12" for an LVL) for an extra $200 I wanted to keep the extra head space. GET SO EXCITED! I am so excited for the project to really start coming together. I am currently most looking forward to the completion of the structural beam install. I can