It was another busy week working on the addition.
At the start of the week we got the big beam we needed to put in to support the gap where we are taking out the wall. Naturally this was more effort than expected because of some of the funky building techniques from the 1920’s but that is why we have reciprocating saws and it was put to good use. I felt a little bad that i had not done a better job clearing up all of the old insulation that was blown into the attic.
We are almost ready to lay out the plumbing and drains in the basement so i spent a few hours one evening going over various emails and discussions we have had over the last few months and compiling them for Dean and putting them into a single email. Once the drains are in and inspected they will literally be set in concrete so this is our last chance to make tweaks. I didn’t realize how nerve wracking they would be.
The big change is that we are shrinking the bathroom from 6′ 6″ x 9′ inside dimensions to 6′ 2″ x 8′ 6″ to increase the size of the hall and the front bedroom. The bedroom is a bit of a funky shape and the floor space for the bed is basically 7′ x 8′. Guidance varies but “they” recommend 24″ to 36″ clearance on all sides with 30″ being “comfortable” (whatever that means…). A queen mattress is 5′ wide by about 6′ 8″ long. If we have the headboard on the north wall then there is room for a 24″ gap and a bedside table on the east side. Nothing on the west. That would annoy me. If we have the headboard on the east wall and a 24″ gap on the north, then the bed is about 12″ north of the pinch point and about 4″ east. Using math that basically means that the gap to walk through is about.. 12.6″ inches. Even with an extra 6″ it is going to be tight squeeze so hopefully they can have a smaller bedside table on the north side. Anyway… i was talking about plumbing wasn’t i?
We also are shrinking the powder rooms a bit so instead of 37″ and 36″ wide they will be the minimum allowable 34″. I wanted to shrink to 32″ as we visited a friend for a Christmas party and i measured their powder room and it was only 28″. It was a bit tight but it worked. Turns out code has changed and that isn’t allowed anymore. This is important because of course the toilet drains are set in concrete and need to be in the right place for the room. 2 or 3 inches might not sound like much but it gives us a slightly bigger sink and maybe some counter in our laundry room and also clears up room to have a larger laundry & hot water closet in the suite. We also shrunk the length of the laundry room bathroom by 6″ to get us a bit more room for the furnace and water heater.
We had been discussing having the hot water tank under the stairs however that is proving a bit challenging so we moved it to the laundry closet. This is spec’d at 36″ x 50″ but we are going to build that out to about 40″ x 60″. Dryers are about 30″ to 35″ deep and with venting and drains etc. in the back need a bit more room so 36″ deep was a bit tight. We want a full size washer and dryer in there after having small volume ones in our current rental. We also need room for the hot water tank and 50″ wasn’t going to cut it. We have the room along that wall and just might need to have a 24″ counter to the right of the stove instead of the 30″ one we currently planned. Not a huge sacrifice as the kitchen is pretty generous.
Now you know why it took me 2 hrs to get all that together for Dean!
The crew made good progress on the roof framing and got the beams and fascia up. We are going back to our original plan of a wood structure for the deck cover and since the transom window will have no centre pole we needed to get special beams but i am really excited about how it is all coming together. We also have an issue with the fact that our house currently has no fascia boards on the end of the rafters and they were included in the architects design. I think they might be required now so we get into the issue of retaining character and meeting new codes. We are installing the fascia on the rafter ends on the west side and at some point i will trim the existing rafters and install fascia to match. This actually solves an issue we have with “soft” rafter ends. They are 100 years old after all and are right next to the gutters so get damp. This job will suck but will hopefully let me cut off all of the water damage.
Looking forward to getting the roof on next week and getting the plumbing roughed in.
Reading about all those tiny adjustments gave me a headache!