A Matter of Inches

Men always seem obsessed with inches, so imagine the delight of Bob the Builder and Fla Remo Guy when they found some ways to gain inches in the remodel! The first was Bob, who was bragging that he found 8 inches for me - much to my delight (and relief) it was in the kitchen! Since they had to move the front wall anyway, they determined that it actually worked better to move the front wall out by 8 inches. In a home that is small to start with, that is huge for the kitchen. We also gained about 8 to 9 inches on the side of the kitchen by tearing out the fireplace and chimney. Originally, we were going to just cover the fireplace with sheetrock and leave the unusable chimney in place since it seemed to balance out the house on the plans. Unfortunately, when we got into the demo, the chimney was not stable enough to leave, so it had to come down - and the fire place with it. I'm not sorry to see them both go.

We also learned that behind the plaster walls was styrofoam of all things. Apparently, it was used as insulation in the 50's. Who knew? Anyway, by tearing out the plaster and styrofoam, we gained several inches in the rest of the kitchen/great room. More room for the pool table. :)

Fla Remo Guy also figured out that it would be relatively easy to remove the tile floor in what was the den and will end up being the dining room/wine cellar. The ceiling in that room is probably 7'6" at best, so gaining several inches of head room by removing the tile and it's under layer is huge. The room will probably be designed to look cave like, but we don't want it to be claustrophobic.

All in all, this Fla Remo Gal is quite happy with the inches the menfolk provided!!

Bob the Builder

It's about time to introduce our builder - Bob Sorenson of Sorenson Construction, more affectionately known as Bob the Builder. Bob is a build-to-suit custom home builder who has built numerous homes on our street. I swear he has had at least one home, if not two, on our street under construction continuously since we moved here almost 5 years ago. Apparently, there are people who can still afford and want very large homes because he has one under construction down the street which will be close to 10,000 square feet (or more) when completed. Fortunately, Fla Remo Guy wore Bob down and he agreed to do our little remodel as a side project. It actually works well since the superintendent can go back and forth between jobs and some of the work is going on at the same time, at least for now as ours will be finished way before that big ole' house (won't it Bob??) :) For instance, when the foundation team finished pouring footings at the big house, they drove their bull dozer down the street to our house. I'm sure the neighbors loved it!

Fla Remo Guy found these balloons and put them in the house and just left them there. Bob about fell down the steps with laughter when he saw them!

See Through

"See through" is a term commonly used in commercial real estate to describe a new office building which is totally vacant - i.e. you can see through it since there are no walls. Well, we have our own version of residential real estate see through. Fortunately, the new walls should be going up next week, so this condition is a short one!

Demolition Derby

It's a busy day in our little neck of the woods. In addition to the construction of the main house, we are replacing the septic system on our other house across the street (where we are living), so we have heavy machinery going in both locations. Our neighbors are probably not very happy with us today!

The demo has been going very well, although it entailed more than we originally thought (more about that later). The house is now officially a "see through" with walls on two sides gone. We just hope that the two story portion that is apparently supported only by a two by four stays up until they can put more sufficient support under it!

Birds of a Feather

Two different birds, but both beautiful nonetheless.

Every year the Osprey leave for the summer in early July and return in early to mid November (hurricane season). We have a pair in a tree in our neighbor's yard. They generally do not leave or return together. One of them is back, waiting patiently for the other. I always get a bit anxious hoping that nothing happened to the other one. I look forward to photographing them together soon.

One of the first things we did as we started construction was to transplant our Birds of Paradise plant. We have a huge one that was growing right where the master bedroom will be. They trimmed and moved it away from all of the action with the thought that we would move it to it's final spot once construction is finished and we finalize the landscaping plan. There was one last bloom on it that I cut to enjoy inside - they keep for weeks. This one was special as it was a dual bloom.

Day Three - progress report

Considering that there was not a lot of activity yesterday (something about hunting, probation officers and Universal Studios - don't ask) there was quite a lot of activity today. Below are some progress photos.

We have decided to take photos every day from the same locations so we can view the progress. We will share them with you - probably not every single day, but when there is enough progress that it is noticeable.

We should have taken a photo of the porto-potty that was right at the street and then moved back about 15 feet after we pointed out that it wasn't the best location - especially after we witnessed a passerby stopping and using it (ewwwww).

WE HAVE LIFTOFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, for those who placed bets on when (actually IF) this remodel would ever start - today is the day. Mark it down - November 17. The new bets can be on when we will be finished. The contractor says 6 to 8 months, so we are thinking 9 to 12. Mid summer hopefully - during rainy season.

It is ironic that there was a shuttle launch yesterday since I planned to use a shuttle launch photo for the official lift off. This photo is not of yesterday's launch, but one earlier in the year. It was taken from Kennedy Space Center. We can see the shuttle from our backyard, but nothing quite like the photo.

Oh well, I digress. As of 9 am, there were 7 pickup trucks and two heavy duty trucks at the house. The number of trucks is a sign of how much work is going on. Several larger trucks along with a huge back hoe showed up later. All were gone by noon......... hummmmmm.

They pulled the back porch area off and part of the roof above it. Just with that little part gone, the view to the lake is significantly better. The final product will have the great room about 5 feet higher than the previous elevation, so the view will really be fabulous. We will have windows across the entire back of the house. Can't wait!

There will be more frequent posts and lots of photos so you can follow on with the progress and, what is sure to be lots of drama. We already have our first change order - we just have to laugh about it - nothing else to do at this point. More about that detail later.

Thanks for tuning in!