Remodeling, Part 2

The addition is now finished and we are all done except for framing a few windows.
That will be done after we have replaced the old dark paneling with light pine wood.

Yesterday and today we took down the bricks that covered a section of the west wall. It was where the previous owner had a wood stove when he first owned the house.

What he told us. He had a chimney fire and converted over to LP because the Fire Department is all volunteer and slow to respond.

We found that he had bricked over the fire damage. And while it was a bit concerning to see it, no structural damage had occurred.

This chimney fire occurred about 30 years ago and the previous owner died about 12 years ago.

The weather cooperated and it was cool enough to have windows open and a fan in one to suck out the dust.

And here are a few views of the outside of the rest of the house, I believe Lori Skoog wanted to see what it looked like.
So I remembered to take them for you Lori!

North Side Entrance and bedroom.

 We have some serious landscaping and grading to do yet!

East side of the house and the pile of bricks we were removing.

Part 2 of the Little House Remodel is ongoing. The exterior and addition portions are done and it looks fantastic.

Taking down the Chimney

I was not sure about this at all.  But Rich assured me that it wouldn't be so very hard.

And so we began on the 2nd of November.  Of course we started this and the Bank Appraiser showed up as we were working.

I can say that this probably wasn't the best and most beautiful way to present our little house.  But we needed the chimney down and the weather was nice.

Here is a reminder of how things looked on October 3rd when I began to remove the old garden I'd let go to weeds this year.

And so began the chimney adventure.

First Rich started at the top.  Talk about making me nervous!

I was rather surprised at how quickly it went.

And I was surprised by what how it looked underneath the blocks.
Rich noticed that indeed the previous owner had a chimney fire at some point. 

The blocks were brittle and really no longer useful anyway and this was a project we'd anticipated doing eventually.

Morris of course, supervised.

It definitely looked like a real mess to clean up.

But now there was a long hole in the siding of the house that we had to cover before the weather turned bad.

Rich also had to do some patch work on the roof where the chimney had been.

By late afternoon we finished.

He got the skid steer and we cleaned up the majority of concrete and chimney liner pieces.

And now the house is sealed off and we await the next step.

The appraiser had said that a downstairs bedroom and a basement would significantly increase the value of the house.
Otherwise he was rather mum as he poked around and took photos.

He did say that he thought we had the perfect location.

And I can agree with him on that.