Step 5 - Demolition

There wasn't too much in the basement that needed to be demo'd, but there was enough that I didn't want to handle it myself and get rid of the debris. I had an old rocklathe ceiling with holes punched into it covering the entire ceiling in the basement, a paneled center wall, some paneling and shelves under the stairs, and I needed concrete broken away where I was adding new basement columns (more on that in a separate post). Luckily for me, there are businesses out there that will take care of all the demo and take away the debris for you. When you apply for your permit, the city asks you where you will be throwing your construction debris. For me, this job was $2400 and well worth it.

The jumble of wires and plumbing that need to be reviewed and redone.

The boiler and water heater is vented to the chimney - closing in the basement triggers the need for a ventilation system - this will be reviewd.

The sink will be moved to a different location and the plumbing will need to be cleaned up around the window.

That's an old wire hanging down - all the wiring will be made as neat as possible to be placed between the ceiling joists and hidden under a new sheetrock ceiling.

July 20, 2009

Step 4 - moving out

Now that I've got the permit, the real work begins. All the stuff that was in the basement (and it's a lot) will be stored in the garage. The car has no say in this.

Ski boots, an unfinished doll house...

...the cleaning stuff on the shelves behind the washing machine...

....storm door inserts, a spare door (that will be used in the renovation), plant pots, 4 moving boxes of music CD's (that we've converted to MP3 so we don't use them anymore, but keep them anyway), paints....

...tools, Christmas decorations, etc. etc. These IKEA shelves were dismantled and reconstructed to use in the garage.

Even this sink --- actually the sink stays. These sinks are typical to these houses of this vintage - it's concrete, made to resemble the old soapstone sinks. I like it because it's big and deep and will be perfect for my projects (which include a lot of potting of plants). It's final position is not it's current position, so it needs to be moved and it took a great deal of thought on how I was going to do that -- that will be the subject of a separate post.

All this stuff from the 700 SF of basement gets squashed into the 200 SF garage......

And now the basement is ready to work on...

[note the stonework behind the boiler - that was the window that was blocked in - not bad...]

July 17, 2009

Step 3 - getting the permit

I wanted to pull the permit myself. What that means is that the permit will be in my name and I will be responsible for making sure all the tasks required by the building department are completed. The tasks include the proper inspections for foundation, rough, insulation, plumbing rough, electrical rough, plumbing final, electrical final and final. As a structural engineer, it is not typical that I would get involved in this. When I work for a client, I create the drawings and the contractor pulls the permit. However, I wanted to experience this part of the job with my own house. I wanted to 'feel the pain' so to speak.

I went to the building department and filled out the permit application. There are hours each day that are alloted for people to do this. 'People' include homeowners as well as contractors. I stood in line - I think I was 4th. The woman in front of me wanted to pull her own permit for the job she wanted done - the building inspector talked her out of it. When my turn came, I explained to the building inspector that I wanted to pull the permit myself - he was skeptical. The building departments don't like homeowners in Massachusetts to pull their own permits because of the protection given to homeowners through the Home Improvement Contractor's Program. This program has the potential to provide some financial compensation to homeowners if a job goes awry. As long as the person pulling the permit has a Home Improvement Contractor's License (which anyone working for you should), they will be paying a fee to the state which goes into the Home Improvement Program kitty to fund expenses for the program to pay out. I do not have a Home Improvement Contractor's license. I explained to the building inspector that I was a structural engineer (which has a totally different licensing requirement) and I wanted to experience pulling the permit myself - I told him that I knew what that responsibility entails. He reluctantly did allow me to get my permit myself.

July 16, 2009

I was off to a good start - things could move forward now...