All it takes is Pizza & Beer

My colleague/friend Brian Markham, a structural engineer, came over this evening to assess the feasibility of removing the wall between my kitchen and living room. We had a look at a hole a I poked in the ceiling of the foyer to assess the beam spacing. Looks like it is not a load bearing partition, so I should be able to knock it down without a problem.

It's good to have contacts that know something about structures. I fed Brian pizza and beer, which probably saved me $475 or so to have an engineer come out to look at the wall. Thanks Brian!

The goal is to knock out the wall before the electrical work gets done so that the switches and outlets can easily be re-routed to the adjacent walls. I'm aiming to take the wall out and have the electrical work done before Thanksgiving so that my Dad and I can start removing the plaster and lath in the foyer and closets with all the electrical work done.

Order of Operations

So I've had an order of operations for the project in my head for a while, but I'm fairly confident that I've firmed it up now and wanted to share it with you.

1. Strip doors and door frames - Done!
2. Start to get moldings replicated - In progress
3. Remove wall between living room and kitchen - by Nov. 2007
4. Install new outlets in bathroom & kitchen and add recessed lighting to most rooms - Nov. 2007
5. Remove plaster in lath in closets and foyer, replace with drywall - Dec. 2007
6. Refinish closet floors and add custom closets - Jan 2008
7. Remove all bedroom plaster and lath, replace with drywall - March 2008
8. Sand doors and repaint - March 2008
9. Remove all plaster and lath in living room and kitchen, replace with drywall - August 2008
10. Redo Kitchen - Start August 2008, complete Feb. 2009
11. Redo Bathroom - April 2009.

Now that I've looked at the list, it's a big project, but it should be well worth it. Thoughts? Send them my way.

Doors are done, door frames are almost there

Finally, after months, I've finished the doors (yes, two times to strip on each door face!) and a majority of the door frames are finished. Some more work needs to be done on the transom window and front closet, but I think I need a break from that.

My Dad came a few months back and took away the cold storage and dumbwaiter doors with him. He finished up the fine stripping and brought them back primed. They look great and I look forward to getting to that area of the project, although it's probably 2nd to last on the list.

Now, I need to strip the hardware...