Since June, any time anyone (no matter how close the relationship) wanted to enter the house, I would make them give a verbal acknowledgement that if they entered, there’s a likely chance that they would fall through the floor. Structurally, most of the house was sound; however, the back several rooms suffered severe damage and had a bit more flex and rot than felt comfortable.
Over the past couple of months, contractors have been busy fixing bouncy, uneven floors, replacing rotten wood, adding support under the house and framing where needed. Floors in the downstairs family room, breakfast nook and laundry room will need to be replaced, which allows easy access to joists and the crawl space.
During the framing process, we have made a few minor changes to our plans, including expanding the downstairs bathroom, adding a utility closet in the hallway and adding a door between the dining room and kitchen. You can see the original floorplans here.
Progress Pics:
[Above] The floors in the family room have been removed. Support around the fireplace needed to be replaced. Crews are currently raking and finishing cleaning to prepare for laying a vapor barrier underneath the house.
We opened the wall between the future breakfast nook and kitchen, creating a more open concept. This required adding a beam for support. The comparison photo shows the removal of the awkward pantry/bathroom/laundry and the beam installation.
The breakfast nook and laundry room needed a lot of the joists replaced. Our contractors also added hurricane brackets in these two rooms. The wall between the breakfast nook and laundry room will be replaced, but there was too much damage to leave the existing wall.
The doorway to the hallway was the original backdoor. Due to damage from where the roofs met, this area needed work completed on the ceiling, floor and doorway.
In the kitchen, we removed an existing pantry, laundry room and bathroom. We also removed two windows to allow for full u-shaped kitchen and pantry. As you can see in one of the photos, new windows have been delivered for this room and the breakfast nook. See our kitchen plans here.
We officially have a pantry!! Other than the Carriage House and new porch, this could be my favorite addition to the house. I inherited my love for entertaining from my mother. I also inherited her desire to have special serving pieces for every occasion. Floor to ceiling shelving will allow for storage for food, small appliances, platters, trays, chargers, table cloths, bowls, etc…
Other than the attic, this room was the only place we had never physically stood in (you can see why in the photos above). Years of sitting water damage required this entire space to be rebuilt. Once we saw it opened, we decided to leave it that way. This allowed for the main entrance to be in the hallway instead of the laundry room and provided an adequate sized bathroom to potentially be a downstairs master bath.
Once we decided to expand the bathroom, we needed to find a place for the breaker box and cleaning supplies. This led to the decision to add a closet beside the bathroom, at the end of the hall.
If you are local and have driven by the house, you’ve seen issues in the front formal living room. There was rot and termite damage to the front wall of the house. After jacking the house up, support is now being added to the floor, wall and ceiling.
This is an example of the supports being added underneath the house in several places.
Even though this is not a glamorous post, it shows significant (and necessary) progress. Stay tuned and like us on Facebook and Instagram!