Well, one more thing in the way of our Ava MO ranch construction. Dad has decided to move in.
Now, my Wife's father has lived accross the street fom us for almost 40 years. He has been a widower for some 35 of those. He has adammitly refused to sell his house and move in but ....he comes accross the street three times a day minimum.
Last Christmas, our DIL suggested she would visit us except that we do not have a handicap accessible bathroom. So we decided to modify ours for her visit. One thing leads to another and now we have to rehab the master bedroom, bath and main bathroom.
This project now also includes taking the truss roof attic and converting some of it to a loft. This project is mostly complete needing only finish on the walls, flooring and a set of stairs to reach it from the Master Bedroom. The location of those stairs has been the subject of discussion, and sometimes bloody war, for about 10 years now. But the wife has finally understood the structural limitations of a three bedroom one story ranch built for a blue collar family in 1970.
That said, we will have some of all of the construction activities involved. Foundation work, masonary, carpentry, both rough and finished, plumbing, electrical, and the absolute pleasure of living in a construction zone for 9 months.
I start tonite removing the hardwood floor, yes 3" X 3/4" quarter sawn oak, I installed back in 1980. Tear out of the main bath should be done this week end. The master bath tear out is already done. Formaly an incredibly compact 3'X 6' afterthought by the original builder, it gets an 8' X 3' X 7' deep foundation so we can enlarge it enough for my fat butt to use it.
When complete it will be 8' X 9' with a skylight and a wall of glass block facing south. The main bath will grow from a 5' X 7' to and 8' X 10' luxury unit set for handicap use.
When originaly built these were "necccesary" rooms, not the spacious luxury baths placed in houses of today.
We are still"discussing" a walk in tub for Dad. That's a pile O' money we haven't got in the budget. But a nice feature if we can do it.
All of this work leaves the Master bedroom a mess. It will be the second half of the project. Once the bathrooms are done, the bedroom gets a 2'X 12' bumpout which will accept the massive Cherry head board unit we have and allow the bed to move south 2 feet. This will enlarge the usable floor space, not just at the foot of the bed, but clear accross the room.
New closets with built ins and some better windows to bring in more light, a skylight at the top of the new stairs will replace the dark corner where Cathy's dressing table used to be. Carpet will be gone and hardwood flooring insatalled. I plan on Cherry bordering an Oak or Bamboo main floor.
The loft is for her painting and ccraft hobbies. It will be 18' X 14' with knee walls ont either side and a large (already installed) window facing South. The roof has three bubble skylights already installed so there is plenty of ambient lights. It peaks at 8' down to 4' knee walls with storage behind them.
A small sink and frig kichenette is sitting in boxes. Purchased years ago along with a lot of fixtures, paneling, trim, and other components we have collected at good prices over time, the balance of the project costs will be minimal. So it is mostly labor left.
mine.
It will be fun to come home from work every nite, to a constructinmess. I suppose. We lived like that for 30 years when we first flipped the house and moved in before all was done. Only in the last ten has it not been so. But this dream remodel has been on our minds the whole time. So best we get started.
Meanwhile the ranch at Hippie Ridge wil just have to wait.
Now, my Wife's father has lived accross the street fom us for almost 40 years. He has been a widower for some 35 of those. He has adammitly refused to sell his house and move in but ....he comes accross the street three times a day minimum.
Last Christmas, our DIL suggested she would visit us except that we do not have a handicap accessible bathroom. So we decided to modify ours for her visit. One thing leads to another and now we have to rehab the master bedroom, bath and main bathroom.
This project now also includes taking the truss roof attic and converting some of it to a loft. This project is mostly complete needing only finish on the walls, flooring and a set of stairs to reach it from the Master Bedroom. The location of those stairs has been the subject of discussion, and sometimes bloody war, for about 10 years now. But the wife has finally understood the structural limitations of a three bedroom one story ranch built for a blue collar family in 1970.
That said, we will have some of all of the construction activities involved. Foundation work, masonary, carpentry, both rough and finished, plumbing, electrical, and the absolute pleasure of living in a construction zone for 9 months.
I start tonite removing the hardwood floor, yes 3" X 3/4" quarter sawn oak, I installed back in 1980. Tear out of the main bath should be done this week end. The master bath tear out is already done. Formaly an incredibly compact 3'X 6' afterthought by the original builder, it gets an 8' X 3' X 7' deep foundation so we can enlarge it enough for my fat butt to use it.
When complete it will be 8' X 9' with a skylight and a wall of glass block facing south. The main bath will grow from a 5' X 7' to and 8' X 10' luxury unit set for handicap use.
When originaly built these were "necccesary" rooms, not the spacious luxury baths placed in houses of today.
We are still"discussing" a walk in tub for Dad. That's a pile O' money we haven't got in the budget. But a nice feature if we can do it.
All of this work leaves the Master bedroom a mess. It will be the second half of the project. Once the bathrooms are done, the bedroom gets a 2'X 12' bumpout which will accept the massive Cherry head board unit we have and allow the bed to move south 2 feet. This will enlarge the usable floor space, not just at the foot of the bed, but clear accross the room.
New closets with built ins and some better windows to bring in more light, a skylight at the top of the new stairs will replace the dark corner where Cathy's dressing table used to be. Carpet will be gone and hardwood flooring insatalled. I plan on Cherry bordering an Oak or Bamboo main floor.
The loft is for her painting and ccraft hobbies. It will be 18' X 14' with knee walls ont either side and a large (already installed) window facing South. The roof has three bubble skylights already installed so there is plenty of ambient lights. It peaks at 8' down to 4' knee walls with storage behind them.
A small sink and frig kichenette is sitting in boxes. Purchased years ago along with a lot of fixtures, paneling, trim, and other components we have collected at good prices over time, the balance of the project costs will be minimal. So it is mostly labor left.
mine.
It will be fun to come home from work every nite, to a constructinmess. I suppose. We lived like that for 30 years when we first flipped the house and moved in before all was done. Only in the last ten has it not been so. But this dream remodel has been on our minds the whole time. So best we get started.
Meanwhile the ranch at Hippie Ridge wil just have to wait.
Last edited: