Weeks One & Two

We established early on that Andy would be the master director. Jessica, due to impending baby-ness and inability to understand space and time, would scout out new materials and interior design. Our renovation is loosely grouped in three stages. The initial stage will consist of ripping out and replacing the flooring in the bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen, and refinishing the dining room and living room. We'll tear out and re-do the kitchen and bathroom, and then take care of basic structural issues (seismic retrofits, foundation improvements, etc.) and HVAC.

Later stages will likely include refinishing the basement to ma

ke it a livable space, and the final stage would be a more major renovation of the main floor that would increase the square footage and add another bathroom. These renovations will likely not happen for many years, if at all.

We will be lucky to move in to the house by the end of the summer, and in the meantime we are staying with Jessica's very generous and accommodating parents.

With the renovation, we expect the unexpected. This was confirmed in nearly the very

first task. After ripping out the carpet in the bedrooms, and starting in on the linoleum in th

e kitchen, Andy reads about linoleum that was laid before the 70's - there is a high probability of asbestos. So...our first delay. We send samples to a lab and move on to some more prep work.

Andy makes several appointments with contractors and seismic experts to get a sense of the road ahead, and to understand what work we can handle ourselves vs. the work t

hat needs an expert's hand. The meetings go great - two contractors are smitten with the little house because they see in it what we do. The house has a great mix of original craftsman features but a lot of natural light. The location is a.ma.zing and the previous owners haven't messed things up too badly over the 100 year life of the house - renovation will be fairly straight-forward and simple. The most bizarre contractor, so far, showed up for less than 15 minutes, guided us to a website about the Hayward fault, and then left without saying good-bye, handing us a card, handing us a quote, or indicating any follow-up. We were speechless when we saw him drive away in his car. I guess he didn't really want our business after all.

Next up, a construction schedule, posts in the basement, and taking a sledgehammer to the chimney. Yeah!