It's been a while since I've posted. Going to make up for it in this one!
Well, we're at the half-way point on the mansion remodel. I think, realistically, we should have most everything complete sometime in February.
To date, all the big structural work is done. The area over the front door porch is completely reframed and jacked up, the solarium framing is complete and the elevator shaft is complete. It's very cool to look down from the 3rd floor and look all the way down to the basement. The framers also jacked up that area of the house and repaired beams, etc. It's looking great.
The house is still reacting from the jacking and lifting ... in some areas the plaster has cracked, and I think will continue to crack. One night I was here late ... I heard a crash ... it was plaster that had cracked and broken. Scared the poo out of me!
Some other unexpected structural work had to be done ... the architect looked at the spans in the dining room ceiling (2nd floor) and there was a bearing wall right in the middle of the room. This was the original design, and not sufficient. The original beams had actually cracked from the weight and the floor had sagged. So, we sistered laminates and in one spot double-laminates to carry the weight. Where the hallway had been cut out through the original recessed alcove in the dining room (when it was turned into apartments), they cut through a bearing beam. So, all that got lifted up and now the original recessed alcove is back.
The final bit of reframing will be in the basement and one area in the kitchen. At the foot of the stairs and the wall behind the stairs, at some point someone punched a hole through the brick wall for plumbing, and that caused a major support beam to drop. In the kitchen the framer has to tie in the ceiling supported by the walls of the original servants dining room into the elevator shaft.
We're finally, finally painting the exterior. The guys are doing the final sanding and patching, and I've hired a young painter from North Plainfield, starting last week. He's doing a great job!! I figure it should be done in about 2 weeks, around mid-November. I had two colors I was chosing between ... a light yellow that I found under the layers of paint on the clapboards and a darker yellow-gold that was the original brick color (it has faded over 100+ years). I re-read the house description in Scientific American Magazine from 1905, it described the house being a "dark Colonial yellow" ... sooo ... I decided on the darker gold color. We're going to use the lighter yellow and a yellow-cream-linen color to paint the trim. It's really making the trim pop out and the dark color looks good with the green roof. Eventually I'll install green shutters (later project).
I'm going to leave the verdanda railings and columns and windows for spring, because right now rotted columns are being replaced --- about 14 of them were in bad shape. The big stuff left to be done is to put back together the solarium, finish rebuilding the Central side veradana roof and reinforce the dining room and central hall floors. The existing spans for the dining room and central all floors are very large, and when a lot of people are on it, the floors move a bit. So, they're going to sister laminates in, which will stabilize it.
Originally over the Central side porch roof there was a balcony there, but the existing framing would not meet code to support people walking on the roof. Ron's guys have it complete, and soon he'll install a green-colored fiberglass roof on, which will be walkable.
Inside, the rough plumbing and most of the rough electric is complete. Ron is repairing the 3rd floor ballroom. It's a beautiful heart pine that had been hacked into in places. We removed the oak flooring in the library ... about half of it was in very bad shape (30 years of being a kitchen and bathroom. Ron took that flooring and re-floored one room of the two-room suite. He'll put a new floor down in the library.
Well, we're at the half-way point on the mansion remodel. I think, realistically, we should have most everything complete sometime in February.
To date, all the big structural work is done. The area over the front door porch is completely reframed and jacked up, the solarium framing is complete and the elevator shaft is complete. It's very cool to look down from the 3rd floor and look all the way down to the basement. The framers also jacked up that area of the house and repaired beams, etc. It's looking great.
The house is still reacting from the jacking and lifting ... in some areas the plaster has cracked, and I think will continue to crack. One night I was here late ... I heard a crash ... it was plaster that had cracked and broken. Scared the poo out of me!
Some other unexpected structural work had to be done ... the architect looked at the spans in the dining room ceiling (2nd floor) and there was a bearing wall right in the middle of the room. This was the original design, and not sufficient. The original beams had actually cracked from the weight and the floor had sagged. So, we sistered laminates and in one spot double-laminates to carry the weight. Where the hallway had been cut out through the original recessed alcove in the dining room (when it was turned into apartments), they cut through a bearing beam. So, all that got lifted up and now the original recessed alcove is back.
The final bit of reframing will be in the basement and one area in the kitchen. At the foot of the stairs and the wall behind the stairs, at some point someone punched a hole through the brick wall for plumbing, and that caused a major support beam to drop. In the kitchen the framer has to tie in the ceiling supported by the walls of the original servants dining room into the elevator shaft.
We're finally, finally painting the exterior. The guys are doing the final sanding and patching, and I've hired a young painter from North Plainfield, starting last week. He's doing a great job!! I figure it should be done in about 2 weeks, around mid-November. I had two colors I was chosing between ... a light yellow that I found under the layers of paint on the clapboards and a darker yellow-gold that was the original brick color (it has faded over 100+ years). I re-read the house description in Scientific American Magazine from 1905, it described the house being a "dark Colonial yellow" ... sooo ... I decided on the darker gold color. We're going to use the lighter yellow and a yellow-cream-linen color to paint the trim. It's really making the trim pop out and the dark color looks good with the green roof. Eventually I'll install green shutters (later project).
I'm going to leave the verdanda railings and columns and windows for spring, because right now rotted columns are being replaced --- about 14 of them were in bad shape. The big stuff left to be done is to put back together the solarium, finish rebuilding the Central side veradana roof and reinforce the dining room and central hall floors. The existing spans for the dining room and central all floors are very large, and when a lot of people are on it, the floors move a bit. So, they're going to sister laminates in, which will stabilize it.
Originally over the Central side porch roof there was a balcony there, but the existing framing would not meet code to support people walking on the roof. Ron's guys have it complete, and soon he'll install a green-colored fiberglass roof on, which will be walkable.
Inside, the rough plumbing and most of the rough electric is complete. Ron is repairing the 3rd floor ballroom. It's a beautiful heart pine that had been hacked into in places. We removed the oak flooring in the library ... about half of it was in very bad shape (30 years of being a kitchen and bathroom. Ron took that flooring and re-floored one room of the two-room suite. He'll put a new floor down in the library. 
All the new rooms and baths are framed out. At this point, next in the project is to get the mechanicals (heat and A/C), sprinklers and commercial hood in. We can't do too much more on the interior until this is complete. I think this will probably take the next two months to be complete. In the meantime, Ron will be finishing putting together the solarium, rebuild rotted basement windows, final exterior carpentry. Inspections for the work done so far should be happening over the next month.I've met with and hired a heating and air conditioning company, Supreme Heating and Air Conditioning out of Summit. We're going to completely replace all the furnaces. The new equipment will include 6 furnaces and air conditioners for the basement, 1st floor and 3rd floor, all individually zoned. The 2nd floor with be handled with these cool "split" units ... basically an individual heat pump and A/C which goes into the wall (not to the outside) and then goes down to a compressor. This way, the guests on the 2nd floor all can control their own heating and A/C. All the units will have electronic air cleaners and UV units that kill mold and bacteria and humidifiers (de-humidifers for the basement). The new new furnaces are 95% energy efficient ... new technology makes a difference!!
None of this comes cheap, but in the end heating and A/C is critical. If the air conditioning is not estimated correctly, then I could have 100 people in the ballroom on the 3rd floor on a hot summer day sweating (and complaining). We human crank out a lot of heat just on our own ... . Also, I plan to insulate the whole house. The attic will be easy, just lay down the insulation. The rest of the house they'll drill holes and shoot the insulation in. I'm going to deal with the storm windows later. It's amazing, but the original windows are not drafty. I'm going to look into storm windows that you actually fit on the inside ... that way I can take the nasty alumnium storms down.
The elevator should be installed in about 4 weeks. EJ Panoti, my rep, came out and declared the elevator shaft Bill (the framer) installed was perfect. That will be an exciting day!
The city wants my electrician, Kelly, to have an electrical engineer do the panel drawings and the house electrical load calculations. Kelly has engaged someone. Now we have to get the specs from the heating/air conditioning company (that will need a lot of power), and I'll need the specs from the kitchen equipment company.
I had several commercial hood companies come to give me estimates, and I've chosen one. The commercial hood is one of the main factors that makes a kitchen a commercial kitchen. A lot goes into it. First, the hood has chemical fire suppression system (think about grease fires). The hood's main job is to suck out with real force the steam and vapors coming from the stove. Commercial stoves work at much higher temperatures that residential "commercial" stoves. The heat vaporizes the grease into the air ... which means it goes everywhere and can cause fires. The hood then has a system to create "make up air" ... since the hood is sucking air out, it has to bring air back into the house.
We're going to have an L-shaped hood line ... 10 ft and 6 ft. The hood vent will follow the elevator shaft up to the roof, where it will come out to the back center of the flat roof (not visible to the street). The hood has it's own electrical needs, that Kelly will have to install and the engineer account for.
For the kitchen equipment, what we're looking at getting is a 10 burner stove with two oven, two convection ovens, a 36" flat grill, 2 fryers, a salamander, under counter commercial dishwaster, the required hand sink, prep sink and 3-compartment sink. In the basement, right off of the elevator, we'll have a "prep kitchen." It will have counters, sinks, and a walk-in refrigerator and freezer. This way, we'll have plenty of space and storage to prepare for large events.
The final thing to work out is hiring the sprinkler contractor. I've got several companies coming to look at the project and give me a price.
I figure the next two month, into January will be all about getting the heating, A/C, hood, sprinklers and commercial kitchen in. Ron will be able to work on some inside things, but most of the finish work will have to wait until these items are installed and inspected.
