The Victorian: Kitchen and Bath Demolition

 Some photos of the more recent work at the NE corner of the house.  This shows the new rear door, and the new electrical gear installed on the reconstructed rear porch area.

 A closer view once I have turned on the lights (plugged in the drop cord to the neighbors back deck.  The neighbors have been great while I have dealt with the somewhat forgetful electrical inspector who has forgotten to call in the turn on order to the utility twice now.
Demolition.  This is much cleaner looking than the actual demolition, which involves lots of dust.  I generally hate dust masks, but the use of them is absolutely essential to this work.

Some mopre demolition in the background with new construction in the foreground.  White pine is new construction, either around the new rear door, or as a crib wall to support the previously failed exterior wall which had suffered extensive termite damage.  Also note a couple old radiators that have been removed to the rear door for resale or scrapping.  I'd love these to go in some other historic structure, but at about 300-400 lbs each they are worth quite a bit even at the scrapyard.  Some of the biggest radiators in the front of the house are twice the size of these and will likely be close to 600lbs.

 Initial layering of insulation is installed in the rear area or what will be the dining room and powder room.  On the north wall I am using simple R-13 fiberglass batts, with the exterior layered with 2" of polyisocyanurate foam sheeting.  Accounting for studding this should result in a final wall of roughly R-25.  The west wall is insulated with 3/4" foil faced polyisocyanurate which is installed with a 3/4" air gap against the exterior wall.  Inside of this will be an additional 2" of polyisocyanurate to fill the stud space, and then an additional 2" of foam board.  This is to combat the significant solar heat gain during summer afternoons, and also the significant wind exposure from the northwest during the winter.  The 3/4" board will block most of the radiant heat, and the spacing when properly vented will form a double wall design that will also keep the exterior wall cooler, and make the paint on the western exposure last longer (it is peeing on the same exposure of both adjacent properties) when it is not stressed by such high temperatures.  This should result in a roughly R-30 installation on the west wall which is roughly double that called for by the energy code.  Needless to say good insulation is necessary to make living in a house this large and old a reasonable possibility with today s high energy costs and tight budgets. 

 

 An existing exterior window.  This area was demolished so I removed the existing Iron window weights and filled the spaces with spray foam.  By adding custom interior storm windows this window will be more efficient than a new energy star window while maintaining the historical appearance from the outside.

 This photo shows some of the 2" polyisocyanurate board.  This is temporarily installed on the north wall and ceiling to maintain some protection from the outside elements enough to allow my temporary heat source (wood stove in the basement) to heat the area through natural convection up the stair column.  This is important as I need to achieve a minimum temperature in order to do some of the sealing work with ongoing insulation.

 A nice photo from the bottom of the basement stairs.  No, this photo is not tilted, the existing stair really is that badly un-leveled/crooked.  Also notice the high grade lighting which i got for 5 bucks each, a nice three lamp Lithonia brand fixture removed from a grocery store during demolition.  They are even the newer T-8 bulbs which are more energy efficient, I bought these for plant starting lights but they serve well as shop lights too.