The whole house remodel project in Oakland is well underway. The house is 104 years old. All the exterior doors and windows have been replaced and some relocated. The old chimney has been removed. Just get a look at interior:
All the interior plaster has been removed, some existing walls have been removed, and the new walls have been framed. In the photo above, you can see the original framing is dark, the new framing is blond. The electrician and the plumber are hard at work updating the house’s infrastructure.
The owner told me that the additional structural bracing that the engineer required, resulted in almost 6-inches in additional ceiling height in the center of the house. The old ceiling rafters are only 2×6’s and are spanning 24 feet!
Photo copyright 2014 David Locicero
The chimney was removed, but the owner decided he couldn’t get rid of the original fireplace surround. So it has been conserved.
Photo copyright 2014 David Locicero
The fireplace surround has tiles that are original to the house. The opening will be filled in as the bathroom framing is completed. While the owner doesn’t want an actual fireplace, he felt he couldn’t just get rid of this architectural detail.
These photos were taken 6 weeks after the permit was issued. As you can see there was a tremendous amount of demolition required. The structural work and replacing the exterior windows and doors was next in the process, followed by the new rough electrical and rough plumbing.
The next steps will be the new mechanical system (Heating) and new interior sheet rock. Installing those will take another 6 weeks or so. I’m planning to visit the house again once the sheet rock is complete. At that point we’ll be able to get a better sense of what the flow of spaces and light will be like.
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