Where's an Ark when you need one?

Our first catastrophe happened about three months after we purchased the house. That winter was particularly cold in Chicago, a bad sign for a vacant building. We were out of state visiting family for Christmas when the temperature dropped into the negative digits. Our poor dilapidated old furnace couldn't keep up and burned itself out. Of course, the pipes froze and broke. When the city started to thaw out a few days later the water started to run. Maybe run isn't the best word.

We first knew something was wrong when we walked up to the back door and heard a whooshing noise through the wall. Once we opened the door the whoosh became more of a roar. I remember cringing when I stepped through the door and holding my breath waiting for the worst. Sure enough, peaking around the corner revealed a river of water flowing into our sewer grate (lucky we had that huh?). It was one of those "oh expletive" moments. If you have never seen a house flooded because of a broken pipe then let me tell you that it leaves you absolutely stunned. There was somewhere between a twelve and eighteen inches of water moving from the front of the basement to the back and it was originating from what in another setting would have been a truly magnificent waterfall.

 

 Now at the time I was too upset and panicked to think of taking any photos. As first time home owners, this wasn't exactly something we were prepared for. So for documentary purposes, I have photoshopped together my best approximation of what our little flood looked like. 

Impressive right?

After finally getting the water shut off again we let the house drain as much as possible. It was a disaster zone. All of the asbestos had been soaked and come loose from the pipes, ceiling and floor so there were some major health hazards. The plaster walls were also destroyed. Below is a photo taken by our cleanup crew during their inspection that shows the condition of the wood flooring after the flood.

 

So, after all of our initial good intentions at saving the original floors, walls, and as much character as possible - it turned out we couldn't save any of it. Our renovation project just became a gut job. 

Space Planning

The first order of business when planning a renovation is space planning. I love this phase because it's the time to toss all those crazy ridiculous sounding dreams into a pot, stir it around and see what you've got. At this point your house could be anything. If you have a good imagination and a vision for your home this becomes a very exciting time.

First you have to decide how much of a change you want or need to make. Do you plan on just refinishing your floors and knocking out the wall between your kitchen and dining room? Or do you want a full gut of the home and a brand new floor plan? Depending on the answers, your space planning may turn out to be very simple or very complex. 

A quick side note. Many people don't really understand what the term "gut rehab" means. I see real estate listings and advertising all the time that says "Gut Rehab - all new kitchen" but in fact the only new things are the cabinets and appliances. That isn't a gut, that's an update. I know update doesn't sound as impressive but using the wrong term is misleading. A gut rehab means that you take out the guts of the house; the plumbing, heating, AC, electrical wiring, and the old walls all get replaced or updated. Makes sense right? Ok now back to the fun stuff.

In our case, we knew that we wanted to change this building from two apartments into a single family home. That meant moving the stairs, changing the entry, getting rid of the second kitchen, and changing around the general layout. We weren't planning on a full gut, but with all of the problems in the home we knew our project would be on rather large. We also knew we wanted to add a third floor and finish the basement. We had talked a little with our architect about how we like to spend our time at home and what types of spaces we would like to have in the house. Below are the sketches from his preliminary space planning attempts.

Here is the first option. In this case the stairways are located going across the width of the house. It kind of chops up the floor plan and separates the back of the house from the front. Below you can see option two.

In option two, the staircases are moved off to the west side of the building. We decided to use this stair location because it really opens up the space and allows for greater flexibility with the floorplan. 

Interestingly, of the above plans, the only floor where the room sizes and locations stayed relatively the same was the second floor. The basement, first floor, and third floor all changed dramatically due to our predictions of how our lifestyle would translate to the space. For example, my husband does not see the point of having a formal living room. So as a compromise we decided to shrink down the living room space and to make it more of a library/sitting room. One of my wishes was for a sunroom with lots of windows looking out into the back yard. Since the existing back porch (used in the above plans) was in bad condition we decided to tear it down and expand the footprint of the sunroom which would serve as an informal living room on the first floor. 

Some spaces needed to be changed for practical reasons. For example, having the laundry room in the basement did not seem utilitarian to me. I don't want to lug all of my clothes down three flights of stair in order to wash them (as an apartment dweller I have already had this experience and it's not fun). So in my case, the second floor becomes the best place for a laundry room. Another example of practical planning was the expansion of the kitchen area. I come from a family of serious cooks and one look at the little kitchen in the above plans convinced me that we needed to allocate more space for cooking. We decided to annex the dining room space shown above as a kitchen expansion and relocated the dining room into the extra space left over from shrinking the living room. 

My space planning advice for other renovators is this: think creatively and make the choices that will work best for your lifestyle. Make a list of must haves and prioritize your other wants and needs. When in doubt, think about whether your decision will add value to your home.

Meet the Money Pit - Part 2

In part one of Meet the Money Pit, you got to see the first floor of our house at the time we purchased it. Complete with termites, asbestos, mold, rot, and water leaks the place was begging for either a full scale renovation or for a developer to come in and knock it down. In part two we will look at the second floor and the basement.

This is the floor plan for the second level apartment. Very similar to the flat below, but with a larger kitchen area and (although it doesn't seem possible) three even smaller bedrooms.

Here is the stair and entry to the second floor apartment. The skylight in this area did let in a lot of light, unfortunately it also let in a lot of water.

The front room on the second floor. During one of our walkthroughs, I found out that this fireplace was built by the previous owner and tenant when they first moved in. Unfortunately, during the inspection it became clear that it was not a particularly safe fireplace. The flue lining was pulled away from the chimney, there was no chimney cap to keep rain and or animals out, and the way it was constructed could lead to serious carbon monoxide issues. Really it's amazing that these two gentlemen managed so well in this place for so long considering all the hazards.

The living/dining room area.

Although the electrical was not to code, the floor was wildly uneven, and the mirror gone, this bathroom is still a huge upgrade from the first floor.

The second floor kitchen area. Another upgrade from the first floor, but still not exactly a dream kitchen. I wonder how long the drawers had been missing? Nice of them to leave us some spices.

But before you fall in love with this kitchen too quickly, here was a lovely little note in our inspection report.

The back of the second floor kitchen looking out onto the back porch. The man living on the second floor had a number of cats, and the back porch was the litter area. There seemed to be more litter on the floor of the porch than in the actual litter boxes so I guess it's not surprising that even after move out the whole porch smelled like cat urine.

The porch did have a nice view of the backyard.  You can see the two car garage, which was relatively new and in great condition. For anyone who isn't familiar with Chicago, almost every house has an alley in back of it that the garage is built adjacent to. It makes the traffic on the residential city streets more manageable and since all of the garbage pickup is done in the alleys, it keeps the streets ad sidewalks clean.

By traveling down the stairs of the back porch you could either exit the into the back yard or you could continue down into the basement.

The back of the house from the yard. Not too bad. But on closer inspection...

Holy hell in a handbasket. This was one of the most disturbing things found during the whole inspection. The deteriorated wire in the photo above is the main electrical line into the house. In some places the protective housing was completely worn out. Talk about a fire and electrocution hazard. The back door was in bad shape too but comparatively that's small potatoes. 

Let's finish our tour in the basement.

The entrance into the basement. I wonder if one of the guys that lived here was a plumber? Again there is the makeshift pipe railing. Also notice in the larger photo that there was a sewer drain in the basement, which actually proved to be quite a help later on. The uncoiled tubing in the upper left is the (broken) vent pipe for the dryer.

The door you see connects to the room in the previous photo. Your basic unfinished basement. The ceilings in here were about 8ft which was plenty tall for me, but a little tight for my husband.

In this photo you can see the support structure for the whole house. Along the middle of the basement ceiling ran a huge beam. This was supported by five pillar type beams with a concrete footer on top of a huge limestone block (buried under the concrete). This beam system and the outer walls carried the weight of the entire house.

Another great shot of the structural supports. The large cuts on the horizontal beam are actually not problematic. It's a natural phenomenon called "checking" that occurs as the beam dries out. I also love the fact that the previous owners left us a green paper parasol (leaning against the beam) and their awesome 70's style exercise bike. It's a sears exclusive!

The front of the basement. You can see the plumbing pipe hanging from the ceiling. That nice white covering? You guessed it - asbestos. Actually, the ceiling itself had asbestos insulation as well. You can also see the gas meters for both units and the accumulated rust on the pipes.

The furnace and hot water heater for the house. The furnace vent was an obvious problem. Doesn't look like they have too much life left in them.

One last little surprise from the basement, we call it the Harry Potter room. This is the space under our front steps.

So now you've seen it all. What do you think? Do you see the potential or do you think (like some of our friends and relatives) that we were crazy to buy this place? Either way, leave us some love in the comments section.

Meet the Money Pit - Part 1

So without further ado, here is the story of our own little money pit. The original house was built in 1891. We purchased it in 2008 from an elderly man who had lived in one apartment and rented the other to a close friend. They had lived in the house for over thirty years and I'm not sure they changed anything in that entire time. These photos are a mishmash of the inspection photos, architects photos and my own personal shots taken just after we purchased the house. Remember I said she was a fixer upper?

Here she stands. The original limestone is still in amazingly good shape and some of the details are beautiful. The house was a two flat with an unfinished basement. Like most Chicago lots, the front property line is 25ft across, making for a long narrow building.

You can see some of the stonework details we fell in love with. The imaginative use of old plumbing pipe as the porch railing is something I think we will change.

The floorplan of the first floor apartment at purchase. You can see that the house was divided down the middle for structural reasons, resulting in common areas on the eastern side (top of the plan) and three TINY little bedrooms on the western side (bottom of plan). The back deck area (on the far left) was an addition added to the structure by the previous owners. Besides that change, the room layout is pretty much what you would expect from an old Greystone.

The Front Hallway/Entry. The discoloration in the third photos is a water leak.

The front room. The wood flooring in this room had a number of areas eaten by termites.

Apart from the obvious dirt and grime, the window frames are rotted and the radiator is rusted and pretty questionable. There was also a bit of exposed live wiring going on.

The exterior of the window frames.

First floor bathroom. I think it speaks for itself.

I put this under the category "Disgusting".

Shots of the first floor kitchen. The flooring and ceiling in this area were both Asbestos. Not that you would want to cook in here, but even if you did where would you put everything?

The back porch. Extensive water damage and the black stuff in the corner was mold. Also, although you can't tell from the photo, the whole porch was starting to lean away from the house.

 Excited yet? Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from.