Drywall

As an architect, renovating my own house was a great experience. More than anything, it gave me some insight into the range of emotions that my clients go through over the scope of a home renovation project.

Just before the drywall was installed, I reached a point where I was so used to looking at framing that I stopped imagining my house as a home! It felt like it would never be comfy and clean and quiet again! It takes a while to get all of the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC work done, and to the homeowner, there's not much to see during that phase. Then, as soon as the drywall is installed, the house transforms and begins feeling like a home again. It's still messy and noisy, and there's nowhere to sit, but at least the walls are up and it looks brighter and cozier again. Below is a picture of the little 'living, dining, kitchen' space in my basement:

Paint

In September, primer and paint went on. Charlie Slaughter, our neighbor, painted our house! His #1 piece of advice: use oil-based primer. So that is what you see here. In the meantime, there is Julie, working on the formwork for the front steps.

One week later, Charlie sprayed the house with my paint color choice. Tom and I both really like the color - for me, it is especially good because of the way it changes in the sun. The house looks almost yellow in the full sun, but it's a solid green in the shade.

Window Wells

If you are hoping to remodel your basement, chances are that you will need to build a window well. Fortunately, these can overlap your property line setbacks, but it is still a lot of work. Ken Shannon of Cascade Concrete Cutting cut the openings for me, and Seth Truby formed up the concrete window well structure on the outside, and he also helped me install the window when it arrived! I actually built two window wells in addition to the new basement entrance door, so my basement doesn't feel like a basement at all anymore... it's very bright and cozy.

Here you can see one basement bedroom with the window installed, and you can also see the concrete window well beyond. There are some important Code requirements to keep in mind on window wells. First, the sill of your new window must be no higher than 44-in. above the finish floor. You are allowed (in the City of Portland) to build a permanent step 12-in. high right under the window if you need to. Second, the window must allow for emergency escape and there are specific dimensions to meet that requirement. Overall, the window must offer a minimum of 5 sf of clear open area. In addition to that, the window must meet certain minimum dimensions - 24-in. tall and 20-in. wide. Also, the window well must have at least 3-ft. clear perpendicular from the window to the concrete.

Design Idea

According to my husband, enclosing the front porch was one of the best design moves we made in the remodel! The primary reason is because it really increased the size of the living space without adding much cost (with an existing roof and floor... we just needed walls and windows). Bungalows, for the most part, were built with porches but without an entry space. In Portland, this is a problem because every visitor must first disentangle him or herself from layers of wet coats, shoes, and umbrellas before coming in to sit on the dry furniture. Come to think of it, I should have installed some wall-mounted blowers in the entry! A perfect Portland touch.

The secondary reason why enclosing the porch was a good move is because we live on the corner of NE 30th and Prescott. Prescott is sort-of busy. So sitting on the porch wasn't THAT enjoyable anyway...

Can you see that crown molding between my ceiling and wall? It was a major feat to keep that molding up throughout the process - almost every trade (framers, plumbers, electricians, etc) asked if they could remove it! I had no idea that simply keeping a piece of crown molding would require so much explanation! If you are a homeowner and you hire a general contractor to manage your project, my advise is to just give up on keeping existing molding. Have them install new stuff.

Concrete Control Joints

Concrete cracks. And for some unknown reason, people seem to hold that against the concrete! There is a way to control the cracking, and that is to build in joints to control the cracks - in essence, forcing the cracks to crack along straight lines! One way to create a control joint - the way I did it here - was to cut the surface of the concrete about 3/8" down on the day following the concrete pour.

The concrete cutter guy cut the floor into sections about 8x10 in size, though some joints were closer together due to the 'look' I wanted. It was a lot of fun laying out where the cuts would go and then seeing it all cut into sections.

Concrete Floors

This is called 'skating the floor'. After pouring the concrete, the finishers first wait for it to dry a little... just enough to support their weight. Julie, in the video above, started skating the floor 30 minutes or more before the other finishers. Skating looks like a full body workout... hey... that might be the next exercise craze... I should talk with some people at Nike about it!

Here are some more photos of the finishers doing their work:

Radiant Floors

We installed radiant floors in our basement. Radiant floors are also called 'heated floors' and can be heated using various techniques. In our case, we ran 1/2" diameter PEX (that's the tubing that is generally used now for water piping) inside the new concrete slab. But, before getting to the point of laying out the PEX, one has to prep the ground below it! Here is our recipe for radiant concrete floors:

1. Excavate down far enough to allow for some compacted gravel (3-4" will do), 2" of extruded polystyrene insulation (R-10, this is a code requirement), another 1-2" of sand so that the concrete doesn't crack right away, and 4-5" of concrete. In our case, the concrete is our finish floor material, so from the top of the floor to the bottom of the existing ceiling joists, I maintained 7'-1" clear. Code calls for 7-ft. ceilings in livable spaces, and with 1/2" of sheetrock below the joists, I cleared it with 1/2" to spare!

2. Backfill the gravel and compact. Beware that the compactor machine will fill the whole house with gas vapors! Stinky! (and hazardous, potentially) Be careful around water pipes! You don't want to compact them and break them!

3. Lay a 6-mil. moisture barrier over the whole thing and duct tape the seams.

4. Lay your R-10 insulation boards and duct tape the seams. Part of all of this duct taping is to keep moisture out, but another part is to keep radon gas from penetrating the floor. In the Alameda neighborhood of Portland, many houses are exposed to radon. We tested our house in 2004 after we bought it, and found elevated levels. Long term exposure to radon can cause lung cancer, so it is smart to test for radon gas and mitigate for it if you find it.

5. Spread sand over the insulation board.

6. Install a rebar grid or some wire mesh over the sand, using something to prop the rebar up an inch or so. Small chunks of concrete work well, or rocks, and there are several products you can buy at concrete stores. I recommend Mason's Supply in Portland if you need concrete materials. Go to the one out by the airport - the guy working there is really nice and helpful.

7. Now you are ready to lay the PEX. PEX is actually short for 'cross linked polyethylene' and it was developed in the 1930's if you can believe that! It is now commonly used for water supply piping. But I digress! Laying the PEX is a little like herding cats. The stuff is packed in a nice loop, and it wants to stay that way! It takes a lot of coaxing, cursing, and patience to get the stuff to lay flat on your rebar.

8. Now your PEX has been installed, and you feel ready for concrete, right? Not yet. Go around and take lots of pictures and some measurements to make sure you know where those precious pipes are. After you frame up the walls, and when you get ready to anchor those walls to the concrete floor, you'll know why!

9. Put the PEX under pressure and call the inspector. You need to get the piping and rebar approved before pouring your slab.

10. Finally, if you intend to use an integral color like I did, go to Davis Colors and choose a color. Your contractor should be able to provide you with a printed brochure, but if not, you can call me and I will probably be nice enough to give you mine... I can always order another one.

Windows

It was a major milestone for us and the project when the roof was complete! That's my husband, Thomas, in the front yard, smiling.

The house seemed transformed again when the windows arrived! These are Marvin Integrity windows, which have a fiberglass exterior and a wood interior. For old Portland houses, these are a good fit because they offer no exterior upkeep, but they have that great wood look on the inside. One window came with a broken frame, and it was discouraging that it took the company 3 weeks to replace that broken unit. This happened at the Rice House this summer, too - several frames were delivered broken and the customer service was very poor. As an architect, this knowledge puts me in a difficult position. The final product is wonderful and reasonably priced (more than vinyl and less than wood), but if units regularly come broken and then it takes another 3 weeks to get it fixed, it holds up the construction schedule and therefore costs homeowners more.

New Views

One of the best parts of building a dormer or upper-level addition to your house is seeing the new view that you've created for yourself! This is actually a few from the roof!

If your roof happens to be as old as mine was, you might find that there is another layer (or more) of roofing underneath the top cover. You also might find skip sheathing, which was popular until plywood came into widespread use. I laid 1/2" OSB (like plywood, but it's called oriented strand board) over the skip sheathing, then laid my 30# felt on top of that. This is good for the house in at least two ways - first, it improves the lateral capacity of the house. That means that the house will perform better during an earthquake - the OSB ties it all together so it can move as one unit instead of breaking apart at all of the tiny joints. It also helps with insulating and moisture-proofing, though it's only a backup to the primary (and necessary!) methods of actually insulating the attic and using flashing, roofing felt, and roofing shingles to keep moisture out.

Concrete Retaining Walls

Concrete, as it turns out, is a hard trade in which to find good, skilled workers. I think part of this is because it is crazy hard work to do well, and also because anybody with a truck and a couple of tools can 'do' concrete. On complex jobs, you need a skilled carpenter - someone who really knows how to build forms out of wood. After a lot of fruitless searching, I found a handyman (Seth Truby) with some excellent connections and people skills, and he found a lady, Julie, who is wonderfully skilled and experienced in concrete. Julie has a business in Tuscon, AZ, but she is just starting to relocate to Portland, OR. Between Julie and Seth, we got some beautiful concrete work done.

After pouring these new retaining walls, Ken Shannon of Cascade Concrete Cutting sawcut the new door opening into my basement.

Framing and Roofing

For all of my framing and roofing needs, I hired one of my favorite Portland builders, Western Oregon Builders. I hired them because they have excellent man-power and relationships with vendors. We spent only one weekend with a tarp on the roof, which was risky enough for me! We kept our oak floors in the living room, and our fir floors upstairs, so having the roof off was risky. Sure enough, even though it was mid-August, we had a major downpour! Again, I lucked out and my wood floors didn't get damaged.

Here's something to consider if you want to re-roof your house: the boom on the truck that delivers roofing material can only reach so far! Your general contractor will (SHOULD) take this into account when bidding your project, which is why it will cost more if you live on a difficult site. Lugging those heavy bags of asphalt shingles up ladders adds to the labor cost... In our case, we were so fortunate! We barely made it!

Framing the Dormer

Framing is such a fun part of construction! As an architect, you can see your creation being built. As a homeowner, (often this is the case) you finally see what your architect has been talking about all these months! The day Western Oregon Builders cut through the roof and started framing up the dormer was perhaps the most exciting day of the project.

You can see that we had already enclosed the front porch and boarded up the new window opening. We remained boarded up for a few weeks because I ordered the windows late! Windows have a long lead-time, so if you are managing your own construction project, remember to order the windows the day you start demolition! Order your doors and door hardware right away, too!

A photo showing the new roof over the existing roof. We had some beautiful days in mid-August when the dormer was going up. But we also had a sudden downpour in August before the roof was on! That was a mess, and very stressful! But we were fortunate that our existing wood floors did not get warped or damaged. These are some of the risks that a general contractor (GC) would assume, and so as the homeowner/GC, I was counting my blessings.

Flush Beam, Stair Landing

Here's a photo to show you what a 'flush' beam looks like. We use this technique mainly in basement remodels when we need to gain some headroom. The new flush beam was installed where you can see the metal joist hangers. We used this technique in this location because this has become the stair landing - we needed every inch we could get for the minimum required headroom of 6-ft. 8-in.

In this photo, taken in September 2008, you can see the stair landing. We cut the concrete wall (well, Ken Shannon of Cascade Concrete Cutting actually did the cutting), poured new footings along the edges, and poured a new slab at the landing, too.

Foundation Repair

When you break out the concrete floor in the basement of your old Portland bungalow, be careful! That floor is actually doing some structural work. The concrete foundation walls that were built in the 1920's are not the same as concrete foundation walls built today! For one, those old walls have no rebar! And remember that they are 80+ years old, and possibly just 4-6-in. thick with large aggregate and very little cement in the mix. And I've seen even worse conditions than this...

We took a risk by removing the floor, but we mitigated the risk a little by doing all of the work during the driest part of the summer. In addition, we went around the perimeter of the foundation wall in sections, and poured new footings to support the walls better.


Here you can see the first of the footings that we poured. Notice the black plastic behind the concrete - that is a 6-mil. moisture barrier, and besides being a code requirement it is important because it blocks moisture from coming into the house from the floor. In new basements, we use a special board that gets sprayed with a tar-like substance - here's a picture from a project that I designed in 2006.

Breaking Concrete

The project started, of course, with drawings. But it is legal to start demolition before securing permits, so we got started by jackhammering the basement floor in June 2008. That turned out to be a good decision, as we were able to do a little last-minute design change before submitting the drawings.


We knew we would replace the plumbing waste lines below the concrete, which were 84 years old and ready to give out at any moment! So, we started by breaking concrete right around those pipes. After a while, we noticed that the concrete was only 1-2-in. thick, so we decided to remove it all and pour a new 5-in. thick radiant slab with concrete with an integral color.

Here's how our basement floor looked in September 2008, when the new slab was poured:

Project Description

In September of 2004, we bought this house in the Alameda neighborhood of Portland, knowing that it would need a lot of work. The wiring was the original knob-and-tube wiring of the 1920's, the furnace was installed in 1961, nobody knew how old the roof was, and none of the neighbors could remember when it was last painted!

So, we started by cleaning, painting the interior, and doing some serious yard work. By 2005, the house was looking like this.

In July of 2008, we were finally ready to invest in a whole house renovation. Kendra decided to be the general contractor for the project, choosing each of the sub-contractors and managing the project day-to-day. For an architect specializing in residential remodels, this was an extraordinary opportunity!
By October of 2008, our house looked like this. Our anticipated completion date is Dec. 19, 2008.