We’ve made some huge progress on the Red House lately and today we’re dishing out all of the updates! We may have even picked a roof color…
Progress at the Red House is moving right along! Although most of the work being handled isn’t glamorous (or overly fun), it’s all very necessary. As of today, plumbing changes are complete, electrical work is almost done and the new HVAC system is installed and waiting to be connected to power. All of these milestones will be huge steps forward and once complete, we’ll be be able to insulate, hang drywall and the house will be completely ‘dried in’.
Last week, we paid a visit to the house for a handful of scheduled walkthroughs and captured some pretty intense transformations. Here’s where we stand.
Reframing The Kitchen Roof
As we outlined in this ‘first 5 steps’ post a few months ago, we knew there would be some structural roof changes necessary to get the home back to a state of full health. We knew the rear of the kitchen would need to be completely torn off so that the ceiling of the whole common space lined up on one plane. This change also eliminated an awkward exterior ‘step down’ roof gable that was collecting water and debris.
Seeing a large portion of the home completely open to the elements like this isn’t something we’ve really experienced before, so we’re glad we were on-site to see it in person! It also made us reconsider skylights as a viable option, but we think the big sliding door we’ve got planned will let in more than enough natural light once its complete.
The Common Area Ceiling and Roof
What we didn’t know when we planned to reframe the kitchen roof, however, was that we’d come to find mold all throughout the home’s attic. We’ve determined that the ventilation in the attic space above the common area of the home wasn’t sufficient, so the lack of airflow led to prime conditions for mold. In order to address it, the most efficient course of action was to remove the roof decking and replace it with new plywood. This will structurally eliminate almost all of the mold and the rest will be treated properly to keep it from returning. The new ventilation will also allow for proper airflow, which will make the space much less hospitable to organic growth in the future.
We’ll have a bit more on this later when we discuss the exterior portion of the progress updated, so the light leaks through the old roof will act as an indication of what’s to come for the moment!
The Bathroom(s)
Around the corner from the kitchen, the bathrooms are also ready for a big transformation! We’ve been waiting on the custom windows for both spaces for a few months and they’re finally on-site and ready to be installed.
The primary bathroom window opening is roughed in and ready for installation! This window is almost 4’h x 5’w, so it’s going to let in massive amounts of light and allow for views of the forested backyard.
The photo below illustrates how the smaller bathroom (on the left and through the framed wall) was able to be cut out of the footprint of the once-oversized single bathroom. The top left side of the photo also shows the small rough-in for the fixed powder room window. This little guy only measure 1’h x 2’w, but it’ll let in more than enough natural light.
Bedrooms
Luckily, the ceilings in both bedrooms were in good shape, so they didn’t need any structural surgery. We’ve retained the existing drywall and have only shifted a couple of small items. The view below is from the back wall of the smaller bedroom, looking through the new pocket door and into the powder room, then through to the full bathroom.
In this slightly pulled-back view from the same wall, the powder room door can be seen on the left. On the right side, the hallway leads to the full bathroom, then on to the dining room and living room.
Over in the other, larger bedroom, The closet has been reframed to accommodate a stacked washer/dryer on the left side. The right side will remain a double closet for hanging and shelf storage, as well as a small dresser if we feel the need for one. Since this room will feature a king-size bed with a lofted twin above it, we’re working hard to maintain open floor space for playing games and lounging.
Exterior
Remember earlier when I mentioned earlier that the partially exposed ceiling and roof would act as an indication of what would come later? This. This was what was to come later. We ran out to grab a quick bite for lunch and returned to our house looking like a halloween skeleton’s ribcage. This crew was an absolute swarm of bees on this house! They were incredibly efficient and had the whole roof demo’d, re-decked and shingled in a single day. Yes, that’s correct. Shingled. The roof is shingled. If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you might be wondering what color we chose. Well, we haven’t seen it yet either, so you’ll just have to keep an eye on our stories tomorrow when we visit again.
Again, this was such a wild thing to experience. Walking into a house we’ve only owned for 6 months and seeing the blue sky through the ceiling joists was pretty surreal. At this point, we’ve had the walls of countless homes open, but tearing the roof off is on a whole different level!
All of these changes are time consuming and costly, but when we start a new project, it’s important that we build from a proper baseline. In this case, that meant a lot of structural and mechanical work that will end up hidden behind finished drywall, but it’s all very necessary. Thanks for following along and keep an eye on IG tomorrow for some more big updates!
So amazing. (Also I feel your pain; we had a similar issue in our cottage way back when…I blame the gorgeous air and relaxed atmosphere of SW Michigan 😉) Can’t wait to see the sneak peaks tomorrow!
When I was having a new roof put on a few years ago, I went out and bought to solar tubes for maybe $300 each and had the roofer install one in a windowless master bath and another in our living room (which has a skylight on one side of the room but not the other). He hadn’t done one for 20 years, but it took him under 2 hours to complete the work. They are a great, cheap option and something someone with your skills could probably tackle if you decide later on that you do need more light somewhere. We love ours, and I’d love to add a few more down the line.
We definitely looked into those! In the end though, we decided against solar tubes or skylights in favor of oversized windows but the idea is in our back pocket for down the road if we decide we want even more natural light.
Our roofer recommended solar tube when we redid our roof. We wanted natural light to fill the stairwell and he told us it would be a lot cheaper to do a solar tube. Sometimes I still check to see if I left a light on, ha.
I know the phase of the project doesn’t appeal to most, but I love it! These are the bones that will keep your house standing for a lifetime.