Busy day at 955

If my trades don't like working with each other, they sure have me fooled.  Today was a model of how, with careful planning and communication, you can have different trades who respect one another, pitch and in keep the job moving forward.  On site today we had John from A&J Windows to manage the window and door installation, Kim from BHM to do more brick cutouts (yes...more #@&* demo!), and Miguel's team.... 

Everybody had to pitch in at different moments, but Kim - so versatile, smart and strong - was the lifesaver today.  Don't have 3 guys to hold a window while it's being put in?  Just insert one Kim and Bob's your uncle.  Miguel was also a big help, moving the Zoom Boom machine all over the place and lending a guy or two when needed.  Thank you team!

Demo and prep

Demo continued today... I know - "I thought demolition was done?", but with a large renovation like this, we will actually not be finished demolition until the framing stage is complete.  It's complicated, ok!

Today, Rocco was taking down the cement ceiling in the former cold room that will now be a conditioned space.

He also took down some of the little partitions at the south end of the house to make way for Miguel's crew next week.

By the end of the day, he'd installed all of the rebar.  After we get Lawrence on site tomorrow, we should be able to pour the remaining foundation areas.

I can see the light!

Another tough day of slugging out concrete, block and dirt, but we can finally...see the light.  Another couple of man days and we should have this place ready to move forward... but we'll still have more demo upstairs later.... sheesh!

Drain installation

Tony was in with his two trusted assistants, and man, did they have a hot day.  Even though we had done all of the channeling, they still had a lot of digging to get all of the drains in place and primed, and all of the stacks set up and connected to the floor drain pipes.  We now have a back water valve which is a nice bonus for this old house.

The demo... continues!

This house continues to release treasures... one little concrete chip at a time.  It was well built indeed!

Getting the damn porch slab out was a relief.... but then it reminded us that the benefit of having the little basement skylight opened up was to remove the 3-4 tonnes of concrete debris from the basement... d'oh!

A well deserved hydration break... it was a long, hot day!

Drain channeling

On 1940's/50's basement slab, we often find 2 or 3" max of concrete on the basement slab - pretty easy to cut and channel for new drains.  We have elected to replace the entire drain system, as what we had to work with was simply not up to snuff.  However, the concrete is 4"-5" thick, and takes quite a lot of work.  Rocco has been cutting channels for almost two days, and we're now smashing and chipping our way before the plumbers arrive.  

Backfill and more demo

Thom snuck in late Saturday and managed to backfill the entire foundation.  Today was the start of a lot of small, masonry demolition project.  Even though the design of the porch (see above) was not good, they sure knew what they were doing with the strength of the concrete.  It took half a day to whittle the porch down to half the original size.  Tough work!

Taking down the chimney

Permits are "in process".... but only some clerk at the City of Mississauga knows what that means :-)!

Meanwhile, Tyler is still at it - this time removing the chimney and fireplace.  Safety first Tyler - good job!

Exterior Shots

I had to get beyond the "shield" and get some pictures of the front of the house....