Moving, salvaging and TOTAL DECONSTRUCTION

I have moved from rental to rental, rental to new home, rental to new home overseas, lived in a garage with 2 big dogs and my husband and nothing has compared to the amount of time and effort involved in moving prior to your home being demolished.

Since one of our ultimate goals in this project is to save energy and resources, we are doing everything we possible can to salvage items for reuse by another family or project.  We did a first pass of allowing friends and family come and take things they were interested in (fancy doors, lights, bamboo, plants).  Second pass was having a local non-profit come by the home and remove items they were interested in (dishwashers, refrigerators, lights, shelves, chairs, kid items, carpet). The third stage was handled by Restore (www.re-store.org) and is going on today.  I was very pleased to see how much they actually take.  They removed all the gates to the fence (3), both hot water furnaces, both garbage disposals, 7 doors and the moulding, the cast iron tub, metal boxes from the basement, the funky cool sink, and more.  The guys working on the project also looked as if they were really enjoying it!  In return for having them salvage and re-sell the items, we receive a slip for a tax write-off and that 'fuzzy, feel good' feeling all over. 

Fireplace removal is Friday, and carpet recycling is Saturday.  

I just swung by the house to do a check-in for last minute items (e.g. all the CFL bulbs in fixtures).  What a site to see! 

sink and cabinet from upstairs bathroom...who would have thought someone would want them??

HEAVY gorgeous 5panel + doors...staging in the living room

Note all the moulding is removed around the doors...oh and the doors are gone too.

Door trim to be reused!

Emptying the hot water heater from upstairs by dumping 20 gallons off the top deck.  

Kestrel (the dog) was in heaven! 

What's missing here?

Those guys had great taste!  They took the, what they called 'funky cool', sink I made.  Priceless!

Previous location of upstairs bathtub.

Cast iron corner custom tub!  Eventually, it took 4 guys to haul this beast down the stairs!

Great use of the carpet.  They took out a chunk from downstairs and created the ultimate tub-sled!

 

Kestrel reaping the benefits of recycling the water heater!

Four more days of this.  Friday they stage in our yard with the heavy equipment.  

On Monday, April 4th, The house will collapse in on itself.

Both Chris and I are fascinated by this, and terrified!  Say goodbye to home equity.

The evolution of the project..from remodel to demolish

My husband and I bought the 1917 Frankenstein-like house in 2007 with the ultimate goal of completing major renovations over a few years to make a house that runs off solar panels.  Within a few months of moving in, we had contractors come out and give us ideas on what we could do with the home.  After several consultations with various remodeling contractors we realized it was a much bigger project than we anticipated. 

House background:  The original house was a single family dwelling with ~1000 sqft and over its 94 year lifespan >2000 sqft were added.  In 1950, the house was zoned and designed as a triplex.  Each addition yielded a new slope to the upper level, creating a outward spiraling slope downward as you walk from the center of the the upstairs.  
Obvious problems with the house: 

1. Pile of dirt: The lowest floor sits on dirt in many places- if you pick up the linoleum in the bathroom, you will find a pile of dirt.
2. Drainage problems: Water drips through the middle of the ceiling on the first floor....remember there are 2 floors above this with a roof on the very top!
3. Bad bones: Dry rot in most of the studs throughout the home.
4. Waterfalls:  On heavy rains we have witnessed a 1 inch wall of water sliding down the side of the house then entering at the window frame, cascading down the window to the window sill.  This created a beautiful waterfall with a 2"crest off the windowsill that flowed nicely onto the carpet inside the house.  We thought about investing in goldfish for the small pond.
5. Breezeway:  When we open our kitchen cabinets, in some places we can see the outside.  No, we don't have windows installed inside the kitchen cabinets.  As a result, on windy days the cabinets flutter as the wind tests the strength of the magnet that holds them closed.

We thus revised our original intentions of remodeling to DEMOLISHING!
Believe it or not, it is cheaper in this case!

Over the first year of living here we designed the new energy efficient house.  We then had a hand-shake deal with Bank of America on a construction loan to start building. 
The economy then crashed and banks pulled back every offer that was previously available.
Over the past 3 years we have been trying to finance the project. 
....Washington Federal, a local portfolio lender, came through for us.

....Finding contractors looking for work was easy. 
....Selecting one that could complete the project quickly, had great references, could complete the project within our budget, and had a good relaxed sense of humor took some time.  We found him about 5  months ago.
Brian Howson, of Howson's contract specialties, will be building the home.

 

The new house-  architect: Lee Edwards of Evolve

Location Location Location....

When we first hunted for a home our primary objective was to find something within running and biking distance for both my husband and me for work.  In addition, we hoped for a quaint neighborhood with nice trees and safe streets.  

When we found this house we were first skeptical because it was a poorly maintained duplex with disgruntled tenants.  Our real estate agent encouraged us to look beyond that and focus on the potential of the home.  It was the perfect location: on a dead end street, walking distance to great shops and food, very close to work and it had a fabulous view.

We visited the house on a sunny afternoon, and Mt. Rainier was out!  It was amazing. 

Unfortunately, the house had no windows on that side of the house.  So, for the past 4 years, we were not able to take advantage of the view.  The new house will take advantage of the view- to the N, S, E and West!

The Mountain at dusk....

The view of downtown Seattle with the Columbia Tower.  This will be visible from the roof-top deck!

View to the East.  When it is sunny Mt. Baker stands out.

Photos of the house before it was taken apart and demolished

Here are some photos for those of you have not seen the house.  When we moved in 4 years ago, we repainted all the walls, ceiling and trim.  We also re-covered most of the floors in order to make things livable and safe.  We were never positive if or when we would rebuild...so we made sure we were happy for the time we were there.

Upstairs kitchen- converted to a small Spanish preschool.

Upstairs nanny bedroom, converted to a workout room!

Guest bedroom and my office.  Great views of the lake and mountains

Demonstration of our eclectic taste.  Downstairs living room.

Taz hall of fame!

Poison puffer

Lion fish

Tasman's house made from a Thermo-finnegan LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer box!

Our attempt to make our daughter a lover of the ocean!

You should feel as though you are underwater....ahhh...numbing.

Brook's mosaic sink creation for the Dr. Suess bathroom!

Brook and Chris painted and drew Dr. Suess images all over the bathroom.  We always wanted to color the walls...this house was a great canvas.

Master bedroom.

 

The view that sold us!

Mt. Rainier at dusk from our deck....