Still More Demo

Here's the demo of the paneling room!

The future purpose of this room is to be combined with the existing Master Bedroom to make our Master Suite! It felt so good to see that dark old school paneling go away.



This wall is supposed to be completely torn down. Oh but wait!

What is that brick thing in the middle of the wall?
No.
It's not.
It CAN'T be.
A chimney?!!



Oh but it is. I can't help but chuckle thinking back onto the conversation Cary and I had (and are still having) about this little surprise.

So in the basement of the house there is a new furnace and hot water heater which happen to be vented up through this brick chimney all the way up through the roof.






See...right there...



How did I miss this? I can't say that I'm upset really because working in construction for over 10 years I'm fully aware of the many surprises that can spring up any time during a project. But it's just frustrating.

Our options are:
1-remove the chimney. How much is that going to cost and how long will it delay the current work? That's what Cary and I are working through right now.

2-redesign the master suite to keep this wall or try to "accent" the brick chimney. Not really an option that we want to pursue. As it stands right now with the current design this chimney is right where Cary's feet are when he's in bed. I don't think he would appreciate rough masonry exfoliating his toes when he sleeps.

3-make the paneling room an office and use the room we planned for Ellery as the master suite. Again, not very good because this room is so small it will be difficult to have guests stay comfortably.

I think we are just going to have to suck it up and have the chimney removed. That means more repair to the slate roof, closing in the holes in the attic, filling in the hardwood floors in the master suite flooring (which I think we had to do anyway) and let's not forget a whole lot of mess to clean up.

It's a big "UGH" and sigh of frustration but nothing we can do about it.

I think the easiest thing about this additional project is re-routing the venting for the furnace and hot water heater to the exterior wall right next to the equipment!

Fun Times!!

In the mean time I'll be working on the lighting design and relocating those switches that are currently hanging in the middle of the living room/kitchen. I'll also be working on gather more quotes for the kitchen cabinets!