Mid-Century Modern Build and Remodel Project

[Barton]

I believe theplant is a fatsia.

I'm enjoying your story.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Some pics of the house and pit getting filled in before we got started on the remodel... Also the 100+ Oak that died and needed to be taken down before the construction could begin. That was painful to watch... Mom actually passed out when that tree landed on the ground... She was scared of that tree ever since they built the house...everyone minus dad said the tree had to be removed as they were building, 42 years later they were right... The southern exposure on that side of the house now is Brutal...will need to plant something that grows quickly to block the direct sun. It looked like it was going to take off the corner of the house, but was an optical illusion.. The missing stucco on the side of the house was actually caused by one of the Oak's branches hitting the beam of the house and the shock cracked it and it eventually fell off about five years after. Dad had tried to repair it himself, but it fell off again and stayed that way for some time.

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

We also took the trunk of the tree to a small local mill and had as many pieces as we could cut into 2" slabs at around 8' long by 32" wide so we could make a dining room table, some coffee tables, and a wall length desktop for the office once it has adequately dried.

 

[PossumHound]

Love this post - keep it coming, and awesome pics!

PH

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

After the tree, we quickly took out the old flag stone that mom was having difficulty walking on and replaced it with a cement one. It has a slight grade so the water runs off. The only thing we would have done differently is to have a 1/8 or 1/4 inch lip between the door thresholds and the sidewalk for rain water purposes. We had discussed with the contractor, and were fearful of a trip hazard...

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

The ugly rust stains were from years of well water being sprayed against the wall to water the flowers....

 

[hobie]

Nice thread! My family built my folks last home in '84, and I can relate to both the initial construction project, and the more recent. Thanks, Brian

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Thanks Hobie, as I post the prior to remodel pics It is amazing how run down it had gotten.... Forgot the term but it goes something like how'd the frog get boiled alive... By raising the temp 1 degree at a time.

My parents worked hard, paycheck to paycheck and refused to go into debt after they paid off the mortgage and yardwork took it's toll until they could only keep up with the grass... Now we ask mom to help by pulling one or two weeds and we work on the rest....otherwise she gets PISSED that she is not working

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Also pulled the trigger on a set of bolt on forks from GC Manufacturing, in prep to order a 4' box blade from EA so I can offload it... Justified that by weighing price of forks vs shipping for residential and lift gate service plus I can modify the forks for brush cleanup and garden tool hauling cart ideas....

 

[LoveTheSmellofDiesel]

Some exterior views. Here you can see some of the cement treads on the stairs leading to the landing that are missing as their concrete had failed and I removed them and blocked it off from use.