I wasn't kidding about it being very slow going

Hence the lack of posts. Despite the fact that our contractor pulled a permit to begin re-doing the Red Brick Building's roof, and our architects promised to have us the plans by the first week of September, it's only last week that they were turned over to the structural engineer for him to be able to do his engineering drawings. Yup, it's been six weeks of hounding and hounding and even more hounding of architects. Not fun. But we are hoping to have turned a corner, and the engineer promised us the plans by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a little showroom visiting today and last week, since some of the spatial dimensions within the rooms are becoming more defined. I visited a local appliance showroom and did a quick whip 'round Sears' appliance section, for comparison purposes. I went in with some "musts" and came out with a few strong contenders.

For the tenants, we're going with all stainless, since that's what most people seem to like these days. A side-by-side fridge/freezer, since it strikes me as the most "neutral" choice (not deciding whether the future tenants are more from-scratch cooks or frozen food reheaters). The Bosch was the clear winner among those I saw, in terms of attractiveness, a feeling of quality, good internal illumination and space configuration. Plus it has the ice/water dispenser in the door, which is a nice touch. For their range, I liked the Bosch and the GE Cafe model. The Cafe seems a little more practical and intelligently designed, the Bosch is a little more elegant-looking and has the "brand-name" factor. Also, apparently if you buy several applicances from the same manufacturer you get a discount. And the saleswoman was saying that the Bosch dishwashers or washers and dryers (I forget which) are the highest rated. But I haven't even gotten to dishwashers and laundry yet. It feels less urgent since there are fewer variables in terms of size and hook-up.

For our own unit, I want white appliances, a French door fridge and a gas cook-top on our free-standing (or rather, as I learned it is called, "slide-in") range. My favorite fridge was the KitchenAid, though there was a Whirlpool Gold that was acceptable, if cheaper-feeling, and half the price. This after going back and forth about whether we need an in-door ice and water dispenser, consulting with my cutie and deciding we don't. Our range was trickier, because I want something white and attractively designed and my boyfriend wants something similar to the Thermador in our rental, which means something more professional style. My other requirements are something with a decently big oven, 4 burners, no or minimal backsplash, and no gimmicky electronics. This morning I went to a showroom that specializes in ranges and deals mostly with European brands. In particular, I wanted to check out Blue Star, Aga and, if possible, see a white KitchenAid range.

Well, after strolling around the showroom and speaking to one of the salespeople, I fell in love with the Blue Star. It reminds me of the ranges I cooked on in restaurants with its open, flush and dropped-in burners. And it comes in white! (as well as over 100 other colors) Apparently the oven is the most capacious of any range its size and the broilers get mega-hot. There's a convection fan to keep things baking evenly, a pull out foil-lineable drawer that catches spills and crumbs, you can take the grate off for true wok cooking, and unlike the Thermador, the simmer setting maintains an evenly low simmer, rather than switching on and off on a timer. So enamored am I that I am even tempted by the possibility of adding a 12 inch grill to the 4-burner 30 inch model that I was originally eyeing, so getting the 36 inch model instead.

Of the other options, the Aga did nothing for me (can't see what's going on inside, except with one model, has non-continuous burner plates, and little ovens which, the saleswoman told me, take surprisingly long to heat up). I think it's best for someone who's a real back-to-basics kind of person (which I emphatically am not). The KitchenAid they had on show wasn't white and it had lots of electronics to control the oven. Plus, it just doesn't hold its own, style and heft-wise with the pro-style ranges. The surprise of the visit was an Italian brand called Ilve which was gorgeous. Comes in a half-dozen colors including white and optional copper trim. Cute styling and nobs, but pricier than the BlueStar (which itself isn't cheap), non-continuous grates and none of the other advantages of the BS.

After these visits, it feels great to know what I'm putting on the appliance wish list. We'll still need to cost it all out, though, before we reach any decisions.

Our first building permit!

We just got our very first building permit for the RBB: it's for the new roof. Our contractor and code consultant went down to the municipal building department and pulled the permit for us this morning. Had I received this news a couple of months ago, I would have thought it was no big deal, but I now know that getting to do this much work on a short form (which doesn't need all kinds of plans to be submitted and a longer wait) is a pretty spectacular thing to pull off. We're so excited! And so pleased with and impressed by those two members of our project team. Our contractor says he can start the work in two weeks' time.

Very slow going

Progress on the red brick building has been very slow, hence the lack of new posts.

Today we met with the architects to restate the priorities we gave them a month ago. 1) Get four details checked/worked out on the engineer's drawings of the roof so we can give the go ahead to our contractor to begin construction. 2) Figure out what the building code requires of us in terms of emergency egress in case of fire. 3) Decide where the utilities are going to go in the basement so we can get our contractor moving pipes and wires around. 4) Analyze the facade to know what changes, if any, we'll make to the windows and doors there. Locate the new fireplace so we can get a mason in to brick up to windows at the back of the building and put in the new fireplace/chimney.

Over the past month, there's been activity related to these points, but nothing that actually puts us in a position to start altering the building's structure yet.

We've also had a wood flooring guy come in to look at our existing floors (which are in very rough shape) and he recommended laying new ones. That's what everyone has been telling us so far. He told me about a place in Portland, Maine that has a good selection of old, reclaimed lumber, so the plan is to head up there one weekend. Meanwhile, I found a gorgeous, inspiring, herringbone-patterned floor in a shop here in Boston. It's very pale in color: old, unstained, unfinished oak. I want to approximate that look on our living level using the old pine framing that we've been pulling down. We'll likely need to buy some wood too, though, since what we can salvage from other parts of the building won't be enough to cover its floor square footage.

Save this wood?

We need to decide whether or not to save and reuse the old wood that we're tearing out of the building. We've been thinking about using them as flooring. We've got three kinds of it: old 2x4s that were used to frame the rooms, ceiling joists that are holding up the roof, and roof decking that's laid on top of the ceiling joists, covered with a layer of tar and gravel and then topped with the roof's rubber membrane.

Yesterday our contractor met me at the RBB with his portable planer and a Sawzall. He cut out pieces of each and cleaned them up. Then I brought them home for us to consider when the bf got home from work. This is what they look like:



From left to right, it's: decking, joist, framing 2x4s. We think the decking and joists are pine and that the 2x4s might be poplar or hemlock. If we used them for flooring, we'd lay the decking and joist wood as (fairly wide) planks and the two by fours in a herringbone pattern. The plan is to buy some stains and urethane, apply them and see what we get. Then maybe take our wood bits to an antique wood flooring place and compare them to what we could buy off the shelf.

If we don't use it for flooring, my bf had the idea of using the joists (which are much thicker) for our new staircases. I like that idea. I also like the idea of saving some of the wood to make furniture for our new place or maybe built-in shelves.

You may be wondering why we'd even consider having the demo crew just throw the wood out. Answer: it's probably more expensive (and possibly significantly more) to dismantle everything carefully, pull all the nails, cut the planks to the right lengths, plane the layer of tar off the roof decking and then plane all the pieces, than it would be just to buy ready-milled flooring. And since we need so many square feet of flooring (about 3000 sq. ft of wood, plus tile for the bathrooms), the difference between, say, $10/sq ft and, say, $15/sq ft is gonna add up fast. So we really do need to cost it out.

First photos

Here are some photos of the top (third) floor, the level where our unit's bedrooms are going to be. The stairs going up are to the roof. The snaps are from a few weeks ago, when we were trying to clear out the old framing to get a sense of how the space would look opened up. Looks pretty bad, don't it?

Three priorities for the architects

We showed the new architects the building yesterday, then met with them to talk about the order in which we need to proceed with the work.

The first priority is to finalize the drawings of the roof so that our contractor can get it built. On Monday, he gave us a really reasonable estimate for the work - $49,000 - based on the engineer's drawings. That's to rip the old one off, including the head house, put in all new thick LVLs, to bear the weight of 150lbs/square foot of earth/pavers/plants, install a drainage system, prefab, sloped insulation and a rubber membrane. The architects need to double check that the supports will accomodate the stairs, whether we need to leave them exactly where they are, or whether we're given permission to move them a couple of feet if we are granted a variance for the conservatory. The architects need to make sure the skylights are positioned to alight perfectly over the shower area in the master bathroom one story below. And then we just need a couple of height measurements checked by the architects and noted for the builders. It's pretty exciting to think that we're actually going to get to *build* something soon. We'll be sad to temporarily do without rooftop picnics/sunbathing.

The second architectural priority is to shore up the envelope of the building. Figure out exactly where the brickwork needs repointing, make final decisions about which windows to brick in, draw exactly where the chimney and fireplace should be situated, etc. Then we can get a bid from the mason for that work and turn him loose on the job.

The third priority is ensuring that we have a second egress from all three units (including the troublesome owner's unit) that will satisfy the city. Our first line of attack on that problem is to get the architect to draw a new fire escape with a levered staircase. Then we'll take it over to the building department at the city and see if they'd be okay with it. If so, we can get the ironworker I met with on Tuesday going on the new fire escape. We're doing everything we can and pursuing every glimmer of hope to avoid creating a dreaded second internal staircase, but word on the street is that since our overhaul of the building is so extensive, they're going to want something internal instead of being content with the external stairs that are on the building now. Once we get the emergency egress issues settled, we'll be able to finalize the floorplan enough to situate HVAC, utilities and plumbing and thus, clean out the basement and pour a new concrete floor down there.

Engineer's drawings of the roof

The structural engineer sent us the drawings of the new roof structure this morning, complete with stamp. They were also sent to the contractor, who's working on an estimate as we speak. Next week we're meeting with the bank's representative, who needs to see and approve the plans and pricing before the bank releases the funds and construction can begin. I can't tell you how exciting it is to maybe be able to actually start implementing some of our ideas. Also, it would be comforting, whatever the number, to know what kind of expense we're set up to incur, so we can make a decision about whether or not it's worth it.