In an old house there is a certain amount of excitement when you do demolition because you never know what you are going to find. We have a box of “finds” and have even framed a few up. The underside of our first floor was “insulated” with newspaper in 1900 (in our case the Philadelphia Inquirer). The pieces are pretty fragile but mostly still legible. Here are a couple of our favorites from this weekend:

"Talk-O-Phone" Ad Circa 1900

This photos is of an article about Ben Franklin’s grave. “Practically neglected and forgotten for 116 years, the unpretentious tomb of Benjamin Franklin” at Christ Church graveyard in Philadelphia was redone and “bedecked” (what a good word). I find this very interesting as Ben’s tomb is still a favorite site for visitors today.

Article about 100 year old Ben Franklin Burial Site

This weekend we made our way to the front of the basement (under the Living Room) on our ongoing project to remove all the old 1970s paneling and walls and we (mostly Mr. S.) removed the last major walls in our demolition project. This meant that we had to get a second Bagster for the debris, but it was totally worth it because the satisfaction of getting all the old walls out is hard to beat.

Paint Cans on Old Shelving from September (after removing a LOT of old cans)

Basement wall before Demolition

Demolition All DONE in this area!

We also signed the contract with the company who is going to install a new french drain around the entire perimeter of the basement a special “fabric” over the walls (BQ Basement Systems). They have a pretty long wait list, so it looks like we won’t be able to get this done until January, but in the meantime we still have lots to do. On the current list is:

1. Have our contractor grout the damaged areas on the old stone ruble foundation walls and remove the last wall (behind the washer and dryer)
2. Decide on the shower unit for the bathroom.
3. Rough in for the new bathroom
4. Patch the concrete floor
5. Make some decisions about the locations for future walls for the space.

We also have this crazy idea of creating an opening in one of the brick walls below our brick fireplaces and making a wine cave. I have to talk to my structural engineer about that one (it might cause issues with the shear load on the house).

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here. I had a big presentation to put together at the office, had to call lots of contractors for work (not a fun job!), taught 2 architectural studio classes, had a Zoning Hearing Board meeting, worked on the basement, had a long overdue Mom night’s out with my Mom Group, and tried to keep the kids happy all while not pulling my hair out. Mr. S was really helpful with the kids, including putting them to bed without me several times (it is really hard for me when I miss bedtime). My head is still a big swirly mess, but I am hoping to regain my sanity starting today.

Basement Progress: The non-load bearing part of the wall between the 2 main spaces has been removed as well as the rest of the wall on the left. The column on the left is the temporary one we added in September. The one in the middle is original. We will be adding a new column near the temporary one and one to the right (near the Ikea island) and removing the one in the middle per our structural engineer's recommendations.

Basement Progress: The wall in the distance has been completely stripped. You can also see our lovely (but extremely heavy) vintage safe (it came with the house). Column in the middle to be removed after the 2 new columns are installed.

Back door with stripped foundation walls. I actually kind of like the looks of this. Although we need to seal off these walls, they have a beautiful quality to them. I also like the beadboard and stone together. Very rustic farmhouse!

Mr. S was also busy this weekend in the basement! He has been very inspired to get the basement stripped back to its original foundation and I have been finding it is surprisingly rewarding to clear out the basement. We also had the plumber over to start mapping out the demolition of the old plumbing in the disgusting basement bathroom (so ugly in fact that I can’t show you a picture). Once we get the bathroom plumbing capped (hopefully later this week) we can start to figure out the new plumbing arrangement for the bathroom down there (which has to be done before they install the french drain and new skim coat on the floor). I also need to start looking at shower stalls. I am thinking of that opens at the corner. Maybe like this…

Round Corner Shower by ABS, $560 at Home Depot

For the bathroom we will also be using our old vintage sink that use to be in our upstairs bathroom (yeah, free and cute!). We are still deciding whether or not we will reuse the existing toilet. hmmm…. More decisions to make!

Also on the list this week is getting our Electrician over to remove some of the old wiring and our contractor to see about adding the new columns and their foundations.

P.S. Andi and Neil’s kitchen is finished (well except for the pretty accessories) and I am going to head over there to take some pictures. So stay tuned for an update later this week!