Update

No photos today….. Mainly because they pretty much look the same as before.

Today was take 2 with the buildings structural engineer… I am learning about sistering, lathing, t joint, lag screws…. Who knew all this stuff existed. Well I suppose a decent contractor does.

The initial problem with the next door wall got bigger and we found out that one of the joists is split and has now "slipped" a little and was in fact load bearing on our old door frame entering the living room in 7C - funnily enough not a load bearing wall. My contractors have "shored" it up to make it safe now that we have pretty much taken down every wall going.

So now it is the first waiting game, well probably second after waiting a year and a half to get to this point. We have to wait for the building structural engineer to give us drawings of what the building needs to do so our guys can quote for it, the building contractors can quote and at some point we come to an agreement and then (and only then can we start the structural work). Oh yes, did I mention that until this gets agreed and started we are not doing anything else.

Apologies for boring all of you……. But this is the reason for the blog. This way you can read our frustrations, celebrations etc… without having to politely listen………..

Okay THERE IS NO TURNING BACK!!!!!

So we met with Tony (Project Manager) tonight. I would like to say it all went swimmingly, but would be lying. As you can see from these photos 7C is now also demolished!!!!


The bad news is that the more flooring that is pulled up and ceilings pulled down, the more we can see the joists. If they are not cracked, they have had holes drilled in them by plumbers - apparently plumbers are notorious for just cutting through anything in their way when they want to put in plumbing!!!


So next step we have to get the Co-Ops structural engineer back in to see what it is that is required to be done by the building!!!


Also the slant from back to front and side to side is probably a good 6-12 inches - need to try and that slant sorted - so no doubt more cost!!!!!


Below more "trash" and no more walls between our old bedroom and the spare room.

Another picture (below) looking at the terrible paint job that was behind the kitchen cabinets.

Our old bedroom, was housing the trash (flooring, cabinets, diner bench, etc…..) but cleaned up as of today.

The spare room, somehow the blind has survived - long may it last :)

Looking up through the joists to the 8th floor. On the 8th floor we can now look up through the joists to the 9th floor bath!!! Hope no one in it while the builders are there.

Jon inspecting with Tony.

Another shot of the crappy paint job. This pipe hopefully will be moved and won't be sticking up in the middle of the kitchen. Probably would spoil the look!!!!

Looking back from the kitchen all the way back to the wall between our old bedroom and living room - makes it look big. Remind me again why we are doing this???????

Lovely cracks in the joists!!! This is where sistering apparently comes into play.

And so they start on 7C

So we took a sneaky peek into our old lovely apartment - why are we doing this again???? They have started demolition, so I think we are probably at a point of no return!

Our lovely old tin roof - sadly with the new design we are probably not going to keep these.

Instead we may go for the exposed brick wall to have some NYC charm. Then again maybe when it is all done we will put the tin somewhere.
Our old kitchen. Not sure I really wanted to see how disgusting it was behind the stove and cupboards. Also what a lazy paint job, someone obviously just rolled the roller down behind the stove rather than moving it. Ah well it is all being ripped out anyway and will be no more. That reminds me we need to choose paint colors - what a dull job that is.
Cheerio diner bench! Fond memories of Christmas', New Years, family dinners here….. It has served us well for 8 years and am sure the new dining table (thank you Mummy & Daddy for our Xmas present) will host many more dinner parties :)
Our old bedroom……. Not much left really
At least we are legal. Always a good thing. Not quite sure why this is in our bedroom but there you go.

Windows

Bit more detail of the front window
Close up of the stained glass window that needs a bit of restoration

Some fun photos

Hard Hats!!!
Almost looks like being set up for a studio shoot. Not really sure of the purpose of this polythene "wall"
See No Smoking
Let's demolish!!

General Update

Not bad clean up job at the end of a Friday. All neat and tidy. And today got a compliment from one of the 8th floor residents that my contractors clean up well at the end of each day

The wall that floats....... So the structural engineer came in and looked at this wall (that adjoins 8B) and noted that this heavy fire rated wall is generally unsupported. Obviously the sheet rock is not fire rated... But note the fire extinguisher, there are even No Smoking signs in the apartment

Master bedroom fireplace - old mantelpiece to be removed as it is rather rubbish.

Ceiling details over the fireplace

General ceiling detail. As there are small children above think a large dose of sound proofing is going to be required

Decided to take a quick sneaky peek rather than do the housework in 7D. Also just to see how well they leave everything on a weekend. The contractors are going to rue the day they gave me a key!!!

Brick work near front door

Detail of where we may keep the exposed brick

There were some seriously dodgy electrics in here!!!

I think this may even be wrapped in cloth!!!

What a load of rubbish we have produced

More rubbish - this time in 7C

Various photos

View looking towards the front of the building and into the room that will become our master bedroom

Brickwork at the entry door - considering whether to keep this as a feature in the hallway - namely clean up the brick and leave exposed.

Detail of the window to be restored - will retain the stained glass window elements as this is a Landmark building and the window a) is gorgeous and b) can be seen from street so has to be restored

Fireplace in what will be our master bedroom

Very bad out of focus photo - but hey. Shows the old framing, some of which will remain. Obviously the electrics will not!!!

Structural update

First structural meeting today……..

What does this mean, well as we lift the floors and expose the joists (floor and ceiling) the building has to inspect the overall structural integrity. Where structural integrity is lacking the building is required to fix this……..

It was also the first time of visiting the 8C apartment since they started the demolition work. Wow it looks different.

Some good news/ bad news from the structural person. The wall between 8B (also being demolited) and 8C most likely needs to come down as it is a heavy wall that is not sitting on anything. The good news is that most of our joists are looking pretty good, just some need "sistering"….

A little view of the joining joists between 8B and 8C….

Another thing that came to light was the brick work on the exposed wall that will be the hallway on the 8th floor - does it make sense to keep that wall exposed. This is today's question……

Okay this is not as easy as I would hope…. So this is it, but plenty more photos to come.

62 Montague Street........

Hope to take Fireplace back to brick similar to the 7th floor living room fireplace

Looking from the north side of 8C back into the apartment, through the walls that may no longer be there as of today

Window to be restored for our master bedroom

So the construction has begun...... Most of you know we bought 8C in January 2011 (yes it was that long ago) and have been working on the design plans ever since. I think our architects are sorely sick of the sight of us. But at last the Department of Buildings and the Co-op Board saw sense and approved for us to progress with construction. This week has been demolition in 8C - which needed it - photos of pre demolition above, although to be honest they look as though already partially demolited. This is likely going to take 4-6 months (and probably more) so rather than bore people with emails we are going to try and blog..... Never done this before so bear with us.