October 19, 2010
And the walls came tumbling down...
With the whirlwind of being selected for the show, and quickly moving into a rental house because of TOH's accelerated schedule, we hadn't actually processed what was going to happen next. Consequently, when we stopped by the house to check in and pick up the mail, neither one of us was prepared for what we saw. Mind you, from the front of the house, everything still looked as we had left it. But when we walked through our side gate and took a look out back, we were met with this gruesome site.
The funny thing was that we felt a little sad, too. A big part of our first home together was gone. The bedroom that our daughter first slept in when she came home from the hospital now consisted of subflooring populated with a bunch of guys in hard hats toting power tools. But there's definitely no going back now. With the demo almost done, what lies ahead of us is an awesome display of possibilities. The dreams we had lived with for so long are becoming reality, and it's absolutely thrilling (and, of course, terrifying).
Still, we know we're in good hands with our contractor, Steve Pallrand, and his team at Home Front. Now it's our mission to embrace and enjoy the ride. Ready or not, here we go!
(8) Comments
Comment on this BlogThis is going to be an awesome project! Looking forward to the first LA TOH Project.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing the progress on my daily walks through the 'hood.
Wow! Very exciting. I can't wait to see more posts as the house takes shape.
Best of luck from your TOH counterparts in Auburndale!
Hi I have been watching the progress of your house on the webcam and have a question for you. I see the original chimney of the house but so far I haven't seen anything being done to the front of the house. I am no contractor but have always thought that the chimney of the house needs to be above any roof line of your house by code otherwise there is a fear of carbon monoxide getting into the house. One thing I do see though that might prevent that is the addition facing the other way with no windows on that side. Still though I would be concerned and now too it looks kind of out of place. Is that going to be changed?
Richard: The rule in Los Angeles is that the termination of the chimney has to be two feet higher than any roof within ten feet. Basically you make a circle around any existing chimney and if you don't bump into any structure, that is equal in height or higher, you are fine. In this project we are not touching the front of the house and made sure the second story of the addition was not within 10 feet of the existing structure. As far as it looking out of place, the primary experience of the front of the house is from the street. There is a faux "bell" tower typical of Spanish Colonial Revival houses that complements the chimney and makes the chimney like less of a singular element.
OK so I have too much time on my hands. I'm expecting to see lots of progress when the web-cams come back up!!!
For awhile there I think you had the longest running web-cams in TOH history but now I think you have the record for being down the longest.
wow! Really its nice i can't wait for seeing this shape.
Thank you for post.