The Renovate Otis's New House Thread (2 Viewers)

[jon_mx]

Decided to bail on our offer on UglyHouse. The offer put in was way higher than it's worth; seller had multiple offers and came back with a counter, asking for new counters by 1pm. We're pulling out.

Just as we pull out, the owners on the original house we loved came around. We have a deal at asking price. Which is less than we offered on UglyHouse. And a lot more house for the money, better location, much bigger lot. Oh and it's not ugly.



FOR THE WIN. Sorry for bailing on the build. Someone let Keith know we can shut this one down.

Congratulations. Let us know when renovations begin.

Week before move-in

You're renovating the house one week before you move in? Why on earth would you think that will work?

Very minor "renovations." Want to open up a couple of walls, just basic carpentry and sheetrock, take down some wallpaper, and paint, maybe get the wood floors redone.

In a week. Awesome.

That's not hard, is it? To have the dudes come in with the big sanders and refinish a wood floors in a couple rooms?

Sounds like a day job IMO

Let's see....day one, capenter rips out walls and then adds beam if walls provided support. Day 2, drywallers hang dry wall. Day 3, drywalls tape joints. Day 4, drywallers sand. Day 5, flooring guy fills in floor where wall is with wood pieces which hopefully match. Day 6, flooring guy refinishes floor. Day 7, painter paints first coat. Day 8, painter paints second coat.

Seems reasonable.

So you agree that the floor refinishing is a one-day job. The rest is doable in about a week. No?

Also, your days 2-4 can all happen in a day. We're not talking about adding all that much drywall. It's just going to be patching up. I guess the trouble will be (1) if it's a load-bearing wall, or (2) if there's electrical or plumbing in the wall. I don't expect either, but you never know.

It really depends. If you have a guy who can do several of the jobs, it can get compressed. If they are different people, coordinating the schedule will add significant time. A week is optimistic, but doable.

 

[El Floppo]

First off- great news about the happy-house... I hope the deal all goes cleanly/quickly for you.

re: doing work...

otis.

The work you're describing could be done in a week. could. maybe.

The second you open up or especially remove a wall, you have no idea what you might find and need to repair/replace. Depending on how it was built, you likely need to add new flooring where the wall used to sit since it was probably framed to subfloor. where are you going to buy that wood that matches the species and finish of your existing (and old, right?) flooring? who's going to install it? who's going to finish it to look like your old floors? It's going to look like crap unless done by guys who are really good- you'll basically see the stripe footprint of where the wall used to be. Also, you now are removing wiring in the wall that's you're taking out... who's doing that? your $5/hr demo guys? It doesn't seem that building codes matter to a guy like you, but who's going to add the outlets to bring you up to code if you're not after removing the walls? how are you going to like the outlets placed randomly and not matching the existing outlets? I'm sure the $5/hr demo guys are going to know if it's load-bearing or not.

Getting floors screened and refinished shouldn't be more than a day or three depending on how many square feet you have. painting prep (removing wall-paper) and painting will take a week +/-, depending on how many square feet we're talking about. So if you keep it to that work, you're fine (unless the wallpaper is weirdly glued/old and when taken off damaged the wallboard behind it meaning you have to replace- buy, install, tape/mud). Taking out walls- even considering they're not load-bearing- adds N days on top of your week.

Do yourself a favor and either skip the removing wall part, or give yourself another 2 weeks (3 total) for doing this work before moving in. Unless you don't mind moving in while they're doing this (none of which is "clean" work- lots of dust, material/fume particles floating around during and even immediately after).

 

[Sarnoff]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

You plan to open up a wall, determine if it's load bearing, replace possible headers, deal with mold, deal with asbestos, reroute electrical inside the wall, possibly plumbing and ventilation, etc., without a permit?

And in a week?

 

[Sarnoff]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Just read Katie Bakes' piece on Grantland, "Just for once I'd like to see an episode of Property Brothers where the entire third act twist isn't whether or not they'll have to put up a pole to replace a load-bearing wall in the middle of the 'open concept floor plan'."

 

[Otis]

 

[McGarnicle]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

 

[Otis]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

In fairness, I'm smart enough -- just barely -- to get in a decent contractor/engineer to look at the wall and tell me if it's load bearing before I have some ape run through it. I suppose we should get in a legit "guy" and have him handle all this. The catch is that we'll have to move in and do it while we live there I suppose, though it's a small enough affected area that hopefully it's not a massive impact on life there... hopefully...

 

[Henry Ford]

Decided to bail on our offer on UglyHouse. The offer put in was way higher than it's worth; seller had multiple offers and came back with a counter, asking for new counters by 1pm. We're pulling out.

Just as we pull out, the owners on the original house we loved came around. We have a deal at asking price. Which is less than we offered on UglyHouse. And a lot more house for the money, better location, much bigger lot. Oh and it's not ugly.



FOR THE WIN. Sorry for bailing on the build. Someone let Keith know we can shut this one down.

Congratulations. Let us know when renovations begin.

Week before move-in

You're renovating the house one week before you move in? Why on earth would you think that will work?

Very minor "renovations." Want to open up a couple of walls, just basic carpentry and sheetrock, take down some wallpaper, and paint, maybe get the wood floors redone.

In a week. Awesome.

That's not hard, is it? To have the dudes come in with the big sanders and refinish a wood floors in a couple rooms?

Sounds like a day job IMO

Let's see....day one, capenter rips out walls and then adds beam if walls provided support. Day 2, drywallers hang dry wall. Day 3, drywalls tape joints. Day 4, drywallers sand. Day 5, flooring guy fills in floor where wall is with wood pieces which hopefully match. Day 6, flooring guy refinishes floor. Day 7, painter paints first coat. Day 8, painter paints second coat.

Seems reasonable.

So you agree that the floor refinishing is a one-day job. The rest is doable in about a week. No?

Also, your days 2-4 can all happen in a day. We're not talking about adding all that much drywall. It's just going to be patching up. I guess the trouble will be (1) if it's a load-bearing wall, or (2) if there's electrical or plumbing in the wall. I don't expect either, but you never know.

How many square feet of floor do you want refinished?

 

[Henry Ford]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

 

[Henry Ford]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

In fairness, I'm smart enough -- just barely -- to get in a decent contractor/engineer to look at the wall and tell me if it's load bearing before I have some ape run through it. I suppose we should get in a legit "guy" and have him handle all this. The catch is that we'll have to move in and do it while we live there I suppose, though it's a small enough affected area that hopefully it's not a massive impact on life there... hopefully...

That depends. Do you mind if your million-dollar home falls in on your family while you're sleeping? If not, don't worry about it.

 

[jon_mx]

You start messing with the floor and ceiling and the odds are the places your fix will not blend in with the old. You may have to re do the whole ceiling and floors in those two rooms if you want it to look really good.

 

[Henry Ford]

And if you re-urethane the floors, you should expect 3 days minimum if you have nice, dry, non-humid weather the entire time.

 

[jon_mx]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

In fairness, I'm smart enough -- just barely -- to get in a decent contractor/engineer to look at the wall and tell me if it's load bearing before I have some ape run through it. I suppose we should get in a legit "guy" and have him handle all this. The catch is that we'll have to move in and do it while we live there I suppose, though it's a small enough affected area that hopefully it's not a massive impact on life there... hopefully...

That depends. Do you mind if your million-dollar home falls in on your family while you're sleeping? If not, don't worry about it.

My guess is the odds are well better than 50 percent that they are in fact load bearing. If I saw the plans, I could make a better guess. The first thing you need to know is which way the floor joists on the floor above run to the wall in question. If they are perpendicular, it is almost certain that the walls are load bearing.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Jerry, these are load bearing walls! They're not gonna come down!

 

[Slapdash]

Decided to bail on our offer on UglyHouse. The offer put in was way higher than it's worth; seller had multiple offers and came back with a counter, asking for new counters by 1pm. We're pulling out.

Just as we pull out, the owners on the original house we loved came around. We have a deal at asking price. Which is less than we offered on UglyHouse. And a lot more house for the money, better location, much bigger lot. Oh and it's not ugly.



FOR THE WIN. Sorry for bailing on the build. Someone let Keith know we can shut this one down.

This is great news, really. Sounded like you were about to give yourself way more stress with the other path.

 

[Otis]

Decided to bail on our offer on UglyHouse. The offer put in was way higher than it's worth; seller had multiple offers and came back with a counter, asking for new counters by 1pm. We're pulling out.

Just as we pull out, the owners on the original house we loved came around. We have a deal at asking price. Which is less than we offered on UglyHouse. And a lot more house for the money, better location, much bigger lot. Oh and it's not ugly.



FOR THE WIN. Sorry for bailing on the build. Someone let Keith know we can shut this one down.

This is great news, really. Sounded like you were about to give yourself way more stress with the other path.

I think so too. Feeling pretty good about it. Thanks

 

[Sarnoff]

Jerry, these are load bearing walls! They're not gonna come down!

I wouldn't take that down if I were you.

 

[gianmarco]

Where is that video of Oats yanking out trees in the front lawn again? It will help recreate the vision of opening up some walls in the new home and how easy it should be.

 

[Sarnoff]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

Yeah, ol' Oats might wanna block off two weeks on his calendar for this job.

 

[Slapdash]

Is this the house with the massive island you posted?

 

[El Floppo]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

In fairness, I'm smart enough -- just barely -- to get in a decent contractor/engineer to look at the wall and tell me if it's load bearing before I have some ape run through it. I suppose we should get in a legit "guy" and have him handle all this. The catch is that we'll have to move in and do it while we live there I suppose, though it's a small enough affected area that hopefully it's not a massive impact on life there... hopefully...

Send me the plans and I'll try to anticipate possible problems for what you're trying to do.

Is there really no way around living somewhere else for a couple of weeks, just in case? Don't you have family in the area?

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

 

[Otis]

Is this the house with the massive island you posted?

No, that one is UglyHouse. The one we got is the larger older colonial on a larger property. Better all around value. Needs some minor spiffing up; one day we'll do a high end all-out chef's kitchen. But the kitchen there now is not bad at all.

 

[Copeman]

Is this the house with the massive island you posted?

No, that one is UglyHouse. The one we got is the larger older colonial on a larger property. Better all around value. Needs some minor spiffing up; one day we'll do a high end all-out chef's kitchen. But the kitchen there now is not bad at all.

Yeah, you and/or your wife watch too much HGTV. My girlfriend is the same way. Friggin hate it.

 

[Otis]

Worrying whether a wall is "load-bearing" is for wusses. Usually everything stays in place from centrifugal force, especially if it's a really old house.

In fairness, I'm smart enough -- just barely -- to get in a decent contractor/engineer to look at the wall and tell me if it's load bearing before I have some ape run through it. I suppose we should get in a legit "guy" and have him handle all this. The catch is that we'll have to move in and do it while we live there I suppose, though it's a small enough affected area that hopefully it's not a massive impact on life there... hopefully...

Send me the plans and I'll try to anticipate possible problems for what you're trying to do.

Is there really no way around living somewhere else for a couple of weeks, just in case? Don't you have family in the area?

That's the rub. We have to close on our house a few weeks before the sellers of the house we are buying can close on that one. As it stands, we're already going to be living with our two small children in my parents' house for 3 weeks or so. I hate to extend that to double. But maybe you're right -- maybe the way to do this is to get a contractor in, have him do it the right way, get it all done and move out during this period, and then when we get back in it's all done and mess free.

We had kicked around some minor tweaks in the kitchen too (having the cabinets sprayed with a different finish; pulling up the granite tile floor in favor of a basic wood floor), and maybe we'll just knock it all out together.

 

[Henry Ford]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

 

[Otis]

Is this the house with the massive island you posted?

No, that one is UglyHouse. The one we got is the larger older colonial on a larger property. Better all around value. Needs some minor spiffing up; one day we'll do a high end all-out chef's kitchen. But the kitchen there now is not bad at all.

Yeah, you and/or your wife watch too much HGTV. My girlfriend is the same way. Friggin hate it.

We both do. Love it.

Here's the thing though -- it's not just because I'm a dead-eyed cow following the herd. When we first got engaged and married we lived in a large, open loft apartment in Brooklyn. It had a big island with stools, and was open to the rest of the place. That island was always the center of attention -- hanging out there while we're cooking, during a sunday game, while having coffee in the morning, surfing the FFA with a beer, etc. It's something we used so much, and I want that same massive cool island in a house. There's an island in the house now with 3 stools, not bad, and it'll get use, but one day we'd love to really blow some stuff out and put in a massive one. Down the road.

But yeah, we're suckers for some of that crap. And my wife is actually a legitimately good cook. Not just mac & cheese, but I mean for real. So it's not wasted on her.

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

 

[El Floppo]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

(feral cats)

 

[El Floppo]

seriously- if you want some free advice, send me the plans and pics... I'll take a look and see if anything jumps out at me.

eta: after I get some other stuff done first

 

[Henry Ford]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

 

[Henry Ford]

(and yes, you should send Floppo the plans, but this is more fun)

 

[DA RAIDERS]

 

[Copeman]

Are there pics of the house on realtor.com or something you can link here?

 

[jon_mx]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

 

[El Floppo]

This is Otis, people- and this is undoubtedly the house of the 7 gables.

 

[gianmarco]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

I swear to God this was going to be my response in Otis-code. You can't make this stuff up.

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Uhm. Yes.

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

Three story dutch colonial home (including finished attic) built in around 1920. The peak of the roof runs from one side of the house to the other if you are facing the house from the street. The wall would be perpendicular to that.

Is that good or bad for me?????

 

[jon_mx]

Is there a basement on said house?

 

[Otis]

Is there a basement on said house?

Yes!

 

[Otis]

Are there pics of the house on realtor.com or something you can link here?

There are pictures. I'd rather not link here because then lunatics like HighOct@ne43 will know where my family lives.

 

[Copeman]

Are there pics of the house on realtor.com or something you can link here?

There are pictures. I'd rather not link here because then lunatics like HighOct@ne43 will know where my family lives.

Understood. Can you just copy the pics and share them via image shack or something? Not a big deal, just curious.

 

[jon_mx]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

Three story dutch colonial home (including finished attic) built in around 1920. The peak of the roof runs from one side of the house to the other if you are facing the house from the street. The wall would be perpendicular to that.

Is that good or bad for me?????

The odds are the floor joists on second floor (the 2" x 12" x 16' wood boards which are the support structure of your floor system) run from the back of your house towards the front. Any major wall which run the same direction as the street are probably support walls. Now if the wall run from the front of the house towards the back, they are probably not support. But you need to be positive which way the floor joists actually run, I am guessing based on the roof.

 

[Otis]

Are there pics of the house on realtor.com or something you can link here?

There are pictures. I'd rather not link here because then lunatics like HighOct@ne43 will know where my family lives.

Understood. Can you just copy the pics and share them via image shack or something? Not a big deal, just curious.

Yup, I will do that. I tried that last time but then realized the crazies here -- I mean the real crazies -- can actually do a reverse Google image search to find the listing, find the address, and then send me random canned goods. But I bet if I tweak the images there's a way to make this happen.

 

[eaganwildcats]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

Three story dutch colonial home (including finished attic) built in around 1920. The peak of the roof runs from one side of the house to the other if you are facing the house from the street. The wall would be perpendicular to that.

Is that good or bad for me?????

This is putting green house, no?

 

[Henry Ford]

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

It's a colonial - obviously there's no guarantee, but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

Three story dutch colonial home (including finished attic) built in around 1920. The peak of the roof runs from one side of the house to the other if you are facing the house from the street. The wall would be perpendicular to that.

Is that good or bad for me?????

The odds are the floor joists on second floor (the 2" x 12" x 16' wood boards which are the support structure of your floor system) run from the back of your house towards the front. Any major wall which run the same direction as the street are probably support walls. Now if the wall run from the front of the house towards the back, they are probably not support. But you need to be positive which way the floor joists actually run, I am guessing based on the roof.

So your'e sayin there's a chance!

 

[Copeman]

Otis, don't let these guys scare you. If the wall is a load bearing wall, it's not like taking it out can't be done. It can. It's just going to be more expensive and time-consuming.

 

[Otis]

Everyone always wants to "open up the walls" nowadays. No doubt its the women (and some men) watching that crap on HGTV. Buncha sheeple.

Open floor plan makes sense for a modern family. We don't have "the help" closed off in a kitchen in the back room while we sip tea in the formal front room. Instead fat Otis mills around the island in the kitchen screwing around on the FFA and drinking a beer while his wife is cooking and while keeping one eye on the brats one room over watching Wallykazam!

I'm hoping I don't need permits and crap to open up a couple of walls. Or do I ...............

Wait, by "open up" a couple walls, you mean remove a couple walls? You're not getting walls removed and floors finished in a week.

It's a traditional center hall colonial layout. So the kitchen is at the back of the house, and there's a wall between that and the formal living room (which we become our family room). I'd like to remove a chunk of the wall there, up to the point underneath the main stairs, so that there is continuous space from the kitchen to the formal living room. That way you can interact, keep an eye on the kids from the island, etc. We're probably talking about a piece of wall that is around 6-8 feet wide at most.

The only thing that's dicey is in this general area there is a step down to a lower-landing which then proceeds down to the basement staircase. Someone who knows wtf they are doing will have to figure out a way to make it all continuous into the living room.

Hard to explain. It doesn't seem like it should be a massive amount of work, or that I need some high powered designer in there to make it happen. You don't pay Clarence Darrow $1500 an hour to do the closing on your condo.

Does the wall run perpendicular to the joists?

The whats?

Okay... does the roof look like a piece of paper folded in the middle, with a pointy part?

Lol, but there is no guarantee that the roof treusses and floor joist run the same direction. I assume this is a two-story home.

Three story dutch colonial home (including finished attic) built in around 1920. The peak of the roof runs from one side of the house to the other if you are facing the house from the street. The wall would be perpendicular to that.

Is that good or bad for me?????

This is putting green house, no?