Construction Con’t: Roof Completion, Porch Foundations, and a Double Height Great Room Revealed

Next, the concrete truck came and poured footings for the three porches as well as footings in the basement. This allowed the masons to get started on the brick pillars beneath the porch features. The brick pillars were incorporated to match the existing front porch pillars, as seen in the image below. It was our intention to preserve the existing style and bring it to life again.

Existing and New Brick Pillars

New Brick Pillars Beneath Gazebo Entrance

Concrete Footing for Pillars to come

Roof construction was completed. The wood shingles really light up in the morning sun. The remaining details to be finsihed on the facade are removing the old windows and reaplacing with new Marvin Windows (selected by the homeowner after an in-office consultation) as well as updating the siding with new primer and paint (the finished product will be gray). Lastly, updates to broken decorative trim deatils to restore what the farm house once was.

Front Facade with Finished Roof

Decorative Trim Detail

While the exterior was getting cleaned up, the second floor above the great room was removed to provide a double height space. The framing that is shown will be concealed with gypsum board, but the owners are considering salvaging large timbers to place as decorative exposed rafters over the great room. Below you can see the space before and after the removal of the floor, and the difference is incredible, especially in person!

Great Room Before & After

 

Great Room Ceiling Trusses

Formwork, Sill Plates, Floor Joists, Oh My!

With this addition, more weight will be placed on the existing foundation walls. To ensure that loads are properly transferred to the ground, pillars will be constructed to distribute the loads throughout the basement level to relieve the foundation walls of the extra weight. Below you can see formwork laid for the concrete bases.

Formwork was also laid for the porch additions and front great room addition. All formwork was done simultaneously in preparation for the delivery of the concrete by truck to ensure all concrete work would be done at one time.

The existing roof was in need of replacement. You can see below that one side of the existing roof has been replaced, and the other is waiting to receive the roof application. The attic will remain for storage.

Expanding the kitchen requires a new floor to be constructed. Sill plates were laid on the existing foundation walls, and later floor joists added.

Roof Construction

The construction process reveals the first tangible stages of the design being lifted from the 2D Construction Documents and visualizing the spaces come to life before you. As mentioned before, Roof Construction was addressed first so that the contractors could access the underside of the roof from the second floor before they removed it to open up a double height space in the great room below.

Only weeks after construction began, the dormer pop-ups were receiving their flashing, the framing for the clerestory windows under the dormer pop-ups was completed and the wood shakes on the roof were nearly completed. The main house’s existing roofing was being pulled up in preparation for new wood shingles.

On the first floor you can see the walls were knocked out and supports for the floor beam above were supported by temporary steel posts. New sill plates were anchored into the existing kitchen foundation walls for the new floor joists.

One interesting factor of constructing an addition on a historical farm house  is the merging of new and old structural systems. In this home, the new rafters loads are transferred to an existing beam along the perimeter of the second floor walls.  Instead of ripping out EVERYTHING and replacing it ALL with new members, we evaluate the strength and durability of the existing structures. Is there significant rot, decay or termite/pest damage that has occurred? If the member is sound and has been supporting the existing structures for many years without bowing or shifting, it can be salvaged and re-used. However, when installing the new framing for windows, walls, and transferring the loads from the rafters, you will notice new members included to support the loads and be sure that all members are properly supported.

Construction Begins

The week following demolition of the old farm house the contractors began re-constructing the roof while they still had the second floor in place (as it is to be removed later in the process to provide a double height space). The first floor removed as expansion on to the existing porch was to occur to provide more room on the interior. Steel columns were placed on the first floor to hold the second floor in place.

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Demolition

Do you remember this beautiful old farm house?

With all of it’s character…

And charm… 

Demolition is often thought of as recklessly tearing apart a building with no regards to the existing structure and materials. At Fitzgerald Architecture Studio, we have a respect for historic preservation and work with those we trust will not add any “character” to the portions of the home we wish to enhance. Demolition is often necessary in renovations/additions to serve as a “face-lift” for the architecture. It’s got to get bad before it gets better!

What’s beneficial about working with an Architect is that we see the potential within the ruins.