It’s All In The Details
Rebuilding a Beautiful, Vacant Historic Detroit Home (Episode 55)
Foundations are complete!
Happy 2021, everyone! We are excited to ring in the new year with some updates on the project since our last post.
Shortly after our last post, we finally reached completion of all of the foundations for our 3 structures, the new Solarium, Mudroom, and Garage. Once these were complete, it made it much easier to visualize the relative size and relationships between everything and gave us insight into how everything might “feel” once it’s complete.
COVID Strikes
Unfortunately, shortly after our last post, we got news that our contractors were sick. While we were disappointed at the stall it would put on our progress, we were especially concerned for their health. Thankfully, while their experience with COVID was nowhere near comfortable, we’re excited to say that they have made it through and are finally getting back on their feet! The two-week delay meant that framing and mason work would be slightly delayed until everyone was feeling well again. So in the meantime, Brandon and I worked on figuring out some details and worked with our architects at END Studio to continue our solarium interior development.
Porch and Solarium Tile
Brandon and I made a quick trip to our favorite local tile supplier, Virginia Tile, to look for appropriate flooring for our solarium. We wanted a porcelain tile for a low maintenance solution, but were looking to create a pattern that would feel relatively 1920s appropriate.
After looking through their showspace, we stumbled upon a 8" checker tile (EdimaxAstor Belgica & Carrara) that we were happy with the look and feel of. We then saw something interesting in their showroom that gave us additional ideas for our flooring. A square brass rod “tile” that was thin and long seemed like a really cool and interesting way to add a little warmth and interest into our floors, but the price was outrageous. So after doing a little digging, we found a similar material online meant for more mechanical applications that we think we can use in place of the expensive rod found at Virginia tile. I began laying out a pattern onto our floor layout to see how it might come together.
Front Porch
We’ve nearly got a strategy for our patio railing repair, but the biggest task has been trying to locate the correct tile to replace on our front porch. We located a quarry tile that will be an appropriate replacement for our terra cotta that is falling apart. Locating the small black tiles has been more of a challenge, as the pattern dictates a more uncommon size of 1.25" squares is necessary. After finally finding a tile in Italy by Nemo that will work, we are now trying to figure out if it was be shipped to us in the US for a price that isn’t astronomical. We are hoping we’ll be able to work it out as we don’t need many pieces, but if not, we will likely turn our focus to finding a water-jetting company that could take a generic black 12" tile and cut them to our desired dimensions.
We will attempt to salvage the original tiles from our porch to reuse them in our mudroom space. Hopefully the tile will remove cleanly so that we can make use of them once again and bring some more of the original house details into the new spaces.
Finally, the Interior Solarium Design
The most exciting part of our week was meeting with END to see updates on our solarium design. They sent us proposal images of the solarium interior that allowed us to really see where this whole project is going to be paying off!
In the solarium we had a few requests:
- A low shelf on the South facing wall for plants as well as our cat Aja to be able to sunbathe on
- A high shelf on the same side for additional plant placement
- Exploring potential for a skylight to keep more of the solarium experience we previously had
- Bead board ceilings rather than drywall
Brandon found a really cool pyramid-shaped skylight from Wasco. We are now investigating the price to see if it is something that is feasible within our budget. I believe it would add lot to the look and feel of the space, so we are hoping we will be able to make it work. More on this space in the near future, as we need to make decisions quickly before framing begins.
Framing starts this week!
Cal and I met with the framing contractor this week and we expect to have lumber delivered Tuesday/Wednesday to start framing in our structures with! We are also anticipating more work with Franco Masonry on our porch as well as repairing some brickwork on the back of the house where the solarium will be going. We’re excited to see everything build up quickly, as framing should only take a couple weeks to complete.
Roofing Decisions
As framing starts wrapping up, we quickly will need to be putting up a roof and other protective elements to keep everything safe while we continue to work through the winter season. At the last moment, Brandon and I decided to investigate alternatives to asphalt shingles and believe we would now like to install a standing seam roof on our new garage. We believe that on top of being a more durable material for a roof long term, that it also will visually add something to the design as well as potentially make solar installation easier down the road should we decide to do that.
We are looking at samples this week in order to make final choices soon here.
Next Time…
Framing should begin this coming week, along with placing some patio tile orders to get things on our way to us. We also have some electrical work happening inside our home in preparation of new electrical that will be run to the garage. We’re very excited to see these structures come to life!
Our journey isn’t over
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