Today was a big day for us, because we finally knocked down our old house!
For those of you who have NOT been following our saga for the past 5 years, here’s a recap:
2010: I move in with Andrew to our house at box 827 in Timbergrove. We discuss possibly adding on to the house.
2011: We get married and discuss possibly knocking down 827 in order to build, since the current house at 827 isn’t really situated well for an addition. We start doing schematic design exercises to determine the things we really want in a house and begin laying out a floor plan.
May 2012: We engage an architect/builder/structural engineer to start plans.
July 2012: The house next door, box 823, goes up for sale. We put in a full price offer on the first day it’s listed, and close 30 days later.
Things with the design for 827 move along slowly and then completely stall.
December 2012: We move into 823 after a ton of renovation work.
July 2013: We start shopping for a new structural engineer because our old one completely stops responding to emails. Project stalls again. I (Jacki) find out I’m pregnant.
November 2013: We have a new engineer and move ahead slowly with plans. Project completely stalls again.
February 2014: Baby is due in one month, I am in the hospital, and we terminate our project again because build prices skyrocket and we can’t seem to get traction on making the plans/permits/financing happen.
March 2014: Dougie is born. Now, during this entire time, I’m still keeping an eye on the market in case a house comes up that meets our needs. Nothing is suitable at our price point.
April 2014: We engage our new architect, Nonya Grenader, to do the architectural work on the house. We determine that the best lot to build on is 823, which means we have to move back out of 823 and plan to demolish it, despite all the work we put into it.
July 2014: We get regular design updates and things are moving smoothly! Hooray!
September 2014: Things are getting real! We choose plumbing fixtures, tile, drawer hardware… Details!
November 2014: We move out of 823 and back into 827. Over the next year, we slowly move things out of 823, including light fixtures, storm doors, appliances, etc.
March 2015: Project stalls because bank will not approve the house design as planned (it was a really stupid reason). Each appraisal takes at least a month to complete, and we had several appraisals from several banks.
June/ July 2015: Plans are changed to make the bank appraisal process easier.
January 2016: Appraisals finally go through.
February 29, 2016: We close on the construction loan! No stopping us now!
March 12, 2016: Demolition of 823.
Are you exhausted? Because we are! Anyway, I wanted to share a few images from today, as well as a timelapse of the demolition. I’ll have more to say on this subject later, but for now I’m super tired.
