May is betraying us

As winter ignores May in South Bend, week four begins on the renovation. The snowy rain, freezing temperatures, and wind cut into the finishing of the exterior of the addition, assuming that the team had planned for it today. In the past three weeks, we have essentially moved into a weird “townhouse” portion of our home, largely in the basement. In the finished part of the basement is our current living room, dining room, and my “office”. I have an office on the second floor, but it’s cold in this frigid spring and being in a temp spot near the family room fireplace is a huge blessing. In the unfinished part is our kitchen/laundry room, storage areas, and what I guess you could call a pantry, or a storage area for Dan’s myriad kitchen toys, I mean tools. We still sleep in the master bedroom*, to be sure, and the plumber fixed our broken master-bath toilet so the midnight treks two stories are gone. (Woohoo!) Dan still works in his office right near the kitchen.

Last week ended with a huge amount of demo of walls, which left dust throughout the house. The workers did a great job trying to mitigate the fallout, but it did require a whole house cleaning and protection that was exhausting for both of us. (We know this is to be expected.) In addition, it is Final’s week on campus, so I am a madwoman grading and helping students before final exams. In the end, Sunday found an exhausted pair of homeowners and a reasonably rested dog because she has been on medication from her injury.

Hint for those considering a major reno: Cover the piano (or other instruments) with a sheet to protect from dust! This seems like a “doh” in retrospect. We didn’t do this until we cleaned in preparation for the next round, because we assumed the dust would be mostly contained by the carefully taped door coverings. Don’t follow our assumption.

Today revealed not so much history of the house, but the effects on Saoirse. We can recognize and adapt to change, and exhaustion, because we can anticipate the outcome and have done enough DIY renovation that we aren’t suprised. However, Saoirse has no idea what’s going on or why there are hugely loud, weird noises, and why strange people are talking in the house. In additiom, because letting her wander even a little bit enabled her leg injury, we are keeping her close by more than normal. She stays in Dan’s office most of the day with her ears flat in discomfort. Despite the louder noises and smells near the worksite, she finds most comfort being near Dan. She is far more familiar with the crew who has been here so that her bark-greeting is quite brief. Late this afternoon, one of the members of our great crew members came to sweep up the debris that landed in the working “pantry” (the former coal room and future ceramics studio) and the basement bathroom that they had protected with plastic sheeting. Keeping Saoirse away from him to enable him to do his work– he has become a favorite of all of us–was a challenge.

I would show you current pictures of the reno, but they’re not hugely illuminating if you don’t live here. What I can tell you is that while the area looks like there isn’t a lot of progress, it is because the crew is really good at removing debris and moving in new materials they will soon use to build and solidify the space. An example is that I intended to photograph the space that was part of the initial kitchen with an added wall removed, but there is a pile of wall insulation that means it looks like a mess, not the well-planned renovation that it is.

We are completely loathe to interrupt the team in any way unless they ask for our help; They are solicitous as they can be, but importantly, we know they will ask us if there are any questions into how they should proceed. Our project manager alerts us to potential problems, as well as any questions, quite quickly. Because of this, we stay on the (dusty) sidelines except to review when asked or at the end of the day.

However, I will ask tomorrow before they start work if it’s possible to photograph the newly revealed original parts of the kitchen so that you can have a look!