The first walls & the new stairwell

The General Contractor (Merlin Scott with LCB Construction) is doing a great job on the project. Between all the 'green' materials, systems, and strategies, along with having to re-use salvaged materials and create as little waste as possible, it has been a learning process for everyone. He was already very efficient and he can now really pride himself on his economy of means. As you can see in the picture below, he is neatly stacking (and keeping dry) all the scrap wood on the project which he plans on using in other parts of the house later on. The basement has become lumber storage, housing all the old Heart Pine floors and extra timber joists that have been carefully removed and cleaned up. So far there has been very little waste and any non-useful construction debris has been taken to the recycling facility.






















The first floor perimeter wall is now built. The view from the kitchen to the back yard is going to be great - about 10' wide of glass (all operable casements). Also, the existing location of the stairwell has been moved to it's new location. We needed to cut out some existing timber floor joists but the contractor was able to use the beams to replace other beams that had some termite damage. The old floor was fairly 'out of level' and most of the joists needed to be adjusted. Everything is looking great and we can now begin to get a feel of how big this level of the house is going to be. At almost 15' clear width by about 38' clear depth and 9' high ceilings, for a row home, the space is feeling very open and airy.