Farmhouse Renovation: Week One

Well it’s been quite the week over at the farmhouse renovation project, but we have accomplished a lot despite the Iowa weather skipping fall and turning full winter on us. The short version of the long story is the house is officially prepped to have it’s 3 additions torn off, and with any luck that will happen next week. I have had several questions on which rooms are staying and which are being torn down, so here is a breakdown:

Staying

• Living Room

• Upstairs Bedroom & Bonus Room

• Front Porch

• 1 Car Garage

Going

• Kitchen

• Bathroom/Laundry Room

• Creepy Basement

• Sunroom

• Deck

• Most of the Fencing

• Lean-to Driveway Covering

We made some exciting discoveries this week while de-constructing the home, it is so interesting to me to think of the history within those 119 year old walls!

I have no idea who John or Amy are, or how old this touching tribute is! HA!

SUPER SCARY BASEMENT——No thanks!

But the most impressive discovery of the week was by far these original wood floors (covered in wood-look vinyl tile). These floors are in surprisingly good shape and just need some TLC.

These floors are in the portion of the home that is staying intact, so we will come back to them later on. For now, this section of the home is being boarded up to protect it from the elements while we tear off the rest of the house.

This past week we:

-removed all appliances and fixtures from the tear down portion

-took down the lean-to structure attached to the garage

-took out fencing and other obstacles to make room for heavy machinery

-acquired the necessary permits for demolition

-had utilities disconnected

We had two random snow events this past week, and some unseasonably cold temps for October in Iowa, so that made outdoor work kind of difficult. Despite all of that, we have the property ready for the heavy machinery to come in next week and get to work. Adam is out of town for work all week, so that leaves me to manage whatever issues arise (yikes).

Hopefully the tear down goes as planned and we can start digging for the new foundation next week, as we really need to get that concrete poured before it’s too much colder here. Although, knowing Iowa, it will be 60 degrees in December so maybe we can take advantage of that! All we have to do is get it closed in before the frigid air arrives and then we can work with heaters and etc. It’s not ideal, but it’s where we are at this point.

I have some videos saved under ‘highlights’ on Instagram, if you are interested in seeing some of the excitement over the last week. Also, I will try to record as much of the demolition as possible next week (when I’m not running 1800 errands or handling whatever snags arise).

With that being said, I had better get back to making my list for next week! Thanks for stopping by the blog today, it’s definitely an exciting time in our lives!

Until next time-

-Rachael