Short update of the goings-on at El Castillo - the Castle - a new nickname for this place.  As you can see from the pic above, the first floor has been almost entirely cleared of the old, and the new is already being added (more in the photo archive).  Underneath the plywood here you can see the tops of microlams that span the entirety of the space underneath the kitchen floor.  This is a design decision to enable the space below to be entirely clear of posts or ceiling beams as it will be used as a media room.  The 130 year old floor joists had certainly seen better days, in the center, there was a 3-inch sag from the sides.  Wow.

The sewer lines in the garden level are all now fully placed and await inspection. The connection to the city water will also begin this week, replacing the FOUR! lead water lines into the hours with an 1.5 inch copper line.  Once done, we can do the radiant heat work in the garden level and pour this floor.  That will be a big milestone.  There was a lot of planning and pre-work that goes into all the stuff in and below the concrete.

You can see the stairs curving upward in the photo above, they will come down soon as the new stairs will descend into the back of the house rather than in the front.  The cut out for the new stairs is sort-of visible here, descending into the Garden level.  The stairs going up will be in the same position.

Next up, finalize the kitchen design and order windows.  Both of these exercises have really tested my patience.  Picking out components is easy.  All the detail that follows is mind numbing.