A New House-The Beginning #1 Long

[Karl Laustrup]

After the events of 2005 my LOML and I decided we needed a wee bit more room as our 972 sq. ft. house was just not big enough for three adults and an eleven year old granddaughter.

Just as a refresher to those events, our middle son passed away in March and we became legal guardians of his daughter, Tama. At the beginning of August I went to SoCal, Hemet to be exact, and moved my mom back to live with us. She just turned 83 in October and is anxiously awaiting the delivery of her Chevy HHR so she can get around.

The orignal plan, two years ago, was to just add on to the existing house. Those plans quickly fell by the wayside as it was realized that a majority of the house would have to be upgraded.

After two weeks of moving into a storage container and into a rental house, demo began yesterday 1/10/06. Well, actually removal of certain items that will be re-used in the new home. Like windows, and exterior doors which are only about 5 years old, hot water heater [10/05] and heater and A/C units which are 5 years old. Heater and A/C will be sold as they are not big enough for the new home.

Here are some pix of the way the house WAS. Also, the 40' container that holds a lot of our stuff plus the windows and other stuff that is going to be re-used.

More udates as work progresses.

Karl

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Good luck with the new construction Karl! I'm sure this will be interesting and challenging!

[Frank Pellow]

Karl, what will the be the size of the new house and when do you (really) expect to be able to live in it. Are you doing some of the work? What plans are the for shop space?

I appologize if you told us all this before but, if you did, I missed it.

[Karl Laustrup]

Thanks for the size question Frank. I did want to include that info, but just plain forgot. :o

The new house will be just shy of 2400 sq. ft. If I designed it right, it will have really good sized bedrooms and closets with a 18'x24' living/family/great room. And a good kitchen with some great appliances. Cooking is my other hobby.

We are utilizing the basement from the existing home and adding crawl type space for the new sections.

I'm not doing any of the work on the house. My job is to build some stuff to put in the new home and hopefully I can start those projects in the next couple of weeks. The shop will remain in the garage [24'x30'] which I share with two of our vehicles.

Karl

[Bob Winkler]

Good luck on your adventure Karl. Hope all goes well.

Bob

[tod evans]

karl, good luck on the house. tod

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a fine project. And sometimes it really is more cost effective to rip down most or all of a structure and rebuild to suit. It's all about the numbers!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Karl,

Good luck in this adventure! I truely hope that it goes well for you!

[Steve Ash]

hmmmm...I think I've seen the plans on what this is going to look like when it's done....It is going to be wonderful Karl.

Just remember these words from your building contractor buddy..."It's gonna get worse before it gets better" :eek: :) You'll be happy I'm sure.

Happy building!

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks for your answers to some of my questions Karl. But, you did not respond to "when do you (really) expect to be able to live in it?"

Oh yes, I forgot to wish you good luck and smooth sailing on the job.

[Dan Larson]

Karl, just wanted to wish you all the best with this project. Please keep us updated with progress pictures!

Dan

[Eddie Watkins]

Karl, Good luck with your new project and enjoy it. It is really an exciting time when you are making big changes like this and remember some things won't go the way you want but most will and it will all work out in the end.

Eddie

[Tyler Howell]

Wow Karl.
That's big. Remember Tyler's rule of home remuttling. "2X the $$$$, 4X the estimated time"
It is also notable that you are expanding your family. Truly honorable.

[Lars Thomas]

Good Luck with the new home Carl. Sounds like things are looking up for 2006. Lars

[Bill Lewis]

We are utilizing the basement from the existing home and adding crawl type space for the new sections.I was going to ask you if you planned on using the old foundation, looks like you answered that. But why not go ahead an put a full basement under the new house as well? Obviously there's a cost difference, but how much can there be? I'd figure that your foundation footer depths up there in Wisconson are so deep that you're only talking about a few more feet, right?:)

OTOH if you're going mostly vertical with the new house, and there is minimal expansion to the exsiting footprint, I can understand it. So what's the new house going to look like? Got any pictures of the design? Are you adding a garage? What appliances do you plan on putting in your kitchen?

BTW, Good luck on the construction! It can be fun, frustraing, rewarding, annoying, creative, and try your patience all at the same time.

[David Wilson]

Sounds great Karl. LOML & I will be going to West Bend in the spring and maby will stop in and check on the progress. Is John M going to be your general contractor?

[Karl Laustrup]

Well, let me try to answer some questions that have been raised in this thread.

Frank, again my brain went dead:o , although I did answer one of your questions earlier:) . I haven't asked the GC for fear that I'll get the proverbial "TWO WEEKS" as in the movie "Money Pit". I am hoping for late April or early May though as the GC doesn't have too much going on, other than spec homes.


Remember Tyler's rule of home remuttling. "2X the $$$$, 4X the estimated time". Tyler, don't make me drive up to Minnynoplace and duct tape your mouth shut!!! ;) :D

Bill L., the added cost of a full basement would be quite substantial as we have sandstone at varying depths from 2' to 8'. Because of that the digging price went up quite a bit. Besides, if I had more basement, I'd just have more room to acquire more stuff and I'm at that point in life that I am trying to downsize my stuff.

David, most definately if your in the area stop in. I plan on being at my shop/garage most every day trying to get some projects done while the construction is under way.

Steve, AKA Packerman, yep your right and thanks for the help going over the floor plan. And you are more than welcome to use the plan as it was designed by me, so no royalties are involved. Maybe just a visit and a beer. :D

Thanks to all for the well wishes. I am quite at ease with this contractor and feel that it will be a pretty smooth process.

Karl

[Bill Lewis]

Karl,
Too bad about the rocky conditions and the digging. I know you say you don't need the extra space, but I'd be willing to bet that a part of you may still Want that extra space. ;)
Anyway, keep this thread updated with your progress! We want to see pictures!