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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Doing Something With The Foyer

The foyer has been one of the parts of the house that has been driving Mike and I crazy.  What do we do with it?  Move the front door here and take the slider out?  Leave the step down or make it level with the rest of the house?  Make it an outside room or make it a real foyer?  So many decisions and so much for just some cosmetic changes, lol.


For now we know we want to get rid of these itchy bug attracting grass bushes, lol…so Mike tears one out.  We will pull some up a little at a time.  We are saving the bulk of the outside work for spring but there is no reason not to pull a few things here and there when we have yard trash pick up once a week:)




Here is the slider that was added to the house at some point but the floor was not raised to the rest of the interior house level:





Here is the step up/down that Mike and I have been pondering.  We want to make the new front door here and we thought we could add a medallion or something on the floor so people don't trip up.  Mike's daughter thinks we are obsessing over this but we just want to make the house right:





Decision made….it's time to tear it out….what's a little more demo and mess, lol?  Mike starts off by taking some of the wall trim down.  We have to get this down if we are going to get the door out:




Taking some of the tile out where we will raise the floor:




Hmm…so was this an outside room, part of the house or just a cover up?  Notice the T1-11 that has been painted…that is outside siding that does not match the exterior of the house…or the interior.  It has to go:




Time to get the T1-11 out…yeah that is easier said than done, lol:




After using the crow bar Mike tries some man power:)




Yay…one board almost out with some ceiling damage.  Oh well…the ceiling was also installed wrong so we need to fix that:




Time to break through the ceiling:




Hmm…not much insulation in this house:




More trim coming down to make the doorway a little less in your face.  We are going to wrap this with drywall:




Taking the old thick doorway trim out:




My turn at the siding.  Using a 2x4 for some leverage:




OK…so I didn't get far, lol.  Mike taking out more trim so we can get the old siding out:



Ah something I can do…put a sledge through the ceiling, lol:




Most of it is down and a little more old insulation for me to clean up:




Now that everything is ripped in the foyer it's time for some serious thinking.  The floor is not only uneven with the other floors in the house but it is lower on the door side.  Hmm….do we take out the slider and fill it with concrete which will take curing time or do we build a new floor?  Choices choices:




We have the material to do the job…we just need a full day to tear out the old door, rebuild the floor, and put a new door in.  A few hours won't be enough for that job….so we will wait.



That's all for now.  On Thursday I will show you what we decided to do on the foyer.

Have a great week.

Lisa:)

10 comments:

  1. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing. Love, Eileen

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  2. It makes my back hurt just watching Mike trying to pull out that pampas grass. Sharp stuff, with roots from..well we’ll just say they are tough..lol

    It looks like the foyer was a covered walkway between the side entrance to the garage and the front door to house. I suspect the slab might be only 4” or so. You might check to see if they poured a footing under the slab at the slider. From what I can see it looks like the additions to the house were professionally done. I’d would have temp framed in the original front door opening, scraped the front area down for a patio back to the start of the red rock and poured the floor, footing if needed and patio..but I’m sure that would take too long of a time for ya’ll..lol Bet Mike wishes he had his tractor about now..
    Gary

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    1. Actually they weren't bad at all to take out. They have shallow roots and the small ones pull right out. The big ones come out with Mike and I pulling at the same time, lol.

      The additions look OK and the outside of the house is very nice….just not sure about the finishes or non finishes on the inside.

      Hmm…yeah….too long for us, lol. It's done:)

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  3. I have to say....Agatha Christie has nothing on you....another mystery that we have to wait a few days to find out about! LOL!! You sure do keep us coming back to see what you are doing...

    Glad to see that there was more PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) being worn this time......or at least more often..LOL!!

    I'd pour the floor, especially if you plan to put down any tile. Pour it so that it's going to be level with the living room floor once the tiles are installed, so you may have to pour a half-inch lower than the other flooring.

    I think a nice pergola to shade that area would be great.

    That entry door (on the floor in the last photo) looks great...I assume that is the door you plan to replace the slider with? Or was that going to be the new "back" door that is currently in the background of the same photo? It would look good either place.

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    1. It's good to anticipate things:)

      Now if I could figure out how to keep the goggles from pinching my cheek when I put the mask on, lol.

      Hmm…we were going to pour at first but I figured how many bags of quickrete I would have to mix. Mike came up with a better plan:)

      we are going to make a paver patio area outside that area and get rid of the messy mulch:) Not sure about any covering yet but I am going to work on Mike about adding gutters to this house….at least by any doorways:)

      Yes that is the door we will replace the slider with. The white one in the back will stay the same and be our new back door.

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  4. Darn. It's like having to wait a week for the next episode of my favorite show. Looking forward to seeing the new door go it.
    gentlearts

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  5. It takes me too long to post when I have a lot of pictures, lol. Only two more days:)

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  6. Have you figured out what's behind the kitchen ceiling soffit / bulkhead? Would be nice if you could remove that before installing the new kitchen...

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    1. We have discussed it and while it could be done it would be an awful lot of work and it really wouldn't change much. People either have 30" cabinets and have to add "stuff" on top to fill the space and they have to keep it clean or they have 42" cabinets that go to the ceiling which no one can reach, lol.

      If the soffit was in the middle of the room then it would already be gone. Since it is not in the way we are leaving it. Some things just aren't worth all the time and work that goes into it to change it.

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