My wife and I recently purchased a 1950 block house that was initially styled mid-century modern. Going into the purchase, we knew that there were two main things that we needed to remedy: 1) the small galley kitchen and 2) a strange lay-out. There was an addition to the house sometime in the past, and two porches were enclosed either at that time or more recently. Part of the issue with the layout is the house was used as a rental where it was subdivided into two units. As such, one of the enclosed porches served as a makeshift kitchen for the rear unit. Hopefully the images below convey what I'm attempting to describe.


SketchUp model of initial layout:




Living room where the main entrance is the door on the left wall. The wall with the french doors serve as the boundary between the two units. Behind the french doors is the room which I am calling the den.




Hallway leading to the kitchen




Kitchen. This photo is a bit deceiving, the room is actually 9 ft square. Some of you may recognize the exposed rafters and tongue and groove ceiling from a thread a few weeks ago.




Room which I am calling the den. Directly behind the photographer is a short hallway leading to the master bed/bath. The room through the door is the enclosed porch that was used as a small kitchen area.




The enclosed porch, sorry for the quality of the picture. We didn't think to take before-shots and most of the other photos are from the MLS listing. This photo is from the inspection. Below the sink is a mini-water heater and on the far wall is a connection for an electric stove. The door on the far wall is to the utility room where the electrical panels are located. That room is about 5 feet wide and has three entrances to it, one being an exterior door. The built-in shelves and cork board on the right wall occupy what were originally exterior windows in the house.




This is the second enclosed porch. The floor is actually painted plywood and the fireplace is non-functional. When we recently had the roof re-done, we had the roofers remove the chimney above the roof line. We will eventually remove the fireplace and replace it with an insert of some sort. This room will be remodeled in the 2nd phase of the project, to be started after we move in.





After going through about a dozen layout variations with SketchUp (great tool by the way!), we decided on the design shown below. The major changes will involve removing walls labeled "B" and "C" on the initial SketchUp layout above, and then opening a 12-foot span in the wall labeled "A". We will then expand the current kitchen into the enclosed porch area, adding an island, and adding French doors to the exterior wall that leads to the backyard. We will also turn the utility room into a pantry and wall up the interior door that leads into the other enclosed porch area.






One thing to note is the colors in the model are not what we are going with. Originally we planned on refinishing the parquet and staining it a darker color, and then replacing the ceramic tile with whatever flooring we install in the new kitchen. We have since decided to keep the ceramic tile and replace the parquet with whatever new flooring we install. Right now we are considering going with a medium color engineering wood, even though I have some misgivings about installing that in the kitchen, particularly in front of the stove.

Lastly, we did not plan on it initially, but we will be removing the lowered ceiling over the living room. This will restore the ceiling to the original exposed rafters and tongue and groove that is seen over the current kitchen. I'm still waiting to hear back from the city on these revisions to the original permit, it's been almost 3 weeks and I'm getting impatient. Below is the SketchUp model with the ceiling integrated.

Looking good so far. I think the fireplace is pretty cool but our style is a bit more vintage I guess.

Those old floors are just ugly! Good luck!

yeah, the fireplace does add a little something. we considered keeping it, but after some thought we decided to get rid of it, especially since the chimney itself is not well-constructed and would be troublesome/expensive to get right. we could also use the space since the fireplace juts out into the room over two and a half feet. we will try to save as many bricks as possible and use them for the replacement insert, or for some the patio.

i agree with the floors comment, especially the linoleum. i hated the parquet initially but the idea of staining it dark was really growing on me. it doesn't really make sense though to keep it and refinish it and then replace the ceramic tile with whatever flooring we put in the kitchen area.

this past week was dedicated to removing the block wall separating the den from what would be the expanded kitchen (before picture is below, wall "C" in the initial layout in the OP). i got lucky here because i wasn't sure if this was a structural wall. if it was, it would have been tricky to deal with since i really didn't want a beam overhead there, which would act as a dividing line between the two rooms. we will already have a transition where the two different floors will meet, i thought the overhead beam would just serve to reinforce that effect. either way, it wasn't load-bearing anyway, so that made my life much easier.




after stripping the sheet rock, i tried to figure out which breaker i needed to switch to cut power to the lines. the left light switch was easy to determine, the right switch not so much. i don't even know what the dang switch controls. i just cut power to the entire house to deal with it.




even though it's not a load-bearing wall, i learned that code dictates that a block wall must have a bonded beam running across the top. this beam, filled with concrete and rebar, was a major pain to remove. i alternated between a hammer drill and a 7" diamond blade on an angle grinder for the most part, then i'd use a metal-cutting disc to get through the rebar. safety is the key here, i took my time and was decked out with ear plugs, long gloves, dust mask, safety glasses and a face guard.




the cut nearest the wall which would remain took the longest time. i wanted to make sure i had a clean cut and the beam wouldn't rip any of the concrete out of beam to remain.




after a couple of evenings and an afternoon, i finally got the wall down and all of the block/concrete debris moved outside. i was worried about damaging the tile during the wall-removal but everything looks to have survived intact. i did manage to break a sledgehammer handle though. i was pleased that was the only casualty.







the next step is to remove the lowered ceiling above the living room, for which i finally received approval. then i need to remove an old kerosene heater chimney that will be in the way of rearranging ducts in the living room. simultaneously, i am trying to get an engineer to come in and size the LVL header for the load-bearing block wall i will be removing.

Awesome! It should be loads of fun to take out the ceiling.

How are you handling hauling off all the debris?

ha! good question about the debris. when i initially started demo i was in the mindset that i needed to just get to work and start ripping stuff up. i just piled debris in the corner of the room in which i was working. that didn't last too long since debris was getting in the way of everything. so i ended up laying down some old wood paneling on the ceramic tile in the den and neatly piling everything there.

i am going to eventually get a 20 yd dumpster, probably even this week. i didn't want to get it too early because i want to discard everything at once and only pay for the dumpster one time (about $300). the only big things remaining are the ceiling, and the other block wall, so the timing should be about right. i did want to remove the block/concrete debris from the house in the meantime, so i just made a neat pile on my front porch. i'll get the dumpster dropped off right in front of the porch, so it's not creating too much more work.

one of the best things that i have done in terms of keeping the site clean is using contractors trash bags for all of the little debris and dust.

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I was able to get rid of a couple of yards of dirt by scattering it in the back yard. The grass got over it eventually.

Our city is great about picking up large junk by the end of the driveway weekly, which I guess keeps it from being dumped in a river/marsh/ocean. Either way they hauled off all of our debris one week at a time, no questions asked.

ok, i removed the lowered ceiling over the past three evenings. i still have to remove the lumber from the walls that supported the rafters of the former ceiling. that lumber is all nailed in place with what seems to be hundreds of nails so it's slow going.

as you can see, it really opens the place up. i need to re-route the ducts, the one on the right in the first pic is going to be tricky. i'll probably end up making a soffit in the small hallway on the other side of the door the duct is over. i'll lose the transom above the door, but i think it is worth it to get rid of the soffit that is currently in the living room, which interferes with the lines of the now exposed ceiling.

looking at the last pic, that wall makes the door look tiny in comparison. i think wider trim will help the look, does anyone have any other ideas? we will replace the door but haven't looked at designs.

lastly, we have not even thought about what we are going to do with the window/shades near the front door. any thoughts on how to dress the window up?

I think your layout would benefit from adding a single sidelight to the door if you've got the room on the exterior. If not, a full lite glass door would help make it appear larger or even a transom window.

Looking good, by the way. Keep it up.

It looks awesome! Are you planning on opening up any of the high windows? They would add a lot IMO.

thanks. that's a good idea on the side light, i'll have to consider it.

we really want to replace the windows at the top but we haven't priced it out. i don't know the first thing about windows, i don't even know what those type are called. it would be cool to get some that swing down like the originals but i imagine those will be pricey.

Looking good! House looks to have some great potential, i'll be following.

i haven't got much accomplished in terms of the remodel for the past two weeks. instead, i've been busy dealing with roofing issues. in late January i had my roof replaced, which took about two weeks to get done because of wet weather and an unorganized independent roofer.

our roof is primarily a flat roof, with that one section that is low-sloped. apparently the roofer didn't make sure there was at least some semblance of positive slope on the flat sections, even though the product's specs only require that any water sitting on the roof should be gone within 48 hours. well, you guessed it, one section of the roof had multiple leaks in it. then when they were building it back up to fix it, it rained and apparently water got under the plastic sheets they had laid out.

this area in the photo below was where the water leaks first started about a month ago (den). this past weekend, water was actually dripping from the sheet rock. when i poked at the seam that was splitting, the sheet rock tore open and water started streaming out.




i was pretty pissed at that time, and decided to rip up the ceiling where any water stains were showing to find the origin of all the leaks. i also wanted to let the areas dry.




when i tore open the sheet rock in the master bedroom, the water came pouring out.




needless to say, it has not been a fun past couple of weeks. in the meantime, i did manage to bring in an architect to size the LVL beam for the load-bearing wall i will remove. i also had an electrician come in to get an estimate on that work. i have also done some plumbing work and will post pics of that in a day or two.

here are the before pics of the plumbing in the kitchen that i have been fixing. things of note include the radical notches cut in the lumber, the hot water line that was installed outside of the wall, and the drain pipe that looks like it has a bit of a negative slope.

I see you have that fancy, uphill-flowing water in Florida.

Don't even get me started on roofers btw... they managed to crush the roof on a house we own due to carelessness.

man, i've been following your thread on the Real Estate board. our situation is a drop in the bucket compared to yours. i'm sorry to see it is still on-going!

Oh the things you find/discover tearing open the walls of an old house....

i finished one of the braces to support the roof while i remove the section of the load-bearing wall. i now have to build the brace for the other side of the wall, it won't be as stout as this one since there is relatively little weight to bear.

before the remodel:



current state from the same perspective:




the brace consists of a spruce 2x6 top plate and pine 2x6 studs that i doubled up under each rafter. i was lucky because i only had to buy the one piece of 16-foot spruce since i was able to reuse the lumber that used to support the dropped ceiling that i removed.

i could go into detail of the process of building the brace if anyone is interested.

alright, i've been out-of-town for a week so not much has been done. i did receive the architect's plans for the header i need for the wall that i will remove. it was a long process trying to get someone to do such a small job!

the design is below, i think it is alright to post it since i stripped any personal/professional info. hopefully there are a few structural/construction guys (or ladies) reading because i have a couple of questions.

the plan calls for alternate nailing of the 2x10's 24" 12" off center. hypothetically speaking, is there any reason throwing a few #8 x 3 1/2" screws in here and there will affect the strength of the beam? i figured the screws would help keep the built-up beam tight.

i don't have any experience working with anchors, does anyone have any tips for working with the Titan HD Anchors? i'm guessing an impact wrench would be ideal?

any tips for creating a smooth block surface that the pressure treated 2x8's will butt against? i've been using a 7" diamond blade with an angle grinder to cut the block and concrete beams. should i rent a big 14" concrete saw?

thanks for any advice. on top of everything, a radiator hose blew in my SUV last night so i'm getting bogged down with everything!

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the plan calls for alternate nailing of the 2x10's 24" 12" off center. hypothetically speaking, is there any reason throwing a few #8 x 3 1/2" screws in here and there will affect the strength of the beam? i figured the screws would help keep the built-up beam tight. Honestly I don't think it would make any difference. I've removed headers built they way they describe that had been installed for 50 or more years that never loosened. If you're concerned you could maybe use ring shank nails.

i don't have any experience working with anchors, does anyone have any tips for working with the Titan HD Anchors? i'm guessing an impact wrench would be ideal?Those are something I don't have a lot of experience wtih.

any tips for creating a smooth block surface that the pressure treated 2x8's will butt against? i've been using a 7" diamond blade with an angle grinder to cut the block and concrete beams. should i rent a big 14" concrete saw?A smooth surface against adjacent walls? Wouldn't this be a bit hard to hold up against the wall?

thanks for any advice. on top of everything, a radiator hose blew in my SUV last night so i'm getting bogged down with everything!

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Why not cut the roof rafters and size the lvl to the same depth and then there will be no beam below ceiling line. It si not that much more work but may require more Lvls since the roof rafters may not be as wide as the lvl current design. I like the clean looks and do everything possible to eliminate bump outs and beams that are noticeable. If I don't do this I isuallly regret it later.

Fife, thanks for the input.

the crude sketch below illustrates the cut surface i am speaking of. i'm guessing i will want it to be smooth as possible to get the 2x8 king stud (i think that's what its called) to lay flat against it. the 2x8 jack studs which hold up the beam will then lay flat against the king stud.

if i continue to use the angle grinder with the 7" diamond blade, i'll have to make cuts from both sides of the wall. i'm not good enough to get these cuts to perfectly align so there are usually ridges on this surface.

maybe instead of using a large 14" concrete saw, is there some tool i can use to smooth out these ridges? or will these ridges even be a big deal?

jt2hunt,

i initially wanted to do exactly what you suggest. i don't like the idea of having that beam below the ceiling line. we had to rule it out, however, because that wall supports two roofs, one sloped and one flat. getting it right would have been expensive and i didn't feel comfortable doing something like that myself.

i feel a lot better knowing that the header above the existing french doors on that same wall is below the ceiling line. i will just match the heights and hopefully the continuous line won't make it look too bad.

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the plan calls for alternate nailing of the 2x10's 24" 12" off center. hypothetically speaking, is there any reason throwing a few #8 x 3 1/2" screws in here and there will affect the strength of the beam? i figured the screws would help keep the built-up beam tight.

The screws won't do any good. Unless you are in a place where there will be constant movement upon the beam, it's not going anywhere. It won't hurt to put them in, but it is not a structural addition and screws have almost no real shear strength unless you get specialized screws.

i don't have any experience working with anchors, does anyone have any tips for working with the Titan HD Anchors? i'm guessing an impact wrench would be ideal?

They are basically lag bolts for concrete - drill the appropriate sized hole in the concrete with a hammer drill, then screw the anchors in. Make sure you know where any reinforcing is (you should have vertical reinforcing, along with 100% grout filled CMU cores, on each side of your openings). An impact will help with setting the anchors, but is not required. Make sure to counter sink your king and cripple studs so they sit flush.

any tips for creating a smooth block surface that the pressure treated 2x8's will butt against? i've been using a 7" diamond blade with an angle grinder to cut the block and concrete beams. should i rent a big 14" concrete saw?

Don't get too worked up over this - a smooth surface is preferred, obviously, but it's also not something that is going to make or break anything structurally. Just make sure you have a flat enough surface that you get your framing studs square. If there is a little gap here or there, don't sweat it.

If you really feel the need to get it smooth, get a cup stone for your grinder. It will go a lot faster than a blade.

thanks for any advice. on top of everything, a radiator hose blew in my SUV last night so i'm getting bogged down with everything!

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I can't really add any more input, Fife and Schmellba pretty much nailed it for you. I think somebody mentioned it before but if you used an LVL you wouldn't have to build up such a big beam w/ 2x's. If you're using the 2x8's and built up beam to plane out with your block wall that makes since. If it were me I would shim my king and jacks off of the CMU wall anyways to get them square, that way you wouldn't have to spend so much time going back to try and get a perfectly plumb cut. Good luck!

thanks for the great comments and tips everyone! i'll keep you all updated on how it goes, cross your fingers.

Your pictures from your post dated 3/5 show three consecutive studs that are effectively useless; all have but cut through completely or all the way to the edge instead of just a cored hole through the center.

If this is an exterior wall and/or a bearing wall, this situation needs to be rectified as it poses a serious risk. It looks like this was either original construction or a modification prior to yours. Either way, you most likely removed what we engineers call "structural sheetrock" (note, there is no such thing, it's just what we describe the situation to be when the actual structual members have been compromised.)

I would inspect the top chord and ceiling or roof at this location to see if it is sagging. I would be shocked if it wasn't. If it's not, for better or worse that load is being transferred somewhere else, most likely by components not designed to do so, like the top chord.

ok, it's been 3 weeks since my last update. i got the wall out and the header installed without any major issues! of course there was a little discovery that set things back a bit but overall it went pretty smoothly.

here's what it looks like now:




the most nerve-racking part of the whole ordeal was dropping this piece of bonded beam:




i was worried that it would not fall straight down and end up taking out one brace or the other. i piled some block in the landing zone and set up some scrap lumber to act as guides. the force with which that beam broke the lumber when it fell was impressive. it snapped them like they were toothpicks:




it turns out that my initial concerns about cutting the block exactly flat and perfect were silly. there was no way in hell i was going to be able to cut it perfectly! shims were my friend to say the least.

the discovery that set me back was the fact that the original wall was not sitting on the slab. instead, the blocks continue below grade at least two more blocks deep, sandwiched between the foundation for the main house and a slab for the enclosed portion. you can see hollow blocks better here:




i ended up filling the blocks with high strength concrete and gave them about a week to cure before i set up the studs and beam. i didn't fill all of the blocks because there are a couple of galvanized pipes running through the blocks in the middle of the span, i need to figure out where those lead exactly.

i spent a lot of time making sure the studs were plumb and square and anchored well into the adjacent block. i also set the studs on pieces of flashing just to add that extra little bit of moisture protection.

the Titen HD Anchors were pretty easy to use once i used the correct size of drill bit. i thought i had a 1/2" bit on the hammer drill but it turns out it was 5/8". needless to say the first two anchors i installed did not grip at all! once i figured out that the bit was the wrong size, installing the anchors went well.

lastly, i only used screws here and there in the built-up beam, and only to bring to draw the plies together where they were not sitting flat because of small bows.

thanks for all of the input, everyone. i sincerely appreciate it.

It's looking a LOT better. Night and day difference.

in an effort to cut costs when the electrician comes in, i decided to do some of the labor intensive work myself.

if you recall, a lot of the electrical line was routed above the dropped ceiling which i removed. so i had 4 lines that needed to be re-routed, two for the a/c on that side of the house, one for a water heater and one for overhead lights. i also dropped new lines for the dishwasher/disposal, countertop receptacles, and refrigerator while i was at it.

luckily my panels are located right behind one of the kitchen walls. what i ended up doing was routing the lines over that wall and tucking them behind the last exposed rafter and then going through the opposite wall.




as always with this remodel, things were a bit more difficult than anticipated. as you can see at the top of the photo, some of the studs are spaced at 12" and then there are additional blocks of wood, i guess for the plaster walls. luckily i discovered that there is a pretty sweet right-angle drill attachment which made cutting the holes through the studs so much easier. even better was the fact it only cost $18 or so.




running a max of 3 lines through 1 1/4" PVC, the wires are tucked in nicely behind the rafter.






an early eletrical estimate that i got was around $5k. this included switching out an 8-slot panel for a 12-slot panel, installing all of the necessary receptacles, routing the lights and re-routing the existing lines. they only wanted to come down about $600 if i did the re-routing and dropping the new lines. i'm getting a smaller outfit to come in and give an estimate tomorrow, so we'll see if my work paid off in terms of cost-cutting.

I'm confused - are the gray pipes going to be visible once everything is done?

fife, i was initially going to just going to paint the PVC conduits to match the rafter. i'm not too worried since they are behind the last rafter at the end of the room. you can't see them unless you were standing directly under the fan and looked up. that door leads to what will eventually be the laundry room / bonus room which shouldn't get a lot of traffic.

in either case, i'm going to encase the PVC with some wood to clean up the look.

and after talking to another electrician this weekend, it seems that my first quote was reasonable for what needs to be done.

i've been working on the last structural project of the remodel this past week and it's been incredibly frustrating. i'm replacing a bank of windows with some french doors on an exterior wall that leads to the patio. i thought it was going to be relatively easy compared to what i've done so far, but i was wrong. again.

the biggest pain was discovering the way the bottom plate for the wall was originally laid. it's actually in a recessed gap in between the patio slab and the foundation for the enclosed porch (which will now be part of the kitchen). because of this, water must have flooded the patio and infiltrated this gap at some point, or maybe multiple times. the pic below shows the true bottom plate that is rotted.




the hard part was cutting this 2x4 out of this recessed gap. i spent most of saturday afternoon on my hands and knees, cursing every which way till sunday. literally. i finally reached good wood and replaced the rotted piece with the appropriate pressure treated lumber.




i then had to stack two more pieces of pressure treated lumber on top of the bottom plate to bring it up to the height i needed for the door. once i got that done, i started setting up my jack and king studs for the header.

in setting up these studs, i cut one too long and splintered it to hell when i was trying to hammer it into place. frustrated that i had to waste that piece (in reality, a $3 piece of wood), i rushed my cut for the replacement stud and ended up cutting it too short. this was first time i lost my cool during this project. the upside to having your house in a state of demolition is that you can't do much damage when you throw lumber across the house. it was somewhat relieving.

anyway, i got the studs set and in tearing down the old, weird header, i discovered that the patio roof had leaked into the wall causing some of the sheathing to rot. the design of the patio roof is terrible and this will be a potential source for on-going water damage. luckily i wanted to get rid of it and build a new patio cover that is higher and covers more area, this just convinced me to do that sooner than later. but it will have to wait until after Phase 1 is completed.




i took the above photo last night, so that's where i'm at currently. the downside to working on this wall is i cannot work late like i usually do since there's nothing to muffle the noise. the upside is the 2-year old boy who lives behind us has probably greatly expanded his vocabulary.