... let's rebuild the entire family room!
While prepping the floor, our contractors founds some serious water damage next to the fireplace. We called our insurance company and they stepped up to the plate and agreed to pay for (at least part of) the repair. John, our project foreman, called in the big guns to replace some floor joists and pieces of a header and a sill plate. Then they had to go outside, rip down half the cedar siding, wrap the chimney, put in flashing, replace the siding, and paint. The local neighborhood carpenter bees did not appreciate this activity...

Meanwhile, the other side of the family mysteriously started to leak. Your adventurous homeowner went up on the roof and found a section of second story window trim directly above this part of the roof that had simply rotted off, providing the rain direct access to the first floor ceiling. This was easy to fix but apparently was only part of the problem as it was clear that the old skylight and the rubberized roof trough between the family room and the sun room were also letting water trickle in. We consulted again with John the foreman who called in Alex the roofer. The decision was to replace both family room skylights AND replace the rubber roof trough with metal.

Chris pulled down part of the family room ceiling to see how much water damage there really was and we finally caught a break because there really wasn't much at all, it looked like all the damage was to the wallboard only. Chris did find some very old wasp nests, it's amazing what sneaks through those eave soffits.

Ethan came in last week and cleaned up the fireplace wallboard. Joe, Wallace, and Ethan finished up the outside work as well and somebody (Alex?) came by this last Friday and replaced the skylights and installed the metal trough. So all we need is to replace the ceiling wallboard and do some caulking around the new skylights and we will be back on track. Back to the kitchen!

It started with a little water on the floor, it turned into ripping out a big chunk of the floor and the wall around the fireplace. The culprit --- somebody (the original builder) NEGLECTED to put any flashing or house wrap around the fireplace enclosure. I'm sure they met the building code but they sure didn't do us any favors...

Damage to the floor joists, header, and sill plate. I was able to push my finger through the end of the floor joist.

Water damage inside the fireplace enclosure.

Meanwhile we put up some tempory plastic wrap on the outside of the house to slow down any further water damage pending repair. It didn't help alot as the water was apparently coming in much higher up the chimney.

And then the other side of the room started to leak. Good news was that it happened with all the furniture and the carpet removed and BEFORE we put in the new floor.

Patched joist, header, and sill

New subfloor installed

The repaired and repatched fireplace wall in the family room. Ethan promises us it will never leak again. Sounds like a guarantee to me! We talked to our designer Terry, we are looking at putting in a matching mantel around the fireplace insert along with perhaps a rounded silestone or granite hearth.

Back outside, the old cedar siding removed from the side of the fireplace enclosure and attached wall. Housing wrap added to keep the water out.

Action shot --- Joe starting to put on the new cedar siding.

Action shot! Wallace, Joe, and Ethan working on the great fireplace reconstruction project. Ethan gets up close and personal with our friendly (?) neighborhood carpenter bees... We feel his pain.

Another action shot --- Wallace doing battle with the "killer" carpenter bees. Who says they don't sting?!

More action --- Ethan and Wallace finish up painting the new siding and trim.

Back inside --- The wallboard removed from the ceiling on the other side of the family room to check for water damage. No damage but some nice sized wasp nests, luckily the nests were abandoned by their former occupants... :)

One of the new skylights. The new skylights match the existing skylight in the sun room, they are glass vice plastic, have a screen, and can be cranked open for ventilation. Let the sun shine!