Saturday, July 15, 2023

Major Remodel Update

My Studio/Office has been toward the lower priority of resettling after our major remodel over the winter of 2022-23.

At the time of this writing, my Studio/Office is mostly, but not fully moved in.

I have been working my Day Job from here for several months,

and have recently begun working on fiber preparations from here.


Primarily Books and Canning Supplies are remaining to be unpacked and organized, though this part has been started.  I also have a few large weaving appendages to give space to and a bit more fiber storage to settle on.

AND... I have to move out...  Again.

One of the blessings of our extremely wet spring (I'm choosing to view this as a blessing), is that the wood floor has expanded... significantly.

To be clear, all materials grow and shrink with temperature and humidity.  How each behaves is well understood and each installation is a unique situation.  So there is always an art to the analysis... especially as the climate continues to swing between extremes.

Anyway, my Studio/Office floor is layed on a concrete slab which conducts temperature and humidity differently than the wood subfloor and crawl space of the rest of the house.

That, coupled with our extremely wet and therefore humid spring has caused the Studio/Office floor to grow so much that it is buckling.  Sections have separated from the substrate, even though a vapor barrier was used.

So, after reviewing the situation and discussing several potential solutions with the Flooring Installer and Designer/Architect, we decided to remove the entire Studio/Office floor and replace it with an Engineered Solution.

The exterior surface of the floor will continue to match the remainder of the house, but the under portion will be a series of layups with differing fiber directions.. essentially, a plywood.  Rather than the solid hardwood that is currently installed.

While frustrating, I feel blessed that this happened during our first season with the new floor, and is therefore under warranty.

This, however, means that I must vacate my Studio/Office once again.  Just as I was closing in on feeling settled, once again. sigh.

Once we know the material lead-time, we will schedule the arrival, demolition, and installation for the new, new floor.  In the meantime, the working-plan is to be ready for it by the end of August 2023.


With all of that, the remaining punch list is only 3 items, two related to our stove/oven and one related to our interior ramps.

1 comment:

Linda said...

So frustrating! But it's under warranty so there is that. At least you don't have to move house, just studio. Hang in there :)