Day 4 and 5 Demolition

There's a little explaining to do before we just jump into the videos from Days 4 and 5. We had a structural engineer come out, Mike from Underpinning the Rockies, which was recommended by Dave Spielman, my beloved Home Inspector.

TRUSTING MY INTUITION

Kind of similar to the windows scenario, I couldn't stop thinking about Dave's recommendation to have a professional check out the foundation situation that was underneath the two additions (it was hard to determine when the bathroom and mudroom were added on; I later learned from my neighbor that it happened about 7 years back -- which made us further question the seller's scruples when disclosing that he "didn't know anything about the additions" and further, the lack of permitting about the additions!).

It looked like the additions had no foundation and were built on deck posts rather than anything formidable. The bathroom side was slightly angled as though it might be sinking toward the backmost corner of the house. There were cracks throughout the bathroom, mudroom, and kitchen, that we hadn't noticed initially -- all validated by Mike, who first informed us through his Santa Clause demeanor that "crying is not allowed," as he delivered the news:

The addition was done obviously without a permit and unfortunately without any consideration of the short or long-term effects of no foundation. It was sinking into the ground (of course it would, it was made with a wooden post instead of concrete or brick foundation) and it definitely needed to be fixed. Because of this, our renovation projects in the kitchen and bathroom especially needed to take a pause until the structural engineering project could be completed by his crew.

And that project, due to the time it takes to get proper permitting through Boulder County, wouldn't likely start until March 2026.

While it was a bummer to put a halt on the pocket door, kitchen cabinets, wall building and bathroom projects, it was better to learn it now than later.

So ... we pivoted!

Instead of kitchen and bathroom, Katie had the idea that we could take down the wall between the two bedrooms to make them (each bedroom was smaller than an average horse stall!) into one large bedroom. Another decision that may not be as ideal for "resale value" but would suit me just fine as a single person living in a sweet cottage home.

So we got to work.

DAY FOUR

DAY FIVE

I just love how we all wore our "Jessie Buys a House" shirts basically every day ... so fun.