House Renovation #1: A Family and Friend Renovation

My first adventure in refurbishing was in 1974. I added a 17×27 addition to my ranch style home in Northfield Village, Ohio. I built it myself with the help of friends and a few issues of Time Do It Yourself magazines. These were very popular at the time and extremely helpful. The addition had a cathedral ceiling, main room 17×19, exposed beam, an 8×13 laundry room, in ceiling stereo speakers, and recessed lighting. One wall 17ft was an all split brick fireplace. Mason Bill Swaton the father of an ex-girlfriend did the brickwork. Sorry if there were pictures I haven’t found them. My first wife Brenda passed away due to medical problems at 31 years old.
In 1981 I married Vicki and she owned our present home. Located in Madison, Ohio situated on 3 plus acres.


The home had on the first floor three small bedrooms, and a full bath on the east side, living room (northwest corner) and kitchen (southwest corner) separated by a hallway. Stairway going upstairs with the basement stairs directly below centered south end of the hallway.

The old Kitchen.


Second floor dormer had 2 rooms serving as bedrooms. This dormer was apparently added later and built a foot in from the supporting wall sitting on the ceiling joist. The previous owners had a waterbed in the room directly above the living room. This weight caused a water leak into the living room which I was unable to stop. Looking at the first picture of the living area you can see the damage to the ceiling.
In 1982 the first thing I did was remove all the old wood siding since some was falling off and in bad shape and replaced it with T111 sheet siding.

We saved our money and in 1989 we started our renovations. I tore off the roof in three sections and raised it.
We found the following picture in the attic during the first tear off. It shows the basement were the original people living before they finished building the house.
During the tear off we got caught by a sudden rain storm and before we could get things covered we had water running down the stairs, through the kitchen ceiling what a mess. We laugh about it now. As we tore down a section we built the new one. All the trusses were hauled up by hand and raised.

The bow windows in place.

Adding footers and block for the addition and 3 car garages. Pictures of same.


Addition windows installed.

The second floor finished with 4 large bedrooms and a full bath. Each of the boys had their own room. Yea!
With the upstairs done I then gutted the first floor. Moved the stairs going to the second floor to the north wall.

Stairs to the basement moved to the east side center of the house.
Took out the hallway and the old 3 bedroom walls installing a beam to support the second floor. This opened up the house for the living, kitchen, and dining great room.
The kitchen moved to the northeast corner and the master bedroom took the old kitchen area made larger since the basement steps were moved. The following pictures show the kitchen cabinets installed the open great room and the stairs going to the second floor. I am especially proud of the finished stairs since it is the first set I ever made.





The following pictures are the finished product. Floor tile, counter top tile 76 square feet of it with a granite insert for baking, etc.
All the windows were obtained from a friend who owned a building supply company. Addition windows were discounted because of a canceled order. They fit nicely.










The following pictures are of family and friends that helped with my renovation at the end of the major work party. You can see the rear of my home with no deck. Yet!

My brother-in-law Dave Bruder and wife Barb. They live in Michigan and came down when every truss was raised during this renovation.

Pictures of the deck and then the gazebo attached to it.

From the street.

This took a lot of time but without the help of many it was possible. The best part is pictures document most of this 6 year process we also have video of the rain storms and many other events to pass down to the kids and grand kids. A great family experience.
Enjoy

-- Dale J. Struhar Sr.