If we don't do this work now, then we may be looking at a sagging ceiling later and we feel more ready to face this now then we will in 15 or 20 years.
I may have to give up the recessed lighting idea. Apparently, the casing of the lights need a lot of clearance in the ceiling and we just don't have it with our little house. I guess they were not thinking about recessed lighting back in 1895, they may not have been thinking about lighting at all. We have considered going back to dinner by candle light, but that doesn't seem very practical.
Other developments include, re-routing the air conditioning intake vent. Apparently, it is not only the wrong kind of vent, but also too small and "choking" our air conditioner. We don't want a choking air conditioner do we? The correct way to circulate air in a house is to have the intake vent at the ceiling, the output vents near the floor thus taking hot air from the hot top of the room, bringing in cool air at the bottom so it will rise. "G" says, "our house is fine", no need to reconstrew (is that a word) the air system, but I say, "this house is hot, the best place to be, is lying on the floor. And my world only occasionally has me lying on the floor".
So we are looking to move the vents, open them up, release the choking grip on the air systems and hopefully "save" money in the end. Not sure how saving $2 per month in electricity will ever add up to the $20 K we are spending on sealing, insulating and replacing our windows with double panes, but that is the idea.Some of this just doesn't make any sense when you are living in mild So Cal.
We are thinking of opening up the path from dining room to kitchen (removing the current laundry room wall) which will also open into the new den and yard. But, with the dirt and dust of demolition looming in our future, the contractor would prefer to remove both the living/dining room half wall and the dining room/kitchen full wall all at once. This will give us a rather odd look for awhile. We will have our washer/drying in the middle of our kitchen entry. Yes, we will look like a construction sight while we wait for the plans to be completed and the City to approve. This could be months before we get any further then the opening of the kitchen, but I think I am ready to blast ahead and get this show on the road.
Added entry: Here is the end result of the decision to open the kitchen wall and live with the washer/dryer in the passage. October 2015. I got the recessed lighting despite the challenges with space.
I vacillate between the thrill of having the original high ceilings finished and the old wood floors polished, and the horror of all of the details that need to be managed behind the walls. Electrical, venting, support beams. That stuff starts to scare me, what are we getting into?
Those of you with new houses are laughing a bit at the ridiculous dedication to the old, I agree it is a bit of a "hobby-gone-bad", but we are in it and hoping to see it through.
"G" occupied his energy by assembling a new gas grill yesterday. He worked outside while the temperature reached 104 degrees in the shade. By the time the new grill was ready to receive it's first bratwurst, the cool breeze and cold wine made us both feel very lucky to have a shaded yard and a good life.
We just have to keep this remodel in prospective and not let it overwhelm us. It is a bit like a rising loaf of bread. When we are not looking it gets bigger and bigger and starts to climb out of the pan, then we pound it down and get it back in the pan and let it rest a bit.
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