Framing The 2nd Floor

View from the roof garden across to the new 2nd floor of main house

Ahhhh, now we're getting somewhere. I never thought I would have a 'second floor' when I was little. I grew up in Los Angeles in a Spanish style home with a front and back yard. We're talkin IN THE MIDDLE of town, not in the burbs. One floor. That was back when, I guess, there was still space for single-story homes in the center of town. My Dad still lives there. 

Originally, we planned to do 3 floors and put the kids on the third level (trap em in, I always say). But our architect Andreas Gritschke talked us out of it noting that this home is our dream home; translation: "the place we will never be able to afford to leave", We figured three floors doesn't mix well with hip replacements. 

So two floors it is.   

The Hack That Jacked My Maple

Does this look like 900 square feet of wood to you?

So, we decide to pull out the floor a few days before demolition of the building. Erik, the owner of E & K Vintage Wood tells me it will take two days to remove it, take out the nails,prepare it for reinstalling, and store all the pieces in the room where it is to be reinstalled later.

I arrived at 8am to meet the folks who were to do the work armed with the deposit check to get started. Then I waited. And waited. The story just gets worse from there. My own contractor nearly split a gasket with aggravation trying to reason with E & K who not only never completed the work, but turned what's left of my floor into worthless toothpicks without apology. Visions of the 'expert' floor removal guy's inexperienced nephew hacking away at it while the walls around him were being dissolved torture me. He alone braved the task abandoned, as was I, by the company's owner who vacationed conveniently somewhere out of phone range.

Hardly enough vintage wood is left to tease me in my studio space where there was to be just enough to fill the room with pride in having recycled memories as well as an era.

So for all of you reading and wanting some advice, Definitely research all your work prospects! I knew better and just because 'I liked them', I didn't do what I knew I should have. So now my broken heart is lying in my garage with my broken vintage floor.