Case Studies

This past week has been focusing on upgrading the unseen things behind the walls. The electrician has been on the premises for the past week working on re-wiring the whole house. This means digging into the bricks to bury the wires inside special electrical grade PVC pipes to prevent moisture from seeping through. When first were planning the renovations, we really under-estimated the importance of this step. We knew the sellers had done something along these lines in the recent 2004 renovation of the house, but they used sub-par materials…basically the cheapest things they could find. As a result, some of the connecting hinges of the PVC piping had become loose and some had been forgotten altogether.

There are also several other problems popping up from their penurious renovations. For instance, they used a thick paper board under the trim on an exterior facing wall which now has mold growing at an alarming rate. We have to replace it with a carbon fiber material that repels moisture. Remember the hanging chimney? This is still haunting us since it causes structural problems with supporting beams if we remove the bricks entirely (see photo below). It’s such a headache at this point. We are also applying a thick foam insulation throughout the third floor ceiling to prevent heat loss in the winter.

Insulation & hanging chimney of doom with attached supporting wood beam.

Overall, it’s been a productive week at #95. The main projects for this week have been focusing on the third floor bedroom bathroom/closet expansion, the first floor bathroom teardown, and electrical wiring.

A special electrician has also come into town for this project. As is typical in China, he is the head contractor’s relative and they have done several old homes together. We spent the last few weeks agonizing over the placement of the electrical outlets, lighting options, and the wiring for systems. This has been one of the more challenging parts of the project since you are required to imagine all your electrical needs for the coming years. 

In other big news, the first floor bathroom has been removed to make more space in the side entrance foyer. We plan to move the toilet and sink under the stairs (as is typical in Shanghai lane homes). These two photos were taken from almost the same angle and really highlight the difference once the space is opened…

March 18th 2007

March 22nd 2007

View from the living room into the side entrance foyer. Thankfully, the iron supporting beam has safely arrived and fits nicely into the sub-structure. Gone are the sketchy 2x4 wooden planks supporting the main load-bearing wall in the downstairs. 

For the first time, we have run amuck of the neighborhood committee for a problem with our renovation. In a previous renovation, the interior chimneys for the original fireplaces were removed…but using a very half-baked method since they left the chimney on the top of the house. Basically, they removed the brick fireplaces from the rooms but left the chimney sitting on the roof tiles- unsupported from below. As a result, we have two solid brick chimneys sitting on top of the roof that could fall down at any time.

We considered a few options, but finally decided that they should come down. When our contractor went up to the roof to try to dismantle them a neighbor complained to the committee. Our lane is very historically protected and forbids any removal of exterior fixtures. I guess we did not realize that rotten chimneys of doom fell into this category. The Neighborhood Committee chairman called my husband and he explained it had structural problems and had to be removed. They accepted this, but recommended that we re-install it when we were finished (??!?!?). We decided they were telling us they wanted a faux chimney up there by the end of the project so the original look is kept intact…it’s irrelevant that it is fake.

Unsupported chimney

The exciting news for this week was the widening of the doorframe in downstairs living room. This was nerve-racking since it’s a load-bearing wall. The contractors are going to add an iron support beam to the substructure, but it will take a few days to arrive. In the meantime, the supporting bricks in the expanded doorway are currently propped up with some wooden planks. We decided to widen it to give a greater sense of space and to keep the downstairs from being too segmented. The widened door will also bring light to the hall on the other side, by the stairs, and generally open things up a bit.