After our living room home addition was framed, it was time to begin the interior and exterior finishes. Next up was the installation of insulation and drywall, painting the walls, then installing hardwood flooring and baseboards!
We are finally sharing on the INSIDE of our new living room! Work on the home addition finally picked up steam and we were full speed ahead with our contactors. Their scope was *just* the home addition so finishing out the kitchen will be ALL US! But this was a MAJOR part of the project and was way outside our skill set so we were happy to leave this to the professionals.
Finishing the Exterior of the Home Addition
After framing and adding sheathing, the crew moved quickly to finish out the exterior of the room. This was early spring, but it was already starting to get warm! We didn’t want our air conditioner working overtime, so insulation and such had to be installed quickly. We went with Hardy Plank Siding since it is designed to withstand water and humidity. This is 100% necessary in Houston! We went with white on the exterior for a simple, clean look. We also plan to whitewash the brick but this will be a future project!
Finishing the Interior of the Home Addition
We had to keep plastic sheeting up for several weeks to keep the dust and debris out of the rest of the house. This was VERY important when they were installing the insulation. We had our next hiccup at this step in the project.
Installing Insulation
The contactors but in the wrong insulation so it didn’t pass inspection. They had to remove ALL of it and start over. This was 100% the contactors fault as they should have doubled checked the plans to make sure they had the correct R-value. I felt I should have been checking as well to help keep the project on schedule. Not my job, but if you take on a project like this in your home you may feel compelled to micromanage like this too!
Installing Drywall
After the insulation was installed, the crew got to work on the drywall. Here are the steps involved:
Gather Supplies: The contractors bring all the necessary supplies, including drywall sheets, measuring tools, a utility knife, screws, a drill, and other professional equipment like ladders etc.
Measure and Cut: They measure the wall space accurately and mark the drywall sheets accordingly. Using a utility knife, they cut the sheets to the exact size needed.
Screw It In: They secure the drywall into the wall studs (the wooden beams inside the wall) every 12-16 inches. They’ll start in the middle and work their way out to the edges for a secure fit.
Repeat: This process of measuring, cutting, and screwing in drywall sheets will continue until the entire wall and ceilings are covered.
Tape the Seams: They use drywall tape to cover the seams where the sheets meet, ensuring a smooth surface.
Apply Joint Compound: The contractors spread a thin layer of joint compound (a special plaster) over the tape and screw holes, then let it dry.
Sand It Smooth: Once the joint compound is dry, they sand it down to create a smooth surface ready for painting.
When you reach the drywall step, make sure you are prepared for LOTS of sanding! Your home will get SUPER DUSTY! You’ll want to keep kids and pets away from the area. You’ll also want to wear a mask if you go in to check on the work!
Painting
Once the drywall was perfectly sanded and all the dust cleaned up, it was time to paint! I love, love, love color but without having the kitchen finished and with no furniture in the room I had no idea what color to paint the walls! Instead, we went with a bright clean white! This will be the perfect blank slate for us to decorate!
Installing and Finishing Hardwood Flooring
The flooring turned out to be one of the most annoying parts of this home addition. Because of our contractors mistake, we had to not only finish the flooring in the new addition but in two other spaces. I shared about this SNAFU in this post.
We also had to remove part of the floor in the kitchen and replace it. We had to sand down and refinish all the flooring the in the “old” living room as well! This ended up costing a LOT more than we planned.
We had to leave the house for 4 days while this work was being done. Between the dust and noise, we couldn’t be here during the day. We couldn’t sleep here with the smell of stain and polyurethane. If you don’t have friends/family to stay with this could be an additional cost you have to consider.
Flooring We Used
We continued the same flooring we have in the rest of our home. For the home addition we needed about 300sqft of Unfinished Red Oak Solid Hardwood flooring. Total cost for the flooring was just under $800.
Glue Used on Hardwood Flooring
We were able to have it installed directly on the slab by using this glue. This sh!t was expensive and we had to go buy an extra can to finish the job. Thats $600 just in glue!! But we didn’t have to do an underlayment so we saved on that – but dang!
At this point, we also realized the foundation movement we’d noticed the past few years really needed to be addressed. You can see where the original part of the kitchen meets the new addition – one side is higher than the other.
Foundation Repair
This meant we had to halt the project and address the foundation issues before we could move onto finishing the kitchen! No point in leveling the cabinets, installing countertops, etc. if the foundation would shift and crack things.
We got several different bids and ended up going with the mid-range cost option. One company said if we wanted to keep our plants we had to remove them ourselves! The company we went with assured us they would put everything back how they found it and they took care to save our garden. We’d just had all new landscaping done and I was dreading them killing $2000 worth of plants!
We ended up needing to repair the foundation on essential half our home. This included one breakout (thankfully on the front porch and not in the house!) and almost 6 feet of tunneling. They installed 21 piers to level our home.
Total cost for our foundation repair was $11,000.
Home Addition Interior Finished!
Once the floors were finished, the baseboards installed, and everything deep cleaned we were able to move furniture in! I can’t believe how much bigger this living room is compared to our old one!
We have so many more projects that go along with this home addition, but the actual room is DONE! From here on the majority of the projects will be DIYs and I’m so excited to share them as we move along with making this house a place we LOVE! (Not just the place we have to live!)
- Theo’s Nursery – Baby has been in our room since he was born. Now that the “old” living room is empty, we will move my office there to create a craft studio + multipurpose room. This frees up a bedroom for our little one to have his own space!
- DIY Kitchen Island – This will be a major project but we plan to maximize every inch of space in our new kitchen!
- Install a Farmhouse kitchen sink
- Remove tile and install new backsplash
- Build a DIY Kitchen Vent Hood
- Build a DIY Refrigerator Surround
- Add a DIY Plate Rack to our new DIY Kitchen Island
- Installation of new Quartz Countertops
- New pendant lights over kitchen island
- DIY Wall Framing – Wall in between old living room and kitchen then frame the opening from the dining room to the old living room for a door. This will close in the old living room and create a new room. We also need to close the opening from the kitchen to the dining room so we can better utilize the wall space in the dining room.
- DIY tile floor installation in the entry area by our new backdoor.
Our Home Addition
We are building a living room add on and remodeling the kitchen at the same time.
Introduction
It’s finally time to share the details of our our home addition!
Foundation
We had a brand new foundation poured for our living room home addition!
Framing
After the foundation was poured, the next step in our home addition was the framing! Here’s the process of framing to have a new room added to your home.
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