Mom's house has a lot of stairs both front and back door to get into it. My brother convinced her that she needed to have a back bedroom converted to an entry way. Last spring campinspecter and my brother did the work for her. This is the front entrance. Cement stairs down from the garage and wooden steps up to the door. This is the back entrance and her access to the basement to fill the wood furnace. She still uses them. This was the bedroom window that we used to create the level entrance. You can see the garage door at the right of the picture. campinspecter started the project by creating a level pad outside the garage door. We used old cement bricks from the chimney to fill in the bottom of the pad and use less cement. And no, we don't have to worry about a frost line or depth. Finished pad. The plastic protecting it from the rain slightly stuck to the cement. Better view of the pad. Next was the supports for the ramp between the garage and the house.
Our grandson was quite fascinated with this project and wanted to "help" It has been a while since we have had "helpers" that age. He found a few worms that became more than one with the shovel. Again using old cement bricks to fill in the bottom. They came out not too bad. campinspecter came over and started on the ramp part before my brother made it to Mom's. It worked well as it gave better access to the window area.
When my brother got here, he and campinspecter got busy removing the window. This part of the house was added on to the original in 1963. The main part of the house was built in 1950. Who knew there would be shiplap under the drywall. Now to cut the doorway out. Will there be any surprises? Not too many fortunately. There will be a window framed in beside the new doorway.
campinspecter had to special order the door because of the height. This is the moment of truth. If he had known about the shiplap on the walls, he would have gotten a wider jamb. The window wasn't ordered until the framing was done. We weren't sure what size it would end up being. Things are moving along great. My brother did the moving of the electrical so he got to go under into the crawl space. Lucky him. The first one through the door. We had an inspector on the job. Rails and stairs off the ramp to access the garden areas. We used rubber mats to avoid the slippery plywood. After the pressure treating ages, I will use deck texture paint to paint the ramp.
We ordered the window and installed it later. I got to prime and paint after the trim was installed. Outside will get the remaining shingles replace when my brother returns. He is more familiar with the process of shingling. More inside pics. The rest of the room needs to be cleaned out, primed and repainted to match the new wall but it will have to wait until next summer. Mom was reluctant to have the work done originally but now she uses it all the time. It also gives her another exit in case of fire.
Like, like, like, like, like!!! Very nice start to finish pics. Glad you covered the plywood for now!!
Very nice. I really enjoy projects like this. Undoing, redoing......it looks like it has always been there. View attachment 142070 Good thing you had it inspected and approved.
